me! a lot of people go chris, how come you don't do nothing back? how come you didn't do nothing back that night? because i got parents. that's why. because i was raised. >> [applause] maria: it is time for "the big buzz" and that was comedian chris rock finally addressing will smith's infamous slap in the face on oscar night. he's doing so in his netflix special. lee, it was funny, but i'll tell you, chris rock handled himself so incredibly well that night. i will be a forever fan. >> absolutely. it took him a to say anything directly about it, and it was worth the wait. i think what he said about being raised right about not dealing with it was amazing, and it's definitely worth a watch. tune in. maria: chris and lee, its been great being with you this morning chris ms.markowsk i'm and lee carter. have a good day. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria,

good morning, everyone. it's wait and see monday. wait and see what fed chair powell has to say today, sorry tomorrow and wednesday. he's testifying before congress both days. what will he say about interest rates? believe me, the fed watching industry is cranking into very high gear. and it is wait and see what friday's jobs report brings. the fed watchers are all over that one too because the labor market is a key indicator for the economy, and therefore, interest rates and therefore, the stock market. in advance of all of that, it's quiet so far on wall street, before the opening bell. the dow is up all of 20 points, nasdaq is up 50. interest rates a little change. we have the yield on the 10 year treasury coming in at 3.91 still fairly close to the 4% yield level, and the two year remains close to 5% right now, it's at 4.83%. the excitement this morning is in politics. donald trump gave a two and a half hour speech at cpac and dominated the event and a straw poll gave him a huge lead over florida governor ron desantis.

60, actually 62 to 20 that's a big lead. desantis was not at cpac. he went to california. in governor newsom's backyard he touted florida's success. florida state legislature this week will pass a series of desantis-supported bills that will be the governor's presidential campaign agenda, even though he's not yet declared. he is jumping into the culture wars. it's a cliche, but i'm going to use it . tensions are rising with china. beijing has upped its defense spending by over 7%, taiwan obviously concerned. meanwhile, there's legislation coming that would allow our government to ban tiktok out right and a republican presidential candidate, vivek ramaswamy, wants to ban most u.s. companies from doing business in china. now that is extreme. vivek joins us later in the show also today, a three-year, round-the-world cruise. cabins go for as little as 30,000 bucks a year, double

occupancy, food included. monday, march 6, 2023. "varney" & company is about to begin. ♪ stuart: that's midtown manhattan , monday morning, of course. "ways to go" is that right? is that what i'm looking at? lauren: it sounded like pop to me but i'm wrong. stuart: this is a family show. get that off. we're starting this morning looking ahead to powell, and the jobs report. lauren: [laughter] stuart: off to a good start this morning aren't we? why don't you take us through the week. lauren: we get a double dose of jay powell this week, semi- annual testimony before congress is tomorrow and wednesday, his final remarks before the fed meeting at the end of the month on the 22nd. does he continue to drive home disinflation or kind of take

that word out? and i think he got a gift and it's from china, because beijing is predicting about 5% growth for this year. that's underwhelming. that could contain inflation for the fed. last thing, february jobs report that comes out on friday, but a little bit late and we're expect ing to see about 200,000 jobs added but less than january , remember that blowout report 517,000 so much less than that is the expectation. stuart: the fed watchers are just cranking up for a huge week this week. lauren: uh-huh. stuart: looking at every word powell says and the computers will interpret all those words and the market will react we're in for quite a time. lauren: we are. stuart: drives me nuts because we go through this every couple of weeks all the time. lauren: and then you get cpi on the 14th i believe next week. stuart: yup. lauren: we keep giving them the data to go at. stuart: i'm so fed up with fed watching i want to move on to politics. lauren: you're fed up with the fed. stuart: former president trump and the final speaker at cpac this weekend promised to "finish

the mission." watch this. >> that's why i'm standing before you, because we are going to finish what we started. we started something that was a marathon. >> [applause] >> we're going to complete the mission. we'll expose and appropriately deal with the rhinos. >> [applause] >> we will evict joe biden from the white house. >> [applause] >> and we will liberate america from these villains. stuart: [laughter] these villains. all right, and there's this take a look at that one again. trump dominated cpac straw poll 62% want him to be the presidential candidate, 20% want ron desantis and look whose here this monday morning. charlie hurt joins us. charlie, look. it was obviously trump's cpac. >> oh, yeah. stuart: but is it now trump's gop? >> well, i think that obviously , it's a contained audience there, and so 62% is a great showing but i think that what his showing generally is in

that ballpark. we spend so much time talking, you know, about a lot of the stuff that trump says but the truth of the matter is most republicans are not dialed into all of this at this point, and i think that he would do, i think he would, you know, he's certainly ahead by double-digit margins i think over anybody else in the broader republican field. stuart: i'm surprised at desantis only getting 20%. >> i was kind of surprised but again, as you point out, it is cpac, but look, you know, trump is still -- i was really interested in that speech. i thought it be really difficult for a guy, a former president to run as an outsider. that speech was very much an outsider speech. lauren: yeah. >> and that was the secret to success in 2016, and when he was talking about the issues that people cared about, and many of them are the same issues. certainly the same larger theme, but he is so effective when he talks about, for example, when

he was talking about our veterans from wars who are lying on sidewalks with their face against the concrete. meanwhile we have illegal aliens being put up at taxpayer expense infancy hotels. that kind of ability to take a real issue, something that's very important, and absolutely insane and absurd and to vivify the way it does it in a political setting is why i think that he's still a force to be reckoned with. stuart: stay with us, please. i want a couple more things from you a bit later in the block but i've got to get back to the federal reserve and jay powell's testimony. jeff sica is with us this morning. powell is likely to make the case for higher rates. i don't know how high or for how long but he's going to make the case for higher rates. what do you think the market reaction is going to be? >> stuart i want to bring to your attention you said you were sick of fed watchers and now you're bringing on me as the fed watcher. lauren: welcome to my world. stuart: you're an easy target.

>> but here is what i'm focused on and i will be watching his linguistic stylings to see how he says things, what tone he uses. we have 400 phd level economists for the fed who these 400 in competent people couldn't determine that we were headed into a 40-year high in inflation until we were knee deep in it and then they looked around and said oh, my gosh we're in inflation so now we're counting on the fed who didn't predict this. they've lost all confidence we should have in them. they didn't predict it. now, powell is going to come out and he has the cpi was robust, the ppi was robust, the pce was robust and what you talked about in the beginning of the show, that red hot jobs market, so if they keep their inflation target at 2% and with

inflation moving up rates as they have, which has had little impact, especially if we get that wage number higher in the jobs report, they are going to have to take drastic actions, so i don't know how he's going to position this. he is going to have to put something out there to show that he's going to be resilient against inflation, but he's welf recessionary cues out there. stuart: that was a fine piece of fed watching. >> [laughter] stuart: that gripped me. >> now you want me to get out. stuart: yeah, you're done right now but jeff, thank you very much indeed for coming on. we do appreciate it. lauren is still here. let's talk about tina, there is no alternative. has wall street found an alternative to tina? lauren: they have, tara, there are only alternatives, there are plenty of alternatives. what are they? bonds, emerging markets, cash,

and tara may look more attractive as remember last week i said the entire yield curve, twos, tens and 30s were all above 4%, that was spectacular. not there right now. the 10-year is at 3.9, there you have it but the six-year is still above 5% so these are reasonable alternatives to stock s. stuart: well i've been saying that for weeks. what's wrong with the six-month treasury bill that pays you 5% with a tax break included? lauren: nothing. stuart: a lot of people are doing it. lauren: you've been saying this for months. stuart: we're going to get serious now. we're not doing the fed any longer. house minority leader hakeem jefferies refused to be critical after the president killed that radical d.c. crime bill. watch this. >> let's take it one step at a time. we have to see what happens in the united states senate next week. depending on what the senate does the president will have to respond one way or the other. i haven't had an opportunity to talk to the white house yet

about the president's views so i'm not going to characterize his position one way or the other until we've had a chance to talk about that issue. >> he's made it clear, unless he changes his tune again. >> well, they have public conversations and they have private conversations. stuart: [laughter] there's public and there's private. charlie hurt? has biden made the political decision that running on defund the police just won't fly? >> well he certainly sent that indication and i think that he has and he's probably going to sign that bill, and it's a real problem for democrats who have supported this , and it was really funny over the weekend i think it was nancy pelosi also came out and was completing bitterly not that the president was going to overturn d.c. voting rights or whatever, and not the fact that, you know, people are suffering under crime , but that her fellow democrat members got forced into voting against a bill to hopefully curb some of the crime

in d.c. and they will have to go home to voters and defend that terrible vote back home, so even at the end of the day, all they care about is the politics. all they care about is their own political tails. stuart: this is true. charlie hurt, thanks very much for being with us, good to see you thanks very much indeed and you stayed away from the fed >> i'm not a fed watcher. stuart: good. futures suggest a modest gain for stocks at the opening bell and i mean really modest. coming up 2024 republican hopeful vivek ramaswamy says if he gets elected, we're done doing business with china. watch this. >> we got to be willing to ban most u.s. businesses from doing business in china until the ccp falls or until the cc p radically reforms itself because there is no easy way out other than taking that band aid and ripping it right off. stuart: that sounds extreme to me. vivek ramaswamy though, he will be here shortly to explain. despite more than 11 million jobs open, a growing number of

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♪ ♪ stuart: okay that is augusta, georgia, home of the master's and it's 61 degrees right there. now we're playing the song "why don't you get a job" and we're playing the song because a growing number of people are cutting back their working part- time instead of full-time. madison alworth with me. why are people actively choosing

to work part-time? reporter: what we're hearing from people that are choosing that part-time life is it gives them more flexibility with more control over their schedule and just able to make it work with a little less, so we're seeing that side of the story but then we're also seeing a lot of americans actually take on more work. in january of last year, 7.3 million americans had multiple jobs. january this year, 7.8 million, so i want to start there because i'm riding in the car right now with james. he's an insurance broker, and also an uber eats driver, so james is going to focus on the road because he is driving us but james, why did you decide to start driving for uber and uber eats despite having a full- time insurance broker job? >> well it just made sense when i first heard about it and i seen that i could make money and stay as an entrepreneur myself, and that i didn't have to go out and get another part-time job. it just made sense to me. it's pretty easy, and, you know,

it just really helps out when moneys low. reporter: right and so you have a family, like i said you're an insurance broker based off commission. right now we're dealing with record high inflation. does having a part time job help with that? do you think you'd be able to make ends meet without uber eats >> i would, but it be a lot tougher, but it's actually, it really helps out when i need a quick extra hundred bucks. it really helps out and i know other uber drivers it helps out as well. reporter: okay so james is obviously that sector of the workforce that it's taking on multiple jobs but like you said, stu, a lot of people choosing just part time work. we're seeing 1.2 million americans more this time choosing to just work part time. we spoke to a nurse who explained why they decided to go just part-time. take a listen. >> the schedule flexibility is incredible. i get to pick my hours,

basically. i'm not required to work nights. i can tell them when i can work. i almost have my pick of shifts, so it's highly advantageous to me and my personal life. reporter: all right, so there you have it. it's all about making that personal life. some choosing to cut back, but many others choosing to add more so that they can afford the lifestyle that their family needs. stu, i'll send it back to you. stuart: thanks very much. flexibility seems to be the name of the game all over the place. let's move on. don't miss out on thursday's town hall "making money" the future of work. very relevant 2:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox business with charles payne. john lonski is with me this morning. an economist no less. what impact on the economy for more part-time work? >> i don't think it's very good i would think that if you're working part-time you're giving up benefits. benefits are basically just supplied to full-time workers and it tells me more about the economy than what it might

do to the economy. it's telling me that for some people are being forced to work part-time, maybe a wife or a husband, in order to try to compensate for the loss of purchasing power to rampant inflation. stuart: you think that this economy is not performing very well for working people? >> i don't think it is. we've had 21 consecutive months where cpi inflation has outran wage growth, so the average workers finding that they're worse off. stuart: is it get worse all the time or is it -- >> for 21 consecutive months. you could say inflation is down but it still happens to be that inflation is outrunning the growth of the average wage. stuart: got the jobs report coming out on friday. what's your outlook? is it going to be a strong report or relatively weak or what? >> well it is not going to be another gangbuster report where we have more than a half million jobs. probably something closer to 200,000. i would also be looking for a

downward revision of january's gain of more than 500,000 jobs. that maybe goes down to about 300,000 jobs that are initial estimate made absolutely no sense when you look at the growth of personal income, wage and salary income. stuart: i hate to go back to fed watching but what do you think the fed will do in these comments coming up this week? is it going to raise rates much higher, or just up rates a little bit? >> you know, right now i'm looking at fed funds futures and last week, at one-time, they had the peak at about 5.63%. it's down to about 5.4%. we've seen the 10-year treasury yield come down. this is happening, because, perhaps the credit market senses that these very strong readings and economic activity that we had for the month of january are not going to be repeated throughout the remainder of this year. let me tell you something. when i look at consensus forecast, for jobs growth, it turns out that for the most part

we're looking at maybe about 550,000 new jobs in 2023 so that number basically equals what we had in the month of january. average monthly jobs growth goes from 400,000 2022 the eit matt is only 45,000 in 2023, only one -tenth. stuart: whoa that's a big difference. john lonski thank you very much. >> thank you, stu. stuart: want to talk about credit cards we're borrowing at a record rate. there's a suspicion, lauren that there always borrowing because the credit card companies are offering a lot of perks. lauren: well yeah, travel point, cash back, that's a lure to get a certain credit card and to swipe that credit card often as the way to get through inflation and pay for high prices, right? but the cards with the perks often carry higher apr's, so if you're one of 46% of people who aren't able to pay their balance in full every month you want to shop around for a card with a lower rate and maybe not use

that card as much that has the perks attached to it. credit card debt, look at this , $986 billion, and for one-third of households, what you owe the balance you owe is bigger than what you have saved. stuart: ouch. lauren: it's a huge problem. stuart: that's not good. got it. let's check futures real fast because we're heading towards the opening bell. we've got a modest gain across-the-board for the dow, s&p and the nasdaq look at that modest gains at-best. it's a wait and see week. the opening bell though is next. ♪ you ok, man?

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and stay in the home you love. - these letters show why aag has such a high customer satisfaction rate. "i feel so much better. it's like a savior to me." - [narrator] learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve retirement savings and more. - so you wrote this. - yes. - thank you, linda. - call for your free info kit. call the number on your screen. stuart: on the futures market it looks like a very modest upside move at the opening bell. keith fitz-gerald with us this morning. all right, keith. we've got powell's testimony and the job report this week. what do you think the chances are that the market takes a dive >> i think short-term, they're probably pretty good if he says something unexpected. frankly i'm surprised we didn't see it this morning. anytime you get a rally like last week, stuart, traders want

to take short-term profits and settle in for what i think is still a long term upside drive. stuart: a long term upside drive , which we will get to eventually, after we've sorted out the turmoil of powell and the jobs market report, right? >> yeah, that's absolutely it. it's like playing catch with somebody who isn't there. we've got to see the chairman step up and make some definitive comments but to a point you and i talk about. the markets are learning to live with the uncertainty. there are a lot of people on the sidelines beginning to recognize that. stuart: you've got it. talk to me about costco. my favorite store. they took a hit last week after their earnings came out. you like them, don't you? >> i do. not only are they one of our favorite stores as well but they deliver incredible value for the consumers. they are getting ready to do a membership increase. they have got millions, billions of dollars on the line because of it, so to me, i look at at that consumers still want to make every dollar go farther and that's a place they can do it and it's a good experience when you shop there, employees are motivated and what's not to love

i own a lot and hope to buy more stuart: but doesn't the state of the consumer given inflation worry you about a big retailer like costco? >> that's exactly why i like costco, funny enough, because the state of the consumer is definitely stretched. credit card debt as lauren was pointing out is going through the ceiling with people struggling. the one place they can really make that dollar go farther is costco and they do a great job of managing their supply chain. they don't have a lot of trouble that the other big box retailers do, so, in fact, funny enough, this is the one retailer i do own. stuart: okay got it. you're out in the northwest i know. did they get free samples at costco stores in the northwest? >> they do, and sometimes if you get really lucky it's pacific northwest salmon or crab meat or other good things >> [opening bell ringing] stuart: keith thank you very much indeed. the opening bell is now ringing on monday morning, march 6. like we've been saying it's kind of a wait and see week because you've got powell and the jobs

report, big items which could affect the market but we've opened as we expected to. very slightly higher. the dow industrials are up all of eight points, 10 points it's a rally. the s&p 500 where is that one this morning? it is up a tiny fraction six points on a 4,000 index. nasdaq composite is up, well, doing better. it's autopsy .42%, 48 points at 11, 700. big tech up all across-the-board , ladies and gentlemen. meta the best performer it's up 2%. had a good week last week too. apple is well-above 150. alphabet is coming up there and amazon is up and microsoft is up a buck. got it. next case, goldman sachs thinks that apple, the stock, could have a major rally. good morning, susan. what kind of a major rally? >> if we're talking about 32% upside that's pretty good so you get 199 for the stock and first time in six years that goldman is recommending the stock, because they got a new analyst

in, so well because of this new analyst stepped in, he says if you look at apple's growing install base of 2 billion and services now growing double-digits, and it's becoming a bigger and bigger business, that's positive for the stock, so you could get 32% more. now, you know, they have missed out on a 300% rally, because they have been so negative for the past six years, but you know, there are other additives to the market today and there's rumors of possible new foldable iphone in the future, because apple got those patents reportedly, a new imac in the works and the new vr glasses or goggles by this year possibly by june. stuart: did the old analyst do you happen to know if the old analyst was fired or retired? >> well, how do these analysts get rewarded from positive, correct stock calls, and if you missed out on 300% rally on the stock, i don't know how he lasted six years but here we are stuart: i want to talk about

nvidia. the chipmaker could, they are a huge chipmaker, could their sales in china be affected by this tension we got here? >> well we know that because but this is specifically to huawei, which has been on the u.s. black list since 2019. i found it surprising they were still getting billions of dollars in some of these u.s. exports because there was an exception clause in that trump deal. now we know that the biden administration wants to completely shutdown this huawei access. also on top of that you heard from the commerce ministry and commerce department here saying they want nvidia and amd to limit or ban those high end ai chips for facial recognition to china and they have already warned that be a few hundred dollars in lost sales; however, these stocks have been ripping especially on this ai boom here, elsewhere, around the world, chatgpt. you heard broadcom over the weekend saying they can't make chips fast enough to meet demand and that's why nvidia is up about 60% so far this year. cybersecurity also another booming sector i want to

highlight that crowdstrike look at this rally in a go nowhere market because they are reporting tonight and we've seen palo alto and all of the other cybersecurity companies do very well. stuart: chips and cybersecurity. doing well as they did last week and the week before that as matter of fact. let's have a look at tesla. i believe they are recalling several thousand of their model y? >> i didn't think it was that big of a deal, 3,400 over loose bolts. stuart: the market doesn't care. >> i'll tell you what the market does care about, since we're talking about recall s they did recall about 380,000 cars that needed that full self-driving software update. big talking point in the markets with tesla. second round of price cuts this morning for model s and y. so now if you look at all four of tesla's models they are much cheaper today than they were before january 12, so i looked at all of the price reductions here. 20% down, cheaper for model x and model s, 20%, so is this another way for elon

musk to juice demand, right? because he's already got it for 1.8 million vehicles, but if you're juicing demand isn't this , is demand there if you didn't cut the prices is what i'm trying to say in a slowing economy, high inflation rates, and this is kind of why the stock is up 60% so far in two months time. stuart: just a long time i ever heard of a major car company cutting prices dramatically up to 20%. you don't hear about that very often. >> and the rebate too, right? you have the 7,800 from those for cars up to 80,000 from the commerce ministry. stuart: one more for you. morgan stanley thinks we could see a rally soon. hold on a second. weren't we talking last week about a morgan stanley guy who forecasted a big drop? >> 25% down. stuart: right? >> yes, that is morgan stanley, agree with you. everyone is saying the same thing. well if you're bearish all of a sudden you're saying it's a mid-term bullish rally that we're seeing, so they said because of the resistance in the 200 day moving average so

technicals so the fact you didn't sell-off with yields crossing with the highest since 2017, so morgan stanley says there could be a 2.5% upside for the s&p 500, we could get to 4,150 before we possibly go down 25% by the end of the first half of this year. stuart: i guess you have to follow it really closely. >> so morgan stanley also says by the end of this year, the s&p is going to finish at 3,900 so not that much downside. stuart: real fast, meta and amazon you got any insight on them? >> so meta, i didn't see much in terms of news. in fact there was news that an analyst cut their recommendation on meta stock but the stock is still up, so i was looking at the options market, and actually, there's been a lot of options buying that there could be another 15% upside in meta. meta could rally another 15% from here. i think it has to do with the fact that things are not terrible. they are cutting costs. you also have that $40 billion stock buyback all of a sudden that also helps the market and

the stock as well and they cut their prices of their goggles, the vr quest pro by 30%. i also want to throw in amazon because i think it's important to highlight a company, tech company that is cutting costs. you heard they are cutting, closing all those amazon-go cashierless stores in san francisco, new york, and seattle also, they are pausing construction on the second headquarters in virginia so all about year of efficiency and both companies highlighted a cost savings instead of growth as their 2023 strategy. stuart: check that big board we've bin in business for all of six and a half minutes, a quarter of 1%. dow winners here is the list, topping the list we have p a el up 2% this morning, merck is on there too, j & j, microsoft, verizon and how about the s&p 500 the winners on that list, lu men technologies up 4% top of the list and the nasdaq composite topped by align technology, n-phase, apple is on

that list too, look at that 154 on apple right now. coming up, seems like mike pompeo is taking a jab at his former boss donald trump. roll it. >> the moment for a celebrity, the moment for stars is not with us. it's the moment for america to go back to its conservative family. stuart: sure looks like pompeo is running doesn't it? and then former fda commissioner dr. scott gotleib says it's time to start acting like covid really did come out of the chinese lab. dr. marty makary on the show shortly and i'm sure he will agree with scott gotleib and we will be back. ♪

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stuart: let's see we've got 12 minutes worth of business on wall street, the dow is up 70

the nasdaq is up 60 points. modest gains this monday morning the media is coming under fire for its coverage of the wuhan lab theory. all right, lauren. which networks specifically told employees hey, ignore. lauren: it was cnn and it was under former boss jeff zucker. he told staff not to chase the lab leak theory and they dismissed it as a donald trump talking point but also conspiracy theory. stuart: so they just dismissed it. lauren: you're crazy if you talk about it was the mentality there stuart: okay, point taken. thanks very much lauren. former fda commissioner dr. scott gotleib says we need to start acting like that covid, covid really was leaked from a lab in wuhan, china. watch this. >> we should start behaving like it did come out of a lab and start taking the steps to make sure that couldn't happen again. we're still stuck on the debate about whether it was or wasn't a lab leak. i think we should work on the assumption there's a probability it was a lab leak and start putting in place the

kinds of protections that we need. stuart: dr. marty makary joins us now. all right, doctor. what steps do you think we should take to make sure a lab leak doesn't happen again? >> well, number one, we need an until ban on all gain of function research. there's no reason this should be taking place right now and it is it's happening in labs all over the world. dr. fauci notoriously promoted gain of function research and did so in writing and lectures. they need to come clean and just say look this was a bad idea. the risks were not worth the benefits. we need an all-out ban including logs and records and maybe video cameras at any lab that uses live viral particles that could be potential epidemic pathogens. stuart: what authority does america have or anybody else have to stop gain of function research around the world? >> well, we have a precedent with nuclear weapons, with nuclear power plants, that they are standard, and held to

worldwide and so this is an opportunity right now when the world has intense focus on the origin. remember, this is the biggest liability case in the history of the world. people want some closure. this is the time for dr. fauci and dr. collins to speak up and apologize. the data that it came from the lab is so overwhelming. the only reason it's not sort of a broad consensus is that it's embarrassing that we were funding the lab. stuart: well, doctor, new e-mails uncovered by house republicans show that dr. fauci commissioned scientific papers specifically to disprove the lab leak theory. it sounds like fauci did not want this theory discussed and i'm asking why. >> well that right, stu, and this is a big point because this article that basically just dismissed it, you know, one of the biggest journals in all of medicine didn't really have a direct connection to fauci. there were people who thanked him for the article but nothing that was sort of a smoking gun until these e-mails came out

where basically the connection that dr. fauci commissioned it now is apparent and there's a great piece by miranda devine in today's new york post according ly, so this is a big deal. this basically suggests that there's an intense cover-up effort going on four days after dr. fauci learned about the lab leak. stuart: do you think he was told to lay off the lab leak story? >> i think the other virologists hold him it was a lab leak. there were three in that emergency meeting that he put together and they told him it was a lab leak and then his response was well let's downplay this in some sort of medical publication and have a unified front to say that there's not a lab leak. stuart: last one, doctor. president biden had i think it's called a lesion removed from his chest. any cause for concern? >> not at all. this is a very common thing. it's almost a normal part of aging. it does have the word "cancer"

but really it's just a benign- type growth with a very low propensity to cause any problems down the road, less than 1 in 1,000 so there may be reasons know the to vote for joe biden in a future election but this is not one of them. stuart: got it dr. marty makary, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, stu. stuart: jill biden, first lady, was asked about competency tests for older politicians. i'm pretty sure she would not be on board with that. lauren: she said it's unnecessary and ridiculous and then she pointed to her husband, joe biden's travel schedule. all the places he goes to show how fit he is, but look. i mean, this idea of a mental competency test for politicians age 75 and older was put forth by republican presidential nominee nikki haley, and almost everybody with the exception of donald trump has said this is a bad idea. i think it strikes home for a lot of people. you know, that could say something about me too. i feel mentally fine, but maybe if i take this test, i won't do as well as i think i'll do.

stuart: that has me worried too as a matter of fact. lauren: it sounds great but in theory, it could be ageist. stuart: okay i'm moving on. i'm interested in this story. doctors, i understand, are changing the way they treat diabetes. is this about ozempic? lauren: yes. $900 a month is the cost. stuart: is that it? lauren: uh-huh so the "wall street journal" is reporting that american diabetes association said doctors should consider giving ozempic and drugs like it first instead of metformin, widely dispensed for years to treat type two diabetes, that's $25 a month. the new guidelines recommend some patients can start with those newer drugs like ozempic and munjarl, i think i'm saying that right that's another one used commonly for weight loss but really beneficial for diabetes. stuart: but ozempic is 900 bucks a month? lauren: yup. that's why all these rich celebrities are taking it to lose weight. stuart: you do lose weight with it? lauren: yeah, you get the ozempic phase where you get very hollow in your cheek

bones. stuart: when you stop taking ozempic you go right back up again? lauren: i'd imagine. stuart: i guess so. all right, sorry, lauren thanks very much. lauren: did you just call me emma? stuart: i did. lauren: is that your daughter? is she texting you? stuart: no but she's watching. sorry about this folks. it's not too late in fact don't forget to send in your friday feedback, e-mail your questions, comments, critiques whatever you like varneyviewers@fox.com. here is a case. four u.s. citizens were kidnapped after a gunman opened fire on their car in mexico. we have a report on that next. ♪

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stuart: four americans kidnapped in mexico after a gunman opened fire on their car. william la jeunesse is with us. take us through what happened, please, william? reporter: well, stuart this happened on friday, just over the u.s. border in the city of matamoro, home of the gulf cartel, well south of houston across from brownsville, texas and that's the drone video you

see at the port of entry and the four had just driven their van with north carolina plates over the border in the afternoon. minutes later they come under gunfire. surveillance cam shows men armed with rifles in bulletproof vests , toss at least one female into the back of a pick-up. the state police say the cartel s killed or injured several people that day on friday. we don't know how many were american. the fbi has put out a $50,000 reward for information on the kidnapping. u.s. consolate there is telling employees to avoid the area. tamaulipas is one of six mexican states on the state departments do not travel list due to crime and kidnapping. seven other states you should reconsider travel, only two near cancun, are considered safe. violent crime, homicide, kidnap ping, carjacking, robbery very common in mexico right now and kidnapping especially a big business with anyone who has a value, including americans. the fact is mexico not a safe

place. rival factions are fighting a tu rf war over meth, fentanyl, cocaine, human smuggling routes and it's not like you know who you're dealing with stuart because you have all these rival factions right now. the president has a hugs not bullets campaign and that's a failure. bottom line, stuart if you go to mexico you are on your own. i spoke to the fbi this morning from the san antonio office. no details. we don't know if these four are from north carolina. was it a rental or a stolen vehicle? don't know. relatives have not been identified. hopefully we'll get more information today. back to you. stuart: that is a disturbing development. william, thanks for bringing us the details there appreciate that. quickly check those markets, please. in business now for nearly 25 minutes. the dow is up 67, the nasdaq is up 54. not that much price movement for stocks this monday morning, as we said at the top of the show it is a wait and see monday. waiting for fed chair powell to testify tomorrow and wednesday,

waiting for the friday jobs report. as for the 10-year treasury yield, it's backing off from the 4% level, and it's at 3.94% and the price of gold, nowhere near 1,900 bucks an ounce it's at 1,858 up a mere $3 on the day where is bitcoin, haven't checked that this hour but we're checking it now. 22, 400 per coin. oil moving back up to around the $80 per barrel level at 79.19 where is nat gas with all this mild weather? 2.65 that's it down 12%. mild weather down it goes. the price for gallon of gas regular that is nationwide averages 3.40. in california, the average for regular is 4.90. still ahead, pete hegseth, vivek ramaswamy, joe concha, and steve forbes. the 10:00 hour of "varney" & company is next. ♪

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