i was is terrible an understanding that as i am understanding fantasy football so not for me but it shows how important these things are in the value streaming has in the lives of the american public. >> i would watch the dallas cowboys anyway i can get the mainstream them on my phone which i don't. angela, i know it is your last day, have a great new year. the next 3 hours will be "varney and company," markets right now, we joke about the santa claus rally. it is dead on arrival. i'm loving it this year. ashley: what a way to finish up, so sorry that santa forgot your cowboy boots but there is always next year as long as we stay on the nice list the next

12 months and i'm not so sure at that. thanks very much. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney. president biden and russia's vladimir putin will hold talks for the second time this month, this comes at the request of putin and will take place this afternoon. one us official rising rising tensions between ukraine and russia a moment of crisis. will anything get accomplished this time around? we will ask general jack keane. look at this tweet from the president. we are ending 2021 with what one analyst described as the strongest first year economic track record of any president of the last 50 years, let's keep the progress going. inquiring minds wants to know who is that mystery analyst? i will ask molly hemingway if she knows. only two trading days left in the year. let's check the markets, record close for the dow and the s&p and already we are up and

slightly higher, tenth of one%. the 10 year yield has been on the way up. it was around 148 earlier in the week but now standing down a little bit at one.52% and look at bitcoin, struggling of late, down a mere 55 points, 47,00325, wasn't long ago was over 51,000. now to some positive news on the vaccine front, johnson & johnson says it's booster protect against severe omicron cases. we also always have a jampacked 3 hours ahead. rachel campos duffy, tom homan, david webb, lara trump, so many more. it is thursday december 30th, 2021. new year's eve is tomorrow night and there's this, doctor fauci is warning against ringing in the new year with hugs or kisses. happy new year. "varney and company" about to begin.

♪♪ celebrate good times come on ♪♪ ashley: celebrate good times because tomorrow night it is going to be packed, not as packed as it normally is and no hugging or kissing. president biden celebrating the economic record of his administration. on twitter he said we are ending 2021 with what one analyst described as the strongest first year economic track record of any president of the last 50 years, quite a statement. let's bring in molly hemingway. the president is getting heavily criticized for this tweet. what do you make of his economic record? >> multiple problems with the tweet and people had fun deciding who this mystery

analyst was, such an amazing economic record but the problem is biden keeps saying some variation of this and it is completely at odds with what people are experiencing in their day-to-day lives. everybody would expect that you would have a strong, fairly strong economic record coming out of the government forced lockdown since shutdowns and we have seen that coming out of those initial government lockdowns. the problem is things are so sluggish because of biden policies and how he has continued some of the restrictions because of his own policies shutting down energy sources, flooding the economy with trillions of dollars leading to inflation. the issue is no matter how much president biden claims things are going great everyone is experiencing a different economy. ashley: nicole wallace getting

mocked after she formed covid doctor fauci on air. >> i'm a fauci groupy, thrice vaccinated mask adherent, i buy masks by the caseload, they are in every pocket. i wear them everywhere except when i sit down and i'm certain -- ashley: maybe she could wear them all at the same time and we wouldn't have to listen, that's not nice, is it? what is your reaction tonight? >> nicole wallace might be an extreme example of what we've been subjected to from corporate media but it seems nearly everybody talking about coronavirus is a fauci groupy and they are unable to understand why that is bad and why we had such bad media coverage of the pandemic. what should we be having from analysts and hosts is a thoughtful approach of the costs associated with some of their policies, what the trade-offs are and what the benefits are and we've not had

any of is that, a group of hysterical people who always overstated the actual bad effects of this bad pandemic and it has caused untold damage to our country and other countries. ashley: we saw the president at his place in maryland, i don't think the optic is very good as so many cases are being reported and doesn't seem to get control of the situation. >> i don't think it is necessarily a problem except he's coming in, this mysterious plan, to shutdown the virus. admits he doesn't have a federal solution for dealing with it at all. it is so at odds with what he promised but that's the problem, not that he doesn't

have a plan but difficult to deal with global pandemic. ashley: thanks for joining us. appreciate it. the surge of covid cases continuing across the country. a record for the average number of cases? lauren: better believe it. they are all records. the cdc reporting 431,000 cases in the us, a 7-day average topping 270,000 today, that is a record. twice as high as last winter. there is a silver lining, hospitalizations are not rising as fast but we are in a

situation where in the past week with 2 million officially recorded infections. it is higher than 2 million. ashley: that's a lot of folks. thanks very much. let's check futures if we can and bring in michael lee, futures pointing modestly higher. we like to call you a super bowl. will that be the case for next year? >> great question. i believe the risk of the market for 2022 is the outside. a multitude of factors for that reason. expectations pretty low economically, the wall street consensus is mid to low single digit returns in equity markets and i think earnings estimates are too low compared to money markets, $1 trillion of

announced by thes. could this event happened that slows the economy and sends markets lower? sure. but all of these expectations that you are seeing in the market with the santa claus rally is with the market expecting the fed to raise rates and tinker faster than initially announced and next year could be a better year than many people think. ashley: some of the pessimism is based on people thinking the fed is going to be aggressive. what is your take? >> if the fed comes out three times, raise 5 or 6 and they start balance sheet runoff, if inflation gets worse, that is the risk to the downside but that is what most people are talking about. everyone predicting something is going to happen and looking forward to the market and the

consensus almost 99% of the time that's not what happened. supplies on the upside, earnings will surprise the upside and the santa claus rally you are seeing in markets is the expectation that will surprise the upside and everyone's position the markets go flat or go down and you end up with a fear of missing out effect which is how a lot of 2021 came from. we can see a similar situation in 22 if the fed does not get super aggressive but i don't know. i don't see that out of jerome powell. ashley: a packed show today, didn't get a chance to talk about all the cash on the sidelines so when we haven't downturn people rush in to buy on the dip. thank you, appreciate the time this morning. thank you, same to you.

let's look at futures pointing modestly higher, the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq and the dow and the s&p record closes yesterday, all very impressive. santa claus rally rolling on. joe rogan is making a bold 2024 presidential prediction. take a listen. >> i really believe michelle obama runs she wins, i think she wins. she is good. she is intelligent, she is articulate, the wife of the best president we've had in our lifetime. ashley: that is debatable, rogan predicts the former first lady could beat donald trump. i'm going to ask lara trump what she thinks about that. doctor fauci predicts the omicron wave will peak in the us a month from now. is that timeline realistic? i will ask doctor mark siegel after this.

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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. >> you are looking live picture of providence rhode island and you can see cloudy, 40 degrees this morning. a grizzly day in providence. looking at futures, pointing to a slightly higher open after the record close on the dow in the s&p and the nasdaq is up, down the s&p up a tenth of one%. doctor fauci says we could see the omicron wave peak by the end of january.

doctor mark siegel joins us this morning. do you agree with doctor fauci? >> i find myself agreeing with him on this though i think it will be earlier than that, some time in bid to january. i going by south africa, three or four weeks and it starts to go down. south africa has been amazing study of this. they looked at it in the lab and the hospitals. i interviewed the researchers because omicron is actually causing a substantial another the immunity and leaving in its way community to all the variants including omicron, that was the vaccine is definitely going to kick in and you will see less cases. we are at a high right now. doctor fauci is right but i think earlier it will decline. ashley: doctor fauci says it might be possible we could need yet another additional shot in the future. are we looking at cavity -- covid jabs forever now?

>> that is fear mongering, that is premature and i will tell you why. i like the way the mrna vaccines work at decreasing severity and it is obvious we would have to keep boosting them, israel has given out forth shots and always ahead of us but what he's not saying if there are vaccines in the pipeline, we are talking about one from walter redefines of defense, one from israel, one from harvard, one from mount sinai, all the second-generation vaccines have two things in common. one, they protect you against all variants and 2, they last a lot longer. that is where we are headed over the next year. a shot that lasts longer and covers all of them. ashley: the cdc director spoke about the issues with current covid testing. i will get your comments. >> the pcr test can say positive for 12 weeks. if you are waiting for negative pcr you would be isolating for months.

in terms of the antigen level we don't know how those tests perform, whether they can predict whether you can transmit virus or not. if we use an antigen test in that period if you were negative, where your mask. ashley: i find it very confusing. >> let me make it simple and not confusing. that statement is political. she is an infectious disease specialist, getting a lot of criticism for putting out a five day isolation is go back to work without a test. she's getting criticism for no test but my view is the rapid tests are quite helpful even if they are not 100%. the problem is we don't have enough and that's the biden administration's fault, when i say go back to work after 5

days let's do a rapid test. she's right about the pcr. that can stay positive for a while, you don't want to use that for a test out strategy, the rapid test is helpful especially the new road test that is just coming out. very exciting approved by the fda, 85% sensitive. that means in five days, 85% sensitive and 100% specific meaning if it is positive you can believe it. where is it, the biden administration, where is the roche test, the public-private partnership, the millions of tests in people's homes, that is what she is talking about that she wants to criticize it, the rapid tests are helpful and we need more of them. ashley: what are the chances, you can't answer this with any real sense of conviction but what is the chance of another variance cropping up after omicron. there are more greek letters to be used? >> that is an important question and i will end on an optimistic note on that. the alex siegel lab, no

relation, i wish there was, in south africa found omicron is making antibodies to other variants. if you have omicron you get an antibody for delta. that is incredible. it was like omicron may be creating an immunity that will protect you against a lot of very ands and we a be heading towards the end of the pandemic as rough as it is i see a silver lining in the crowds. ashley: i feel better already, great stuff as always. now this. michigan has a new solution to teachers calling off sick. with covid. >> anyone, anyone who works in the school to be a substitute teacher not just now, through the end of the year but these are substitutes for substitute.

bus drivers, teach their kids if they need to. i won't criticize this, her goal is to keep the schools open. she needs staff and teachers to do that but critics say it undermines quality of education but what are you supposed to do? ashley: it is like anyone walking by, can you teach a history lesson? bringing a lot of questions. on to the next one, dc mayor issuing new rules for students to be allowed back in the classroom. what are those rules? lauren: every parent is saying what happens next week? are the kids going back to school? i have an answer for washington dc. muriel bowser says any teacher or student going back january 5th must show proof of a negative tests. i know tests are hard to get, dc has them, families go to the score pick up center, pick them

up, test their kids and upload the results to a government website. they do that january 3rd and january 4th. if you have home tests already, one more thing, they are letting you take a picture of it and use that and that is important so we don't waste tests. ashley: let's look market free market, the darker s&p and nasdaq all up a tenth of one%, "the opening bell" is next. ♪♪ ♪♪ care.

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and a reminder to support our nation's greatest heroes. when you join other patriotic americans and call or go online with your support today, your gift will be matched. doubling the impact of your support for our veterans. there is no better time to call than now. thank you. you are making a difference. ashley: nasdaq is flat, let's bring in dr button -- barton. good morning to you. we've got a nice year end rally going, something you have been predicting for some time. congratulations on that. the question is does it continue into the new year?

>> we have a great chance for continuing into the new year and we can continue for some time in the new year. is omicron, high inflation, here is the thing for our viewers. we can't jump off the bus while it is still going really fast. we are doing really well. be prepared but expect for now with all the cash, be prepared for more new highs. ashley: you jump off, tuck and roll. looking at some of your pics in the banking sector, you like jpmorgan. why? >> jpmorgan is one of the best run banks. my daughter works there. not a fiduciary level at all.

there are really well run banks with lots of cash, doing trading really well, doing all of their investment banking really well. i think increasing interest rates are going to help the banks in general. you want some money at work in the financial sector and jpmorgan is a good place to be. ashley: you like microsoft. >> i do and for a special reason, interest rates are going to be going up. they are sitting on tons of cash like apple, alphabet, google, microsoft, going to get a huge return on that cash like they are waiting to put it to work in the new year. it is going to continue to propel microsoft. ashley: talking piles of cash

on the sidelines. does that protect us from selloffs because people jump back in? >> that is the key to the markets right now. everything else is dwarfed by the fact that there is $6 trillion in personal savings, that is $1 trillion, and jumping in at a guidance. >> "the opening bell" is rung and we are off, let's take a quick look at the outset. walt disney at the top. they've not begun the trade yet, boeing and travel is slightly lower, 83, 72 points. take a look at the s&p, and and

nasdaq down slightly, a tenth of one%. and see where we started. a mixed bag, alphabet, they are slightly lower, apple turned positive. amazon is up a third of one%. facebook up half of one%. tesla if we can, they are recalling some model-plaps and model 3 cars. what have you got? lauren: almost half 1 million of them. there are trunk issues and this effect slightly older model 3s andss. the rearview camera opens, the trunk keeps opening and closing or a last issue causes the trunk to open and the driver can't see as he needs to.

ashley: you don't want the trunk, or the boot as we call it in england, opening. let's look at biogen. it surges yesterday on reports that samsung is going to acquire it. it is 5%. what happened? lauren: samsung is denying that report. the company had it for a while now but it is crucial because right now biogen is feeling heat. they had that controversial expensive although they did cut the price, the alzheimer's drug, some experts are calling on the fda to withdraw approval for the drug, biogen could use some support that samsung is denying the report at biogen is down. ashley: that would do it. let's look at johnson & johnson. good news on their booster? it protect against omicron. lauren: they found two doses of the regular j and j shot and

number 2 of the booster offers 85% protection from hospitalization from omicron. that good news were vaccine that has been dogged for being less effective than pfizer and moderna. this study found the j&j works as well as a booster for people who got two pfizer shots. you can get pfizer the first round and then get j&j as your booster. that is effective for the south african study. you can mix and match. ashley: that is good news, mix and match indeed. let's get to the airlines, jetblue. the surge in covid causing the airline to delay thousands of flights was the question is how far out? lauren: mid january. they are cutting 1200 flights from today through january 13th. they want to avoid sick outs that caused them to have last-minute cancellations.

this suggests they are trying to get ahead of a further rising cases because of new year's so it seems like things get worse before they get better. i find this story to be very depressing especially for the people -- ashley: i know. is there anything more miserable? dmv? the dentist? show me micron technology. chipmakers, warning about production issues. lauren: it accounts for total global production of memory chips. covid containment measures are hurting production, could hurt production only from micron, that stock is down today but samsung as well. both tech companies warned of an impact, adding insult to injury, you thought it was time to get back to normal and things were looking better,

then you get omicron, further shutdowns. i'm afraid 2022 will look like 2021 which looks a lot like 2020. ashley: let's hope not but you could be right. let's look at micro strategies getting a boost from bitcoin. lauren: the ceo bought the recent dip, bitcoin and many cryptos have been dogged recently, he tweeted that he purchased or his company purchased another 1900 bitcoin, for $94 million, bringing total ownership to more than 124,000 bitcoin, imagine owning that much bitcoin. it is here to stay as an asset. a store value over its transactional case. ashley: i would take just one at this stage. thank you very much. it is a deal. great run through of all those stories. let's look at the dow winners. very early going, we have only

been open 5 and a half minutes. dow, was in, boeing, all moving nicely higher today, dow and disney one% on the upside, the s&p 500 winners, norwegian cruise lines up to a half%. norwegian bouncing back from yesterday, live nation, dish network and other leaders like carnival land so on. let's look at nasdaq, taking the index as you know, zoom up one.5%. walgreens, charter and appellation corporation, an idea what that is, up one%. back to the big board, the dow up half of one%, good for a 162 point gain, we gained a little momentum out of the gate. the 10 year treasury yields down 2.3 basis points at

one.53%, briefly got 155% earlier. gold slightly higher, up a couple bucks at 1808 on goals. bitcoin has been struggling of late but to come back a little bit up $65 at 47.4. crude oil $77 a barrel, up again another half of one%, could have high gas prices again next year according to those who predict such things. natural gas down 10 sense, and keep track of the national average for a gallon of regular gas coming in more than yesterday at 329. what do they pay for in california, $4.66. the new comptroller wants and nypd security detail.

this is the same guy who wanted to cut $1 billion from the police budget. bitcoin and ethereum, the crypto currency skyrocketed 1300% this year. travel chaos goes on. we will take you live to laguardia for how things are shaping up this morning. it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position.

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david lee miller is at laguardia international airport. is there any end to these cancellations incite? >> and a word no. if you think you heard this once before you are right. today marks the seventh straight day, another difficult day for travelers. it is still relatively early in the day and more than 1000 cancellations, more than 860 delays. staff shortages caused by covid resulted in majority of these disruptions. the latest data from the tracking service flightaware, jetblue canceled 17% of its flight, fewer flights through january 13th was the airlines as it offers a warning for them to consider other options.

other airlines reporting cancellations include alaska air, 14% of the schedule today asking travelers to postpone nonessential travel was united 8%, delta 3%. a quarter of all flights at seattle's seatac airport canceled in addition to covid related staff shortages, winter weather plaguing the region, they are tired, angry and frustrated. >> there was no flight, you panic and go online and they -- get squeezed into different places. canceled it and plot a new flight. >> i was supposed to come home sunday, my plane was supposed to land in seattle, it was canceled. we've been trying to get home since then. >> the nation's top infectious disease expert doctor anthony fauci suggested depending on the day there is the

possibility in the future there could be a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel but for now at least the mess would provide ample protection. ashley: misery going on at the nation's airports, the cdc is issuing new travel warnings for three european countries. which ones? >> they added sweden, malta, and mold over, level iv, at least 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past month. these are the only 3, the latest three in france, germany, italy etc.. omicron is everywhere. ashley: there go my plans for mold over. thank you very much. the average cost for a gallon of gas in the us is going to cost $3.29.

great to see you, $4 gas coming by memorial day, how bad could the summer be? >> you mentioned california 5 or 10 minutes ago, extending to the territory and refinery capacity. omicron less severe than anticipated and that will boost demand in 2022. ashley: the problem is lack of refining capacity, when is that going -- what is the problem going to be solved. >> refineries modernized in recent years but economics are not going to get better, with the clear move away from fossil

fuels, and refining capacity, most of the refining capacity, in the middle east or asia in the coming years, in the spring could result in the number of gas prices reaching the ford dollar mark. ashley: wasn't that long ago, they were touting energy independence. we didn't care will pick said. it wasn't that long ago. >> it really wasn't. then covid head and donald trump begs opec to cut capacity. and and and as we close 2022. at the end of 2022, prices that

may not get under that $3 mark. ashley: how historically, highest prices we have seen for an extended period of time. >> harkens back to the last decade in 2010-11-13-14 and opec decided to open the spigot the average household this year going to spend $2,400 on gasoline. it hasn't been that high since 2014. you talk about inflation, higher gas prices likely to stick around this year. ashley: so many are still driving the big suvs. is this the year we see a push towards the vehicles? that's not your specialty but it may be a boost for the e vehicle business. >> as you mentioned as many as we are seeing on the streets,

my neighbor went out and got a ford bronco and i got an suv as well. the americans making the move are going to bigger vehicles that are less fuel-efficient. it is essentially an offset right now. ashley: it really is and it will hurt the pocketbook next year. thank you for your comments and giving us fair warning. coming up next russia's president putin set to talk with president biden today is tensions flare on russia's border with ukraine, jack keane is here with his expert analysis. always look forward to that. they say tiktok is dangerous for their kids, we have that report after this. ♪♪ roam around the world ♪♪ rome if you want to

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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: now this. tiktok facing fresh challenges over possible damage to kids and teens. mark meredith is in washington

with this, what is done in response to these challenges? >> tiktok is always working to make sure the platform is safe for its futures and boasts 1 billion users on its platform each month but the apps helps a lot of people create and share viral trends is facing a barrage of bad headlines hell the apps is used including the alexa device, one mom blasting amazon and tiktok after her our daughter asked the device for challenge and it suggested she plug in a phones either health into an outlet, touch a penny to the exposed pronged, that's a terrible idea but on tiktok there was a video viral trend, and as soon as we became aware of this error, taking steps to prevent something like that from happening again. not just consumers complaining. a former moderator of tiktok content is suing the company saying it failed to protect her mental health when she was on the job.

she says she was mentally exhausted after watching videos of graphic sexual content violence and animal abuse. the lawsuit alleges force workers to perform under unsafe conditions so they are not commenting on the specific losses but our safety team partners with third-party farms on the critical work of helping the tiktok platform and community and continue to expand on a range of services so moderators feel supported, mentally and emotionally. other social media companies face of the complaints from their employees, facebook agreed to a $52 million settlement with some of its moderators who complain they were too often exposed to inappropriate content that this lawsuit was interesting. ashley: let's look at these markets for you. we are all in the green, the s&p and the nasdaq trending

higher by 0.2%. still ahead, we have lara trump, general jack keane, tom homan and andy biggs, the 10 am hour of "varney and company" is next. ♪♪ ♪♪ throughout history i've observed markets shaped by the intentional and unforeseeable. for investors who can navigate this landscape, leveraging gold, a strategic and sustainable asset... feeder. . .

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♪. ashley: there is the city, new york city, with the empire state building, its spire shrouded in clouds and fog. there you have it, new york city. not a lot of sunshine there. good morning. it is 10:00 a.m. eastern. i'm ashley webster in today for stuart varney. get straight to your money. markets on the youside, nothing great. let's be honest the dow is on the pace for the 47 record close. look at johnson & johnson. they say the booster shot offers

strong protection against the omicron variant. up a quarter of a percent for j&j. we bottom the latest read on mortgage rates. lauren, the number please. lauren: up slightly 3.31% for the 30-year fixed. cyclicals, housing, manufacturing, they're holding up. how much so? redfin put out a report, ashley, median sales home prices rose 15% this year. record high $361,000. four in 10 homes sold above the listing price. ashley: yeah. that is remarkable. cooling off, i think it is cooling off just a little bit right now. stu, it has been an incredible run. lauren, thank you. now this, the white house is not going to sign covid test contracts until late next week. rachel campos duffy joins me

now. good morning, rachel. this will further delay, right, the process of making tests available. i say we need them now, better yet, weeks ago. >> weeks ago. there is no excuse for why this administration didn't get this done earlier. they were presented a plan back in october and they rejected it. no one understands why they would do that. the only thing i can think of is the lack of priorities. they have put all their faith in just vaxing everybody. that has been the one step solution. they have also been, you know, going after parents at school boards, all kinds of other woke agenda items and not putting emphasis on the one thing that would get the economy back on track, put the pandemic 100% behind under the circumstances as we should be 100% at this point in my opinion. ashley: i want to get your comments on that. msnbc anchor nicole wallace was

blasted after she fawned over dr. fauci. get your comments. >> i'm a fauci groupie. thrice vaccinated ad her end. i buy n95 masks by the caseload. i they are in my pocket, wear them everywhere except when i sit down. ashley: she could wear them all at the same time, that is probably nice. a fauci grouppy, i would put all the money in the house on the fact that you are not a fauci groupie, right? >> i'm not a fauci groupie but she seems more like a cultist. this is the problem. some fauci people have religious candles with his picture on them. it is bizarre. she must be having a crisis of faith in her god fauci, so many things have been exposed in the last year beginning with emails came out how he tried to squash the great barrington

declaration, all the scientists behind that. he is a very insecure god. he doesn't want any dissenters. he has done cruel experiments on animals. he funneled our tax dollars to ecohealth for dangerous gain of function research. we also know that he tried to take the entire u.s. government off the trail of china very early on when nobody more than dr. fauci should have have known the chinese were very likely, that was a lab leak that came from wuhan. you knew more than anybody in our federal government about that yet he tried to keep everyone off the trail. i i could go on and on. he lied about masks. he lied people didn't need masks because he wanted to preserve them. the man says he is science. he is a god himself. poor nicole wallace, she looks so pat threat i can, i doesn't know if she knows it.

ashley: she does now. let me ask you this, rachel, we see the president vacationing in delaware, i said maryland, i'm sorry, of course in rehobeth beach. delaware i don't think the optics are great as we continue to battle the new variant strain or is that being unfair? does the president deserve to hang out on vacation this week? >> i mean optics matter. i'm one of those people. i understand how this thing works. there is lots of technology. lots of ways for the president to get his information. his advisors travel with him. that doesn't worry me. it worries me is on the beachwearing a mask by himself. that is much more of a troubling message to the united states of america about what how little he's learned about this virus in two years. this is a man whose administration refuses to acknowledge natural immunity, has refused to look into early treatments, probably responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives lost because they actually

squashed, prohibited, censored doctors from doing early treatments this man has done nothing over the last two years. that is far more troubling than him taking a walk, going on vacation at his beach home. i'm much more troubled by the fact he learned nothing as exhibit a, him wearing a mask on a beach by himself. ashley: i know. it was pretty striking to say the least. before we to, rachel, i want to point out you're hosting fox's "all american new year." you're live from my stomping ground, nashville. you will be there with will cain, pete hegseth. that will be a lot of fun. my question to you, do you have a new year's resolution? >> i do. i am going to work on getting up early to work out if i don't do it never happens if i tree to do later in the day. i have a life coach on the podcast to talk to me about why

that is not been happening. catch my podcast this week, from the kitchen table with sean. we'll talk to the life coach about resolutions, how to keep them. maybe i will get some good advice. ashley: last piece of advice for you, rachel, keep an eye on hegseth, that is all i'm going to say. keep that in mind. >> we always do. ashley: nashville, new year's eve, well it could be, i will leave it at that. >> it will be fun! ashley: have a great time tomorrow night in nashville. can't wait to see that thank you, rachel. >> thank you. happy new year. ashley: same to you, rachel. the biden administration is praising a new 137 million-dollar deal to build a covid test strip factory. there is just one problem though, isn't there, lauren? lauren: ashley, this is the most depressing store ever. the white house inked a deal with a german company. they will build a factory to make the paper where you get the

results of your covid test. the plant is in wisconsin. great, we need it. it will not be ready for three years. why is that depressing? a, we have to wait three years. we don't have enough tests. in 2025 we'll still be dealing with all this. that is the prediction. that factory can produce 85 million covid tests per month. ashley: we need the sad trombone don't we, wa, wa. no sadness here, let's bring in michelle schneider. you're the author of, plant your money tree. this year-end rally, my question to you, does it continue into the new year? >> well at this point we have a very strong bullish sentiment and it is not even as high as it was back in early november when we started to move up. and so i would way at this point we have a couple factors to really watch.

the rotation out of big tech into some of the industrials and manufacturing is probably the best sign we have and also transportation doing well. ashley: it is interesting, we talked a lot on this show, michelle, the at of money on the sidelines, trillions of dollars. even if we do have a selloff, we've seen the cycle people buy on the dips. do you see that continuing into the new year? >> very possible. it is interesting that you said that because i went to dinner last night and some friends who have stock portfolios said they have been in cash the entire year, terrified to get involved. ashley: wow. >> really looking at us as traders and investors to give them some confidence which of course we did and really people are nervous because all they hear is a lot of negative news but yet on these other tokens, absolutely, retail investors are ones coming in to buy the dip. options trading has exploded this year. there is a lot of really good

signs, however we know things can get too frothy. obviously we still have inflation watch to look at, fed policy, i don't think it will get all that aggressive but nonetheless we've got to look right now in terms of bringing money back in. a lot of the stocks have been beat up, a lot of value stocks coming back to life and really we have to watch the transportation sector which could go to new all-time all tio have to watch the small caps which represents industrial manufacturing to see optimism, economic growth. then we'll see a lot more money from the sidelines if all of that happens. ashley: very quickly, michelle, got like 15 seconds, what sector out of all them do you like in particular in the new year? >> i really like meld devices here for many reasons. -- medical devices. one near all-time highs already. two it is sort of inflation-proof. three, after seeing a lot of health care stocks fly in 021 it

will now trickle into more research and development and people buying, when i say people, institutional buying of medical devices like intuitive surgical for example, fantastic, michelle. great to have you on the show. appreciate your insight and your comments, thank you. let's bring in lauren. you have some movers. let's begin with didi. lauren: the uber of china fell. quarterly revenue fell, reported a quarterly loss. all because of beijing crackdown on the sector and security mapping could be a national security risk. i know the stock is up but it is down 34% this month. of course they're delisting into new york and eventually going to hong kong. take a look at royal caribbean, the kruczek tore is very volatile. how is omicron affecting cruising, cancellations for near

term sailing going into the first half the year. the market dismissing that concern. this is spin i don't have of virgin atlantic and sir richard branson's second company to reach the nasdaq. they traded this morning as a spac. ashley: president biden taking heat for touting the best economy in 50 years. seriously? what about record inflation and ongoing supply chain crisis just for two? we'll take that on. a border patrol agent forced to remove about this tweet, about a possible terror suspect caught trying to sneak across the southern border. midnight migrant flights are reportedly flying into president's hometown of scranton, pennsylvania. former i.c.e. director tom homan reacts to it after the break.

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all-time high up. 4806 on the s&p. a new report claims that the biden administration is secretly flying unaccompanied migrant children into president biden's hometown of scranton, pennsylvania, on christmas. governor tom wolf defending the flight. on recent weeks passed through the wilkes-barre airport on route to the final desstation to be unified with their parents or sponsor. interesting, why in the dead of night. tom homan joins me now. local politicians say no one was given notice about these flights. what is going on? >> look this has been going on since the biden administration. they're delivering children, what is really going on here,

they're delivering children at taxpayer expense to many of the same people that pay the criminal organizations to smuggle them. the biden administration is basically finishing the criminal conspiracy of smuggling which is a felony. many of these sponsors and parents, first of all they're here illegally themselves. they hire a criminal organization to smuggle the child to the border. us as a taxpayer pay for the child sent to dhs and flown to a parent or sponsor that smuggled them sheer. it is really ridiculous. ashley: no wonder then we have wave after wave trying to make their way illegally across the border. i mean it is not exactly brain surgery, is it? >> thanks for saying that because you know this has been happening over the years and what happens to all those not just the children but all the family groups that are released at night, what happens to them? well under the biden amnesty plan, if they're here illegally for a year over a year, they're successfully hid from the authorities for a year, they're

going to get amnesty. that is what, one of the factors keeps driving the border focus. we prove as a country, you can enter the country illegally, ignore the court order you have to be removed, hide out, be successful, hiding out for a year and we'll reward you. ashley: it is a slap in the face for every person that tries to do that legally. it is just wrong. tell you what, tom, we showed our audience this tweet last week about a capture of a potential terrorist at the southern border. well that tweet has been deleted. customs and border protection says it was deleted, because, quote, it contained law enforcement sensitive information violating agency protocols. cpb is continuing to investigate the matter following its standard protocols but, tom, isn't this something we should know? if a potential terrorist may have entered the u.s. we should be told about this? >> absolutely. it should be telling the

american people. look the border patrol already arrested 15 people on the fbi screening database, 15. that is what they have arrested. you and i both know terrorists don't want to get arrested, right? they want to cross the border to get here unscathed. if you look at half a million "gotaways", 500,000 people never got arrested by border patrol based on sensor traffic, drone traffic, they couldn't respond it how many of the half a million are suspected terrorists. this should care the hell out of everybody. if you open the border to immigration, half the border patrol is no longer on the line processing family groups, that is the when people like terrorists take advantage of a vulnerable border. ashley: it is a national security crisis but they won't acknowledge it. last one for you, tom, you have a new op-ed out, hearing is titled crime surge blame game. politicians point fingers but their policies make things worse. which policies in particular are

you talking about? >> sanctuary city policy where the local jurisdiction don't cooperate with i.c.e. for instance i.c.e. used to be in rikers island jail in new york city. every time a illegal alien got arrested for a crime, he went to rikers island, he got serving the sentence, got turned over to i.c.e. and got deported so they don't reoffend. de blasio kicked i.c.e. out. blaming leftist district attorneys and defunding the police but he also should look in the mirror, first day he got elected they kicked i.c.e. out of the jail. i.c.e. used to remove thousands of criminals out of l.a. and he stopped cooperating with him. these jurisdictions want to play the blame game and work with i.c.e. to remove foreign nationals that commit crimes against u.s. citizens. instead they release public

safety threats back into the public instead of working with i.c.e. ashley: it makes no sense. why are so people so opposed to i.c.e. doing their jobs when these individuals clearly as to your point pose a threat to public safety? i just don't get it. >> i don't get it either. because i call the l.a. county sheriff. most sheriffs honor i.c.e. because they care about public safety. sheriff like l.a. county, he stopped sheriff the day he made that position. he is no longer a law enforcement officer in my eyes. he is not doing everything he can to protect the community he is supposed to protect. ashley: exactly right. tom homan, thanks for joining us, we do appreciate it. >> happy new year. ashley: same to you. tom homan. great stuff. now this, earlier this month the fifth circuit court of appeals ruled that the biden administration had to reinstate trump's remain in mexico policy, but lauren, now, the

administration wants the supreme court to weigh in. lauren: yeah. so the administration thinks remain in mexico, where the asylum-seekers must wait in mexico while their cases are heard here in the u.s., they say it is unfair and it doesn't address the root causes of migration so they have petitioned the high court to clarify if the trump policy must continue. but the doj keeps getting legal setbacks. they're continuing to try. if you look at the situation on the border, right? border patrol encountered more than 1.7 million migrants at the southern border this year and that is more than last two years put together. so it is pretty bad. policies like remain in mexico do improve it but they don't even want to improve it. ashley: they do. don't get me started. another one for you, the new dccc email strategist, getting backlash over her past tweets, can you take us through some of

them? lauren: so the biggest question is, was she even vetted by the dccc? she is their new email and social media strategist and here is some much her own posts on social media. here is one of them. i will read it in part. it is on police, she writes, i have always supported abolition. here is another, she says google always does that video, this year you asked, they put the top google results. this year you asked, how do you burn down a police station? one more if that is not enough. quote, i will make it my life's mission to abolish i.c.e. those are democrats priorities because if the dccc vetted miss ends worth, i don't think she would head up that department. ashley: no, one would hope not. lauren, thank you very much. joe rogan by the way thinks he knows the democrats winning ticket for 2024, barack obama

and kamala harris. just one problem the vp's polling is below the president's low numbers. that could be an issue. elon musk predicting mars will have its own currency. mars. he said it will be a crypto of course. we'll explain 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. ♪♪

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ashley: let's look at the markets. second to last trading day of the year. we're in the green again. dow up 83 points. nasdaq up half a percent. s&p up a quarter of a percent. lauren, come back in here. take a look at some of the stocks. you're looking at at&t. lauren: they're participating in a new program with the government for cheaper broadband. a partnership with cricket wireless. customers can save about $30 a month. at&t stock up a little bit. look at ford, earlier in the week, first time in 2016 ford had a bigger market value than general motors. the stock is up today one 1/4%

because they're making moves to build profitability. unfortunately stops making cars in india because they are not making money there. this is nio, china's electric vehicle powerhouse, the stock is up 7.7%. look it is still unprofitable but it is very popular, gaining market share. if you look at the price, it is at 30 and change but the average price target on nio is $62. so the question is, why is it so undervalued? the answer is, potential chinese pressure for it to delist from the new york stock exchange. that is another challenge, ashley, for u.s. investors seeking exposure to china. in this case solid companies can't make money when you have that overhang what is going to happen because of pressure from the chinese government. ashley: yes, from beijing. lauren, thank you very much. i will talk about bitcoin now, let's take a look at that. we'll bring in anthony denir, the ceo at webil.

bitcoin at 47,300 now. anthony, bitcoins are slumping a little bit as we get to the end of the year. so i guess my question is, what is outlook for next year, do you think? >> that is a pretty deep question when you talk about what is going on for next year. if you look at the last quarter of the movement in crypto, we had bitcoin at 65,000, now trading just below 50. the fact we're in the penultimate trading day of the year being the day before the last, we see, you know, all the major cryptos are down less than 1%. that is not really not a huge selloff in the world of crypto. so, it is a trader's market out there, right? we're seeing volatility. this is when traders are getting active. it could be a possibility of seeing year-end window dressing tomorrow which would not surprise me to see a little up tick overnight in crypto prices. 2022, will be the real year for crypto, when we see what the regulators are going to do, but

how the public is going to view these types of products because, if you look at every major systemic money center bank in the united states, they're all jockeying to be the best and biggest custodian for all major cryptos, right? so this trend of digital currency, cryptocurrency is not going away. in fact it will be ramped up. in fact most professionals believe 2022 will be the year that the sec finally puts down some basic framework for regulation of these products. i'm a long-term buyer of the products. short term there will be volatility. ashley: yeah, but if the sec does that it is off to the races, right? you're currently testing dogecoin, the most requested cryptocurrency to be added to your platform. will it rally next year? how do you see that playing out? >> i'm not a bull on dogecoin. dogecoin is a derivative of a

much more legitimate type of blockchain technology. there is a bunch like that. there is inu, and dogecoin, the list goes on. i think those will start fading away over time. this is more of a social media popularity story than actual fundamental or infrastructure story for digital currencies for blockchain going forward. i woo not advise my family and friends to get involved in doge. ashley: you have spoken. anthony, fascinating stuff that you come back, thank you for joining us. elon musk says mars, how about that, will have a currency. did he say which one, lauren? lauren: he hinted towards dogecoin but he as flexible, ashley. >> i think mars itself will need to have a different currency. i don't know if mars will have a cryptocurrency thing are but probably, seems likely but kind of localized thing on mars.

the future of mars should be up to the martians. lauren: i mean, it's great. it's great. i would never even think of currency on mars but that's why we have elon musk and other smart people this is a wide-ranging podcast interview. musk said a few other things i want to quickly point out. he doesn't get ether. he thinks nick zabo is the closest thing to the creator of bitcoin. everybody is trying to figure out who exactly is the creator. we still don't have an answer and i'm not sure it matters. ashley: no, it doesn't. i love the comment. we'll leave it up to the martians. lauren, the largest cryptocurrency binance coin, that outperformed leaders this year by how much. lauren: they all did well, but up 1300% this year. bitcoin by comparison was up 65%. i was thinking 100,000 by the end of the year, felt like we would get there in october and

november. ether up more than 400%. there you have it. you were talking with the we bull ceo about dogecoin? ashley: yes. lauren: he is right. it is popular on social media, popular because of elon musk. it was the number one crypto on stock twist. so you know, it does have that social reputation. ashley: there you have it. it does indeed. lauren, thank you very much. all right, now this, do you have plans for new year's eve? dr. fauci says this is not the year to have them. oh, great. i wonder if that means the trumps will can sell their annual new year's eve party at mar-a-lago? i hope not. lara trump will be here next hour and i will ask the question. speaking of 2022, we're kicking off the year with major debt and democrats planning to spend more next year. we'll have a report on that.

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ashley: all right. check the markets as the santa claus rally continues to roll on. nasdaq half a percent. dow, s&p to positive territory. now this, president biden is getting mocked about posting about his economic record this year. lauren, is it about what he said or who he is saying backs up his claim? lauren: i'm going with both. let me show you the tweet. i want to point out variations what was said in the tweet have been said previously in speeches. here is the tweet, we're ending one 2021 within analyst described as the strongest economic track record of any president in the last 50 years.

let's keep the progress going. this is so tone deaf. americans are dealing with inflation and covid. it is also a stretch because the economy bounced back this year from lockdown. so basically the economy had to do well this year if you're coming off of being shut down and then the best part is, who is the one analyst? any idea? ashley: i have no idea but it is pretty funny, you know, picks on social media. let's put it that way. lauren: yes. there are. we should have showed you some of them. my bad. ashley: i wish we could. anyway, no worries. lauren, thank you. take a look at this the national debt is nearly 30 interest dollars, remarkable as we head into the new year. lydia hu is in washington, looking how democrat spending plans could hurt our economic health even more. good morning to you, lydia. can you break it down for us? reporter: good morning, ashley.

the country is already paying about one billion dollars in interest per day on that near $30 trillion in debt you mentioned. that is according to the peter g peterson foundation. recently congress raised the debt limit by 2 1/2 trillion dollars. law make remembers considering more spending with president biden's $1.7 trillion "build back better" agenda as we enter the new year. the congressional budget office found the version of the plan passed by the house in november would add 365 billion in the deficit through 2031. that is not including 207 billion in revenue from irs enforcement. meanwhile with that "build back better" stalled some republicans are calling for more oversight, demanding a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. senator lindsey graham of south carolina said it would force lawmakers to balance the budget each year as it required

in his state but for now the national debt is snowballing. look at this when president clinton left office in 2001, the debt was 5.6 trillion. it nearly doubled during president george w. bush's administration to almost 10.7 trillion. nearly doubled again during president barack obama's administration to almost $20 trillion. almost 8 trillion was added during the trump administration to reach more than $27 trillion. consider this, ashley. if we needed to pay off the near $30 trillion in debt that we have right now the u.s. debt clock.org says that each taxpayer would owe $232,240. feels like a breathtaking sum. to add one other point, ashley, we spoke to an expert, dr. merrill matthews for institute of policy innovation, he made a point continued spending with congress like

"build back better," if we go in the same rate within 10 years we could conceiveably reach up to 60 to $70 trillion in national debt in the next decade. ashley: wow, a billion dollars of interest every day. truly frightening. lydia, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. new year, new minimum wage for workers in arizona but with skyrocketing inflation how will businesses react? arizona congressman andy biggs will be here next hour to take that on. president biden and russian president vladmir putin set to host a second kuhl this month hours from now. we have a report on that. i will ask general jack keane if he thinks the growing tensions along ukraine's border is a growing crisis. that's next. ♪

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ashley: now this, president biden and russia's vladmir putin will speak by phone this afternoon as tensions in ukraine escalate. it will be the second call between the two this month. rich edson is in delaware this

morning. rich, this call comes at the request of president putin, right? reporter: that's according to white house officials, ashley. the call will take place around 3:30 this afternoon according to the white house schedule. president biden is here at his home in wilmington, delaware. that is where he will speak again with the russian president. this comes at a time when russia is massing troops on ukraine's border. russia appears to prepare to seize control of its neighbor's territory, at least preparing to do so as it did in georgia in 2008 and ukraine in 2014. this time officials say the russian military has about 100,000 troops along its border with ukraine. russia claims it wants security assurances. senior biden administration officials say the west plans on raising its own concerns and is also threatening sanctions in russia invades. >> we are working with our allies in that regard.

we are prepared to issue sanctions you have not seen before. reporter: republicans claim biden's policy towards russia has been too conciliatory. they point to the administration waving congressionally mandating sanctions against a builders of a national gas pipeline to germany, the nord stream 2, which would weaken the position of american allies like ukraine and poland and strengthen russia's hand in europe. senior administration officials cited the u.s. relationship with germany waiving the sanctions. former secretary of state mike pompeo says moves like that only encourage the kremlin. >> what you've seen him putting pressure on the americans, looking for concessionsing trying to achieve something through threats and cohesion he doesn't want to do militarily but prepared to push the biden administration to the edge. reporter: senior russian and american officials are scheduled to have a conversation in person about all of this and other security issues. that is expected to come on

january 10th. senior white house officials say they do not expect presidents biden and putin to participate in those discussions directly. ashley? ashley: rich, thank you very much. general jack keane joins me now. general, good morning. one official is calling this a moment of crisis. is that how you see it? >> well, yes, certainly. it has been a crisis for some time when 110,000 troops on the border of ukraine, a crisis i may say, ashley, completely precipitated by putin. he has shown his hand now because he's put together a proposal for the united states and nato to consider which is absolutely breathtaking in its scope because he suggested reconstructing the security architecture that has existed in europe since the collapse of the soviet union. by that i'm saying he is demanding that there be no further expansion of nato

whatsoever to include ukraine, no assistance to ukraine in terms of military troops, activity, or arms, and the second proposal is amazing. he is saying that the 14 countries that have joined nato since 1997, we can no longer put nato troops into those countries, conduct any military activity, nor can those countries increase their military activity themselves that would potentially threaten russia. if that was the case, what we're saying he is rolling back nato to what it used to be during the cold war and it reveals how strongly he is concerned about the former soviet union countries now being a part of nato. listen, no one is going to agree to that last proposal that i suggested, nor the fact that the united states i don't believe will agree at all to the fact that night toe nato cannot be

expanded. putin is playing hardball here. he precipitated the crisis. he thinks he has the leverage. ashley you say, why is he doing this? i suspect he believes there is significant political and social division inside of europe and also inside of the united states and here is an opportunity here. when he sees opportunity, he moves quickly on it. i believe he also thinks he is deal with a president who will make a concession much easier than go to a confrontation. i believe he clearly intends to take advantage of the united states. ashley: yeah. it is interesting. secretary of defense lloyd austin ordering our warships to stay in the mediterranean because of those rising tensions but you know what, general? even though i think putin comes across as very aggressive, he is very intuitive, some would argue when it actually comes down to it he is pretty conservative and

if he goes ahead and tries to invade ukraine and loses the result could be significant? >> no, i agree with that. putin is not reckless. he is extremely calculated but he sees strategic opportunity. he saw it certainly dealing, annexing crimea and saw it certainly by putting the military incursion into syria to stand up, prop up the assad regime when they were in dire straits and could possibly have been toppled here. i think he sees opportunity here. the strength of the united states is critical here. he has got, we've got to make putin understand that there is huge costs associated here and he has, putin has got to believe that those statements are credible. that is the concern i have. because i believe in the back of his mine he thinks he can take advantage of this president and the european leaders and that's why we're in this crisis.

ashley: all right. we'll have to leave it there. be interesting to see how this plays out. general keane, as always, thank you so much for your time today. great stuff. >> happy new year, ashley. ashley: still ahead, happy new year to you, general. arizona congressman andy biggs, lara trump, look at that lineup, they're all coming up in the third hour of "varney" which is next. ♪.

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change omicron provide substantial immunity and leaving in its wake. my view is the rapid test are helpful even if they are not 100%. but we don't have enough and that is the biden that ministration's fault. >> it is far more troubling than him going on vacation at his beach home. >> no matter how much president biden claims things are going great everyone is experiencing

a different economy. >> we have a great chance of this continuing to the new year. jump off the bus while it is still going really fast. >> people are nervous because all they hear is negative news so there are a lot of finds but things could get fraudy. >> it is a waiting game and that is why 2022 is front and loaded, the highest prices at the end of 2022. we are talking prices that may not get under the $3 mark. ♪♪ ashley: plenty of clouds in new york city as you look at the empire state building. it is 11:00 am on the east coast on this thursday december 30th, new year's eve eve. i'm in it today for stuart varney and as you look at the markets you can see we are

green all the way across modestly so was that our attends, s&p same story, nasdaq up half of one%. let's look at the 10 year treasury which is yo-yoing recently. went up briefly above 155, now down nearly two basis points at 153, one.53%. virginia teachers are firing back after the arlington school district floats implemented a more equitable grading system. the proposal would remove late penalties for homework assignments, no longer allow students to earn extra credit. allow for unlimited redos of assignments and would even eliminate grading on homework assignments. many students are already so behind from the pandemic, how is this going to help? >> when we spend time in these

battles instead of doing the right thing when it comes to education and keeping children in schools going we are leaving them behind. a nation no matter what nation it is requires you to the educated, to track a path to earnings, build out your personal business model and all these battles overall this leftist nonsense which is dangerous no matter what it is is pushing our students behind. covid restrictions, mandates, you name it, together, american children are losing, therefore the nation is losing, in the long run, and economic gap. ashley: it is a race to the bottom. that is what you don't want when it comes to education. >> life doesn't come without standards. when you take a job and get

into a profession no matter what the profession is you have to do when you build a car and if your financial advisor, the best financial advisor, no matter what your job is in life it doesn't come with low standards, you and the business don't survive. we need to take a bigger look at this as a country and parents, parents need to get more and more involved in this, not just battle over critical race theory and other social issues. ashley: next one for you to chew on, the incoming new york city comptroller will have an nypd security detail show for him around the city. this is the same man who called to cut the nypd budget by $1 billion. if you don't like the police why use them? >> rules for thee and not for brad lander, the detail quality

to defend the police and happens to live on a military base. how many new yorkers in brooklyn would love to be in port hamilton rather than somewhere else, you are talking a dozen or so police officers and resources committed to a guy, whose job according to this, comptroller's investment advisor to custodian of assets of the city's five public pension funds which provide retirement security, who is threatening this guy that he needs the security detail? go to work. your chief accountant for the city, nobody cares about you. go and do your job. ashley: i guarantee you know one cup volunteered for that assignment. >> police officer, you and i know a lot of them.

these officers go to protect the citizenry, not to run pumped up details, they recognize security details for the mayor if there is a threat. was there a threat assessment done on bread lander? i would love to see that. maybe eric adams can answer that question. what is the threat assessment the determined he needed a dozen or so police officers? >> we will their, classics of as always, great to see you this morning. we just got breaking news on vaccine mandates in new york city. come in, todd pyro. what is going on? >> incoming mayor eric adams says the private sector employee vaccine mandate will stay in place when he takes office this weekend, adams will

keep the mass mandates in place, the city will not make a decision about vaccine requirements for schools until the spring, they are on track to reopen monday despite rising omicron cases. when he took over it might go away and it might be a four day bill deblasio requirements but it will be much longer than that. ashley: i guess i am surprised and disappointed. let's check the markets now as we move slightly higher today, in a muted session, trading volume is down, a holiday week but we are on the upside. i want to bring in brian belsky. you are bullish going into 2022 but not extremely bullish. what are some of the things that are worrying you a little bit? >> thank you for your support.

it is rare we would do that, we are at 4200, 4500 and revise again at 4800, a little over a day to go we are at 4800 and that is almost a 30% return on the market. three double-digit years in a row 2019, 2021. four is not out of the question but we just think given the fact the us markets are transitioning more toward a fundamentally and earnings driven market, that traditionally portends to more volatile returns overall believe it or not and as we start to normalize and moderate there is going to be some ebbs and flows. that's why we think it is more important than ever to be a stock picker, the stock market is the market of stock investors should not be making index level decisions but more on the stock by stock basis so it's back to good old-fashioned

stock picking. >> a difficult environment. we talk about the trillions of dollars of cash sitting on the sidelines. the entire gains this year, they didn't feel confident enough to jump in. what do you tell your clients to put their money to work and how hard is it to do that in this environment? >> is all about the 3 fs, fear, faith, fundamentals. how do you defuse fear through faith and what is faith in the market fundamentals? we think it still looks very good but society is bombarded with negativity and i would rather be positive, equities are typically positive, bonds are negative, we had a 40 year bull market and bonds, no one talks about that. there's a lot of money out of the bond market into the equity

market over the next 10 years and that makes me bullish on a 25 year bull market college originated in 2010. be that as it may we think we are climbing the wall of worry. think about what we were worried about, the blue wave come a higher inflation, higher interest rates but we were able to put up a 30% return it comes back to fundamentals, we have the best companies in the world in the united states and we should by those as investors. ashley: you say forget about looking at the sectors, it's more about individual stocks. what do you mean by that? >> it is a thematic fundamental stock picker's market. a lot of investors i talk to don't even know how to talk about brands or cash flow or balance sheets. the theme in financials is scaled, brokerages that can exude scale. the good old-fashioned brand, for technology, the consumer stable like apple or microsoft

were structural growers like nvidia that continue to do very well, you have to think about themes going forward. ashley: great information, thank you for joining us, much appreciate that. happy new year to you. you got a look at the movers. let's begin with biogen. >> stocks being cut in half from the record earlier this year. take a lot of troubles launching that controversial alzheimer's drug, seeing their generics eat away at their blockbusters and they got the report, being acquired by samsung at a $42 billion dilution being denied today, it is more than 7%. it is good news that might not happen. pellets on, we are seeing an 8%

gain but stock is down 70% after a 400% run-up in 2020. they could be up today because they are down so much this year but also some new products and countries looking to get into in 2022 and investors are turning optimistic. they might think omicron will keep us home a little bit. my favorite of the day, match group. tender's busiest days january 2nd, between 7:00, and 10:00 at night. what is this? new year's eve if people go out, they don't want to do their so their resolution is to, you know, have a partner, no more strangers so they get on the apps. ashley: makes sense. >> i think so. i have no idea why january 2nd is the busiest day. ashley: i think you are absolutely right but if you kiss a stranger doctor fauci

will chase you and throw you in fauci jail. now this. lauren: you ss somebody. ashley: police in china parade people through the streets to shame them after they are caught breaking covid protocols. we have that story. the us hit a record number of covid cases and where is the president? he is on the beach in a mask playing with his new puppy. where is the leadership? november border crossings up 140% from the same time last year. congressman andy biggs says it will only get worse if the president doesn't change course. congressman biggs joins us next. ♪♪ i got a new attitude ♪♪ i'm in control ♪♪

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ashley: you are looking at phoenix, arizona. it is 48 degrees today. if you move there for year-round warmth you probably want your money back. a lot of cold weather, stormy weather out west, not storing the chili in arizona. talking of arizona the status it to raise the minimum wage to $12.80 an hour starting in the new year. congressman andy biggs, republican from arizona joined me now. how are businesses in your state reacting to the hike in

the minimum wage. >> this was done by voters through an initiative process that triggered the cpi so it is going to keep going up but a problem like this, i was thinking about this, talked to a couple restaurant tours in the past week or so and they can't keep help, they are paying well above the minimum wage and there are so many jobs available in arizona today, even above the minimum wage and a lot of this is because of the bonuses that were given, you have this massive shortage of labor. ashley: it is affecting everyone across the country. restaurants having to pay more and more to entice people to come and work. the next one, you just returned from a visit to the southern border. tell us what you see. >> probably as bad or worse than i had ever seen. i went to multiple gaps and

every gap i went to, the first one, the cvp finish transporting a big group out of there. local law enforcement was all that was there at that gap. 45 minutes to an hour, literally behind me, probably as some constituents, maybe 150 people kept pouring through. these people are coming across very casually. they are dressed nice, probably flew into mexico and uber over, everyone has faced timing, calling him and telling everybody how it is the cvp is overrun, transporting and processing and it was local law enforcement, they are walking

across like they are walking into a store, like walmart or something. ashley: beyond anything else it is a national security crisis. what are they doing? >> the white house is not doing anything really. my sources along the border tell me we've caught more than the highest level of domestic, the terrorist watchlist, than ever before. that is what we have found this year alone. the massive national security prices, humanitarian crisis and it is not going to get better. this administration is doing nothing about it. ashley: absolutely. is the border wall and the billing of the border wall the answer? >> it is a significant detriment. you can do a number of things but in a 10 mile stretch i can

show lots of the border that people for over. 62 linear miles have nothing but a normandy barrier and no one does that, but i just cross. it would be helpful. ashley: something. what impact does this have on cities and towns near the border, cpb is overrun but what impact does this have on the people of arizona. >> social service providers maxed out. there was an increase in crime rates and detention facilities and hospitals that are going across the borders. all the social services are being stretched to the limit and you've got a lot of private-sector folks trying to

help that have done a great job in assisting and it is a terrible situation right now. ashley: we are out of time. we hope the white house is listening but wouldn't hold my breath. appreciate your time. let's check the markets if we can, thank you. the dow still up barely, 20 points, the nasdaq up half of one%, the s&p higher at 4800. let's look at johnson & johnson. a south african study of healthcare workers shows two doses of the j&j shot was 84% effective at preventing hospitalization from omicron. the study found a jab works as well as a booster for people who originally got pfizer. now this. one university is barring students from leaving the

county once the spring semester begins. what school? do they have roadblocks set up? what are they doing? >> may be some of the smartest students in our country but their own school won't let them leave because of covid. we are talking about princeton university before bidding students from leaving mercer county, literally preventing leaving the county in new jersey once the semester begins until at least february 15th. keep in mind these restrictions do not apply to the sports teams. they can go wherever they work. this includes undergrad gatherings of 20 people and sparring food, no food at events because they want to avoid the need for mask removal. all princeton students are required to be vaccinated. ashley: all right. this is interesting. i want to take a look at this alarming video. chinese police power rating covid rule breakers through the streets. what are they accused of doing? lauren: compared to be locked in mercer county this may not

be the worst thing but armed police in southern china parading four alleged violators of covid rules to the streets, the blue were recused of smuggling people across china's closed border. earlier this week they were led to the streets wearing hazmat suits and signs showing their name and photos. it has resurfaced in the struggle to enforce a 0 covid policy. you thought what we did in the states was bad, look at china. ashley: that is harsh to say the least. times square in new york city testing the famous new year's eve ball drop. i guess they've already done it. it is going back up. only 15,000 people will be let into times square on new year's eve. everyone must be vaccinated and masked but testing out the ball drop. now this. call it a sign of the times,

some of the hottest new year's eve parties will be held in the meta-verse. what fun? you never have to leave your couch. that is welcome news to doctor fauci who wants you to cancel your new year's parties anyway. >> everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other happy new year. i would strongly recommend that this year you do not do that. ashley: no party for you as opposed to know super. the question is will the trumps cancel their big party after mara lago? i sincerely doubt it but i will ask lara trump next. ♪♪ it■s hard eating healthy.

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♪♪ in the middle ♪♪ meet me in the middle ♪♪ ashley: looking at the chicago skyline, 37 degrees which i would argue not bad for december 30th in chicago. we are trying desperately to

hang on, dow up 0.one%, the nasdaq up 1/2%. around the 4800 mark, 48,100 one. if you can't make it to times square for the ball drop there is a new way to watch the celebration. come on in, where can we see it? >> forget the long wait for a drink, you hate being in those long lines. tamara you can attend a new year's celebration from the comfort of your own home, this is in the meta-verse. one group is re-creating times square in a place called d central land. a block chain based virtual world, virtual guests can participate in immersive games. mingling and rooftop lounges and watch a virtual ball drop. competing party on another

platform called roadblocks will features paris hilton djing on her virtual islands, don't know what i just said. ashley: it is virtually ridiculous, thank you very much. doctor anthony fauci warning against hugging, kissing, having large parties for new year's eve. role that tape. >> if your plans are to go to a 40 or 50 person new year's eve party with all the bells and whistles, wishing a happy new year, i would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that.

ashley: lara trump joins me now, in light of the surgical will the trumps candler party? >> you kind of set on the way to the commercial break, no, we will not be canceling our new year's eve party. if we listen to doctor fauci we would have had to cancel birthday parties, holidays, football games wouldn't be happening. doctor fauci wants everything cancels, everything ruined. the trump family is everyone is well aware believes in personal freedom and individual liberty. the decision should be up to an individual as to whether they attend a party and we believe people can make that decision. we also are fortunate to be in the great state of florida which is open and flourishing and has fared better than the totalitarian states which have shut everything down, masked everybody, put in vaccine mandates. we let people decide for themselves, it had been sold out for three plus but if you

want to go i will see what i can do for you. ashley: we will talk after the show. thank you very much. i want to get to this one. the us still more than 400 one daily cases is they bringing the 7-day average at highs is president biden, guess where he is, he is on the beach with his new puppy and all masked up. i have to ask you, and your father-in-law said anything about that? beaches he hasn't said anything but i don't think he needs do. i am surprised the dog doesn't have a mask on and what happened to the old dogs? they are getting so many dogs. i'm a little scared to know what happens to the old ones. nobody is surprised by this because president biden was allowed the campaign out of his basement for presidential campaign so he gets a pass on everything. nobody pushed him on anything, he never had to exude any form

of leadership whatsoever. if this were my father in law we all know what he would be doing. he would be in the oval office, not out gallivanting around on a beach, he would be on calls with all the major united states airlines because they are in a crisis situation figuring out how they can get through this. he would be making sure there was plenty of testing going forward. i don't think the federal government is signing anything about that until the end of the week. none of it makes any sense but none of it is surprising because after all this is resident biden, coddled by the media and allowed to relax in delaware. ashley: last one for you. take a listen to joe rogan who is predicting who could be donald trump in 2024. take a listen. >> i believe michelle obama wins. she is good. she is intelligent, she is articulate, she is the wife of the best president we have had in our lifetime. ashley: what say you about that?

>> michelle obama is very likable. it might be the only person the democrats could put forward. who else are they going to run in 2024? president biden says he is running. do we believe that? i don't think so. his poll numbers are worse than kamala harris's who is as low as you can go. we have gone through the litany of people and none of them are very positive. michelle obama is very likable. should donald trump run again, i always -- almost breaking news on the show but i won't do it yet. should donald trump run again, the thing is he has been president before. we know what he can do. he was a businessman after all going into the white house. he had incredible experience leading people and understanding the economy and business. michelle obama is likable but

she doesn't bring that to the table not to mention the democrats have not done themselves any favors over the past year so i think it is going to be tough for whoever runs in 24 against whichever republican decides to run. ashley: happy new year, see you tomorrow night. i will be the one from outside. keep an eye out for me. thank you very much. there you go. take a look at this self and driving semi truck completed its first ride on public roads with no human inside. kind of terrifying. we have a story. 36% of holiday shoppers went into debt this holiday season, an average of $1,200. jeff flock as the report on the holiday spending hangover next. ♪♪ money money money money ♪♪ money ♪♪ money money money ♪♪ money ♪♪ ♪♪ money money money money ♪♪ money

♪♪ money money money money money ♪♪

five we are back with check the markets, modest gains the gains nevertheless as the rally continues to the end of the year. at least the santa claus rally continues. i want to take a look at walmart, remarkable numbers, they drove one quarter of all click and collect orders this year. those are items that are ordered online and collected by the customer in store or by curbside pickup. walmart made $20 billion in sales just this way. a quarter of all those orders. walmart today up slightly. remarkable. now this. americans are on track to end the year with $70 billion in credit card debt after spending more than they had this holiday season. jeff flock is in lancaster, pennsylvania. give us the details of this

holiday hangover. >> reporter: you got it right and with a british accent to boot. the good news is it was a great christmas season. bad news is we went into debt to do it. i come from lancaster, pennsylvania. this is the mall, a beautiful tentlike rotunda in the center of the mall. a great season at this mall and others around the country. look at the debt, numbers from wallet hub. this year 36% of us went into debt this christmas compared to 31% last year and some of us did it in a unique way, a new way at least, some called the mpl. you know what that is, i don't know that much about it but it is something called by now pay later. that has been happening since the don of time but this is a new way of paying that you spent your payment over a certain number of payments largely unregulated, the

consumer financial protection bureau wants to know how this is going. they opened an inquiry into 5 different firms. the swedish company zip and paypal asking for information, they are consumed -- concerned consumers are being taken advantage of and charging up too much then they can afford to pay. retailers like the folks at ledbarry, the ceo said this is a way to help consumers pay for something, get something sooner than they can afford to pay for it that they will pay for. listen. >> it is helpful for some people making larger purchases. they would buy 6 or 7 shirts at once but the option to pay later they might do that. >> i often by 6 or 7 shirts at once. ashley, you do as well. i tried to pay for it upfront

if i can. ashley: i agree. thank you very much. it is not a british accent. i am from nashville. thank you very much. talking about that tree, raising money for victims impacted by the tornadoes that slammed the state earlier this month. how much did they raise? >> here we go, nashville ash, that has a nice ring to it. kentucky's berman industry raising $3.3 million for those impacted by those horrible tornadoes that slammed to the state. the kentucky bourbon benefit featured rare bottles and private barrel selections. they attracted 5000 bidders from all 50 states that the entire country coming together to help his cause. get this. the auction site is still accepting donations. when people get the bourbon

people get their money. ashley: nashville ash. thank you very much. check this out 30 stocks. an equal amount of green and red. the dow still hanging onto a gain of 16 points. s&p and nasdaq hanging on. also coming up on the show, electric bikes could help fix the cargo backlog in los angeles. check that out, the ceo of urban e, and eco-garrow -- e cargo startup, joined me next. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates,

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>> i will -- a check on jetblue, canceling 1200 flights between now and in january. they are doing this as a precaution since they expect more workers to call out sick in the coming week.

jetblue airways up one third of one% despite that news. tesla recalling almost half 1 million model 3 and model-plaps cars with cameras with their rearview cameras and trunks but tesla up marginally, 1088. the vaccinemakers, new york times are putting the fda is nearing a decision to allow booster shots for 12 to 15-year-olds. j&j and pfizer are up, moderna down one%. the technology firm too simple just successfully completed testing their driverless semitruck was a frightening prospect and the question is will we see these on the road anytime soon? >> we've seen self driving cars have some issues. some people like them but we've

done a lot of reports on them. the truck successfully drove an 80 mile route on public roads in arizona navigating lane changes, off ramps and traffic signals without issue. the company estimates virtual driver truck can offset 40% of all operational costs drivers currently represent in the industry. it is completed 2000000 miles of road testing, 70 fully autonomous trucks globally but to your point i understand the economics of this. i don't know if i am ready to be driving down 95 nancy a truck zooming past me with no one on the inside. ashley: especially with the ability of a 30-year-old kid in a garage to hack into the pentagon can you imagine if kids or whoever could hack into these trucks? it would be absolute mayhem. we shall see. it is time now for the thursday trivia question. and what year did january 1st

become the first day of the new year? this is interesting. you have 202 bc, 110 bc, 46 bc, 24 a d. and no, i wasn't around for any of those. we will have the answer right after the break. g the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance. ow! i'm ok! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ only in theaters december 17th.

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ashley: now this the startup company, herb-e, develops green cargo solutions for the last

mile deliveries. they just expanded into the los angeles area as ongoing supply chain issues affect deliveries nationwide. charles jolly is the ceo of and he joins us now. charles, good morning to you. how does this work? start there. >> good morning, yeah. thanks for having me, urb-e replaces big trucks and vans that clog up our city streets with small electric vehicles, a powerful e-bike that can pull 800-pounds of cargo. it is cheaper than running gas vans. we're a solution to the huge influx in new deliveries of packages coming in that leaves our cities cheaper, safer, quieter, better places to live. we launched in new york city earlier this year. s that has gone really well. we launched in l.a. a couple weeks ago right near the port in long beach. that is going really well.

this demonstrates that this is a solution scaling nationally and can be rolled out all over the united states. ashley: it is interesting, we see hundreds of thousands of containers backed up at the ports but when i look at the video, this looks reasonably small. can you put that much of a kent into backlog? >> you really can. what people often don't realize the big issue with the ports is not just getting containers into the port but getting cargo out of the port and into your hands, what we would call the last mile of delivery. that is actually where there is a huge glut and backup of getting packages to you because there is just only so much space to put one of those big trucks up and down every street. we can break it into smaller packages into our micro containers you're actually able to spread it throughout the city much faster. that is how we address some of that backlog. ashley: we'll have to leave it there. sorry so short, charles. at least we got you in.

hopefully you come back update us how the business is going. congratulations. >> thank you. ashley: onwards and upwards as they say. >> thanks a lot. ashley: there you go. before the break we asked what year did january the 1st officially become the first day of the new year? todd, any guesses? >> i went with d but i can see in the prompter i'm incorrect. ashley: i went with 202 bc. so we're both wrong. we're both honest. the answer right there, 46 bc. that by the way was when julius caesar changed the roman calendar. he did away with the lunar cycle and calculated the year to be 365 and one quarter days. he was a smart day, beginning ther. >> on january the 1st rather than in march. we lived with that ever since. now we know. a tidbit for todd at his next

cocktail party. we'll done. let's take a look at the markets quickly before we end the show. modest gains, the dow hanging in there up 26 points. the nasdaq up 56. the s&p also up about .2 of a percent. we should also point out that the s&p had a record close again yesterday, the 70th of the year. same story for the dow a record close yesterday. can we hang on? we shall see. david asman in for neil today. david, take it away. david: we do hang on, don't we ashley. good to see you my friend. ashley: we do. david: hank on down there in florida. i'm david asman in for neil cavuto own "coast to coast." the president biden ringing the year into wilmington, he closes out the year with another kind of messy message if you can say that. the president tweeting about the best economic record in 50 years. meanwhile inflation is running rampant. a lot of americans are concerned about