ashley: get you fired up on wednesday morning, we will rock you, the great queen, midtown manhattan. it is now 10:00 eastern. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney. let's get your money looking at

the markets, just a quarter 12:45% essentially flat on the s&p, slightly higher on the nasdaq. let's look at the 10 year treasury yield which is been pretty muted for the last week or so and applicable basis points, 3. 77%, the price of oil has been on the rise. let's see if it is still there, crude around $80 a barrel. now we have some data, the latest read on job openings. lauren: 10. 334 million jobs open at the end of october slightly more than expected. you still have 6 million people, tight labor market, that is the report we have been watching recently because of the issues. ashley: we have the big one, pending home sales. lauren: down.

6. 4%, what is a pending home sale? contract signed, not closed, someone got cold feet. another signal that a buyer is struggling with the high cost of borrowing and the house itself. rates have not come down much. ashley: the market as a whole, the housing market cooling off. our next guest wrote an op-ed about president biden's silence as freedom protests breakout around world, lose peak wrote that and joins me now. what -- why is the president absolutely silent? there are crickets on the protests in china and iran? >> it varies from one country to another but something is more important to this administration than freedom, the rights of protesters etc.

for example climate change, why won't he oath and china? he has said this, we don't want to be too tough on xi jinping who is orchestrating a massive and inhumane shut down on his people because we need his help with climate change and we are not getting any help with climate change, this is completely a fantasy of the white house that xi jinping cares at all as he continues to build numerous power plants fueled by call and helping in this regard but that is the hope. in iran why are we stepping up to support protesters in iran something the trump administration did very aggressively because they hold out hope the biden white house, getting back into the jc poa, the nuclear arms deal which everyone agreed was a flawed deal and basically flies in the face of tremendous progress made during the previous administration. it is so offensive.

they don't seem to care about freedom or women's rights, human rights abuses. they talk a good game and do nothing. ashley: i want to get into this one. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau is showing support for protests in china. watch this. >> everyone in china should be allowed to express themselves, share perspectives and protests continue, to ensure china will stand up for human rights. ashley: isn't that interesting. didn't he use emergency powers to shut down the freedom convoy protests in february, the quintessential double standard, hypocrisy on full display from the canadian prime minister. indeed, the war powers act

which became the emergency act used to squash the trucker protests against covid vaccination mandates was one of the most horrific things we have seen on this content, phalanxes of police arresting people, freezing their bank accounts, what was that about? it was overreach by the government. justin trudeau, it is a horrifying interruption and his own people's rights to protest. i don't know how he was able to issue this comforting words to china when he was determined against those protests in his own country. ashley: to do it with a straight face, thank you so much. we appreciate it. ftx founder sam bankman-fried purchased a major data firm over the summer. what is this about?

lauren: to provide democratic campaigns with predictive analytics, voter targeting capabilities and paid $5 million of his own money for the company, donated $40 million to democratic campaigns for the midterms, wanted to get $1 billion by the 2024 election so this was part of it, his purchase but he told ask io's --axios he has one hundred thousand in his bank account but that's more than a lot of people have and he blamed personal failures and regulatory gaps for the ftx. ashley: $100,000 of other people's money. and the gubernatorial campaign, did beta return the money? >> i give him credit.

absolutely, this was 4 days before that, before the company collapsed, had nothing to do with this scandal, they didn't know about it at the time, this is the reasoning, as a big donor he meets with them. he did it, he lost. ashley: give him props for that. thank you very much. good morning to you. where did these markets go, we have inflation data tomorrow, all sorts of things for investors to contemplate. >> i think if you get the

consumer right you've got the future right so as we look at the consumer today, sentiment numbers come out and those sentiment numbers, and and we have a mixed number, the taper here into the new year, and what goes up ultimately comes down and we have some cooling off. and participating in an awesome way right now. ashley: we have been jolts number, 10. 3 million open jobs, a little

over 6 million people looking and saying you won't be able to fiddle with those open jobs, very tight labor market and that is keeping wages higher even though companies are being forced to lay people off, this economies out of sync and they are doing what they can to get it back on track but how long does this go on in the economy? >> ask most ceos today, 50% believe 2023 will be a recession, 50% believe it be extended for multiple years, look at things like interest rates, which the federal reserve can affect, when interest rates go high that affects everything. those rates don't just come down to 3%, that was historic, we are at 6.5, corporations borrow at higher rates so that will completely change the

economics of how we have been buying equipment, in growth mode and that is shifting right now. as we look at some of these numbers it is concerning because the consumer are getting 5% wage increase but inflation, if interest rates rose above that you can't afford a house any longer, a lot of people are coming into this fourth quarter with the last bit of cash as we see credit cards going up and middle-class families which are most concerned about are getting hampered. ashley: we heard from brian moynahan, predicting more pain in the housing market. >> that was predicted to happen this year, a real slow down to raise rates and it is pushed out because of one thing which is us consumer, you have to slow the economy and inflation.

that will take two years. >> people trying to rent or to buy a house. ashley: 2 more years of pain in the housing market is pretty brutal, what do you think? >> what the federal reserve has done is the equivalent of major richter scale activity. i believe he's right, we have to have these rates come down, interest rates rise, 10% more income if we are going to buy the house at the same value so deals are falling apart, at that rate, as we see the rate begin to taper over the next few years which is what their trajectory is we will see more activity but as it sits i see the housing market dead in the water and the air is coming out quickly.

ashley: you can hear it hiss. great stuff. david covered a lot of ground. let's look at some of the movers in this market. beginning with biogen up 6%. lauren: the phase 3 trial, the drug slow cognitive decline, there were side effects but hailed as the first major breakthrough in 30 years of alzheimer's research and that's why stock is up. you make your own teddy bear, build a bear, usually in a mall, they are surging 13. 7%, raising employee revenue forecast and the ceo says people are coming into the store to buy stuff and they continue to see double digit increases in foot traffic. car is above andand, 4%. the price target had been 43,

they took it down to $10, worry about cash, and they are burning through cash, >> president biden's department of defense is calling his botched withdrawal from afghanistan a propaganda gift to china. we will tell you how white house is responding. federal agents say they stop 14,$000 from fentanyl this year, we have the full report from the border. despite others at the southern border, msnbc insists there is no border crisis. >> we should not be perpetuating a conversation about a crisis that is a human drama, the united states is not being overrun. >> there is no crisis at the border.

ashley: just go down there and look for yourself is what i would say. tennessee congas and mark green just visited the border and he says what he saw is nothing short of a crisis. he joins me next. the first-ever all-electric chevy blazer ev. 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds. and up to 320 miles of range on a full charge. evs for everyone, everywhere. chevrolet. it's nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! (limu squawks) he's a natural. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

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and offers high-quality municipal bonds from across the country. they provide the potential for regular income... are federally tax-free... and have historically low risk. call today to request your free bond guide. 1-800-217-3217. that's 1-800-217-3217. ashley: more than 2000 pounds of fentanyl seized in the month of october alone, enough to kill half a million people. casey steagall is at the border in eagle pass, texas. what is the latest? >> reporter: let me explain the math in terms of how we get

those numbers, 2 mg of fentanyl is enough to kill one human being, that's the equivalent of 10 to 15 grains of table salt. for further context, a packet of splenda, equal, 100 fatal doses. cvp says it seized 14,000 pounds of the powerful narcotic for fiscal year 2022, a 50% increase in 2 years time. not to mention the way smugglers can make it more elaborate. 690,000 fentanyl pills fit insider space heater at a port of entry in arizona in the past few days. agents found some 16 pounds of raw fentanyl in a different

bust, 662,000 more fentanyl pills. >> before any ill legal drug, to weigh the crops, fentanyl is completely different, you can buy it off your phone or on social media -- >> fentanyl poisoning and overdoses have become so common organizations around the country trying to make it more readily available, that's a drug that can stop or counteract an overdose in progress. in austin, certain bars socket and training bartenders how to properly use it. ashley: what a sad statement of the times. casey steagall, thank you very much. it is really sad. congressman mark green from

tennessee, just returned to the southern border. what did you see? >> when we went to one of the border crossing sites, a huge encampment, tend city of venezuelans yelling maduro, maduro, waiting for title 42 and a stay waiting for title 42 to end and they are coming. we saw tons of folks, and talked to agents, the more row at border patrol, not getting the support of secretary mayorkas, basically abandoned them. ashley: you mention title 42, it is set right before christmas and the biden

administration preparing by possibly increasing prosecutions of illegal border crossings, what do you make of that? >> it is smoke and mirrors to be honest. any effort they say where they enforce the law is smoke and mirrors, they have left, if you add the got aways, 3.3, 3.5 million come into the country, 29 states in the nation, 3.3 million, this is their goal, they want to change the face of america. ashley: i want to change gears and talk about this issue, china is rapidly building a stockpile of nuclear weapons on track to make as many as 15 nuclear warheads by 2035, even if it is overly ambitious. it is clear what their intention is.

>> they want to displace the united states as the world super pure and enforce authoritarianism on the globe. if you look at their initiative with debt diplomacy and bully other countries, that is their future, if you look at the genocide, that is the future, they need a stockpile and want to compete but at that number they are not close to the united states. we've got to focus on their conventional stuff, producing an aircraft carrier every year, we just did freedom of navigation mission with them yesterday, they protested, tried to rally the navy and air force to push that, i think it was a cruiser, out of international waters so this is a confrontation, the nuclear piece is a small piece of it. ashley: we will leave it there. congressman mark green, thank you.

the department of defense says president biden's botched withdrawal from afghanistan benefited china. x plane that. lauren: it came from the annual report where the dod suggested china capitalized on withdrawal from afghanistan to convince world leaders usa is not a reliable ally. the prc employed multiple diplomatic tools to erode us and other influence. here is john kirby responding. >> china attempted to capitalize on it, that's a big difference from saying they did or were able to capitalize on this, china has not been able to succeed. we have admitted and acknowledged not everything about the withdrawal was done perfectly, there were mistakes made. we have investigated those mistakes. >> reporter: defensive and

apologetic at the same time but 13 us service members died in the couple --kabul attack and thousands of afghan allies were stranded. ashley: botched is the only where you come up, the consequences were fatal. thank you, now this. more than a dozen states are sending out inflation relief checks. we will tell you where this is happening and if you qualify. president biden making a stop in michigan to tout his economic policies, roll the tape. >> president biden: we created more jobs in the first two years of any president and our people are starting to feel a sense of optimism and the impact these legislative achievements in their own lives. ashley: the president taking a victory lap despite record inflation and potential rail strike. john lansky will be along to talk about that next.

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>> the dow is up, it is slightly higher 3 quarters of 1%. >> and retail customers, stock is up 10%. it is pet care health services, stock is up 10%. it is crowd strike, cybersecurity. clients are cutting back on spending, delay purchases are still making them, they are pulling back a little bit.

they cut their revenue forecasts, stock is down 18% and the pain is hitting the entire sector. sentinel one is down 11%. ashley: yes indeed it is. we got the jolts report, 10.3 open jobs in the month of october, and -- the number of job openings are declining over the past year. they declined in 5 of the last 7 months. wage growth will remain well contained. the fact we have 4 million more job openings on the number of

people unemployed, year-over-year increase, the average hourly wage declined from a march of 2022 cycle high of 5. 6% and it may drop to 4.6% in november. that begs the question of the labor market is so tight, why are wages not accelerating, that is a case of stable wage growth, will help contain inflation and lend support to forecasts of defiant -- declining inflation into 2024. ashley: president biden saying americans should take pride in his plan for the economy. >> president biden: ukraine is going up, shovels in the ground, workers, i want you to feel the way i feel, fried because of our policies, gas prices coming down.

the impact of legislative achievements, for their own lives. ashley: inflation at a 40 year high, his administration is spend, spend, spend, should people be optimistic to the president's point? >> >> consumer expectations, the conference board, and very much consistent with above average risks of a recession. and reading about more, they estimated sales growth, you are looking at a more difficult labor market in 2023, some

consensus forecasts claim for the entire year payrolls declined, i would not be optimistic in 2022. ashley: are we facing a recession? what kind of recession? deep or shallow. >> we find that is what the treasury yield curve is telling us, the treasury yield curve, and more pronounced in version, the lowest level short-term rates relative to long-term bond yields since 1981. a very severe recession in 1981 and lasted through qe2. not saying a severe recession but a mild recession is unavoidable. ashley: on that happy note, great stuff as always, thank you.

texting employees, they were fired just days before thanksgiving. lauren: i spoke to the attorney representing hundreds of fired workers in 3 states, mississippi and california come jackson, they are trying to certify this as class action, the workers are not only heartbroken but completely shocked and they want an answer. thanks giving week accompanied, fired everyone over text and email and i spoke to a dealer, and so lane furniture, pitching him before the announcement, not only out of the blue looks to be illegal in violation of federal warrant act which requires 60 day notice or severance. united hasn't filed for chapter

11 bankruptcy, liquidation could get employees the money and they find out they have no job, benefits, christmas, and hanukkah around the corner. ashley: what a mess. thank you for that update. some states handing out relief checks offsetting the pain of rising inflation. who qualifies for those? lauren: half the country. 20 states offering 1-time rebate or some form of expanded tax credit. in california rebate checks as high as $1050, in colorado 750, idaho $75 will help you with inflation. $850, and republican and

democratic spending, and and people have to heat their homes and feed their families,. ashley: thank you very much. prince william and kate visit the us for the first time, and we have the upcoming visit in the next hour. more than half the fertilizer used in the us is moved by rail, farmers are concerned about what happens for the nation's food supply, madison allworth is it with full report next. ♪ ♪ ♪

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ashley: congress is going to consider a bill to avert a rail strike. apparently opposition on both sides of the aisle for this. lauren: marco rubio says he's not backing any deal that lacks support from rail workers, it's wrong for the biden administration which failed to fight for workers, to ask congress to impose a deal, i will not vote for any deal that doesn't have the support of rail workers. he's on the same page as bernie sanders who also opposes the deal. of the senate has to pass the deal after the house passes a deal and house speaker nancy pelosi says she has the votes, she will put it up on a vote for the floor today, then pelosi says, quote, i will earn a bipartisan vote giving american families congo veterans -- confidence in

protecting their financial future. without a dealer rail strike such to begin two weeks before christmas, now cost the economy and jeopardize the gifts that you receive in time. ashley: couldn't come at a worse time. farmers sounding the alarm over how the rail strike would be. madison allworth is at a farm, what would a rail strike do to our food supply? >> reporter: 50% of fertilizer traveled by rail. if that went off the market it would mean vegetable yields would be smaller because you can't access the fertilizer. the strike set for december 9th but because of the chemicals and fertilizers that travel we could see stoppages earlier than that if they don't act soon. on sunday they would have to

stop shipments because they can't leave fertilizer stranded if a strike were to happen. the fertilizer institute looking at other options for transportation if the rail came off line. there is 0 elasticity in the transportation market. >> it would be catastrophic to agriculture and food security. 50% of all fertilizer via rail and if a strike occurs and we have to find alternative sources that are not great options for doing much fertilizer before spring planting season. >> reporter: fertilizers at a record high, farmers say there fertilizer cost has increased by one hundred% this past here and a strike would likely increase it another 50%. putting them in a tough position.

>> the costs that farmers are facing, we are under -- we are not going to make it. >> if you higher input costs, the end product is going to cost the consumer more. a lot going into this rail strike. ashley: indeed. great expectation of the impact it could have, meantime did this story, the chief executive that grover and albertsons were grilled over there $25 billion merger, what are the highlights of this discussion? >> they were skeptical this tie up could cause food prices to go up more. >> our fundamental strategy is

to lower prices, invest in associate and the customer experience and support local communities. we have been doing this for years and when we do these things well our shoulders benefit. this merger will give us possibility, national footprint and digital capabilities to compete more effectively. this is important today when inflation impacts so many families. >> they need size to negotiate better prices. even if this merger is approved they are smaller together than walmart. i see both. ashley: i do too, interesting. thank you very much. tiger woods is chiming in on the ongoing feud between golf and pga tour. tell you what the 15 time major champion had to say about live ceo greg norman.

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ashley: china is ramping up surveillance has protests gain momentum. susan, what is the latest on this? susan: they return to china last night by the government rolling back there tougher covid restrictions in southern china, you had clashes between protesters and riot police in hazmat suits, lifting most of the lockdown measures, 43 protests in 22 cities across china according to reuters analysis and what is remarkable for china watchers is the ability to get around china's surveillance sensors. days later you can find videos of chance and competition it is accessible on the chinese internet and across social media. and apple's airdrop feature, to

direct iphone to iphone sharing and bluetooth instead of the internet and recent software update, apple limited that feature, we reached out to apple for comment on this, so far politicians are questioning this. >> you have people in china engaged in a noble effort to protest, letting this rule. they are limiting the airdrop function of protesters. they are serving as a vassal to the chinese communist party. >> reporter: the white house is reiterating calls for a peaceful right to protest in china. >> they speak to their decisions as a corporate entity. as people assemble and protest they have access to as much information and able to share information with one another. >> reporter: despite being banned in china twitter is one of the top 10 most downloaded apps over the past week, china's citizens are trying to

get around the great firewall to share their information. we reached out to elon musk for comments on china. we've not seen a tweet in response to these china protests from elon musk who tends to tweet a lot on a lot of things. ashley: thanks for the update. i want viewers to look at this headline that reads china's 0 covid policy could be xi's undoing. good morning. make your case. >> the protest in china is widespread and organically grown and the largest in terms of scale since the 1989 pro-democracy movement in tiananmen square. xi last month sealed the third

term, lifetime employment, and thought he had firm control of the country and this organic protest showed he does not have the country under secure control and, all because it is bad policy. >> if xi can't stamp out these protests, what happens? >> reporter: xi will survive the current crisis. and and people organize it to,

ending such surveillance, and a crack of his rules, and it is not secure forever. >> china forging a closer relationship. what does some china relationship, mean for us? >> reporter: strong china aggression -- a strong china russia alliance is a threat on a global security. putin is engaged in the ukraine war, because countries like china and india are financing putin's war by purchasing russia's oil and gas. revenue increase compared to last year.

ashley: we can't underestimate china's ambitions in the world, we had a story about them wanting to stockpile nuclear warheads, all the rhetoric surrounding taiwan. this is a china, is they the us doing enough to stand up to that? >> reporter: i don't think the biden administration is doing enough. china under xi, xi is very aggressive. 's goal is not just asia but he wants to build a china centered order. the united states is not doing enough, enough to resist that. ashley: thank you for your expertise, still coming up on the show.

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>> in terms of actual protests, i think we may have seen the peak already. a lot of these people protesting are young people, an