maria: yeah, final word, joe concha? >> maria, when donald trump left office, inflation was below 2%. now the new normal is 8, 9, we're heading towards 10% under this president and just as the last long term democratic president jimmy carter what inflation can do to a presidency it usually ends them, maria. maria: well, i know what it's doing to my wallet, joe concha, mark tepper great to see you both thank you so much, "varney" & company is next everybody thanks so much for being with us we'll see you tomorrow. ashley webster in for stuart ashley take it away. ashley: thank you, good morning, maria, good morning, everyone. i'm ashley webster in today as maria says for stuary varney. president biden continues to pass the blame for inflation. he claims it's high, we know that, but he has no plans yet to fix it. meanwhile, gas prices hitting another record high overnight, jumping $0.02 to $4.42 that's the average for a gallon of regular gas. take a look at this. a protester clad in a costume

from a handmade tail claims amy coney barrett doesn't know what it's like to carry a child to term because she has adopted children. well, that same protester was surprised to learn that coney barrett also has five biological children. senator marsha blackburn will be here to talk about that and lots of other issues. take a look at the markets producer prices as we just found out surging 11% in april, on higher food costs the dow closed yesterday at it's lowest level in more than a year down 150, s&p also down more than 18% off its high and down more than 17% since the start of the year, and the nasdaq, my oh, my down nearly 30% from its record close in the pre-market down another 1.5%. take a look at the 10 year treasury yield. that is heading down, which maybe okay for the nasdaq, although that correlation certainly not holding true in the pre-market. the 10 year at 2.80.

bitcoin plunging below 27,000 that's the first time at that level in nearly 18 months, right now, at about 28, 195 and all of this comes as the administration cancels massive oil & gas lease sale and as you can see the price of crude is down about 1% but still hyatt 104.55. apple, meanwhile, has been dethr onez as the world's most valuable company we'll tell you who took over that top spot, and as always we got a big three hours ahead, brandon judd, katie pavlich, david webb and general jack keane are all here, it is thursday, may 12, 2022 "varney" & company about to begin. ♪

ashley: led zepplin, that'll wake you up on a thursday morning, ramble on, i hope that's not what i'm doing. we've got the very latest read on producer prices, up 11% year-over-year, good morning, lauren simonetti. break it down the headlines if you can for us. lauren: i'm going to ramble on, ashley, that it's a problem. there has been, however, a slow down in the increase in inflation so this is factory level it was up half a percent in april. it was up 1.6% in march, okay? so it's still there. the annual numbers up 11%, so inflation is definitely in the pipeline. one encouraging piece of data is that service inflation that was flat on the month, we're all looking for signs that inflation peaked i'm not sure this is the answer, or a convincing report and i'd also make the argument that this producer price inflation factory inflation, this is more forward-looking because these costs are passed on to the

consumer, what we pay when we go to the store. ashley: that's exactly right the wholesalers pay more. we pay more, all right let's take a look at bitcoin. it fell well-below $26,000 earlier this morning, take me through it, lauren. lauren: this is incredible. the trend line that we're seeing and we've been seeing for quite sometime is as stocks fall crypto craters and it's more severe for the smaller coins, we're looking at bitcoin, but et her lost a third of its value in seven days and in the past 24 hours, the smaller coins, like solana and cardano they fell over 30% it is a brutal sell-off. its wiped $600 billion in cryptocurrency value in a week. stablecoins are adding another layer of concern here. traders park funds as they move in and out of tokens right? we told you that ust lost its dollar peg earlier in the week and now tether, the largest of the stablecoins did briefly lose its dollar peg too and what this

does is bring liquidity concerns to the market that could have and is having a cascading effect, very nervous time for investors overall and, you know, this is just as cryptocurrencies were finding wider acceptance and eventually regulation. people are saying well what's the purpose and the value of cryptocurrencies right now. it's changing fast. ashley: dangerous question, certainly not a safe haven. lauren, thank you. let's check the futures as we can see all the major indices pointing lower and let's bring in our good friend d. r. barden. d. r., good morning to you. to lauren's point it doesn't appear inflation has peaked based on the ppi number today. >> no, i think lauren, once again, did a great job reporting there on what's happening and it didn't really explode either, ashley, so i think the markets, what we saw in the market's reaction to that was like well, it's about where we expected, so

this could be a leveling off but certainly not a pulling back yet ashley: what about the crypto to that point too, d. r. i'm not sure if you're a big crypto fan but it's really taking it on the chin, the whole sector. >> yeah, i think we're starting to see some of the issues with an asset class like cryptocurrency that is a bit of the wild west, not even a bit, a lot of the wild west out there in terms of how its being structured. we've got people that are trying to do things to bolster up the stablecoins with bringing in money, bringing additional bitcoin but what we're seeing is a little bit of what happens when you have a liquidity crunch right in the middle of everything else happening and i think it's a place to watch right now as opposed to jump in with new money. there will be a time for that though, ashley to jump into that

crypto space again. ashley: it's always about timing i know you like the industrial sector, d. r., and you leak deer e in particular, why? >> well we've been talking about deere for a few weeks back when they had their big drop just in the middle of april. i said that they were a good place to put some money to work after that big pullback because i think that we're going to see a long term trend in agricultural supporting industr ies continuing to head up deere's really well-placed in that area, they will throw you off a little bit of a dividend while you watch them grow over the next years. this isn't a shorter term play. this is a longer term play in the whole agricultural industrial complex, ash. ashley: very good. as always, full of information and advice. d. r. barden, thank you very much for joining us, just down half a percent in the pre-market , thank you. now this.

the ladies on the view tried to claim president trump destroyed a soaring economy left to him by president obama. watch this. >> the people out there really believe that the republicans are going to make it all better? i mean, that is a pipe dream. >> every time as she pointed out democrats in office the deficit goes down, the economy flourishes, and then the republican comes in and destroys it all. until the pandemic the economy was soaring. we had record economic gain. >> we had president barack obama. >> he's in a room with loose boards, he takes a step here he gets hit by it. he takes a step here he gets hit by gas going up and it's not on him. ashley: it's not on him. i believe they just live in opposite world. let's bring in sean duffy. what is your response to all of those claims? >> well first off, ashley, this was supposed to be the view which is a view from america. they have no conservatives on

the show. it's a democrat leftist viewpoints that they actually debate on the show. take for one example donald trump said i'm going to make america energy independent and he said we're going to drill, refine, we're going to be able to build pipelines in america and what you saw is we were energy independent. we actually were exporting american oil & gas and prices actually fell for american consumers. democrats have said you know what? we want high oil & gas prices so we'll make a transition to green energy and that's exactly what they've done. we see record high oil & gas prices as a consequence of the policy. now they may want to step away from it but democrats don't believe in free markets and capitalism. they believe in socialism. socialism and leftist policies never ever work and the result of that is the economy that you see today. by the way also spending, print ing money, the way democrat s have done gives you what you have today with regard to inflation. ashley: spend, spend, and regulate that's the montra there i want to move on to this , sean

president biden leaning into the maga label calling kt the maga king. >> my republican colleagues say these programs help the working class and middle class people, that's why we have inflation. they're dead wrong. under my predecessor, the great maga king, the deficit increased every single year he was president. ashley: i don't get it. to me its almost like the deplorables moment. what say you, sean? >> so first of all if you're going to fix a problem, ashley, you got to recognize a problem and it's joe biden's problem it's not donald trump's problem and to play this whole maga game , ultra maga, this is putting america first. america first principles, let's bring jobs back to america. let's bring manufacturing back to america, let's have safety and security on our streets, let's secure our border, like i mentioned before. american energy independence, all things that made america

great and joe biden has moved away from those principles and the consequence has been this economy, the crime, the open borders. i don't think this works at all, because i look at the blue collar workers in wisconsin. many of them voted democrat their whole lifetimes, they love donald trump because their pocketbooks had more money in it , they had more opportunity, more ability to make more money at better jobs. they're more secure so listen, so he's bringing up an issue that i think remind people of how great donald trump actually was. people go i would love donald trump's twitter account again. i would love his brash antics because my family rocked during the trump presidency. ashley: very quickly, sean, bitcoin selling off i know you're a fan, getting nervous? >> look, i'm nervous but i keep buying the dip here. i keep buying in, it'll rebound at some point and so i think what lauren mentioned earlier, this depegging from the

stablecoin issue with ust real issue. coinbase has been an issue where there's reports if they bankrupt the crypto that you hold in coinbase could go into bankruptcy. you won't get it real issues there. i think we're going to get through this and listen, i'm still really bullish on bitcoin and crypto as a whole. ashley: love your style, sean, you're doubling down, great stuff as always sean duffy thanks so much for joining us this morning, sean, have the courage of your convictions. all right, taking a look at the features pointing down ahead of the opening bell, coming up, pro -choice activists are still protesting outside homes of supreme court justices, take a look at what one of them had to say about justice amy coney barrett. listen. >> it's also plausible that the fact that she's an adoptive mother is her in ability to what it's like to carry a pregnancy to term. ashley: excuse me? you mean amy coney barrett the

biological mother of five children? meantime the baby formula shortage leaving parents across across the country scrambling and it may not get better for months grady trimble will have the full report after this. ♪ help me rhonda, help, help me rhonda ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm the latest hashtag challenge. and everyone on social media is trying me. i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪ ♪ ( car crashing ) ♪ ♪ but if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage, you could be left to pay for this... yourself. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. lemons. lemons. lemons. the world is so full of lemons.

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ashley: congress is finally turning its attention to the nationwide baby formula shortage come in, lauren what are they actually doing to address the issue? lauren: yeah, its been going on for months and they're holding a hearing a house hearing two weeks from now the date is may 25 okay, so you gotta wait. the witnesses haven't been confirmed but it's expected the

fda and the top producer abbott will be there. abbott says if the fda lets them , they can get their michigan plant back up and running in two weeks, but of course it be about 10 weeks before the formula that they finally start making there can get to the store shelves, so the bottom line here is infant parents are going to be nervous for quite sometime because they have already been scrambling. ashley: yes, yes, nervous times and no immediate relief lauren thank you and staying on the formula shortage, abbot labs is calling on the fda to work quickly and give them approval to reopen their closed factory in michigan. grady trimble is outside that factory this morning, grady? if abbott gets the approval, how soon could they be back making new batches of formula? reporter: so they can restart production, abbott tells me, two weeks, as lauren mentioned, from getting fda approval, but then after that it's going to take weeks, potentially two months

before you see that product hit shelves. as of this morning, abbott is telling me that there's no link between the recalled formulas and those infant illnesses and deaths and for now, the fda is telling abbott that it can release certain products on a case-by-case basis that are produced at this sturgis facility depending on how hard that formula is to come by and how badly a child needs it. in the meantime, other formula makers though, they are ramping up production and abbott is flying in formula from europe. listen. >> that's not as easy as it sounds. you simply can't turn it up to 11 so to speak and produce more formula. these are very precise manufacturing mechanisms. secondly, have you to make sure if the abbott products can come back on the market that they are safe and effective. reporter: so far, none of that though has done much to help the shortage. in fact, it's getting worse. take a look at this map.

you can see eight states plus washington d.c. have half the formula supply they normally would. nationwide, the out of stock rate is at 43%. >> i went straight to costco and they didn't have my formula. i went to target, didn't have my formula, i went to walmart and they didn't have my formula and i went to fred meyer and they didn't have my formula. reporter: so abbott knows that getting this factory back up and running is urgent and important, but it's likely not the silver bulleted, ashley. these supply chain issues were going on before this factory shutdown in mid february and they will likely continue once it gets backup and running again but there is urgency from lawmakers in congress as well as parents across the country for the biden administration and the fda to fix this problem. ashley: and quickly, all right, grady, thank you very much, great stuff. senator marsha blackburn, republican from tennessee joins

me now. great to see you this morning, senator. the white house claims they're working around the clock to address the formula shortage, but this has been a problem for months. what took so long? >> yes it has been a problem for months but ashley, what happens with this white house, they wait until something is a crisis, and then, they huddle to see what they're going to do about it. now in tennessee, we have been the state hardest hit by this. 54% is the out-of-stock rate in tennessee and we've been trying to draw the attention to this , wanting to make certain that the fda works with your producer s like abbott to address this , and picking up that process of getting these plants open, picking up the rate of manufacturing, allowing this into the supply chain,

looking at the distribution, the logistics on this. all of that is a problem, but what are we hearing? just now, you have the white house wanting to go negotiate with the entities involved in the shipping issues around our ports. as of friday, there were 35 cargo ships backed up at the port there in long beach trying to get in so this is something they have let drag on and have chosen not to make supply chains dealing with china, dealing with government entities like the fda that would approve this. they're not making it a priority it is not that important to them they're focused on abortion on demand, they are focused on keeping the border open, they're focused on raising your taxes, and centralizing control to the federal government. ashley: and i want to switch

gears if we can, senator. you mentioned abortion, protesters gathering outside the home of justice amy coney barrett. one of the protesters tried to claim the justice's views on abortion were bias. listen and i'll get your reaction. >> it's also plausible that the fact that she's an adoptive mother is her in ability to see what it's like to carry a pregnancy to term. >> she's had five kids by herself. >> not everybody wants to have five kids or four kids or one kid. ashley: yeah, senator, i are in violation of federal code. they are in violation of 18 usc 1057. they should be booked. what they are doing is wrong, they know it is wrong and it is wrong for jen psaki to have stood at that podium at the white house and being egged on,

these protesters going to justices houses. ashley: intimidation. >> yes, intimidation. this administration wants to pick and choose what laws they enforce and what laws they just ignore and you can not do that. liz: senator we're out of time, i'm so sorry. thank you so much for doing this the opening bell will be coming up next. meet jessica moore. jessica was born to care. she always had your back... like the time she spotted the neighbor kid, an approaching car, a puddle, and knew there was going to be a situation. ♪ ♪ ms. hogan's class? yeah, it's atlantis. nice. i don't think they had camels in atlantis. really? today she's a teammate at truist,

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coventry direct, redefining ashley: well, the futures suggest another mildly, well i say mildly, the nasdaq down 1.5% in the pre-market let's get right to our good friend gary kaltbaum this morning. gary, we're on a losing streak, clearly, but do you see any relief, bounces in the near term and how much more pain do we have to go through? >> there can be a relief rally at anytime, but that's only because in less than i think 15 trading days, the nasdaq's dropped 16% and the s&p, which is not supposed to be as bad that's down i think 13% so any rally is out of weakness. it can come from anywhere at any time, but look it doesn't serve well when you have another one of these manias pop overnight and one of these coins that was supposed to be what they call stable, i hear dropped

98%. that does not instill too much confidence. ashley: it certainly doesn't. so what does the investor do here? sit on cash? i mean, you know, it's a panicy time. what do you tell people? >> i just think as much cash as possible and i know everybody is looking for a bottom or the bottom, and i just really feel the central bank has created this monstrous bubble, you're seeing it pop and left right, it started early 2021 and it's leading to other things and i just think there's more to go. how much i don't know but you're seeing it in realtime where believe it or not the nasdaq 50 % of all nasdaq stocks are down 50% or more, and 22% down 75% or more. i always thought there was no way we'd ever repeat the 2003 disaster and i think we surpassed it. ashley: are we close to the bottom? give me some hope here.

>> um, no. i wish i could tell you more and bottoms do not happen in a day. there are processes that i just haven't seen at this juncture, my friend. >> [eaching bell ringing] ashley: gary kaltbaum give me much more, opening bell ringing, what kind of day can we expect? well the futures suggest another down day. we as they push the buttons, are off and running and here we go that's the dow 30, waiting for those trades to click in and you can see more red than green. that is for sure, the dow up 130 , 127 points or thereabouts so take a look at the s&p, down nearly 1% in the very early going at 38.99 take a look at the nasdaq, tech-heavy down 150 points or one and one-third percent let's take a look at big tech talking of the nasdaq, red across the screen, microsoft,

apple, alphabet, amazon, meta all down apple off two and one- third percent and we've been talking about the cryptos being a tough run. bitcoin let's take a look at where bitcoin is today down again 715 bucks, under 29,000 at 28, 480. lauren what's going on here? we talked about it but it's pretty dramatic. lauren: it's a washout ashley. i gave you a $600 billion in one week number before. well 200 billion wiped out in one day in the crypto markets. if you're looking at bitcoin this is the lowest since 2020. i mean, almost 25,000 at one point this morning. if you take a look at ether, that fell below 2,000 so sentiment completely shaken by the collapse in the multi-billion dollar stablecoin ust by terra, and the tether news too. so crypto is a momentum play, you lose money in stocks you need to sell to raise cash elsewhere, and that's some of the concern that we're having,

this liquidation concern also for the markets, and you know, a question to be asked right now, ashley, is because of the relationship between the nasdaq, especially right now and cryptocurrencies. does the nasdaq have to stabilize first for cryptocurrencies to stabilize? ashley: that's a good question. it certainly seems they are in lockstep. let's take a look at apple. we've been told it's overtaken as the world's most valuable company. it's down again today, susan? who knocked them off the top spot? >> well, it looks like it's saudi aramco, let's get back to bitcoin and cryptocurrency with cathie wood picking up by the way 500,000 of those coinbase shares after the record drop yesterday, record lows. now, as for apple itself, and as you know, cryptocurrency now is kind of trades like a nasdaq triple q eft, so look at where apple's trading and as apple goes, so do the rest of the markets. apple finally in bear market

territory so down 20% from those recent peaks, and as a result, they lost the title as the world's most valuable company to saudi aramco, which is a state controlled oil company and saudi aramco has benefited of course with a spike in oil prices but you know, which i make the argument that a state-controlled company is that necessarily a private company and are we comparing apples-to-apples. look, apple is still worth about $2.5 trillion. they have guided from maybe an $8 billion hit in sales because of the china covid lockdowns we had worldwide developers conference next month and apple, by the way, in these type of markets and this type of environment, they have pricing power in high inflationary times , meaning that people will still buy their phones, maybe 200 million or so, and they will still spend on apple services despite the higher prices and those type of stocks by the way get rewarded in this type of high inflationary environments. ashley: never has there been a more appropriate analogy, apples-to-apples i love it. susan, take a look at disney.

i thought they had pretty solid earnings. they missed on the top and bottom but disney plus subscribers so why is the stock down? >> lighter sales and profit is what you're talking to but streaming, disney plus, pretty good you know that. almost 138 million u.s. disney plus subscribers, that's actually better than anticipated , so they added almost 8 million new sign-ups in those first three months of the year, and that was way better than what netflix did which lost subscribers for the first time in 11 years, and then disney also doing better than netflix because they are guiding for a stronger second half than the first. you have to remember that netflix says they are losing around 2 million paying subscribers this spring, so i would say disney is sounding pretty bullish don't you think? they are also making 5% more per -sign-up for disney plus. the downside be asia parks was a problem with disney shanghai, disney hong kong shut for most of the first quarter. still you had parks and the park sales doubling from last year, but the stock is off almost 30% and if we go sub-100 bucks you

really have to rethink because remember i think disney at its lows during covid when all the parks were shutdown, was trading around $80. are we really back to those type of times? i would say no. ashley: no. i would say no too. you're right. all right, show me beyond meat. the fake meat people that stu likes to call them. huge drop after their report yesterday. what's the problem? >> bigger loss in sales to start the year and not good, obviously in this type of negative market type of environment, so the ceo said that results were impacted by inflation, of course rising costs to make the plant-based meat you've been hearing this over and over again from company executives complaining about supply chains and inflation, but he says look, he's also spending on strategic launches that he thinks will pay off in the long term. wall street can tell you not confident, that's actually going to pay off down some 14% or so. i think that ipo offer price is even subs by the way.

ashley: oh, wow yeah not good. all right talking let's go into another area, rivian, electric cars. they reported yesterday. had a big miss on revenue, but they are seeing strong demand, right? >> yeah, so 90,000 reservations for vehicles, and yes, it was wider losses and lower sales to start this year, but i think the main number, the magic number, was the production forecast and wall street was pretty relieved that they are still sticking to their 25,000 truck production numbers this year. they're also predicting that supply chain issues will ease up which is positive, because you have to remember that this stock really started sliding when they warned at the end of last year that they would only produce half of that 25,000 number, because of what they complained about supply chain issues and global chip shortage, but the stock is way off its highs. it was above 100 bucks plus when it was worth $100 billion and it ipo'd at $78 so again i think

we're trading at sub-ipo price there but on the flip side i want to show you lordstown because it looks like electric vehicles are having a good day, they are up after selling their factories to foxconn which puts iphones and ipads together lordstown up $260 million in that deal so there is some green out there. ashley: there is. we have to dig deep but there is let's check out fort and gm. both of them getting a downgrade from wells fargo. what's going on? >> rare double downgrade from wells so going from overweight to under weight to basically from a buy-to-sell. gm is worth $33 according to wells, ford worth $12. that's pretty much half what wells was predicting in their previous price targets and that's because wells says that 2022 could represent what they call a peak profits year for legacy car makers like gm, ford, especially with the accelerated shift to electric in the future. now cathie wood, by the way, investing into gm for the very first time. this is notable because you know cathie wood made her name by

predicting tesla would go to 4,000 or so, and she picked up around 150,000 gm shares, so that's a vote of confidence for the fund manager at the moment who sees an electric future but gm might have a role in that. ashley: yeah, interesting. but gm like so many others today down nearly 6%, susan great stuff thank you very much. let's take a look at the dow winners in the very early going. there they are, walmart, verizon , 3m, ibm, those are some of the names. not up massively, but certainly at least they are in the green, the s&p 500 winners dollar tree, dollar general, kroger, lumen technologies and tapestry all in the tapestry up 9.5% and let's take a look at the nasdaq winners. gillead sciences, amgen, electronic arts ea, honeywell in there too. modest gains although dollar tree up nearly 2%. all right, coming up, google using its new smart glasses to breakdown language barriers,

interesting, watch. >> my mother speaks mandarin and i speak english, which is a strange thing. >> you should be seeing what i'm seeing, just transcribed for you in realtime. ashley: that is so cool. could wear those anywhere around the world, it could be fun. we've got the details on the new prototype coming up plus overdose deaths reaching a record high last year, fueled by fentanyl. it's coming through our southern border so what can we do to stop it? well i'll ask border patrol council president brandon judd, later in the show but first bitcoin plunging in value, we've talked about it, losing all of its 2021 gains. what happened, and is it still a safe investment? i'm going to ask a bitcoin expert after this. ♪

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♪ slow ride, take it easy ♪ ashley: slow ride, that is seattle, and the band is fog hat no surprise in seattle, a little rainy, kind of drizzley, 50 degrees but it's beautiful love that area. all right let's take a look at bitcoin, know the so beautiful. its wiped out all of last years gains down to 28,000 or there abouts. matt hogan is the chief investment officer of bitwise. he joins me now. matt, are you getting a little bit nervous? what's going on here? >> absolutely, ashley. we're seeing a macro-driven risk repricing of all risk assets that includes bitcoin. that repricing exposed some of the risks that it built up in the crypto market over the recent bull run.

we saw the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin. long term cleaning up risks like that, regulating the stablecoin market will be good for crypto, but over the short-term, it introduces significant volatility and if i'm being honest, i think that volatility could continue for a period. ashley: all right, so, if you're brave is this a buying opportunity buying on this big dip? >> i think for long term- oriented investors this is an interesting time to be building a position. i'm down in southern california at a pension conference talking about crypto and the level of interest is higher than its ever been. people are asking good questions , evaluating at the investment committee level. i think the long term outlook for bitcoin is very strong and these are interesting points, but over the next three-to-six months i think you'll expect more volatility, so it depends on whether you're a short-term trader trying to time the bottom , i think that's risky , or a long term investor, i think the long term

fundamentals are stronger than they've ever been. ashley: well, and to that point, matt, it seems that the acceptance and the usage is certainly gaining ground. miami is trying to become kind of a bitcoin haven, the mayor there is taking part of his salary in bitcoin, but periods like now, how much damage does that do to the credibility? there is a bit of panic, a little bit of volatility. is that bad for the long term outlook? >> you know, i don't think so. the thing about crypto is we've seen this multiple times in the past. bitcoin has had seven 70% plus drawdowns over its history en route to becoming the best- performing asset class over the last three, five and 10 years perhaps of all-time that was investable. out of each of those pullbacks the crypto industry has become stronger. what we try to do at bitwise, talk to our investors about is to step away from the prices and

look at the fundamentals, how is venture capital activity doing? it's at all times highs. how is developer activity doing? it's at all times highs. how is institutional adoption doing? it's at all times highs. regulation is moving in a positive direction. that doesn't make these markets any fun, but it does mean we've seen this before en route to new highs and i suspect we'll eventually come to a bottom, we'll clean out the excesses, and that will give us a strong foundation to make the next move to $100,000 bitcoin. ashley: you have a very calming message and voice, matt. maybe that will help. thank you so much for joining us this morning, really appreciate your input. let's check google if we can. they just announced a whole new line of products. lauren? walk me through that. lauren: well they're trying the glasses thing once again. remember those from oh, about a decade ago now. these are smart glasses and they actually have a purpose. realtime language translation. >> taking years of research and

google translate and bringing that to glasses. >> do you see me? >> i'm actually looking straight into your eyes and it seems like you're looking right at me. lauren: and when you're looking straight into the person's eyes you're actually reading what they're saying, ashley. i think this is cool, and this gives people a reason to buy them if you will. it's just a prototype so we don't have any further details. some other products that google announced. their smart watch, the pitch pitch el watch is coming it's more sleek than an apple watch, integrates fit bit, premium pricing so it's going to be expensive although i can't tell you how much just yet, and was not expensive is their new affordable phone, the pixel 6a, $450, the battery lasts 72 hours there you go. ashley: wow i could use those glasses with my wife, she's from australia and i haven't a clue what she says half the time so the translation

be good. lauren: they don't have that weird thing on the side, yeah. ashley: right. lauren: i like these. ashley: good stuff. i think they're cool. let's take a look at meta because there's trouble in the metaverse. lauren the company is planning on cutting back on some projects right? lauren: well the metaverse is expensive so reuters is reporting that the facebook owner will soon announce cut backs in their reality labs unit, which houses the metaverse ambitions. that means some projects are going to be dropped altogether, others just delayed. the futures expensive, reality labs has bled cash, they lost over 10 billion in that unit last year, 3 billion in the first quarter alone, and you know, now we have these broader growth concerns particularly for the tech sector and facebook is getting caught up in that. ashley: very good. it's expensive in the future and it's expensive in the present. thanks to inflation, lauren thanks very much. coming up five days away now from a crucial republican

primary in pennsylvania. dr. oz is leading the pack, but it's close, can his trump endorsements take him all the way. i'm going to ask dr. oz because he's here in the next hour. meantime, gas prices through the roof. what's driving them higher? jeff flock has the full report from an oil refinery after this. ♪ big game today!

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head to golo.com now to join the over 2 million people who have found the right way to lose weight and get healthier with golo. ashley: all right, show me the price of oil. it is down but marginally still above 105 bucks a barrel, meantime the administration just can't sort a massive oil & gas lease sale in alaska, of course they did, jeff flock has the story and joins us this morning. hi, jeff. reporter: well, ashley, you got to hand it to president biden don't you? he made a campaign promise to end the exploration as much as he could of new gas and oil leases, and despite what's going on in the economy right now, he's sticking to it. take a look at the gasoline prices. yeah, sometimes i think we talk too much about gas prices, well how can you not talk about it when it sets another record everyday. today another all-time record

high $4.41 depending on how you round up, 4.41 or 4.42 yeah, pretty crazy, and despite that, the president, yes, canceling a huge lease about a million acres in the kukinlet in alaska as well as a couple leases in louisiana and the gulf of mexico so what is the administration to do if it's not going to explore more for oil? well, mario drage, the former ec b, european central bank president and current prime minister of italy suggested to president biden, perhaps a buyer 's cartel, get all the nations together and say listen we're not going to pay anymore than this , $60 maybe. well, it's a good idea, its been tried, maybe not successfully. other options, what about a wind fall profits tax? we could put a extra tax on the oil companies and then start handing it out to people at the pump. well, that's one idea. then what about price controls? president nixon tried that famously in the 70s.

our phil flynn didn't care much for it then, doesn't care much for it now. listen. >> the first rule of economics is that you show me a price gap, i'll show you a short age, okay? price gaps equal shortages. maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but throughout history , they always do. reporter: so pay up, ashley, bottom line. what can i tell you? ashley: yes, exactly, jeff flock as always, straight to the point jeff thank you very much. still ahead, retired four star general jack keane, dr. oz, matt schlapp and the wall street journal dan henninger, what a lineup, the 10 a.m. hour of "varney" & company is next. ♪ as a main street bank, pnc has helped over 7 million kids develop their passion for learning through our grow up great initiative.

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ashley: the empire state building in midtown manhattan, cloudy and hazy today. i'm ashley webster, down across the board. modest losses, the nasdaq, 1.5%

down 188 points. the 10 year treasury yield is down more than 7 basis points, well below three, 2.86. you would think that would be good pretty markets. crude now turning ever so slightly higher at $105 a barrel. we are also got the latest read on mortgage rates, at 127,900, below 28,000, pretty painful in that sector. the latest read on mortgage rates. >> reporter: it is 5.3% for the 30 year fixed rate. a year ago it was under 3, a big move up, translates into your monthly payment increasing by 1/3 compared to a year ago.

looking at homebuilders with up arrows, the market has been resilient so far. keyword, so far. ashley: hope people lock in a 30 year fixed when it was under 3 anyway. we will see. the biden administration canceled one of the most high-profile oil and gas sales pending before the interior department. it has been canceled as americans face record high gas prices, $4.42 for a gallon of regular, diesel, $5.56. it really does hurt when you fill up the tank. let's bring in matt schlapp. is the president doing enough to help bring down these high gas prices, apparently not when canceling lease sales in alaska. >> reporter: the thing to remember is this is exactly what the biden administration

wants. when you ascribe to the green new deal and say you want to get us off fossil fuels, part of each piece of this legislation is a desire to ramp up the cost of gasoline, diesel, all these fossil fuels as a way to get the consumer to realize the alternative, which they call green, will be more affordable. drew. driving up the cost of fossil fuels is the platform president biden ran for president on. it is so unpopular and they are ready to get completely worked at the polls in november now they want to tell us this is vladimir putin's fault or a problem with the conflict in ukraine. their policy is to make fossil fuel so prohibitive expensive that you will stop using them. ashley: how mean is that to force them to look elsewhere? senate republicans including

democrat senator joe manchin blocking a bill that would guarantee abortion access nationwide, that his intern intensified protests outside the homes of supreme court justices. should the doj be doing more? should they be prosecuting them in straight is? where is the line between protest and intimidation. >> you are not allowed to according to the laws on the books to disrupt religious services, not allowed to intimidate, what does the left do when they see lawbreaking like the black lives matter violent protests across the country. kamala harris and other democrats sprung those criminals out of jail, put them back on the street so we have a two system judicial system, on the conservative side they will keep you in jail for a year, on the liberal side, a grievance,

it is a political concern, the left is trying to illegally bu thing by saying states should regulate abortion and not the supreme court. "america's weather weekend" if they were donald trump supporters outside their homes, they would have a different view. great stuff. thank you very much. let's check back in on your money. bring in lou, good morning to you. i asked another of our analysts. are we close to the bottom or at the bottom, he said no. are we close to the bottom or have more pain to go? >> i asked my 5-year-old when we will hit the bottom and i said we had the top.

that was in november or december. it is not all about the economy. it is about inflation. the two readings we got are showing it running red-hot and president biden is acting like president joe zuzu just to trust amended is not going to get better. the key market, the key message for the market, until we see an inflection point and i turned down in the data we will see volatility and the stocks already had major drawdowns. the biotech sector is down 66% but the nasdaq and s&p haven't had that flush yet, down 15% or 25% from november december highs. guys who have been in the decades need to see a capitulation, that is a long way to enter the same question. we are not at the bottom.

ashley: appreciate, anyway, what does the investor do here? it is a little panic inducing. do we sit on cash? what is the best strategy? >> you have to be opportunistic. having cash on the sidelines makes sense. you need to spread your best in companies we know will be around so peak companies making semiconductors that are innovative. or looking at -- we know electric vehicles and self driving cars are a reality. i don't think we should be dip buying specular assets and hoping they will go higher into rebound. to be disciplined and have some cash on the sidelines.

ashley: we are out of time. great stuff. social security recipients could see the bigger cost-of-living increase in 40 years. what is the number? >> when their social security check could be going up by 8.6%, or $142 a month, that basically meets inflation. bring the average social security check to $1800 to 1600 now. it would be the biggest increase since 1981 and necessary to keep up with the higher cost of everything particularly the higher cost the elderly face. ashley: how far does it go? you are looking at some movers. i mentioned tapestry doing very well.

>> strong earnings, what is surprising, looking at 12% gain they are vulnerable to china. that is where most merchandise is made in asia and vietnam and china. ignoring potential risks out there. ashley: general motors down almost 5%, wells fargo downgraded gm and ford to underweight setting macro head winds today are euv business and took a price target from 74 to 33 and this report was ugly. raw material inflation will add $12,000 in unplanned costs, trucks are big chunk and they are getting more for the automaker and the driver. ashley: 19%, what is going on? ashley: all it took was them

saying we are committed to 25,000 trucks this year, $150 off of its high. the bad news being ignored by the market because there has been so much bad news in the latest is recall of 500 trucks because of potentially faulty airbags. ashley: $170 down to 24. the food delivery people may be going public. lauren: it could happen at the end of the year. we don't have details on the timing or size of the listing but if you recall recently instant car took down the valuation by 40% putting it at $24 billion. very positive during the pandemic but people are returning, one of each. ashley: that is true.

doctor fauci says we will soon know how often we need to get covid booster shots. >> sometime in the middle of the summer we will know what the cadence will be how often we have to vaccinate people. ashley: does that mean shots forever? i will ask doctor's. he is on the show. new pressure to open a factory that produces baby formula even if they reopen today officials say it could take 6 to 8 weeks before a product at the store shelves and a federal judge extends a temporary restraining order blocking the biden administration from lifting title 42 as ms 13 gang members with fentanyl poor across the southern border. that report next. customizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. if anyone objects to this marriage...

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ashley: let's take a look at these markets. nasdaq just turned positive briefly commonalities back down again. there is a little bit coming back on the market, the dow down a hundred and the nasdaq down 0. one%. we will see some green. we are now over two weeks from title 42 possibly being lifted and illegal crossings are starting to surge at eagle pass, texas and that is where bill is with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: that is exactly right. people and drugs continues pulling into the country, texas reporting since they launched operation lone star last year and last march they have seized

344 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill every single american living in this country. in the meantime large groups continue pouring across the border. look at this video we shot yesterday includes one large single group of 125 illegal immigrants coming across all at once mostly hondurans, venezuelans and colombia, this is a problem for them because it is a huge drain on their resources, multiple agents how to respond to these groups to do processing and paperwork leaving a part of the border and patrolled with no manpower and the cartels know that so they will push these groups across and elsewhere where there are no agents they will push their drugs are cross. look at this video. this 2-year-old abandoned girl was dropped at the river, the woman holding her is not her mother. random men just gave her the little girl and said bring her across the river. the girl had a piece of paper on her with her mom's name,

phone number and address so the property owner called the mom. she was very nonchalant saying my daughter made it across, that is great, she's with border patrol and will get to the in dallas and same spot yesterday to look at this video again any law pass, this haitian family struggling across the river, the man is carrying what appears to be a newborn infant across the river and right before we started reporting he was struggling in the water at one point submerged and having to hold his hands above the water to keep that baby from going under, very dangerous, there have been multiple drownings in recent weeks including the texas national guard soldier out of the rio grande valley, the aftermath of a human smuggler pursuit crash, you "america's weather weekend" illegal immigrants bail out of the vehicle and go running all over the place after texas dps was chasing them, 7 of them end up getting away including the smuggler. speaking of the rio grande valley border patrol reports in

a 48 hour span they arrested two convicted child sex predators and four ms 13 gang members. that is in two days. back to you. ashley: great stuff as always. almost like a movie but it is very real. with me is brandon judd. good morning to you. federal judge extending a temporary restraining order blocking the biden administration from rolling back title 42. do you think it could end on may 23rd? >> i'm hoping the judge continues to push forward, force the biden administer a should to make its case because if they don't, right now what we just saw we see this every day whether it is in del rio, tucson, we are seeing it everywhere and if we don't have this judge hold past we will completely release the floodgates and be overwhelmed to the point we will have no

agents in the field at all in the cartels have complete control. they have control of stretches of the border now but when title 42 goes away they will have complete control of the border and that will put more citizens in danger. ashley: i just watched this video and can't believe any country in the world would allow us to go on under the noses of the administration and essentially doing nothing. i find it frightening in one respect that it is so uncontrolled but how can this be allowed to go unchecked? >> this is politics and that is what we see today. i personally pulled 18 people out of a ford bronco. we saw that vehicle where 7 people ran out of that vehicle, we are seeing this on a daily basis and this administration doesn't care, they claim to care about people yet when you see images of people struggling

to get across the river based on a policy these policies are inviting people to put themselves in the hands of criminal organizations and that has to start yet there is no political will from this administration to do anything to protect not only united states citizen but these migrants that are putting themselves in the hands of dangerous cartels. ashley: i wanted to talk about the drug issue, drug overdose deaths hit record highs in 2021 most due to fentanyl where a vast majority tracking from mexico across the border. look at the deaths, one hundred 8,000, up 15%. how can we get a handle on this because right now there is nothing to stop it? >> until we get a handle on illegal immigration this is going to continue to happen. there should be no surprise the amount of drugs coming across the border coincide with a number of people crossing the

border illegally, cartels know what they are doing, all they have to do is perform abate and switch, large number of people, natural resources out of the field, force them to send resources to take people into custody, create those artificial gaps and higher value product like fentanyl that is killing so many citizens, i don't understand, nobody in law enforcement understand why this administration isn't protect the united states citizens rather than pandering to the political base that once open borders, open borders is not humane, it is not humane what we are seeing with different people, not humane when we have united states citizens dying, what is humane is the rule of law and that is where the administration needs to go. ashley: i can only imagine the morale among border patrol agents must be pretty low. we are out of time. thank you for talking with us this morning, appreciate it.

the fda is trying to restart abbott baby formula plant in michigan. when does the company think product will get back on the shelves? that is a good question? >> reporter: it has been off-line, her parents right now. the fda finish their inspection of the factory in mid-march and abbott, before than has been working on fixes to some of the issues related to sanitation. it is mid may and it is closed. abbott flying from europe as 43% of overall baby formula supplies at a stock index. parents having relatives and other states ship it in, so it is not stolen in transport. that is how desperate the situation is. the supply chain crisis compounded by the abbott recall of a product, put them together and it is scary. ashley: it really is.

10 weeks before any relief. now this. the sec is reportedly opening an investigation into your lawn must cover his stake in twitter. we are five days from election day in the pennsylvania republican primary. dr. oz leading the pack but his contender has gained significant ground, we will talk about it with dr. oz who joins me next. ♪♪ meet jessica moore. jessica was born to care. she always had your back... like the time she spotted the neighbor kid, an approaching car, a puddle, and knew there was going to be a situation. ♪ ♪

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ashley: let's look at the markets. we had the sense they were trying to come back and low and behold check out the nasdaq up 40 points, up one third of 1%. maybe does the following 10 year treasury yield but we are in the green in the nasdaq, the s&p is flat, same on the dow, down 42 points. back in here, you are looking at some other movers. let's begin with murder now. lauren: the stock is up 6. 7% and their cfo low -- work at the company for a day coming in and out.

gomez resigning because of newly revealed investigation into financial reporting at a company he used to work for. the stock is up big time. lordstown motor trading at $1.78, $15.80. the news is strange, they will sell their ohio factory for $230 million, a valuable asset. they need the cash, selling it would make the endurance truck and that is going to be a joint venture and finality a lot of the oil, chevron and exxon, oil prices are lower as well, this is all on recession fears, less demand. ashley: president biden says inflation is his number one

economic friday already but spending priorities undermining that stance. you're talking to lawmakers about the push for more spending and what are they saying? >> reporter: democrats on capitol hill are on board with what president biden wants to do and that is to spend more so than americans and households have less cost to put food on their kitchen table, by lowering gas prices but the president spoke frankly last night at chicago at a fundraiser for the dnc and told the crowd that inflation should, quote, scare the living hell out of everybody. not necessarily are confident tone from what is to come. 's administration admitted they don't know when prices will go down. they cannot promise that

inflation will drop towards the end of the year but they are hoping for that. in the meantime they are pushing for more spending they think will lower costs for families and that will help them deal with higher prices through childcare subsidies, payment to purchasers, electric vehicles, aid to farmers, more green energy subsidies for windmills and solar panels. we talked to some democrats on capitol hill who told us they think the president has done all he can. time for congress to act. >> got to do something fun inflation. if i can toot my own horn two our mind. >> proposals don't help americans pay the bills today. what can congress do? what should the president do to give americans relief today? >> the president has done what he can. needs to be investment by the private sector and bipartisan action on an energy bill. we had a lot of discussions but haven't seen action in congress. >> reporter: the bottom line is

there's not a lot of appetite for capitol hill for a bipartisan fix. there is disagreement what the cause is of inflation. republicans are not getting on board with more government spending because they think that will make the problem worse. ashley: hillary vaughan, it is word association. i hope one day you will forget me, i beg your forgiveness. hillary vaughan. here with me now is pennsylvania senate candidate dr. oz. greetings to you. what do you make of our president's push more spending when inflation is going through the roof. >> washington keeps getting it wrong, when reading i am leading in the senate campaign is calling that out, they get it wrong because they don't understand the values of america in this part of the country and they have false ideology, false narratives, take energy which you were just discussing. there is no debate in pennsylvania what we should do, the green new deal is a lie, we

cannot work in the way it is described, but in pennsylvania we have more natural gas under our feet that you can possibly using this country in 200 or 300 years, harvesting natural gas under our feet would allow her to do the equivalent of our electrifying every vehicle in america plus put a solar panel on every roof, even if you are green advocate, it is the number one driver of inflation. energy prices. use the fed to crush the economy, stop doing that, with prices that we have autonomous control over. it is good for the domestic economy. ashley: it is less then a week, in the pennsylvania senate republican primary, kathy barnett has been coming up in the polls, what do you make of that? >> we are learning a lot about

kathy barnett the we are scared by, everybody is, the founder of the country, wanted to build statue to barack obama, saying stuff that is nonsensical, doesn't have a grasp of the economy, said things that make her very difficult to elect in a general election, the only time she has been involved, drop 20 points to a week democrat in the congressional seat. i am confident in part because of the past statement in the clear mission and vision offered to the voters of pennsylvania. ashley: i will have you put on your doctor's hat, doctor fauci says we won't know until later this year how often people need boosters. roll the tape and i will get your comments? >> it is likely they will be recommended for everyone, to get a booster, then it will be determined does that have to be every year?

i think sometime in the middle of the summer, we will know what the cadence is going to be to vaccinate people. ashley: what do you make of that? are we going to be having stirrers forever? >> if it is up for doctor fauci yes, i've called for him being fired, challenged into debate on this issue. how do you defend recommend everybody to get a booster especially young adults and children where the data is overwhelming that if you had one vaccine or the onus as a child you don't have any real risks if you are healthy so pretty good data out there that all are americans want to take extra precautions but it is not a 1-size-fits-all solution. the fundamental mistake fauci and the washington health officials are making, it is not a top-down authoritarian system. customize recommendations to segment of the population. we know who the vulnerable are, they should be treated differently than the average american, most of us have had

covid, you have natural immunity which they continue to ignore, violates the premise of immunology. ashley: as it stands, i have been fully vaccinated and had the booster. am i good to go? do you think? >> you are as good to go as you can go. you don't have huge benefits from getting additionally listed and if you already had the virus you are better off than -- i haven't -- probably as safe as someone who had the virus but directionally we should follow what biology dictates which says you don't vaccinate every all the time unless you have a good reason. ashley: great to talk to you this morning, thank you so much. he got it in, doctor dr. oz.com. the director of the nih confirmed the agency concealed early covid jeans. are they saying why?

lauren: china asked them to. this bombshell admission from the nih about hiding covid sequencing data. >> the archive of -- never deleted the sequence. just did not make it available for interrogation. it is kept archive on a tape drive, old technology but that is how it is done but when it is withdrawn it can still be accessed by accession number so searchers are able -- >> the information is still there. lauren: the new york post reporting china asked them to do that to that data but the data could clarify how the virus entered humans as the president gets ready to attend the second annual virtual covid summit with some other world leaders and this is what he says. today we mark a tragic milestone, 1 million american lives lost to covid 19, one million empty chairs around the dinner table, each and your

replaceable loss, jill and i pray for each of the. it has been two years. we all know someone who lost their lives to covid. ashley: indeed we do. thank you very much. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell wants the justice department to investigate protesters outside the homes of supreme court justices. he says a garland is allowing mob rule in america. we have that story in our next our. meantime airfares are up 19% from last month. that is in stopping travelers from making their summer plans. airbnb is cashing in big time as more people are turning to domestic travel to cut costs. we have that report next. ♪♪ ♪♪ i have no reason to stay ♪♪

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ashley: americans bracing for higher price hikes ahead of the summer travel season. kelly o'grady is at an airbnb in long beach. is the owner seeing a decrease in bookings as costs go up? >> reporter: he is not. the phone is ringing off the hook. one of my favorite things about the house, it has an elevator. are you surprised people want to stay here even with rising prices? i moving in. the property is worth $10 million, goes , goes for 10,000 tonight and it is not just the listing. despite being forced to pay higher prices airbnb is seen higher demand across the board, revenue up 80% in the same period in 2019 is a record one hundred million bookings. that trend is run by two things, not only are people leveraging the ability to work remotely but folks are restless after the pandemic and willing to pony up. the new survey by american next

prescott 80% of respondents expect to spend more or the same on travel compared to pre-covid even though travel defines the odds of delta seeing record sales in march, some industry leaders are skittish. >> one hundred% we have a concern that if we look at the sectors of our business certainly the restaurant, hotel divisions, retail divisions, we had the ability to raise prices. we are hopeful we can navigate these challenging times but i think the economic challenges in front of us are real. >> reporter: with americans bracing for more price increases inflation could impact how they travel, airline fares up 33% year-over-year in april according to the latest inflation data released yesterday but the number that is particularly shocking is month over month, airline prices jumped 18. 6% in the in the month of april, the highest jump we ever recorded so if we can't get these prices under control demand will fall off and half of us travelers are saying

transportation costs will increase their travel plans in the next 6 months. ashley: too rich for my blood but thank you very much. they are looking to take a better slice of business travel. what are they doing? lauren: $2 million to upgrade their planes, and a bigger overhead space, no one wants to check their bags. even though south west for free. and will largest carrier of domestic passengers and want to pivot to the business class and business travelers like some of the perks that southwest tends to offer in the corporate traveler coming back for 70%, 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

ashley: next one, reportedly investigating lawn must late disclosure of a sizable steak in twitter. could that delay his takeover of the platform? >> they already endorsed the deal and the sec lacks power to stop a merger, they are not best friends. 's latest issue hence the reported investigation is the timing of elon musk's disclosure of share purchases. by law he should have filed the paperwork 10 days after the purchase. some experts say $140 million. ashley: pocket change. thank you very much. president biden blamed inflation on covid and putin, now he is targeting trump's ultra amaga agenda, what he double to the former president.

george soros back in the richest politician in georgia, gave stacy abrams $1 million as she tries for the second time to become the governor of the state. david webb will be a long and deal with that and other stories next. ♪♪ your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates

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amy: in his speech bashing republicans for the plan to combat inflation president biden threw out a new term for donald trump. what did he call him? lauren: a new version of ultra amaga. >> president biden: under my predecessor, the great amaga king, the deficit increased every single year he was president. i reduced the deficit literally reduced the deficit by $350 billion first year. my republican colleagues say these programs, that is why we have inflation. they are dead wrong. >> some are calling that spin, even bill clinton's treasury

secretary warns that spending spikes inflation. look here. i know it is a lot of numbers but the first one on the left, 1.4%, that was the rate of inflation when president biden entered office and in the twee 8 months from signing the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill in march 2021 inflation went up 6.8% in twee 8 months time and another trillion dollar bill, then inflation two months in a row. ashley: should send him this graphic. thank you very much. liberal billionaire george soros is throwing $1 million into georgia to back stacy abrams's second attempt to become governor. sound like a good time to bring in david webb. the dark money, the soros money, will it help the chances of stacy abrams? >> no it isn't but i tell you what, the graft is on and that

is no joke, stacy abrams according to records, was worth $109 in 2018 and is worth more than $3.6 millionn the state o georgia. she is failing upwards while soros's money goes to her campaign but watch carefully. it is about the lower races when it comes to the georgia election so we have to be careful of that, stacy abrams not likely to win the election, soros has plenty of money to put into this like he did with the judicial system. he is a long-term player and republicans should not sit by the richest politician in georgia is stacy abrams. think about that, 2018 to now. ashley: but your financial situation can change quickly.

president biden speaking at that high dollar dnc fundraiser last night, some supporters shelled out $365,000 to be a sponsor of the event. he talked about the food supply shortage and inflation but did not mention the biggest problem facing chicago, crime. what do you make of that? >> i'm not surprised. biden has been a skilled political liar for many decades in washington. he will use whatever is in front of him to appeal to the crowd and something about the donors at this event when you look at who is there a lot of and give to the campaign because it gets them where they want to be and in chicago and illinois that is the democrats, they are playing the biden administration like they did the obama biden administration for their own end and who loses the people in the south side, the people on the outer areas

like blue island illinois and one of the poorest district outside chicago. when you look at what is failing, businesses are failing, leaving, jobs are not there and illegal aliens are crowding the city even more. people on lower rungs of the economic ladder are paying the price and an increase in crime due to poverty and part but also increased gang recruitment and activity this is a right disaster and loyal lightfoot, all she cares about is a call to arms over the supreme court. ashley: to this new tax that president biden is getting onto. the amaga extremist king amaga, could that backfire? what that rile up the amaga group? i don't see it being a good approach? >> maybe his polls tested in the office with his acolytes, what is the next -- wait until tomorrow there will be a new one.

the american people no matter what you call them are living the reality at the gas pump, at the grocery store shelves and take it out on democrats, not just president biden. ashley: i have to leave it there but great stuff, thank you, appreciate your time. jack keane, katie pavlich, dan heninger and rob smith, the 11 am our is next. ♪♪ ♪♪ trackers

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>> what we signed the market's reaction is where we expected so it could be are leveling off. >> democrats don't believe in free markets and capitalism. they believe in socialism, the policies never work in the result is the economy -- >> they are focused on abortion on demand, they are focused on keeping the border open, they are focused on raising their taxes.

>> it can come from anywhere at anytime. >> regulating the stable point market is good for crypto but over the short term introduces significant volatility. >> it is exactly the platform president biden ran for president on, now they want to tell us this is lennar put naps fault. ♪♪ ashley: a late great david bowie. as you look at the midtown manhattan on the cloudy hazy side it is 11:00 a.m. on may 12th. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. let's look at the markets, slowly but surely trying to rise up, the s&p up 0.2%, nasdaq up nearly 1%, up 110

points, just the dow lagging behind, down 1/4 of a%. look at the 10 year treasury which has been heading down 4.5 basis points, 2.86. that could be helping the nasdaq with those big growth check names, let's look at the big tech. meta and amazon have turned positive. meta-up 33/4 of 1%, microsoft and apple and alphabet/google slightly lower. google is flat. let's get to it. producer prices went up 11% in the past year but let's break down these numbers. lauren: the fifth month of double digit increases that means inflation is anything but transient. it is persistent and i will say invented because if this is what producers are feeling double-digit inflation for 5 months they pass it along to consumers. for the most part we have been saying it. it will change at some point

and this issue is bedeviling and that is a good word, bedeviling policymakers. ashley: i like that too but that is the word i will use more often today. embedded. thank you very much. i love it. look who is here, embedded on fox business, adam johnson, great to see you. around on the street and giving updates. i'm a faithful watcher of those. let's get to inflation. hasn't peaked yet although there were some in the last week who believe we have peaked. >> if you look at two measures of core inflation based on data that came out this morning. inflation, the actual data lower than people thought, that gives me hope may be they turned the corner and that will

make all the difference in the world. ashley: i asked another famous analyst, bottom or close to it, he gave me one answer, no. what say you? >> it is important, the past several weeks, bottoming is not a bill people ring at the bottom. it is a process. when you buy a house it is not like you walk in and say i will take it and they give you the keys, the mortgage has got to be approved. there are things you look for, a washout in stocks. we have seen that. you want to see the future's inverted. there are a couple other things we've not seen. you want to see so much panic people are buying more push because they want to protect

their portfolios than they are buying calls as we haven't seen that yet. there are a few things that give me reason to think maybe we are not there but 6 of my 9 indicators i have been able to check out so we are getting there will we are in the process of making a bottom. ashley: two thirds of the way there. any safe areas to put your money? >> admittedly know. i don't mean to be flippant by saying that but if there's one thing we've learned it is every asset class is at risk in a market like this where fear and emotion dominate what we should be doing with our minds which is using them and trying to identify value and opportunity. it is hard to do. it really is. i do it for a living and i was up at 3 am yesterday or this morning just dealing with the

stress to figure out should i trim this or add to one of those stocks? what i will tell you is so many assets have been washed out. you have to go back 30 years to find another year where bonds and stocks were down, no place to hide but this creates values and fought for long-term investors find opportunities. hard as it is, it is very hard but that is what long-term investors do and how we make money to outperform in the long-term. ashley: hopefully you can get some sleep soon but we appreciate your input. let me turn to lauren. you've got some movers. let's begin with bumble. lauren: up 31%. this is the dating apps, strong earnings and they see more paying members going forward. that is good news for a stock. wendy's another winner, they say they are pricing action

that helps them improve their margins, good for shareholders in an inflationary environment. of the customer can observe it, the pretzel people, the chip people, look at them, 6 days r forecasts and they say they are raising prices and customers are paying. ashley: i say embedded. next one, senator of west virginia joe manchin blocking legislation that would have guaranteed abortion access, give me details on this. >> reporter: falling short of the 60 needed to clear procedural hurdle senator manchin's vote help think democrats effort to codify abortion rights. he said the bill would expand abortion, the bill we have today to vote on women's health

protection act makes no sense, it is not row versus wade qualification but an expansion that wipes 500 state laws off the books. supreme court justices will meet for the first time. stuart: a fence around the supreme court building. mitch mcconnell calling on the justice department to investigate protesters outside the homes of supreme court justices he says, quote, the past week has witnessed the spectacle of coordinated intimidation against supreme court justices. the department of justice should investigate and charge violation of section 1507 as appropriate. there is one solution and that is the rule of the law. katie pavlich jointly but i doubt there will be an investigation.

do you expect it? >> i don't expect an investigation. the white house has been encouraging this behavior, jen psaki said so long as protests remain, quote, peaceful she encouraged protesters to continue descending on homes of supreme court justices. because we are dealing with judges, not allowed to intimidate judges or trying to change their opinion or make sure the outcome of the case is -- threats of intimidation or violence and if you look at the kinds of groups, ties to black lives matter, or violent history. there are serious concerns from law enforcement about the safety of supreme court justices, mitch mcconnell, senator josh howley said the

protesters are engaged in flagrantly illegal activity, senator lindsey graham, the ranking member of the judiciary committee saying the purpose of them going to personal homes of these justices is to influence the outcome of their decision-making and try to overturn the draft opinion, the issue is to try to change the final opinion, is written and released. ashley: intimidation is the keyword. next one, democrat congresswoman katie porter saying rising inflation is one of the reasons women need access to abortion. roll the tape and i will get your thoughts. >> things like inflation can happen and it can be more expensive to fuel your car, why people need to be in charge of how many valves they have to feed.

ashley: inflation comes into the argument. what is your reaction to that? >> a pretty callous argument from a woman who is a millionaire and a woman who voted for the american rescue plan, $1.9 trillion bill that fueled a lot of this inflation into overdrive. she voted for these pieces of legislation for more government spending which led to inflation at her advice to women is to obtain abortions because inflation is a problem, pretty cynical and sickening actually and on capitol hill this week senator tim scott was questioning janet yellen, the treasury secretary, she argued to him that black mothers impacted by inflation and therefore should choose abortion and said back to her the son of a woman, a black woman in poverty, glad i am

here to ask you questions. for bad policy decisions. ashley: and he called it callous. thank you so much. great stuff from you this morning. the cohosts of the you are crediting obama for the economic boom under trump. >> until the pandemic the economy was foreign, we had record -- >> we had president barack obama. ashley: rob smith will take that on. the republican governors of virginia and maryland calling on the justice department to stop protests at the homes of supreme court justices. we talk about that more and ukraine official saying putin is planning to capture kyiv. we will ask general jack keane what he makes of that next.

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ashley: russian forces continue to attack a steel plant inside mariupol as ukraine is offering to release russian prisoners of war in exchange for the badly wounded fighters and that steel plant. what is the latest? >> reporter: you are right, the fighting continues between ukraine and russia, to the south of us, to the east of us and another fight continues on another front, ukrainians

trying to get their lives back after the russian invasion. look at what we saw and heard. some of the worst horrors in this war yet, civilian deaths, mass graves, fierce combat, signs of wreckage remain and signs of rebirth. a couple weeks ago the town of bucha was a scene of death and destruction. the russians were here. now the russians are gone and the people i coming back. they are alive. storeowners and customers seem pleased. >> translator: i'm happy to be back, this woman says.ans. is ou is , g anussi dsi not far woman sit is hard t de sc ridebescribe i in iy m s th ir dsth rned, noed, not gema

th e ruthwoiarln wocorls to i survivsuedhe sworldrl histhrsthe. d sa.sasa town's mwnay deter dmietned rebuild to show the russians. it is our moral obligation to include the city after the atrocities, he says. mass graves are smoothed out, russian tanks cleared away. the feelings are strong but sadly mixed. >> want to restart ukraine. >> reporter: you have hope despite the horrors that happened here? >> yes. i think we believe and we will win. >> reporter: i think we will live and we will win. strong words, strong emotions from that man. one more note. more information from the bucha mayor.

he told us the number of ukrainian civilians killed by russians during the occupation is up to 459 with 20 here. ashley: a great report. ukrainian defense official still believe vladimir putin intends to capture kyiv to absorb the country as a new russian state. let's bring in general jack keane. i thought and i have nothing to base this on but pretty much given up on kyiv, centering more on the donbas and areas to the south with access to the black sea. what say you? >> he may have an aspirational goal to have aspirational goals on kyiv but that's not even possible. the russians right now are

losing control of the kharkiv enclave, pushing the russians out of the northern part of that enclave and pushing all the way back to the russian border. that major city will be back in ukrainian hands once again. secondly the major offensive that they have announced after they moved away from the capital city of kyiv has been in the donbas region. the institute for the study of war, that offensive is stalled and we are forecasting it will fail. the russians will not succeed at this second major offensive they are conducting. what they are trying to do is publicly annexed the areas they control. kherson, mariupol, some aspect of donbas, not to claim independent republics but annexed them and make them a

part of russia and possibly go to a cease fire at that point. so they can reposition and rebuild their forces because they know full well they haven't been able to succeed offensively against the ukrainians in areas they believe it is strategically important. they know the ukrainians will mount a counteroffensive in the south against them at some point as well. my concern in the south is the russians have succeeded in cutting off ukraine's access to the sea and that is absolutely devastating for the economy because ukraine exports agricultural products particularly wheat and grain, and they are global export and my view is the united states and nato can play a role here, bring our maritime fleet back to the black sea, escort cargo ships into the port of odesa,

stay in international waters and escort those ships out and that will keep the economic viability of ukraine alive. russia would not like that but russia would have to take the first step in turns and firing on a us ship and they would have to deal with the consequences of that but otherwise if we don't take action like that, even though russia hasn't been able to achieve, blocking ukraine to the sea, strategically is very significant and will have adverse impacts for sure on ukraine. ashley: have to leave it there because i went to get to nato and finland but we will save that for the next time if we can. thank you for your overview of where the situation stands. of 21-year-old russian soldier will be the first to stand

trial for war crimes in ukraine. let's bring in lauren. what are the details? >> the soldiers accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian riding her bike outside their home. allegedly the russian soldier was told to kill the civilian so the civilian wouldn't report where a group of russian soldiers were, this is four days after the war started, the soldier could face life in prison, the first war crimes trial happening today. ashley: more to come, pretty certain of that. coming up speaker pelosi quoted the bible to show her support of the ukraine aid bills. listen to this. >> when you are home thinking what is this about, think about when i was hungry you fed me. the gospel of matthew. ashley: what about babies here

in america who could starve because of the baby formula shortage, more on that story. an 8 foot fence around the supreme court. protesters surrounding the homes of supreme court justices, dan heninger says this is the un-hinging of america and he will explain next. ♪♪ you'll always remember buying your first car. and buying your starter home. or whatever this is. but the things that last a lifetime like happiness, love and confidence... you can't buy those. but you can invest in them. we believe that your investments

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injury, and advancing on the path to fda market approval in the u.s.. xortx therapeutics. ♪♪ "america's weather weekend" beautiful morning in santa monica. live look, 66 °, looks very inviting. let's check the markets, trying to turn it around, the nasdaq and the s&p are up slightly. the dow still struggling to get any positive momentum, down 1/3 of one person. susan lee, good morning. once again, you've got, the good old, the good meme stocks.

susan: we were 30% at the peak, halting multiple times and a pretty good recovery day up 20% at their highs, looks like the wall street crowd, the retail crowd back to buying the dips but that means game stock, 50% plus down from their highs and morgan stanley said all those gains have virtually been wiped out. and electric carmakers as well, pretty big improvements for the stock. rivian is still off of record highs with the peak above $100 a share when they valued one hundred million dollars in sales. $78, you can imagine they are trading below that but look at lordstown, selling off their factories which put together those iphones and ipads, $260

million on the deal and going the opposite direction electric is doing well, is down from wells fargo for the legacy carmakers, gm and ford, gm is worth $33, 4 is worth $12 and that is half the previous price targets for these stocks, they will represent a peak profit year for these legacy car measure, for the first time all this week she picked up 150,000 gm shares, made her name inters like, the fact that she thinks there is a role in electric futures is a big win for general motors and big tech looking at the rotation into the shopify, we are talking about sizable recovery gains here because people are trying to figure out where the bottom is. is it worth the evaluation at these discounts today's

mentalities may be maybe when you are down 70% plus. ashley: that and johnson, no one rings a bell when you hit the bottom, you have to figure it out which is never easy. appreciate it. 7 days after protesting being outside the homes of supreme court justices the department of justice is directing us marshals to help ensure the safety of those justices. mike emanuel is in washington. good morning to you. what is the reaction been like on the hill? >> reporter: a bit of a split on the hill. last night a pro-choice activist protesting outside justice amy coney barrett's home said she doesn't know what it's like to bring a baby to term, barrett has 5 biological and two adopted children.

>> inability to see what it is like to carry a pregnancy to term. >> reporter: dick durbin broke with many in his party on the issue of protesting these justices. >> i think it is reprehensible, stay away from homes and families of elected officials and members of the court. >> reporter: that's a split from the white house and the senate majority leader who signaled support. >> of protests are peaceful, yes, my house, 3 or 4 times a week, that is the american way to peacefully protest is okay. but there is a difference between protesting a politician at the judge, a point emphasized by a leading house republican. >> against the law to protest a sitting judge. we want to maintain the independence of our courts and the fact that that is being encouraged by this administration is shameful, unconstitutional. >> reporter: glenn youngken and

larry hogan sent a letter to merrick garland pointing out the apparent violation of federal law. garland said he directed us marshals to help ensure that justice's safety. ashley: great stuff. look at this headline in the wall street journal, quote, abortion puts the supreme court behind an 8 foot fence. how did america become a country always on the brink of personal or political violence? the author of that piece, dan heninger, jointly now. the first question is how did america get this way, how did we get to this point? >> it is an extra ordinary develop and, the idea that the supreme court is behind an 8 foot fence. they've been meeting since was never behind the fence nor did you have to have a law to

protect their families and now we have federal marshals out there to protect them as well and if you step back you wonder look at the violence, always at the brink or over the brink of violence in this country now, both political and personal. in march 2020 the majority leader of the senate, chuck schumer, stood in front of the supreme court and said justices neil gorsuch and brett kavanaugh would reap the whirlwind, won't know what hit you, extraordinary things for the majority leader to say. we know what happened on january 6, 2021, donald trump did sit in silence for too long as violence was committed against the capital but look at the streets, smash and grab robberies used to be nonexistent, now they are commonplace. random shootings in cities across the country often

killing innocent people happen all the time and in my column i even mention one that galvanized america, a revered actor gets up from his seat at the academy awards, goes on stage and slaps down chris rock and you have to ask yourself what happened to self-restraint in the united states? ashley: that is a good question, so disappointing to see the big fence around the supreme court building, you said as much in your op-ed would great to talk to you. appreciate it. republicans by the way are blasting attorney general merrick garland over the demonstrations outside supreme court justices homes. what action do they want garland to take? susan: they wrote a letter saying as supreme court

justices, do you intend to enforce the law? your failure to act is a shameless endorsement of mob rule in america. they want him to enforce the law. one thing to protest outside a politician's home. different outside a judge's home. federal law says it is illegal, it carries the intent of influencing the judge's decision. it is also have a critical because some democrats were not okay with parents protesting or in some cases disrupting school board meetings at okay with what is going outside judge's private residences with families and neighbors. ashley: doctors warning against long-term health effects as the baby formula shortage forces parents to take drastic measures. as prices rise, real wages are dropping. we will tell you the real wage situation after this.

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ashley: let's look at the markets, what we like to describe as a choppy session with microsoft, apple and alphabet down. the nasdaq still on the upside, the s&p slightly lower, 123 points. let's look at the airlines, booking, dropped 17% in the month of april, that shows the first sign of cooling demand, ticket prices have surpassed pre-pandemic levels. american, united, alaska moving lower as is delta and southwest, jetblue on the upside.

in the last year producer prices went up, 11% but hourly earnings dropped 2%, edward lawrence at the white house but spending power has taken a hit. >> reporter: it has. you talk about the price companies are paying to get the product they need to make the stuff they sell to the rest of us. the producer price index is an indication that inflation may not have peaked as of yet and that money could be passed on to customers but putting pressure on inflation. wages are not rising as fast as inflation, going up 5.5% which is good to see but inflation wiping out gains at 8.3%, president biden choosing to focus on how the economy reopens under his presidency. >> president biden: our economy has gone from being on the mend

to being on the move. it started with my american rescue plan. because of it we had the best year of staying with local job growth in 20 years. great governors likely one in this state, gave them a lot of money. >> reporter: later he told a group of donors on the democratic side his messaging to get good part of the economy do a better job on that. and go to the gas pump and see what prices are doing. now they are looking at their retirement accounts, near record inflation and a slide in all the major markets of the last several days and millions americans wondering where the money went. gallup poll shows 56% of americans directly or indirectly invested in the stock market. ashley: it is frightening to

look at your 401(k). thank you very much. congress facing major back lash over their response to the baby former crisis after they rush to spend billions in aid to ukraine. interesting analogy. give me the details. lauren: critics have an issue with the timeline, they were able to get $40 billion in additional weapons and aid to ukraine, but the baby formula shortage has gone on a wild now. it has been a few months and recently intensified and is going to be another two weeks until the 25th before there is a house hearing about it. nancy pelosi facing heat for quoting the bible as it pertains to the war in ukraine over the baby formula shortage at home. >> the brutality of pruden is not just what he is doing in ukraine but the impact that it is having on food for the world. when you are home thinking what is this all about, just think

about when i was hungry you fed me, the gospel of matthew. >> the war has nothing to do with the baby formula shortage as you know. ashley: it does not and to carry on from this doctors are warning of long-term effects from the baby formula shortage. lauren: a baby under 4 months can drink or eat two things, breast milk or formula, no water, no solids. some others cannot or don't want to nurse. if they can't find formula their baby goes hungry. that is the situation we are in because many cannot find formula so they are making their own or diluting what they have so it lasts longer. doctors say it is dangerous, it can cause nutrient imbalances or conditions like anemia. that is why the president under pressure will speak with the retailers and infant formula

makers this afternoon and will announce what the white house is doing to help. lauren: it is a crisis. ashley: take a quick look at the dow 30 stocks now that we are two hours into the session. a lot more red than green. on the topside lagging behind american express and boeing, the dow picking up downward momentum. president biden ramping up attacks on donald trump. take a listen. >> president biden: under my predecessor, the great amaga king, the deficit increased every year he was president. ashley: will that resonate with voters? rob smith is next with that and more. ♪♪ ♪♪

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>> in 3 -- she pointed out, the deficit goes down, the economy flourishes and a republican

comes in and destroys it all. >> until the pandemic the economy was soaring. >> we had president barack obama. >> biden is the guy who said we need to get people more money. ashley: that was the view and that show gives us so much material we should thank them for. they were giving former president obama credit for the soaring economy americans saw under donald trump. rob smith joins me now. they say republicans destroy the economy. what is your response? >> we time i watch the view it is almost being in a different universe. the thing is they repeat things live because they think their audience is stupid enough to believe them. a little research, we all remember we had the greatest economy the world has ever seen under the trump administration but one of the reasons economists will say when you

deregulate it unleashes the power of the economy and makes entrepreneurs and business owners willing to take risks, in 2018 i remember the trump administration reported $23 billion worth of savings and came from deregulation so the ladies of the view saying this did not exist literally pretending the economy was great under obama and pretending somehow the bad economy we are in right now is trump's fault and biden is cleaning it up is ridiculous, it is like i said like they are living in an alternate universe at abc. ashley: it is, the trump economy before covid hit was roaring at a 50 year high. president biden calls trump the great amaga king and blames him for rising inflation. i will get your thoughts. >> president biden: under my

predecessor the great amaga king the deficit increased every single year he was president. my republican colleagues said the programs to help the working-class and middle-class people, they say that is why we have inflation. they are dead wrong. i call it theaga plan, make america great again plan. ashley: what do you santa that? >> president biden has no real ideas to move forward with america so he wents to distract people from the economy, from gas prices, from the fact that your groceries are more expensive, he wants to distract people from problems at the border, to from the fact that all these phonies in dc voted to spend $40 billion on ukraine while we are having a baby formula shortage. all the things he wants to distract from. instead of having actual answers for the american people to have solutions he goes back

to republicans are evil, to donald trump and the ultra amaga agenda, whatever talking points they are trying to push, i don't these things are going to work because the vast majority of people dealing with real issues, dealing with things becoming more expensive, higher gas prices, not worried about talking points, but what this administration is doing to help them out in the answer to that is not much. ashley: we have to leave it there and a good point to leave it. rob smith, one of the best names in podcast realm, really appreciate it. time for the thursday trivia question. how many text messages to americans age 18 to 24 send or receive on average every day? 82, 109, 140, one hundred 90

one? i thought it was going to be in the thousands. the answer when we come back. . .

ashley: all right, we asked you before the break, how many text messages americans ages 18 to 24 send or receive on average every day. final guess, lauren? >> i go with 82. i think i send eight maybe a day. but i'm a lot older than 18 to 24. ashley: you're wrong. i was going with 140. i was wrong.

it is 109 according to pew research. works out 3200 messages per month. texting. >> wow. got to find something else to do. ashley: check the markets quickly. choppy session. send in your "friday feedback." send in fan friday videos. tell us your name, where you're from, the important part, say you're watching "varney & company." neil cavuto sends in his thoughts every friday. unfortunately they're not safe for tv but keep trying, neil. neil: i will keep trying. mine are cut-out magazine letters. all that -- i guess not. one of these days, ashley, i will sneak that in there. ashley: don't give up. neil: i love the show, varney. thank you, my friend. great seeing you again, ashley. we're on top of the same thing you're on top of. a lot of selling going on right now. you know where money is running? this is pretty fascinating