it, you know, gas prices are up 48% since president biden and kamala harris took office, and her response to this question was we're releasing a day and a halfs worth of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. that's not going to cut it, it's not a cure-all barely lowering gas prices we need to produce. maria: all right guys great to be with you this morning have a good day, all "varney" & company begins right now, stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria, good morning, everyone. we are in the middle of an energy crisis surge. it's a spike, and it's happening now. i'll start with the price of oil earlier this morning, it hit its highest level since 2008, that was earlier today. it just turned south to negative on rumors, speculation, that a deal with iran could allow iran to export more oil, put more oil on the market, so now, oils back to $107 a barrel but first thing this morning, oil from texas

reached $115 per barrel at the start of the week, it was 100 bucks even. now, here is what's speaking as well. the price of gasoline, the national average is now 3.73 and that is just up $0.08 overnight. $4 a gallon gasoline is surely coming this month. now, look at diesel, please. now averaging $4.11 a gallon. it is $5.18 in california, industry runs on diesel. imagine a trucker filling up now $500, it was $400 a week ago and this , you add it all up, and this price spike means inflation will remain our most difficult economic problem and biden's worst political headache, but more news, it's grim. russian forces have taken control of one ukraine city kherson, the video we're seeing is truly horrendous. putin is waging urban warfare, destroying ukraine. president biden says it's too

early to suggest war crimes, but a team is assembling the evidence to make charges. investors obviously watching the warning, no doubt they were encouraged by the fed saying the rate hike this month will be just a quarter point, the dow up big wednesday, up 200 points again this thursday morning. we have the s&p up about 30, the nasdaq coming in with a gain of about 100 points, back well among 14,000. now look at the yield on the treasury. it's back well-above 1.8%, actually it's 186 as we speak. the cryptos stable, bitcoin at 44,000 bucks per coin. yeah, it's going to be a very big show and it's coming up for you, the end of the oligarch era, russian billionaires losing access to their money, roman obr amovich forced to sell the chelsea football clubland governor desantis loses his cool when he sees students in masks,

end this covid theatre, he says, thursday, march 3, 2022 "varney" & company is about to begin. stuart: explosions, lots of them , overnight, rocking cities all across ukraine, it is the eighth day of the war. kherson, a black seaport city in southern ukraine becomes the first major city to fall to russian forces. the mayor of that city says the ukrainian military is no longer in the city and inhabitants must carry out the instructions of "armed people who came to the cities administration." russians. oseda, ukraine's third largest city near kherson is on high alert, several russian warships from crimea are on the

way there a u.s. official telling fox that an amphibious assault could come as soon as today. an oil depot erupted in flames at the russia launched artillery strikes there, there it is black smoke all over the place. talks between russian and ukraine officials are expected to take place, we are monitoring everything. meanwhile, at home, back here in america, more companies are cutting off ties with russia. cutting off business with russia whose on the list now? lauren: volkswagen and mercedes are stopping exports to russia and stopping production in russia. the retailer, the swedish company, h & m is pausing sales to russia, spotify is closing its office in moscow, these are voluntary corporate condemnations, and they are brutal and fast and also you have companies offering help, amazon, their boss says we're supporting humanitarian relief on the ground, we're just getting supplies to the people who need them and cybersecurity

to assist companies and governments and earlier, yes, amazon pledged $10 million for humanitarian efforts, mind you, a million refugees now, this st. biggest refugee crisis europe has seen in a century. stuart: yes, it is, definitely it is. it's a very serious thing going on here. i want to get back to the price of oil earlier this morning at $115 per barrel, okay, its backed off now with this speculation that iran is going to do a deal and get their oil in the market, you're back to 108 that's still a high price , steven shork joins us now , 115 bucks a barrel how earlier could it go, steven? >> absolutely stuart, on fox earlier this week we are quantifying 17% probability that oil would hit $116 a barrel this month. that is the brent crude oil contract. this morning, we came into the month, by the way, below $100 a barrel. this morning, the brent crude oil contract hit just shy of $120 a barrel, so check, we got

to our 160, didn't take us a month, it only took us a few days. how high can we go? 10% probability we go to $123, 3 % probability we'll hit $137 by the end of this month. now, i also was quoted on fox, winston churchill about americans. americans always make the right decision after we've made every wrong decision, and judging by the state of the union speech, we are continuing to make the wrong decisions. biden doubled down on failed policy of releasing barrels from the sbr. remember, stuart, he already tried this and gasoline prices have only risen about 12% since then to a 12-year high. we're also getting tax credits and try convincing elon musk to lower the cost of ev's. nowhere in that speech, an hour- long speech nearly 7,000 words, did biden mention domestic oil & gas production. now, what is the answer? we're going to go to iran, fast-track ideal with the iranians a country, by the

way on the u.s. states department official sponsors of terrorism since 1984. this is who we're working with. the iranians, not the texans. it's a bizarre situation and sets the stage for even higher prices. stuart: okay are we still buying , and taking delivery, of russian oil? there's some confusion about this. >> yeah, no one is buying russian oil right now. their main benchmark is trading the other day at an $18 discount stuart: so stephen, therefore, if nobody is buying russian oil, that means that the supply of oil coming on to the world market is down. its been cut, is that true? >> that is happening, and this is why we're going to fast-track to get that iranian oil to the market to try and sup plant, the mission russian oil. no one wants to buy russian oil because the banking situation, the financing situation, the transportation, the insurance on russian tankers is sky high. no one wants to buy this oil right now because the economics simply are not there. stuart: okay and it's going right backup again 116 or 120

with a probability on that. steven thanks for joining us this morning appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: oil is the news of the day. brian brenberg is with us for the full hour this morning joining me right now. look, where is this energy price spike going? >> well, you tell me if we're going to produce oil & gas in the united states of america. if we do that, you can bend that curve but we are showing no sign of doing that. we're going to iran, let me just underscore this. we're going to iran to fill our oil needs? that is the definition of folly, and that's what this administration is about, give me a break. stuart: i don't know how long it'll last for speculation the iranians will put the oil on the market. >> we're going to go buy their oil, the same thing we've done with russia. stuart: what do you got, lauren? lauren: steven shorp was just saying energy companies aren't taking oil from russia because it doesn't make economic sense for them to do so and that's the case but it doesn't make moral sense for them to do so. there are about 200 russian tank

ers at sea right now before the invasion, they're there. that oil has been purchased and secured. one of them, or several of them are expected to dock in the u.s. , perhaps today. is anyone going to accept that oil? you can't, because it's a political and moral black eye to do so right now, so yes, it's economic but i don't think any company wants their hands-on that oil after this invasion. it was secured pre-invasion but now because it takes time to move it be coming today. stuart: i'm not going to be down on the docks when the tank era i'ves. whose going to hook it up, and take it? anybody? fascinating story and happening right now. right in the middle of it. i want to bring this in too, vice president harris criticized again. this time, over her answer to a question about buying russian oil. take us through it. lauren: so savannah guthrie asked her is the administration considering a ban on russian energy considering that we import more than 600,000-barrels a day and that helps to fund putin's war. okay, vice president harris

dodges the question and then serves up, we'll just call it a word salad. listen to it for yourself. >> let's take this one step at a time understanding that right now on the issue of energy, our allies have stood firm and unified in a way that many of the pundits didn't predict what happened to ensure that we are a unified in our approach to this issue. lauren: what should she have said, come on, brian. >> i'll tell you what she should have said, we'll build pipelines and produce oil. that's the only moral non-black eye answer she could have given. stuart: she can't say that. >> she can't say anything. stuart: no one in the administration can say we have to pump more of our own gas you can't say that in this administration. lauren: you can right now, because this is the opportunity to pivot because it's bipartisan stuart: the greens would revolt and they are very powerful block in the democrat party. >> right now the greens don't have a moral leg to stand on given what's happening in ukraine and the biden administration should call them out on it.

you're right they don't have the guts, stuart but guts are what win wars like this right now. stuart: it's an emotional first block of the show but lots of good stuff to talk about here. let me see the futures again, please. i've got green, big gain for the dow and the s&p and the nasdaq yesterday, and we've got another nice gain as of this morning, up 200 for the dow , up 125 on the nasdaq. i'll call that a rally. all right, what are we seeing here? i'll tell you, it's an elementary school hit by russian shelling, two dead, but president biden says it's still too early to call russia's actions in ukraine war crimes. roll tape. >> committing war crimes. stuart: all right, too early to say that. we'll ask a member of ukraine's parliament if she agrees with the president we'll hear from her in the next hour.

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stuart: kyiv rocked by explosion s overnight, the blast turned the dark night sky into a shade of orange. benjamin hall is in kyiv, benjamin are you actually seeing urban warfare near you? reporter: well, stu, there's no doubt that this war has moved into that phase. vladimir putin attacking and targeting other areas, residential areas, just 30 seconds ago we heard the boom from artillery or perhaps a tank, no doubt, you can see the video you can see the images coming out and one of the reasons is he's suffered setbacks when it comes

to getting his ground troops in and as a result as a way of taking over them, there was major news today which is that he took over, vladimir putin took over the russian forces did took over their first city, in the city in the south called kherson, it's a population of about 280,000, but strategically important and what we're seeing there is the method by which perhaps russians will try to occupy this country. they made it very clear to the people of kherson that if they t ow the line, follow the rules that are set they will be effectively almost left alone , the ukrainian flag will be allowed to fly but if they break those rules, if they attack the russians, they will raise that to the ground, and that's a message not just to that city but all other cities that might consider fighting back. russia, now, really moving into this country from a number of different directions, from the north, east, south, and they control territory, in each of those axis. some people, as i said, felt those initial setbacks by vladimir putin but he appears to be learning trying different tactics and little doubt now he's going to continue pushing forward in the shear scale of that military is going to rely

to take more land. to try and stop him, though the ukrainians fighting back using javelins and stingers but also blowing up bridges on the outskirts of kyiv blown up yesterday to again slowing down the russian advance but what putin does if he sits the city like you're asking about, never the bless, president zelenskyy has been deny defiant against this. >> we revealed every house, every street, every city and we say to russia, learn words of preparation and contribution, you will payback the full price for everything that you did to us, to our country, and to every ukrainian. reporter: and stu art, again, you can hear the boom of artillery or tank behind us so yes if you're asking if there's an attack on urban residential center centers without a doubt and the refugee crisis is growing worse by the day the u.n. is saying 111.1 million people have fled the country and that number will rise

dramatically over the coming days. stuart: benjamin hall, thank you very much. president biden will not say if he believes vladimir putin is committing war crimes in ukraine listen to this. >> do you believe vladimir putin is committing war crimes? >> it's too early to say that. stuart: let's bring in a member of ukraine's parliament alexandra usanova. do you think it's too early to use the label war crime? >> no, it is not. we have more than 2,000 civilians being killed, including children, and this number grows everyday. to be honest, even the international coordinator has already started an investigation on the war crime so it is very strange to hear that we still need proof. if you still need proof, then please, tell the ukrainian nation and the ukrainian people how many more deaths of children , of innocent people, of

civilians you need just to make sure those are war crimes. if bombs are not considered war crimes that are forbidden by the international convention that are being shot at children 's hospital, of orphanages, then i don't know what the war crime is. stuart: olekasndra, we've just heard that russians have taken control of kherson and they agreed to leave the town alone if the ukrainians don't fight back. what do you make of that? >> well, russians have been telling us that they're willing to leave us alone if they don't fight back in every inch of our country, ukrainians will fight back. ukrainians do not want to see russians in their country. unfortunately, those are invader s, occupiers and murders. they keep killing ukrainian people and unfortunately, it is very difficult to believe russians, because every treaty we had with russia was destroyed we were told not to provoke

russia which we didn't, and we had a full-scale invasion and right now, and that's what your correspondent was saying previously, we have shelling of our cities that destroys it to ashes. stuart: olekasndra thank you very much for being with us this morning we hope you can visit with us and tell us what's going on how things are shaping up. there's been a lot of speculation that putin held off his invasion of ukraine until the olympics were over, any truth in that lauren? lauren: the new york times is citing intelligence from the u.s. and europe that senior chinese officials told russian officials know the to invade ukraine during the olympics well the olympics ended february 20d four days later. coincidence, i think not. at the kickoff of the games putin and xi met and issued this joint statement that clearly solidified their alliance, so not only are they unified, but clearly, they're working hand-in-glove.

remember we tried to recruit china to tell putin to avert the war, we shared with president xi intelligence, that look, putin is building forces at ukraine's border he's been doing this for months so president xi knew that and he didn't do anything to stop it, and then at the unga, china abstained from voting to reprimand russia's actions in ukraine. stuart: well, brian, hold on a second. do you think that china maybe taking or having second thoughts looking at the world reaction to putin and the ruin of russia's economy before they start making noises about taking over taiwan, second thoughts? >> russia is their grotesque trial balloon and watching what the world does but watching because they have their own designs, all of this has been calibrated in my view for them to make their own plans and russia is their puppet on it. stuart: lauren? lauren: i just wonder how much we need president xi right now, how much we can trust him to give, i'm going to call it an exit ramp or zip lower class matt ic solution or something

to putin, so he could back off because how does this end? do we need xi hads to twist his arm? stuart: is there an off ramp, what's the end game, don't know. quick check of futures, please. we open the market in seven minutes time, we're going to see some green, dow up about 170 , nasdaq about 117. we'll take you to wall street for the opening bell, next. there's a different way to treat hiv.

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stuart: to the money, we're up 170 points on the dow, maybe we will be when we open, up over 100 on the nasdaq, and look whose here. the super bowl himself, his name is michael lee. has the war upset your bullish outlook, michael? >> yes, stuart. i don't have too much confidence in this administration to de escalate this and, you know, send the price of oil back down to where it was around election day 2020. i think all of these sanctions, as are a lot of them are petty, they escalate this conflict, i think russia was prepared for

much of what we're throwing at them, and i'd say if these people in washington knew what they were doing we wouldn't be in this situation and you run the real risk of like putting a nuclear power, backing them into a corner so that things can get much-much worse from here. i don't think that's in putin's best interest but this is a dangerous man that i wouldn't really want to push into a corner like that, because the chances of escalation in my mind are much greater than they should be. stuart: okay. you have your largest holding is xle, that's an energy etf. basket of stocks all in an etf or energy. okay, if that's your big holding at the moment, what did you sell to put the money into xle? big tech? >> yeah, you know, i took my big tech position in half, sold the xle, which is the communication sector, which has been hurting this year based on facebook's inability to

navigate the iphone privacy, or you know, apple ios privacy settings as well as sold some commercial real estate, so i own the biggest holdings xle, and again, the bear case for energy, i'm sorry the bull case for energy was a supply-demand issue and when you see contango in the futures curve where you have to pay more for the front month contract than the futures contract meaning it's very hard to get a hold of the physical delivery of oil at the moment. that's your thesis, your investment thesis, your bull case playing out right in front of your eyes. the biggest holdings in that sector are chevron and exxon-mobile, both with very reasonable, well-below market multiples paying close to 4% dividends, so the wind is at their sails for this sector so while all this noise is going on whether it's the fed raising interest rates, conflict in eastern europe, you know, the economies coming back online

, a lot of forces, a lot of wind at the sails at the sector at the moment. stuart: okay so energy is for you. michael lee, thanks for being here we always appreciate it. see you again soon. >> thanks. stuart: the market opens in 12 seconds and we are going to open with some green, both the dow, s&p, and for the nasdaq and that will follow on from very significant gains we saw yesterday when fed chair jerome powell said you're only getting a quarter point hike in interest rates, yesterday up 596 just opened up this morning, 165. so, the dow is back above the 34,000 level, and this is the benefit of our radio listeners. left-hand side of the screen, we have 27 of the dow 30, 26 of the dow 30 in the green. four are in the red. that's it. so, the dow is now up nearly 200 points. the s&p is just opening now, obviously up a half percentage point, and the nasdaq composite, i believe also, on the upside .6

% higher. 13.8 is your nasdaq level. so look at big tech. all of them, on the upside, microsoft 301, apple 168, amazon 3,071, meta just above $200 a share. there you have tesla, on the screens right now. interesting side bar story here. question to you, susan. >> yeah? stuart: is elon musk hinting that he could unionize his employees? >> yeah, and are you surprised by this? stuart: very surprised. >> yeah, a lot of people are so he's opened to the uaw holding of votes of freemont, he tweeted out last night a real challenge in the bay area is negative unemployment, meaning you can't find the workers to fill the jobs, so if you don't treat and compensate our awesome people well, they have many offers and will just leave so i'd like to hereby invite uaw to hold union votes at their convenience and tesla will do nothing to stop them. stuart: of course you know what that means, it means if they get a union with tesla, then

president biden will say okay, maybe if we get some green energy credits if you buy a tax relief if you buy a tesla car. >> okay i see your point there but you know, i think tesla has been doing well on their own without the white house invites and also some of the rebate. you know, if you look at some of the tweets in that long tweet thread by elon musk last night, he says california, freemont, already produced two-thirds of the electric vehicles sold in this country and they employ and have invested double, by the way , in this country so far. stuart: put the stock backup on the screen can you still in the 800? >> yeah, 800 but also i think there's been a push for the clean energy type of electric car stocks with the rivian from what i saw and the neo with oil at $115, people are thinking are they going to be able to stomach individuals $5 a gallon at the pump and why don't i just buy electric instead. stuart: [laughter] what would push me into an electric car, $5 gas? maybe, actually.

>> there you go. that's motivation. stuart: let's get back to this. kroger reported before the bell this morning, looks good. >> strong, better sales and profit despite higher prices for americans biggest grocer by the number of stores, they are still predicting sales growth this year despite the fact we're looking at speaking food inflation and yes i'm talking about bacon up 40% over the past year. stuart: you're killing brian here. >> clogging some of the arteries. stuart: i knew you'd get that. >> best buy is doing, so terrible report card i would say in the final three months of last year during the holiday period but being clouded i think overcoming that weak holiday sales because of the 26% boost in the dividend, right? so sales came up short, blaming supply chains, staffing shortages, but they say that they will get over it this year, and there will be more demand for electronics, and video conferencing. stuart: i'm just fascinated by target, nordstrom, and then best buy. >> it's a recovery story, and

well, i would say it's probably more of a cash return-type of enticement stocks that we're looking at. wholesale retailer we have bj's going the opposite direction, profits did come out higher but foot traffic missed estimates. stuart: okay that's bj's the exception to rule down 15%. here we go, it's on the prompter , and you've got to tell me what this company does. snowflake. >> it's a cloud warehouser. in this era of big data, the fact that amazon is scraping all this data from you buying your goods, i don't need to know what goods on amazon, but they have all this data on everybody, so in order to be able to use that data you have to organize it, and that's what snowflake does. i thought those were pretty good explanation, now, as for the stock itself, 100%- plus sales growth in the three months of last year, but they are only, and i say this in a caveat, only project ing 67% sales growth. can you imagine any other

company reporting this? and the stock falls 25% in the after-hours? but one of the most expensive tech stocks on the planet whether you look at sales price of sales or price to earnings you have to prove it and they are saying their bottom line is going to be impacted by the $800 million acquisition of a data start up called stream- lit. stuart: but they've got all of the data and you pay to access it. >> you pay for them to organize it. stuart: okay. that was a good explanation. >> thank you. stuart: here is another one tell me what they do. octa. >> you do know what they do because they use it everyday, which i've been impressed with the last two years. so okay, i'm surprised that his isn't performing better, given the fact that we're in this era of cyber threats, right? so we're looking at a stock underperforming, the security software company. a bigger loss than anticipated. stuart: isn't okta a work-from-home company? >> yes, i would say that. stuart: we're all going back into the office, work-from-home

companies don't do well. >> well they still need to protect your identity don't they so i was surprised that they didn't perform better. i do want to show you splunk, another data company. stuart: what do they do? >> big data, once again. so we're looking at a new ceo coming in, strong three months to end last year, and this is after several quarters of disappointing earnings, so yeah. new face there turn maybe the company around. stuart: are you disappointed in me, brian? >> are you getting the message that it's all about your data everywhere? it's floating around, these guys organize it, these guys protect it and these guys sell it and you're sitting here trying to get your phone unlocked. >> it's the world of new technology remote work that we're in and i just think that this trend will continue, will accelerate from here. stuart: now i'm looking at amazon and i'm told they are closing quite a few of their brick-and-mortar stores. isn't that a reverse of what they've been doing recently? i thought they were opening new stores. >> i'm not talking about whole

foods or amazon go so this has more to do with the 68 stores in the uk and u.s. like the amazon books, four star which i've never been in and also the pop- up shops they have been selling the private label goods from amazon, in the private label electronics. you know, i was looking at the physical sales growth and it really does lag the online, but they are still keeping, of course the whole foods brand still open. stuart: sure. but that's interesting to me that we really are going more and more and more on line and less and less brick-and-mortar. >> yes but you wonder why does amazon spend all that money to invest in brick-and-mortar when they've been killing the brick-and-mortar and the physical stores but yet they think they can outsmart everybody else. stuart: top of the winners list for the dow we have walmart, $138 a share, whose second, amge n, have been active recently. the s&p 500 winners headed by kroger, we just dealt with them, and best buy, got them in there. nasdaq winners headed by dexcom.

>> and biogen. stuart: the biotechs are doing well today. i don't see big tech on the nasdaq, i'm not seeing it there for a long time. right now the dow has opened with a 173 point gain, we're above 34,000, the dow is up a half percentage point. the 10 year treasury yield way back or up again, 1.87%, just the other day we're at 172. the 10 year, go with the price of gold, inflation hedge of course, 1,930 per ounce, bitcoin pretty solid this morning, it's down a bit, 43, 800, oil big news today reached 115 bucks a barrel, backed off to 109 because the speculation that iran is going to start selling its gas and oil on the market again. nat gas 465 and look at this , the average price for a gallon of gas 3.73 as you drove in this morning you'll see gas stations putting the price up, right in front of you and in california, regular averages

4.94. shake your heads. florida's governor desantis tells students wearing masks hey , stop the covid theatre. watch this. >> you do not have to wear those masks. i mean please take them off. we have to stop with this covid theatre but if want to wear it fine but this is ridiculous. stuart: he lost his cool. a lot of people talking about it and i'm sure florida congressman byron donalds will approve of what desantis did, he's going to be on the show later. russian oligarchs really feeling the pinch one of putin's cronies selling the chelsea football club and giving the money to ukraine and others are moving their yachts to the maldives some are being seized like in france and we have the full report on the oligarch era ending. we'll be back.

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stuart: switzerland has announced that it will adopt all of the sanctions placed on russia by the european union, this is a major shift. switzerland traditionally stays neutral, not this time. jack peteleau is switzerland's ambassador to the united states and joins me now. mr. ambassador am i right in saying that the assets of russian billionaires in switzerland now are frozen? is that accurate? >> good morning, stuart and thank you for having me. yes, indeed, it is true. the assets of the russian individuals that have been described on the eu sanctions are frozen in switzerland. stuart: so they can't get at the money. i'm just wondering why this turn around on the part of switzerland, because traditional ly have been neutral. i'm 70 years old, you've always been neutral and now, not this time. what made you change direction

this time? >> well, we do remain neutral, and switzerland remains neutral in the legal sense of the term, because there is a clear definition in international law of what neutrality means, which is to be neutral militarily and not to says any party to a conflict. at the same time, there is a certain leeway for the government to decide on whether to sanction and especially when we are facing a massive violation of international law, and a massive aggression against the sovereign state. stuart: could this be extended to other, if there was another situation, i mean, just for example, china tries to take over taiwan. just using that as an example. could you extend this end of neutrality to chinese hot money? >> so, once again, i have to stress, it is not the end of neutrality, it is a strict interpretation of neutrality and it will be decided on a

case-by-case basis, it's a political decision that has to be made by the swiss government on a case to case basis. in the case of a mass off violation like the one that we have witnessed, i think this government made a clear decision. stuart: you're actually issuing a warning to other states, if they were guilty of a massive violation of international law. it's a warning, isn't it? >> it is certainly something that is in the tradition of let's say our swiss policy, we are extremely worried. first of all by the violation of international law but at the same time by the suffering imposed upon civilians and what we are witnessing right now is really terrifying, and something has to be done about it. stuart: yes, sir, mr. ambassador thank you very much for being with us today we do appreciate it, sir, come again soon. >> thank you so much. stuart: thank you, sir. how about this one? france has a super yacht owned by the russian

oligarch igor sorchin, another had his super yacht seized in germany. madison alworth worth is with us , take me through the story of the oligarch whose being forced to sell the chelsea football club in england, give me the story. >> absolutely stuart so you're talking about roman obramovich, his nickname is putin's banker and he's trying to sell the club , he's not yet forced to sell the club or on any sanctions list so this is a move he's making to sell-off the assets of the club and then you mentioned earlier he says that the proceeds of that sale will go to the victims of the war in ukraine. now, i talked to sources who have covered oligarchs for years and work closely with the community. they say for roman obramovich, that's a good move. the club is only a portion of his assets that he owns it's a really good faith move and it could look really good to give that money back to charity and could potentially help him avoid being placed on a sanctions list and as i mentioned, it's only a portion of his wealth. this is a person who has billion

s of dollars, this is something we see across multiple oligarchs and we have seen increased pressure to crackdown on that especially in the eu, as well as here in the u.s. so yesterday, we actually had the announcement of a new task force that's going to go after oligarchs and those who have helped fund putin and his war. that's going to be called the k leptocapture task force so it's headed up by a bunch of different law enforcement officers from several at says including the fbi, irs, secret service that will track and find people who violate sanctions and then seize assets. the hope being, you know, properties and yachts, you mentioned that above but here is the thing, with the u.s. task force, because it's a task force and not sanctions, they have to bring cases forward, and going that route it could take weeks or months to prove a case, whereas what we're seeing in the eu is this immediate seizing and locking down of property because they actually

directly sanctioned eight russian oligarchs. they've had their assets frozen and they're being added to those sanction lists in the eu nations. those familiar with russia, and their dealings, say that the way to hit putin and his wealth is through those oligarchs. >> he holds it in the name of people he trusts, those people are oligarchs, and so if you sanction the oligarchs, you freeze the assets of the oligarchs, you freeze putin 's assets. reporter: so, stuart, here, we have not yet individually sanctioned any people, any oligarchs, so there are talks that that could be coming, which could be important, because with the task force like i said you have to have large cases, and in cases, roman obramovich has properties here on this street that he transferred over to his wife, so, to go after as a case be more difficult but if you sanction an individual, it really opens up opportunities to go after all of their wealth. stuart? stuart: puts the fear of god into them as well, madison thank you very much indeed. a new fox poll shows only 32% of

voters want president biden to run for re-election. we're on it. what's the key to fighting inflation? easing. president biden says just buy american. brian bremberg is here to take that to pieces, after this. ( ♪♪ ) ( ♪♪ ) ( ♪♪ )

stuart: all right, the inflation story this morning was in the price of oil. its backed off now but first thing today it was at $115 per barrel. backed off a bit to 109 but still shall we say elevated. president biden says he knows the key to fighting inflation. watch this. >> one way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make americans poorer. i have a better way to fight inflation. lower your costs, not your wages >> [applause] >> we're going to make more cars and semiconductors in america, more infrastructure in america, more goods moving faster and cheaper in america, more jobs that you can earn a living and a good living by here in america, instead of relying on foreign supply chain, let's make it in america again. >> [applause] stuart: okay, let's make it in

america again. i think that was the exact quote >> but let's raise taxes on american companies, like the president said. let's make sure they can't buy anything at reasonable prices, everybody wants to buy american, i want to buy american oil & gas , and the president says no, we can't do that. he does not understand the root causes of inflation here, it's the supply side of the economy, and every time a word comes out of his mouth it has to do with spending. we should lower costs says this president. mr. president, that's what we're talking about. it's 7.5% inflation. i don't know who those 17 nobel laureats are but he should quit listening to them and find 17 guys at a gas station and start listening to them. stuart: what are you going to say lauren? lauren: i just don't understand lower your costs. >> just do it. lauren: businesses are trying to have these supply chain problems i don't understand the economic logic behind that argument that he not only said yesterday, but he also said during the state of

the union address. stuart: yeah, i don't get it. the hard left runs the democrat party and they aren't interested in anything, except spending money and buying votes. >> this is working for them the fact that you on this show considered buying electric vehicles, is proof that all of these high prices are doing exactly what they want. stuart: on that note thank you very much for staying with us for the hour, brian now get out of here. >> i just got fired. stuart: thanks a lot, man, let's see what we got coming up for you, senator mike braun, nigel farage, dana perina, wall street journal guy dan henninger , all coming up on "varney" & company. 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

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stuart: good morning. 10:00 eastern. straight to the money, green on the screen. the nasdaq turned south. the major mover, we are at $10 a barrel. the highest price since 2008. the yield on a 10 year treasury moving up. that's not helping the nasdaq. the yield is at 1.88%, be going

$43,000 a. i have some numbers out at the 10:00 hour. the service sector. >> terrible number, it was supposed to go up but the month of february dropped to 56.5 from 59.9 in january. it has gone up a little bit on this and disappointing print. stuart: we are waiting for mortgage loans. lauren: 3.26%, geopolitics, attention ukraine causing treasury yields to pull back. stuart: the dow is up 200 moving up on the dreadful service sector report. we know we have an inflation problem. we were hit with an inflation surge.

gas went up $0.08 overnight in one day, $0.08. new national average is $3.73 was at this rate we will hit $4 a gallon for regular gasoline as a national average this month. diesel went to an average of $4.12 a gallon. it is 5:19 in california. imagine what that does to the truckers we to fill up costs $100 more now than it is a couple weeks ago. oil hit its highest level since 2008, $115 a barrel early this morning back up to 110. what should biden do? how many times do we say? drill baby drill. increase our production of oil and natural gas, raise the supply to moderate the price, give americans a break. inflation is biden's biggest political problem. why not tackle it?

the greens won't let him. the climate crowd helps you pay through the nose for the green dreams was the world is screaming for energy but our policy is held hostage to the whims of the environmentalists was one more thing we should be doing, spend a lot more on our military. that's another thing the left will not allow. time to pivot democrats away from the far left but america will have to wait until november to do that. senator mike baran joins us now. you agree with me we need to drill, produce more fossil fuels and increase monetary spending but can't do either. >> it is depressing to listen to what you mentioned. all i can tell viewers will look to see what it was in the trump administration. lowest inflation we had. everything working well. rising wages in the toughest spots.

now it is an administration trying to appeal to a broader section, they've done nothing of the sort. if we had the keystone pipeline working it would more than offset all the barrels we are importing from russia. they've done one thing after another to make a bad decision and i hope it is not with the purpose of trying to default us into their crazy ideas of the green new deal and stuff we can't afford. to really understand them they are enterprisers. they never ran a lemonade stand and the federal government is their cathedral and growth business if you want to know what it is about in a nutshell. stuart: aren't there enough senators on both sides to come together with a fundamental agreement we've got to produce of our own fossil fuels. i saw joe manchin with the

republicans which are there enough to get a consensus going and get something done? >> if it is it would be completely politically driven. you know biden's approval is 140%. they have a challenge in these midterms. we will put a tourniquet on it politically where they can to do anymore damage, we can't do anything until january 2025 and then, we as republicans have the fortitude to undo this craziness. a platter of issues, you couldn't wish for more to campaign against but can't stop it until we took one of the two chambers back. we have a chance of getting the senate back as well. stuart: always a pleasure. a growing number of companies are shutting down or suspending operations in russia because of the invasion of ukraine.

>> reporter: you are looking at oil giants, exxon, bp and shell and that is why the price is come up so much. we are at 110 now. we came close to 119. that the griddle number because it represents doubling of oil prices. history tells us recession follows the last 3 times oil prices doubled in a year. stuart: 119, we have a problem. 115, 116. lauren: the banks and energy companies reduced to penny stocks, kicked out of the world stock indices so you can argue this financial fallout is swift and brutal. what happens to people living in russia? stuart: a catastrophic

situation. lauren: their savings are worthless and there could be martial law announced in russia. stuart: that is speculation. martial law tomorrow, speculated in russia tomorrow. lauren: people are trying to get out now, headed to the baltics. a putin has a major problem on the homefront. stuart: secretary of state lincoln is slamming vladimir putin. lauren: be your nuclear threats. >> provocative threat about nuclear weapons is the height of irresponsibility. it is dangerous. it adds to the risk of miscalculation. lauren: the us postpone the planned launch to demonstrate we are a nuclear power but we act responsible and don't want to escalate the crisis. stuart: back to the market, plenty of green on the screen

except for the nasdaq which turned south 30 points as the yield on the 10 year treasury goes up again. let's get to gary kalpaum. i want to ask about the fed and the performance yesterday. do you get the impression jay powell is protecting the market? >> absolutely. i call him part of the trifecta of economic malpractice from washington dc, whether you have proposals for higher taxes out of a pandemic or what jay powell is doing. we were told he was going to fight inflation and what does he do? a quarter point rate hike to one 12:45% sitting with 7.5, and 9.7% cpi and you see what oil prices are doing, i keep my fingers crossed even though i

am no fan, i am rooting for them to be right about his latest call that inflation is going to come down. the problem is he has been wrong from start to finish and part of the big cause of inflation is easy money. it is an interesting next three months. stuart: are you predicting a significant surge in inflation in the united states, oil at 111, gas $3.73. your prediction? >> if we have another lead up in inflation, we will have a recession. you can mark that down, 100% certain of that and gravel cut into profits and markets and the wealth affected. he is predicting again that inflation will come down. he had better be right. the next time he is wrong, he has got to raise rates and not a quarter point but a whole

point and even more. if we get into the teens and the inflation numbers we need to wake up paul volcker. stuart: what should i do? we've got inflation? do i buy a stock or bond? what do i do? >> cash is not a bad place. stay with what you have. i don't know if you need to add. late last week on the big retest, i am not sure how much upside we have and every day with russia and ukraine and these numbers on inflation and oil prices, just go to your supermarkets, take a step back, relax. there are moments when patience is the biggest buzzword in markets. another big pat rich. stuart: the man of the hour.

we are looking at the movers of the day. i'm looking at best buy up 10%. lauren: they had a slight mist in the sales over the holidays, revenue in at $16.4 billion. the good news, 26% and announce a $5 billion share buyback. stuart: a lot of retailers do well. what about big lots? not good. >> there forecast is light. the cost of shipping is killing their margins and shrink, which is interesting term for theft is up. people are stealing stuff from their shelves. they talked about it in their earnings report. stuart: goodness me. show me box. the cloud storage place.

warner: they help you upload documents to your devices. the outlook for the year is up. the business is accelerating. the nasdaq just turned lower. of the fed says there is potential about a large increase in energy prices could last and there's a chance high inflation is embedded. stuart: that hurts. down goes the nasdaq, the yield on the 10 year treasury goes up. take a look at what governor desantis told a group of mask wearing students. >> you don't have to wear those masks. please take them off. stuart: it is not doing anything. he says it is covid theater. congressman byron donalds agrees with him. he will be here shortly. china says they will not sanction russia. they will continue normal trade.

ukraine's youngest parliament member taking up arms staying put to defend his country. he will join us live from ukraine after this. dad, we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this. yay! we got this. we got this! life is for living. we got this! let's partner for all of it. edward jones

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stuart: ukraine says talk to resume with russia. let's go to make tobin in lviv. the latest from there? >> reporter: the second round of cease-fire negotiations is underway but advisor to the chief of staff of president zelenskyy tweeted a picture at of the cease-fire talks.

the two sides are pretty far apart. ukrainians want to cease-fire, complete the militarization of ukraine. people living in the conflict zone need everything with all the basic necessities of life. the civilians are pitching in to make certain they get it. aid is making it to the ukraine from the eu, from poland. this arts center has become a distribution warehouse. these people are making sure they separate what they need. >> you see a lot of people here. >> our supplies for we can do all began. >> reporter: they need food, they need warm clothes, they need medicine. the crowd of people you see at this distribution center are volunteers.

this is an all hands on deck situation as people get into the war effort. a lot of people you see here are people volunteering to drive. they will take these goods to conflict areas we are talking about like kyiv and kherson at great personal risk and there's tremendous eagerness to pitch in. one ukrainian man i spoke to said vladimir putin is fighting the army. he's fighting all ukrainian people. stuart: thanks. here with me, ukraine parliament member galoshes. you are 26 years old. you are staying put to defend your country. i believe you've got a gun. have you seen any action yet? >> yes. the point is at the moment we are keeping the supply lines open and we beat back several

of the smaller cities and the fact of the matter is russians are pushing the convoy and plenty of things to hit them with. kyiv is home to millions of people, the capital of ukraine. stuart: there are talk taking place now between russia and ukraine. would you consider a cease-fire in return, would you accept the deal like that. >> the women and children and elderly, keep those casualty figures, as well as possible.

russians in those negotiations discussing other things that they come to destroy our country for, submission to the russian concept of what the nation should be and submission to russian vision of our role in the russian plan. the reality is this is turning our country into a modern day horror story for all the world to see. stuart: do you think the russians are guilty of war crimes? >> they most certainly are. my family sell from ukraine basically chernobyl, nuclear power station, and my family that went out in the street with no weapons, just to bear arms and bare hands, tried to

push the russian army, they thrown grenades, and the point is i am afraid for my family, the prime example of russian policy towards ukraine. stuart: we fear for you and we admire you. thanks for joining us. we wish you well. on the same subject china says they are not going to sanction russia. tell me more about this. ashley: not a big surprise. china says no to sanctions but yes to trade cooperation with russia. china abstaining on a un nonbinding resolution calling on russia to halt its war with ukraine, withdraw its military forces. that passed but five countries oppose russia, belarus, north korea and syria, the usual crowd. china has repeated claims that

it respects the state's sovereignty but refused to outright condemn russian aggression or impose sanctions. china's foreign ministry says sanctions don't do anything, went on to say china and russia continue to conduct normal trade cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. stuart: make what you will of it. check the markets. the markets the last half hour have been affected by statements from fed governor mister. high inflation is about to be embedded in our economy and it will be 3% to 4% inflation or higher at the end of the year. it took a couple hundred points off the dow and the nasdaq is down 108 points.

jen psaki drew a connection between bladder putin's aggression and president biden being in power. >> the president was the vice president last time russia invaded ukraine. this is a pattern of horror from president putin. stuart: and in artful way of putting it. a new fox paul, 64% of voters do not want president biden to run again in 2024. does that open the door for trump? i ask byron donald next.

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stuart: we got southward movement for the nasdaq. it is down hundred points was the dow was over 200 and now 50 points. j powell says we see people hold back on spending. we are still in the highest state of alert and in regular communication. another fed member says inflation may -- high inflation may be embedded. and that is good for the stock market. the nasdaq on the downside.

movers headed by kroger. warner: strong demand for pickup and delivery, grocery services, we change our habitants cook at home. the president said companies, lower your costs. automation and robots. stuart: not employing people. i know rivien is active. warner: they raised prices 20%. they started to can sell and now they are rolling back price hikes on any preorder for its electric vehicle pickup before march 1st but investors aren't convinced. stuart: retailers are all over the place. look at american eagle. lauren: they are setting

negative head winds, testing different pricing points and they said they met a little resistance, the entire price feels embedded. stuart: the administration is looking to crack down on covid criminals was nearly $100 billion was reportedly stolen from taxpayers. hillary vaughan on capitol hill. can we get the money back? >> reporter: that is the ultimate question. billions of dollars were stolen and the white house has been aware from day one. some of the worst inherited, from the past administration taken them over a year, the

department of justice has a cheap prosecutor going after people, with pandemic for odd crimes targeting multiple pandemic relief. pandemic unemployment checks were paid improperly, impact cash fell into the wrong hands last year. we talked with house ways and means committee top republican on that committee trying to get the administration and congress to do something. he is less then optimistic the chief prosecutor is able to recover the billions criminals have stolen. >> they haven't showed 1 inch of interest in stock. i am pretty skeptical. recovering the money will be 0. >> reporter: one of the reason

republicans are so skeptical is the doj issued guidance to states, they need to go after people that accidentally received more relief money than they are entitled to, they go after people that purposefully scanned the system but either way, taxpayer cash fell into the wrong hands and a waste of government resources. stuart: how do you know if it is accidental or not. great report, thanks very much. it is a clip of the governor of florida, ron desantis, telling students take your mask off. >> i have to wear those masks. and >> congressman byron donald. what is with these students,

and the least vulnerable in society. >> they have these mask protocol. it makes no sense. hanging out at bars. they are not wearing masks. i agree with governor desantis, and to catch up with the american people. >> >> filling molotov cocktails. that is with students in ukraine are doing. you want to compare that to college students looking for

safe spaces. >> when liberty is on the line they fight for their liberty. in the united states we have all these political science ideas that sound good and make people feel good but take away from liberty and freedom and don't add to it. i commend young people for fighting for their freedom. everybody should be doing that. let's focus on having sound economies and free speech, don't worry about safe spaces. stuart: this is a university. 32% of voters want president biden to run for reelection was 40% want donald trump to run in 2024. does that open the door for donald trump? >> absolutely. the door was open for donald trump once we saw the complete disaster that is joe biden. he is wrong everywhere.

everyone knows it. the doors open for donald trump because the american people remember what it is to have a commander-in-chief who is respected and feared on the world stage. they know what it is to have a president who allows them to earn money the way they choose and to be free and that is what americans want and we will get it in 2024. stuart: can he bury the memories of january 6th? >> the memories of media, big media will do what they want. people largely ignore them. donald trump has the ideas that got america on track. you see what happened in the last 15 months. i don't care if you are a republican or independent or democrat, we know this is not working for the country, he has a recipe for success. stuart: a lot of snowbirds who come to florida just after

christmas, by the million, a lot of them are not going back this year. is that true? >> in southwest florida, they have not gone back for several years. the line of demarcation used to be eastern. people stay longer and longer, florida is the best state in the country. people love our state, they come and realize why what i ever go north, makes no sense. i think i'm going to stay. stuart: it is like day and night, day in florida, night in new york, see you again soon. a group of bipartisan group of lawmakers heading to ukraine's the border. congressman brian fitzpatrick, former fbi agent-based in ukraine. 1 million refugees fled ukraine

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stuart: statements from fed chair powell, taking the dow industrials down 41. real fast, but fed member says high inflation will be embedded in the economy. 1 million people have fled ukraine, many heading to poland. the people you are talking to. where are they headed? >> all over the place. when you hear 1 million people have left ukraine at half of them have come here to poland,

you think it ends there are other border countries like hungary or slovakia but it is a wider story coming on a bus to the border and they are at a contemporary refugee camp. many get on another bus and they will head to another part of europe a. there are so many volunteers here, take a listen. >> a group of 10 people, we chartered buses and we got on the bus and drove 14 hours to get here. everything you can imagine we brought over here and we want to use synergy. >> and speaking out of ukraine. at this refugee camp this bus just arrived from the border

which is a 20 minute drive from here and they will start the process. they will tell one of the volunteers where to go and an hour later or more than that they on a bus going to another location. the broader point is you hear these numbers adding up, the entire european continent has a humanitarian and economic challenge on it and because this is a broader story than at the border of ukraine. stuart: thanks very much. there are new reports that might be the next target. ashley: that speculation began after a video service showing belarus's president standing in front of a map and that map

appeared to show the moldovan breakaway state the potential next target, that breakaway state pro russian. 's ambassador says his country will defend its borders of russia or belarus tries to invade the former soviet republic. >> with the situation one cannot be sure of the next phase. will we be target are not? we are very vigilant, very concerned. ashley: i would say so looking at that map. belarus tried to make assurances that the placement of mold over the on the map, it has a new -- the neutrality provision written into its constitution would it has not requested membership in nato

but the war in ukraine to change that but very disconcerting, with an arrow pointed at it. stuart: that is not good news. jen's sake marks for drawing a connection between vladimir putin's aggression and who is in the white house right now. ashley: she pointed out that biden was the vice president last time russia decided to invade ukraine. >> i was at the state department, the president was the vice president the last time russia invaded ukraine. this is a pattern of horror from president putin and the cronies around him. ashley: social media, marking the connection. finally the truth, former trump advisor kelly and conway

tweeted there is a pattern, monica crowley tweeted, reminding people a top adversary has taken advantage of your boss not just once but twice, not great messaging. the real message is this guy only seems to invade other countries while my boss is in office. she made a mistake there. stuart: another story. the owner of the chelsea football club is a russian oligarch and he is selling the team. the proceeds go to ukrainian or victims. russia sending warships to odesa. and amphibious assault could happen today was how do we get weapons in? i ask lieutenant general jack bergman after this. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade is more than a trading platform.

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save up to $750 on a new samsung device with eligible trade-in. stuart: the white house is resisting calls to take a look and started russia's energy sector. edward lawrence is with us.

why isn't president biden doing more to curb our reliance on foreign oil? >> that's the question i have been asking in the briefing the last several times i've gotten the question. in addition to resisting that sanctioning of russian oil the white house and administration is asking more money, $32.5 billion in funding, and another $10 billion for humanitarian and security assistance to ukraine, the president resisting those call to sanction russia's energy sector. no us company is accepting crude oil from russia but the president refusing to make it a ban while walking a line. >> are you banning russian oil? >> president biden: nothing is off the table. >> we are seeing a significant jump in gas prices, the largest

increase since your 252011. the national average is $3.73 a gallon rising $.32 which look at diesel fuel, shipping goods across the country and could lead to more inflation was the average gallon of these charles: dollars and $.20, oil and gas going up before the ukraine invasion. senator johnson said this happens when you reverse energy independence. >> this is the result of their policies. it is more galling to listen to the state of the union address, giving himself credit for assembling a coalition to support ukraine, taking credit for his response. 's response was a miserable failure. >> reporter: president biden holding a cabinet meeting later this afternoon.

stuart: ukraine's third-largest city odesa bracing for an attack was russian warships heading there. lieutenant general and congressman jack bergman from michigan with me now. russia is close to surrounding ukraine. >> there is still a couple avenues that are open. the russians attacked the supply lines and trucks going back and forth, picking up supplies coming up again. it is too little too late, because the fact they have chosen not to use all tools available to biden as the leader to help ukrainians.

given the intelligence, but where we can control it right away choking off the russian capability is through regaining energy independence. stuart: back to how we get weapons into ukraine i presume the cia is having avenues available to get some drones in somehow or other. we have to admit this is what we are doing but that's what the cia is 4. >> there are other third party entities who work around the world all the time that do things in tough times when visibility needs to be low and governmental intervention has to be low key in the middle of that but there are things happening all the time. stuart: you would say definitely a, american troops

will not be firing their guns in anger at russian troops? no engagement between american forces and russian forces, you would avoid that? >> we avoid at all possibilities when it comes to vladimir putin's aggression ukraine but remember where this man wants to stop and we have article 5 requirements with nato and right now know american troops engaged in kinetic, it with the russians. stuart: as a military man what do you make of this urban warfare going on right now? >> as marines and army too we've trained in urban combat, it is nasty, and the russians have chosen brutality over effectiveness, even killing civilians and brutality of the russian soldier should be treated as a war crime from the top. vladimir putin on down.

stuart: congressman jack mabebeha ting th . ilstahend,ahylenniylvaa remare banitanat ck go kr uneaiomorw.or w. t ..ernifage, gefa a uke ge adthin lf in in udg g of theof t igs.ar thhe's the's thef e w, we're cng tonng polygons here! what's going on? where's regina? hi, i'm ladonna. i invest in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to the nasdaq-100 innovations, like real time cgi. okay... yeah... oh. don't worry i got it! become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

>> if we have another leg up in inflation we will have a recession, you can mark that down. i am 100% certain of that. going to iran to fill our oil needs was that the definition of folly and that's what this administration is about. >> we will put attorney on it, he has a platter of issues that for us as republicans we couldn't wish for more to campaign against but we can't stop until we take one of the two chambers back. >> willing to leave us alone if they don't fight back in every inch of our country.

ukrainians will fight back him invaders, occupiers and murderers. stuart: 11:00 eastern time, thursday, march 3rd. the markets are showing some red this hour. the dow is down 150, the nasdaq is down 200 points. show me the price of oil. this was the big market mover earlier when it hit $115 a barrel. here comes energy price inflation. as written year treasury the yield is at 1.87%. we've been having headlines from the federal reserve. >> j powell's semiannual testimony. this is why the market is down. it will be appropriate to proceed with rate hikes through the course of the year. restoring price stability is the most important thing to do.

the chances of a 20 basis point hike, 99.8%. that's the news which inflation is a problem with the fed wants to contain. this was what was shocking, he said he was wrong. in hindsight they should have moved more aggressively earlier to get inflation under control. palm oil, aluminum and coal hit record highs. retailers american eagle, burlington, down 13% because inflation and the supply chain are tuning up. stuart: the dow is down 124 points. now this. it looks like the end of the oligarch era. the fabulously wealthy multibillionaire putin cronies are under attack and losing control of their money. they acquire that money when the soviet union broke up. the oligarchs used generous

loans russian and western banks to buy control of russia's energy industry. they had close ties to the kremlin. that will let them keep the money if they supported him. now, outraged by the ukraine invasion everyone is going after that money. with banks abandoning neutrality, they are frozen $11 billion worth of russian assets, the oligarchs cannot touch that money. the mayor of london wants to see the really luxury real estate they hold and the prime minister boris johnson wants to withdraw the oligarchs visas, to bottle up the money in london before they can shift it elsewhere. there will be nowhere to hide your ill-gotten gains. look what happened to roman abramsohvic, he is in oligarch and he is selling the club and giving proceeds to benefit war victims. going after these mega-wealthy russians has two objectives.

it is serious and public punishment, putin's cronies they made their money as friends of vlad. they are losing it because they are friends of vlad. maybe they will rethink their support of vladimir putin. if they are ruined financially and thrown out of their palaces around the world they will be resentful. grounds for a coup? ukraine changed a lot of things including the era of the oligarchs. third hour of varney starts right now. congressman, i want to know, will putting the squeeze on the oligarchs, will it make the putin back off? >> a won't be enough. vladimir putin has never been in his right mind especially

not now. he has a huge appetite for risk when it comes to ukraine. ukraine is a west bank situation for him. he identified three capitals of christianity across the globe, he is willing to take a huge amount of risk. squeezing assets is important but we have to hit the energy sector. stuart: tomorrow, you are traveling to the ukraine border. three democrats, three republican's going to give it. what is the goal? >> predominantly to check in with our polish allies to find out what is making its way into ukraine with regard to defensive weapons. a lot of country stepped up to the plate. we want to make sure it is getting across the border to lviv and anywhere they need it in the other battle fronts in ukraine.

we cannot sit idly by and watch our ukrainian friends go through what they are going through without knowing we have their back. we have to make sure they get what they need. stuart: a few moments ago i was interviewing congressman bergman from michigan and he was saying stuff is going on all the time which is below the radar level to get those weapons into ukraine. that is happening? >> it is but we are getting that through intelligence reports and press reports. we want to go there ourselves. stuart: you have a connection. fbi agent stationed in ukraine, correct? >> yes, my last stand of an fbi agent was i was stationed in kyiv at the embassy. it is personal to me. these are my friends over there, members of the press and ukrainian parliament. president zelenskyy, the modern-day churchill. on his hit list. stuart: i hope you can report

for us when you get to the border. >> i will. stuart: tell our viewers what is going on. congressman brian fitzpatrick, thank you for being here. back to the money. all red across the board, dow is 167 but the nasdaq down 200 points. let's bring in kenny palkari. what is moving the market? is in the war the federal reserve? >> overreaction from yesterday. the war is the war. that is settling in. geopolitics does create chaos but what is happening today is the realization and dissection and digestion of what powell is talking about. they are be find the 8 ball, not in front. the way they told the house yesterday.

he admits inflation is more of an issue in a fight and have to move aggressively. it is beyond me, the fed and j powell are not on the same page. they held rates to 0 and he has to play catch up because the fed is behind the action, not in front of it. that is the realization today. stuart: a fed member this morning said that i inflation is embedded in the economy and we are getting 3% to 4% or higher inflation even at the end of this year. >> the ppi is about to print with a 10 handle on it. i don't know why anybody should be surprised. the russia ukraine thing add additional pressure to built-in inflation. this problem is bigger than

what he wanted to admit but now he is forced to admit it and his style yesterday, 25 basis points but left the door open to 50 basis point moves starting in the summer but that sends a message we've got to move fast, we are behind the all compared to where he wanted to be. stuart: 10% inflation is almost here. sharply rising interest rates over the summer. that is a rotten situation for investors in the stock market. what should i buy? what can i buy to get out of this nasty trap? >> it is a rotten situation in some sectors. tech will continue to get smashed if the story continues. there is always, i have been saying all along i am in the value sector for the 2022 or 23.

financials are going to do well. energy has done well. i'm not chasing it but i love energy. timekeeping what i got. i am 32% two months into the year, consumer staples are underperforming. financials are underperforming. stuart: should i sell my microsoft? >> absolutely not. don't sell microsoft which i don't look at microsoft as one of our high-tech growth names was microsoft is a core holding. you've got to keep it and you have it for a while. you don't want to rock the horse. stuart: for 20 years, a long time. thanks for being here, see you again soon. a quick look at the market, dow

is down 150, nasdaq down 175, sb down 28. show me diagi/o. they will pork products to ukraine and russia. the wwe wrestling guys will end their partnership with the russian tv broadcaster match and also shutdown wwe network in russia. vladimir putin's mental state often called into question. nigel farage thinks he is so unhinged he might use nuclear weapons. nigel is on the show was the president stopped short of accusing russia of war crimes. >> did they commit war crimes? >> president biden: we debate early to say that. stuart: kyiv bracing for more

attacks after explosions rocked the city overnight. a live report from ukraine next. you're a one-man stitchwo rk master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

stuart: that is - cam video blocking this in ukraine, they are shelling where people live and there is this. president biden will not say if vladimir putin is committing war crimes. >> we are following it closely. it is early to say that.

>> over 2000 civilians. stuart: dana perino joined me now. what do you say about war crimes? >> i asked jen psaki for a specific reason but i had a feeling she couldn't answer it. i think it is telling in the reason is i think they know the question that is the moral answer to the question but the follow-up question is if you believe he is committing war crimes what are you prepared to do about it? that second question, our government and the europeans and everyone at the world exchanged in eight days that question might not have an answer at the moment but there has to be one fairly soon. the hague has its prosecutor on the ground in ukraine and secretary of state anthony

blink and is on his way to brussels but the president has not directed the state department lawyers to look into prosecuting the case. that is an unsustainable position. stuart: always late to the game. >> in the obama administration they were proud of leading from behind and i wanted to crawl under the table. is it okay to have the european union be woken up and taking the lead and america to look like a bystander? i don't think that is the best thing was one of the reasons people in the arab world have been very quiet, it is because they are not sure if america will be in the drivers seat. stuart: we could be but we have to change course on energy. of the germans can do it and

they have, that was a >> in germany, extraordinary >> believe they can do it why can't we? we know the reason, the democrat party is run by the greens and the far left and they won't let him -- >> they are on the defense, no one will forget this. in the media some people said oil and gas companies counting on this opportunity, we thank you for doing that and the federal government has to provide the opening up of these resources so we can explore when we get to a greener energy future. remember all of the above energy? that's what we should do. stuart: ukraine's president zelenskyy told trey yingst is a pity us support came after the russian war began. that's a bit of late to the game.

>> some people will say what were we supposed to do beforehand? the administration decided sanctions would be helpful after an invasion, they thought it might be a deterrent, biden says it wasn't supposed to deter. i think zelenskyy has a point but the administration going back, i remember in the bush administration a lot of these countries including georgia, ukraine looking for the opportunity to join nato because they wanted to be western and independent and wanted freedom and be protected from russia and the european union dragged its feet, didn't want to let them do that and russia invaded the eu says ukraine at application for the eu, i understand why he's frustrated. he has been inspiring and courageous. stuart: you interviewed nikki haley on fox news. she said china is watching this

closely. >> china is looking at russia saying this is sloppy but china is not saying this will keep us from moving in on taiwan. was sending arms to ukraine? which companies are pulling out of russia? how is the world reacting? this should be a lesson to the world that the dependency russia had in europe and how dangerous that was the dependency the world has on-site will be bigger, stronger and -- stuart: i would have 5 when china looks at the world's reactions what vladimir putin did in ukraine they are less enthusiastic about going after taiwan. >> xi needs a fairly smooth 2022 in october or november he tries to throw consolidated power. there are question is whether one man rule or go back to a

model, with dissension. what nikki haley picked on that haven't occurred to me, china is watching the company, figuring out a way to not do business, not dealing with russia, they may be hearing from china. stuart: the repercussions go on and on. seeing you later. 9 to 11 weekdays, america's newsroom. you are competing with me. a new report says china asked russia to hold off on invasion of ukraine. what is this about the olympics? ashley: the new york times reporting china urged russia to

delay the invasion until the conclusion of the winter olympics. the invasion came in february after rushing -- washington informed meeting of the russian troop buildup saying what is going on? was hoped communist leaders would pressure their ally to stand down but it is unclear if those discussions reached the level of chinese president xi and vladimir putin. we know russia did begin the invasion four days after the winter olympics in beijing. china is calling the times report untrue and announcing to nothing more than a smear campaign the timing is suspicious. stuart: remember the expression collusion? looks like real collusion. get to the markets please. we have red ink but not severe.

the nasdaq is down 168 points was the 10 year treasury yield up 184. the price of gold holding above the $19 an ounce level. bit coin wholly infirm, moving down $42,000 is your bit coin quote. oil up $115 a barrel earlier, now it is 110. natural gas also at an elevated level. the price of a gallon of regular gas on average $3.73, up $0.08 overnight. in california you will pay $4.90. energy price inflation. been there is this. elon musk is inviting the uaw to hold a union vote at a tesla factory. there's a switch we will try to explain. russia says they will continue the war in ukraine until, quote, the end.

dan henninger this war is changing everything europe and america. he makes his case next. ♪ ♪ wow, we're crunching tons of polygons here! what's going on? where's regina? hi, i'm ladonna. i invest in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to the nasdaq-100 innovations, like real time cgi. okay... yeah... oh. don't worry i got it! become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

stuart: look at the market. plenty of reading. dow is down hundred. nasdaq is down 140. susan: they finished with elizabeth moran asking jay powell on crypto currencies. there was a 10 minute back and forth was three, short word answers from jerome powell and the rest of it was senator warren opining on crypto currency and sidetracking sanctions though there was not much concrete proof but how markets are reacting, jay powell saying upward pressure for a while, he is committed to a 25 basis point increase but prepared to raise by more than that if it doesn't come down. he says it will be appropriate

to proceed with rate hikes over the course of the year and this is reminiscent of the ecb president, when jay powell was prepared to get inflation down. stuart: that is what it takes to bring inflation down, sharply rising interest rates. susan: interest rates are here for the rest of this year. don't know if there will be a policy move was a lot of risk given a tight position and threading the needle, jay powell dealing with the growth. and the ukraine russian war. stuart: a tough job, i was intrigued by fed member messla who says inflation is becoming embedded. susan: and it could go past

neutral, could be higher than the 4 or 5 interest rate priced this year. stuart: the writing is on the wall. susan: i want to show some upward performance in this inflationary environment. look at walmart, kroger had a fantastic report card, kroger's earnings tells us despite the fact that bacon and all the food inflation is up dramatically shoppers and americans are willing. stuart: bacon up 40%. grocers are doing well. thanks very much. let's get to actually. elon musk challenging the uaw to unionize the tesla factory. that is a complete reversal.

ashley: it appears elon musk wants credit from president biden for tesla's leadership in the electric vehicle industry. he tweeted this. he says our real challenges bay area has negative unemployment so we don't compensate our awesome people well, they may have other offers and we will just leave. i would like an to invite the uaw to hold the union vote at their convenience. tesla will do nothing to stop them. biden has repeatedly left tesla off guest lists and out of prepared remarks and praise the gm and ford which make and sell

fewer electric cars though they employ thousands of workers, reports claim biden at disregard for tesla really does have to do with musk's hostility toward unions. he put out that tweet, and his love for the union shops. stuart: very provocative and all with her on this one, 100%. it is an op-ed in the wall street journal. ukraine changes everything. europe's long failure to deter putin was the equivalent of the fund the police. who wrote that? dan henninger. what changed? >> the invasion of ukraine, and the rubble changed. there are events which changed

everything, one of them was 9/11, i walked through security lines in airports as a result of the war on terror commencing. europe fought russia may have been a threat. not much was happening. no fear that vladimir putin would do anything like this. in 2006 nato's members in greed to their defense spending of 2% gdp. hardly any of them did that, that meant defunding the police. you don't deter the bad guys, knowing there was no real military pushback from the europeans was the status quo as we've seen with the german chancellor, citing germany of all places will raise spending to at least 2% of gdp on

military supply against the german constitution and ukraine and that is what i mean by changed everything. does the president of the united states -- i look for some recognition a state of the union speech, says things about ukraine in russia and china. stuart: we will close it there but we take your point. f income ukraine changed everything. a russian space official is warning any attacks on satellites will be considered cause for war. got more on that. it is a grim warning was one of a putin's cronies, as the uk sub sub sanctions, nigel farage takes that on.

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stuart: energy price inflation staring you in the face. oil at $109 a barrel. earlier this morning it had a 13 year high at $115 a barrel. the 10 year treasury yield above the 1.8% level, 183 as we speak. the head of russia's space agency says they will treat any hacking but satellites have cause for war. ashley: the head of russia avenue space agency d9 media reports, but he says the lining of satellites of any country is cause for war.

and and russia wants the uk government to sell all stakes in that company. the uk says we are not going to do that. a competitor to elon musk's starling satellite project, scheduled to launch another 36 internet saturday friday, courtesy of the russian space agency but that launch very much in doubt. that the latest from space. stuart: the russian oligarch and close putin ally roman abramohvic is selling the chelsea club, that's one of the oligarchs under pressure. the proceeds will go to victims in ukraine. nigel farage, was he forced to sell.

>> and it is 1.5 billion. he is not sold chelsea club. he hasn't done it on a whim. he is done it i would speculate. and all his assets frozen. and super yachts worth half $1 billion. and their assets are frozen. i'm going to speculate he's done a deal with the british government that says if i do this will you leave me alone. he hasn't criticized vladimir putin at all.

stuart: prime minister boris johnson said he will publish a list of people associated with vladimir putin. seems to me the squeeze of the oligarchs is really on and they are leading the charge here. >> the brits are leaving the charge, an independent voice on foreign policy we didn't have before and i don't think germany would have you turned, without a is putting pressure on and sadly what we are lacking, there's american leadership. all that biden does is follow what we do. the ruble is down 40%. interest rate of gone from my present to 20%. there is no doubt the squeeze he is putting on it having massive financial ramifications for russia and a strategy,

stopping an extended european more. the best stop on -- when vladimir putin talk about nuclear weapons we should be scared. and i'm skeptical of sanctions for the last 30 or 40 years, always ways around them. these sanctions are working. stuart: of the theory is when the hit on the russian economy is so bad, it had so many people so badly, they turn on vladimir putin and out him. that is a longshot, isn't it? >> middle classes in russia have a lot to lose was the oligarchs live an amazing lifestyle lose their houses in london, super yachts in monaco, you bring that to an end and that the industrial support

structure around vladimir putin that could turn against him. they will fear if they do speak out they will be killed, poisons, assassinated, but i do think we reached the point where vladimir putin's support is down to his generals and his secret intelligence services which you may say it is a longshot but russia is beginning to suffer seriously. what is going on in ukraine is likely to be a protracted siege without oil and gas, their problems would be worse and even germany as donald trump pointed out years ago has become totally dependent in germany. with her nuclear power stations. and the oligarchs against it. stuart: we are all worried about putin's mental health as well. always good, we will see you

again soon. show me the dow 30 to give you a sense of the market. half up, half down. you've got to check oil, $110 a barrel. jeff flock is in philadelphia. they all have different prices. at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. 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, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today.

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stuart: energy price inflation, the price of oil hit $115 a barrel, the highest price since 2008 and gas prices jumped $0.08. 373 is the national average. jeff flock is standing in a street corner with 3 gas stations with different prices. they can't raise prices fast enough? >> getting crazy. we are all above the national average. this is the conoco station, $4.05. this is a speedway where i am

standing. they are at $3.99. across the street. then spin back around, you can see across the street a shell station at $3.89. they buy gas in different amounts and they are not coordinating and it is crazy. they are all above the national average of $3.73, up a huge amount in the last day and then diesel we sometimes forget diesel but diesel in some ways has a bigger impact when it comes to inflation than anything else because of the trucking issue. is there help on the way? it is possible because we will get an update tomorrow from baker hughes on the number of drilling rigs out there, it is 650, oil and gas rigs in operation, almost 250 in the last year.

we expect a bigger jump tomorrow and mike summers, we talked to him and he says drillers and explorers can do a lot more if they are only permitted to. >> american producers are trying to meet the need. every week more rigs are going up in the primary oil basins. in addition the permian basin, the largest days and has hit record levels, almost 5 million barrels a day. ashley: i leave you with that good news, we talked to andy lipbow, $1.25 oil is just around the corner and how much will it go up? $.40 or $.50 in the next month.

stuart: bad news all around. i want to bring in sean strawbridge, seems to me as a complete outsider that your problem is you just can't get enough natural gas tier port so you can export it was why can't you get oil and gas you can export? >> thanks for having me. the united states is the largest producer of energy on the planet. that didn't happen by happenstance but by innovation and extraction technology that was created here in the united states. the challenge is expiration and production companies saw a trifecta of head winds. first, the destruction as part of a global pandemic, second this administration's

environmental agenda which has vilified the oil and gas sector and the resulting flight of capital from the sector making it more difficult to reinvest in exploration and production. we have the capacity to export more to our allies and partners but we are shooting ourselves in the foot in our ability to accomplish that. stuart: liquefied natural gas you do export, where is it going? >> 40% was headed to the asia-pacific region before the ukrainian crisis but now we see 70% being rerouted. cargoes underway to other markets being rerouted to the european continent. that's good news but we've got to produce more and export more and this administration needs to do more to facilitate. stuart: as the carrier goes from your port across the atlantic to europe is it

possible for the value of the cargo to change price? go up in value as it gets closer to europe? >> in understanding the commodities market much of those cargoes are presold. there are components that are sold on the stock market. it's possible some of those cargoes sold on the stock market are yet to be sold are sold at higher prices. stuart: thanks for being on the show. the europeans would love to have natural gas. thanks. look at this. 11:55 would here is the trivia question was how many future presidents signed the declaration of independence, two, 5, 8 or 11? you will get the answer when we come back.

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- these letters show why aag has such a high customer satisfaction rating. "i feel so much better." "it's like a savior to me." so you wrote this. - yes. - thank you, edna. - [announcer] don't wait. see if a reverse mortgage is right for you. call now, the number is on your screen. stuart: vladmir putin is speaking right now giving his version of events in ukraine. here is what he is saying. he says russians and ukrainians are one people. he says he is proud of a multinational people of russia. he says ukraine can forces took thousands of foreign citizens hostage including students. he says that our servicemen have provided humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee. he is saying that right now. no impact on the market that i can see. the trivia question, let me wrap that up, please, how many signers of the original

declaration of independence went on to be president of the united states? the choice was, two, eight, five or 11? give choices please. the answer is, it has got to be two. that's right. it is two. thomas jefferson and john adams. there you have it. all right it has been a busy day. my time is up, neil cavuto standing by to take over. sir, it is yours. neil: putin is not backing down, right? he is just doubling down here. just incredible. thank you, stuart, very, very much. we've been monitoring vladmir putin as well here. this comes on the heels of a phone call he had i think about an hour 1/2 ago with the emannuel macron of france. apparently it got very, very nasty with macron essentially saying you must cease and desist, stop all of this craziness and the message certainly being returned by vladmir putin was that this is what we must do. this is an achievement that