see the market up right now. we have an inflation rate that, although it may have come in line with expectations, it's still way too high. the fed has no business talking about rate cuts anytime soon. and on top of that, you have a savings rate that remains insanely depressed. it's half of what it was before the pandemic. people don't have any money. maria: yeah, but the market's momentum is there. >> you cannot argue with the technicals, but core pce at 0.4% month over month two straight month, that's a 4.8% annual run rate, twice where the fed wants tonight. maria: mike, we're going to hear you on your podcast, president's daily brief. >> oh, thank you. maria: congratulations. you beat the big guy. >> only once, it's never going to happen again, but we topped joe rogan who's a powerful guy -- maria: we will see you then. thanks, everybody. see you tomorrow. "varney & company" begins now. citi, take it away. stuart: good morning, march ya, good morning, everybody. the federal reserve watches

inflation, there's one indicator they follow particularly closely, and here it is. the pce price if index which measures changes in the cost of living for households. in the last year it's gone up just 2.4%, very much as expected. not hot. finish the market kind of likes it. before that the number came out, the dow, the nasdaq, the s&p, they're all way down. now they're the up. nasdaq up about 93 points. interest rates were edging lower, now they're just about unchanged. about 4.25% on the 10-year, and the 2-year well above 4.5, oh, yeah, 4.65%. oil getting closer to $80 a barrel, $78.90 right now. gas is actually up 2 cents to an average of $3.31. diesel, down 1 cent at $4.06. and now here you have it, bitcoin, it's had a great week. where is it now? if $62,999. i'll call that $63,000 the per coin.

poll ticks. dueling border visits. biden goes to the very quiet brownsville section. in his remarks he will blame republicans for the crisis. donald trump goes to the very active eagle pass section. what he will say, it is biden's open border. voters so far is believe trump. a judge in illinois says, oh, she believes trump was involved in an insurrection. therefore, he can't appear on the ballot many that state. he's never been charged with an insurrection. this is a very political decision. separately, the supreme court will hear trump's immunity request, but the timing means biden probably won't get the trial and conviction of trump that he wants before the election. the democrats' legal attack on trump is delayed. they don't want that. on the show today another example of the president'sing cognitive difficulties. former speaker kevin mccarthy says even many if one-on-one, private, closed door meetings he always uses cue cards. and if the discussion goes beyond what's on the cards, he can't. to our question is, who writes

the cards? who is really calling the shots? look, we're not piling on here. i think we're doing a public service. thursday, february the 29th. yes, it is leap year with day. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ i feel good today. ♪ can't nobody bring me down. ♪ and i just got paid ♪ stuart: [inaudible] all right. the james brown version myself, it's kind of more upbeat. >> i do too. stuart: gets you going. [laughter] lauren: i don't care who feels good, i'm looking at a dreary, dark city street. stuart: we really shouldn't start the show with a dreary looking sixth avenue, but we did. lauren: sorry, america. stuart: the inflation indicators move the markets. today inflation if gauge that measures household costs. lauren has the pce number.

lauren: i mean, i have that jerome powell has cover to wait out. i mean, he really does. the fed needs more data to determine if and how many rate cuts are warranted. these are the numbers for january, exactly as we expected. the fed's preferred gauge, pce, up 2.4% year-over-year, the slowest in almost three years. it did come down from december but not by more than we thought. so let's take out food and energy, that's the core pce, it rose 2.8% annually. again, down from december. again, the slowest in almost three years, since march of 202 221. 2021. put it all together, all i can say is over to you, jay powell. what are you going to do with all of this? what are you going to do with all this data? you've got to wait for more. stuart: he's going to study the it, as he always does. futures, by way, are a higher. up 75 on the dow, nearly 100 up on the nasdaq. adam johnson with me this morning. >> yes, sir. stuart: looks like investors

like the reading. >> as well they and we should. pce, personal consumption expenditures. it's one of those tongue twisters, was up at 6.5%. it's now at 2.5%. cpi was above 9, it's now at 3. ppi was above 11, it's at 2. i mean, inflation is coming down. okay, it may not be yet at the fed's target of 2, but it's pretty close to there. and, by the way, some of the measures of inflation if already at 2%. so we're doing okay. stuart: hope springs eternal for a rate cut from the fed at some point, that's where we are. >> yes. stuart: you've got to tell me about bitcoin. we're at almost $63,000 a coin right now. where is it going? >> i think it's going higher. and one of the reasons, stuart -- well, okay, there are two reasons. number one, rusk on. people willing to get back in the markets and take riskier stuff into their accounts. point number two, there are only going to be 21 million bitcoin

ever in history, ever, as long as the world exists, only 21 million bitcoin will be created. we're at about 19.2 right now. so there's some scarcity value. people are realizing, oh, there's only so much of this thing out there. let's buy it. stuart: it's a new form of investment. to me, it's a gambling chip, but it's not going away, is it? >> i've never bought bitcoin. i do own coinbase which is sort of the picks and shovels way to play bitcoin. yeah, if you are distrusting of government, if you think that the government spends too much money, if your worried about the value of the dollar, bitcoin is a place where you could perhaps if hide. or if you're worried about what new york state is doing to donald trump, potentially seizing assets, you can't seize bitcoin. stuart: adam, stay with me for the hour. now this, a judge in illinois has ruled donald trump ineligible to appear on the primary ballot. lauren: here we go again. illinois, colorado, maine maine,

judge tracy porter says the 4th amendment -- 14th amendment prohibits trump from appealer on the ballot because he engaged in an insurrection trying to hold on to power after a losing the 2020 election. remember, trump was never if charged with insurrection. while there are challenges to keep him off the ballot in, count, 36 states, most judges are waiting to hear from the supreme court. they have already heard the issue, but their formal ruling awaits. illinois got a jump-start. stuart: okay. next one, senator minority leader, that's mitch mcconnell, obviously, we know he's stepping down in november. tell us more about his decision. lauren: such a real, real moment. 17 years, leading republican. the 82-year-old leader says he finally experienced that moment, his words, where he had total clarity and peace about the sunset of his work. that's what it's all about a, right? when do you know it's time to step away. he said it is time now for a new generation, so he is stepping down.

i would say this suggests that the transformation of the republican party under donald trump is about to be complete. stuart: agreed 100%. lauren: he has not endorsed the former president. stuart sor hurt. look at this op-ed ed, who will replace mitch mcconnell? 2010 domenech joins me now do -- ben.com maine you say the senate gop could have a leader who runs with the voters instead of against them. who's that leader? it's got to be a trump guy, right? [laughter] >> well, i think that the former president's views are certainly going to matter, but you have to keep in mind that the senate still, i think if you took a private vote among the senators, donald trump probably still wouldn't be their first choice. so there's kind of this tight rope to walk there between what the former president wants, obviously, the most powerful figure in the party, and what these senators want in terms of someone who can balance their own concerns about policy with potentially the upcoming white house. obviously, the timing that mitch mcconnell is going to step

down, we'll know whether that's going to be a trump white house or not in no. so that's something -- in november. so that's something that's definitely going to factor into their decision. do you want to go with another old hand, someone who's been around for quite some time, perhaps in their 70s, or do you want to potentially go in the direction of one of this younger generation senators, especially ones who could potentially bridge this gap. it's one of the reasons why i and i think a lot of other folks consider someone like senator tom cotton to be a potential dark horse in the conversation about a replacing mcconnell because he satisfies a lot of those concerns. stuart: next one, ben. president biden had his physical yesterday. he says the doctor gave him the all clear. but now listen to what former speaker kevin mccac third -- mccarthy had to say about his cognitive ability in private meetings. >> he still has a teleprompter when you meet behind closed doors, but they're ca cards. if you deviate -- i didn't sit and negotiate with him the debt

ceiling. he just sticks to the cards. and if you go, if you deviate from the cards, he can't continue onward there. i respect the man for serving the country, i thank him for that service. but he is not of the age that is best to be ab able to be serving in the presidency, especially the position that he is going forward with what i have watched to serve again. stuart: okay, ben, so even in private, closed door meetings he's got the cue cards. and he can't deviate from the cue cards. my question is, who's writing those cards? who decides what's on those cardsesome because that is, that person who writes it effectively runs the government. >> yeah. and i think that, you know, whether that's jeff zients or ron klain, you have a number of different people who are in the white house who are effectively running the government and have been for some time. i do want to point out that age is important here, but there are people who are fully functional. i i mean, look down at the other end of pennsylvania avenue and look at nancy pelosi, chuck grassley, both older than joe

biden, and these same concerns are not there. the wait of the -- the weight of the years really is heavy on him, and i don't think we can have any kind of confidence that even should he achieve election, that he's going to be there for the next four years. it's just such a challenge for the white house. and even no i think those cards which, by the way, not just for important negotiations, but behind the scenes with donors as well reportedly, that's something that's a huge concern for the country. and it's one of the reasons why i think there's a very strong possibility still that joe biden doesn't end up being the nominee when it comes to november. stuart: yeah. we report this kind of thing almost every day. we're not piling on, i think we're doing a public service. the public's got to know this. ben domenech -- >> absolutely. stuart: thanks for being with us, see you again soon. quick check of futures. it's thursday morning, the dow up 100 and the nasdaq up 100. plenty of green after favorable inflation numbers earlier this morning. president biden and donald trump make competing stop thes at the southern border today but

bringing very different messages. hunter biden testified for seven hours behind closed doors. house oversight chair james comer says a public hearing is next on the agenda. that could be televised. a report on that next if. ♪ ♪ can't nobody if hear me. ♪ e got a lot that's on my mind. ♪ i cannot breathe. ♪ can you hear it too? ♪ morgan wealth management knows it's easy to get lost in investment research. get help with j.p morgan personal advisors. hey, david! ready to get started? work with advisors who create a plan with you, and help you find the right investments. so great getting to know you, let's take a look at your new investment plan. ok, great! this should have you moving in the right direction. thanks jen. get ongoing advice; and manage your investments in the chase mobile app.

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stuart: let's get back to the rally in, first of all, stocks. your -- you're looking at a nice if firm opening, up 90 on the dow, 100 on the nasdaq. can you show me bitcoin, please? that rally continues. now we're looking at $63,000 per if coin. it's been on a very nice run

this week. next case, now to the biden impeachment inquiry. hunter testified behind closed doors, and what's the next step? okay, james comer says next will be a public hearing. that could be televised. chad pergram on capitol hill. any idea when the public hearing could be held, chad? >> reporter: not really,it's fuzzy if the hearing might happen. hunter biden attorney abbe lowell suggests his client may not be interestedded now. lowell says, quote, there is nothing left to ask. republicans thought hunter scored special treatment with business deals. >> many americans suffer with addictions, but many americans actually, i would say all americans except hunter biden that suffer from drug addiction and alcohol addiction, would never be placed on boards of companies like burisma and would never be teaching at georgetown unless their last name was biden. >> reporter: hunter biden said some of his demands for overseas cash came because he was high or

drunk. republicans contend they got what they came for. hunter dubbed a subpoena last small -- ducked a subpoena the the last fall. next up, the release of the transcript. >> we're able to confirm a lot of the wrongdoings through hunter biden's testimony. there are many financial crimes that we believe that were committed by the biden family. hunter was asked about specific transactions with specific llcs, many of whom that i've referred to as shell companies. >> reporter: democrats contend the deposition did not change anything, especially as republicans try to build a case to impeach president biden. but it's about the math. the gop probably lacks the votes. >> hunter exhausted the republicans more than they exhausted him in that they wanted to wear him down. i saw cruelty in a lot of the ways the questions were asked. i saw an unnecessary delving into personal life matters that

had nothing to do with anything being alleged. >> reporter: at one point democrats say hunter biden mentioned the son-in-law of former president trump. hunter suggested republicans investigate jared kushner over his access and business deals. if stuart? stuart: can't follow it all, very difficult. chad pergram, thanks very much, indeed, for straight thenning it out. thank you, chad. a member of the house judiciary chairman, congressman kelly armstrong joins me now. hunter denies his dad had any connection to his bid dealing. is that how it -- business dealings. is that how it came across to you? >> obviously, they were very polished, very well prepared, and the thing i noticed two things i didn't learn yesterday, i didn't learn what the actual business he was in that was making hundreds of millions of dollars, and i learned that when answers were convenient for hunter, then he would talk about them, and when they were inconvenient for him, he would bring up his own addiction and his lack of memory because he was in a wad place. i think the deposition got us

what we needed to get. think the next step is a live hearing. i think the american people need to see what's going if on. stuart: congressman, do you think maybe the american public's getting a little tired of this because they can't understand it, it's complicated? they don't know the names of places and faces? you haven't proved the basic point yet, that president biden was directly involved. is the public getting tired of it? >> well, large scale international money fraud schemes are by their very nature complicated, but i think the american public is tired of a two-tiered justice system and somebody being treated completely different particularly when they see what's going on with president trump at this point in time. we have to take these facts where they go. you have to deal with it. i mean, there is no doubt by anybody with two eyes and two ears that the hunter biden was selling access to president biden, at that time vice president biden. the only question is if you think a family as a chose as this family is, this is the one place where they built absolute firewalls, and that just simply belies the truth.

stuart: you know, you might not have the votes to go through with impeachment and probably not with a public hearing. >> yeah. and we should -- i think the public hearing is the next step. i think we need to continue where we're at. we have a 2-vote majority. until we get anything passed, we don't necessarily have the votes for anything, but i think this investigation if is worthy, and i think this investigation is think of being shown to the public. stuart: what do you do if hunter and husband lawyers say, no, we're not going to do a public appearancesome. >> i would subpoena them. s this is part of that two-tiered justice system. i think they delay. >>ed, delayed, delayed. the president was delayed three years longer than it should have been. they messed around with getting the deposition scheduled, and if they say no, i think we should exercise our congressional authority to make them. stuart: congressman, one last thing. i understand you're giving up north dakota if's only seat in the house to run for governor of the state. are you just fed up with politics? >> absolutely not. the greatest privilege of my if life has been serving north dakota in the halls in congress.

the problem is it's the second best job this in all of politics, and the best job is the number -- running for governor. stuart: got it. congressman, we appreciate it. thanks a lot. the supreme court has agreed to review trump's claim of immunity in the special counsel's election interference case. lauren, can you keep this simple, somehow or other? they're lauren bottom line, this potentially and likely pushes the trial if his criminal case until after the election will. stuart: that's it. lauren: so it is a win for trump. the trial was slated for march 4th. so now the supreme court or will take up the case. this is over whether the president has immunity from prosecution in jack smith's federal election interference case. keep following. the justices will consider whether and to what extent a former president can have presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for his conduct in office. trump says you absolutely need it. so the high court, oral

arguments likely late april. a decision, likely late june. why am i giving you dates? because if you have a decision in late june with, then you can start all the trial activity and the motions. that doesn't get done like this. it takes weeks if not months. stuart: so the president, biden, might not get the trial and conviction of trump before the election, and that's what he really wants. lauren: bingo. stuart: delay in the whole proceeding -- lauren: exactly what he wanted. stuart: plus for trump, negative for biden. >> you made it very simple. we need a white board on set because it is hard to follow on both sides. lauren: the rnc right in the middle in july. so if the decision comes down in the late june, literally a few days later you have the rnc where your presumed candidate -- >> you know, isn't it amazing how arguably both sides, republicans on going after the bidens and democrats on going after trump at every turn are doing so with all a kinds of legal maneuvering? it's no longer sort of in the

realm where, you know, the three of us operate or our viewers or operate. you know, kind of normal people just sort of dealing with normal issues. it's all this legalese, and i think you're right, stuart, in saying it's hard to follow, and the public may be getting to a point where we've had it. stuart: i think it makes us look like a banana republic. >> thank you. thank you for saying that. stuart: check futures please, plenty of green. nasdaq up 100 points. the opening bell is next. ♪ situations only get worse in the morning light. ♪ hey, i'm just looking for a good time ♪

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stuart: all right. we've got green on the screen is. up 100 for the dow, up 105 for the nasdaq. looks good. d.r. barton with me. d.r., apple's been a big tech laggard. they scrapped the apple car. do you like 'em? >> i do like 'em here, stuart. and i like 'em a bunch right here. you know, we've gotten up to almost, almost 200 a couple of months ago. we've pulled back to a real good technical support level. but with i think taking the resources from the car shop and

putting it into the other devices is going to pay off big dividends in the future, and is we're going to see those sooner than we think. stuart: pce, the price indicator that came out today, -- 2.4%. very much in rhine with expectations. it's not a hot inflation number. you bullish on this? >> oh, yes, i like this a lot, stuart. i was a little bit worried coming on this morning that we were going to have to talk about a little bit ofen inflation accident -- of an inflation accident and pullback in the market which we were seeing beforehand. the markets anticipating not just such a nice goldilocks number. so, yes, i think this sets us up very well for some perhaps even rate cuts in the second half of the year. stuart: no sign of a market plunge in the near future, right in nothing to get real worried about? >> that's not on my radar screen at all, stuart. i think we're going to have some volatility around geopolitics,

around u.s. politics, but i don't think we're going to have any major economic faux pas pas in the next quarter really. i think we have a pretty clean slate from a markets perspective. stuart: you think we might get to 40,000 on the dow within, say, six months? >> i believe so. six months is certainly, is certainly a time frame i'd be really comfortable to getting to 40,000 on, stuart. you know, i can see us getting there even a little bit quick ebb if we got some other -- quicker if we got some other inflationary things lining up and the fed started to talk about a little bit more dovish. stuart: thank you very much, d.r. barton, see you again soon. the opening bell is ringing. they'll press the button, and i think you're going to see some green all across the screen for the dow, the s&p and nasdaq. here we go. the dow has opened with a gain

of, what, 64 points. just shy of .20%. most of the dow 30 are in the green. that means they're up, and the dow's at 39-u-0-26. the -- 39,026. the s&p 500 a gain of .43%, getting close to 5100. the nasdaq composite also on the upside, nearly three-quarters of 1%, above 16,000. that's 117 points higher. show me big tech. i'm pretty sure most of them are up. meta, apple, microsoft, amazon are all on the upside in the first few minutes of business. now let's look at something that's clearly on the downside, that would be snowflake. now that, 20% down, that is a plunge. now, they reported, didn't they, earlier? what was so bad about the report? lauren: they are finding that spending on cloud and data analytics software is slowing. stuart: ooh. lauren: they gave a weak revenue forecast for this quarter. their ceo, very popular, took the company public four years ago, his name is frank smootman,

he is retiring. snowflake is a con sunlight, not subscription model, so it's it's more susceptible to corporate belt tightening. stuart: salesforbes i believe at the moment it is down -- salesforbes even though a number of analyst -- sales force. the stock is down, what's the story? lauren: they also said spending on cloud services will slow. they make the software that businesses use the make things more efficient. it is subscription-based. actually, their forecast is down beat for all of their fiscal 2025, but you're right, at least 12 brokerages that i see are increasing their price targets. the the highest, 380. that's at raymond james. they like what they see on margins. they think salesforce overall is just being too conservative. my opinion is there's confidence here in the so owe, marc benioff. he's getting costs in line. job9 cuts announced just last month. they're rewarding shareholders, first ever dividend, and also a

extending their share buybacks. stuart: buy with at 298? >> you better believe it. last night it was down 10%, and i was so disgusted. what this illustrates is what's happening in the market where algorithms kick up and now it's up. hay see one negative if headline. i mean, they beat. they raised the earnings guidance which is why analysts -- there was just a little bit of softness, if you will, on the revenue guidance because they didn't guide up as much as people wanted, so the algost take it e down 10%. we're not plague against rational people. ing but the next morning rational people come in and buy the stock. stuart: good commentary. that's very interesting. $300 a share right now. anheuser-busch down nearly 2%. lauren: stronger sales, they raised their annual dividend by 9%, but investors wanted a new share buyback, they didn't get it. they have to pay down their debt. u.s. sales down 17.3% finish. stuart: 17%?

if. lauren: yes. the bud light consumer boycott because they partnered with transgender dylan mulvaney, it's no longer the top selling beer in america, right? that's what bud light was for so many years. also strike averted, a.b. inbev in a a deal with the union, they get an $8 an hour raise -- stuart: that seems to be a pretty good raise. lauren: over the course of the deal, yeah. i think so. and i think a $2500 ratification bonus too. stuart: got it. best buy. lauren: this story's for you. you can get unlimited, 24/7/365 tech support on every single piece of technology in your home no matter where you bought it. $180 a year. stuart: that's not bad. lauren: hook, that's why the stock is up. stuart: that is a bargain. >> a bargain at $180. lauren: i think there's also a free program. anyway, the paid memberships are working. helping profits, helping

margins. look at the stock. stuart: what about my microwave that i just bought from -- lauren: i think you could negotiate that one. stuart: let's get serious here. a big drop for amc, theater people. i guess they didn't get a boost. i thought they would from, what's the name, taylor swift -- lauren: and beyonce. the concert films. stuart: didn't help? lauren: they did, because they were paralyzed by the hollywood strikings. they had basically nothing to get people in the seat in the theaters, but -- seats in the theaters, but the distribution costs of those concert movies were high and that's what a hurt them in the quarter. so they expected a bigger loss than -- reported a bigger loss than expected. stew. stuart: just doesn't seem like we're going to the movies anymore. lauren: dune is coming out, people are talking about that. that was delayed also. >> amc, i thought about buying it when it was down to $2. they don't own any of the real estate, they just lease it. so there is no asset. stuart: have we reached the point where we get your stock picks?

>> oh, i'd love to give them if you're ready. stuart: you like block. >> yes. formerly known as square, right in the little white thing that you put in your iphone, turns il incredibly cheap. if it's trading at 25 times earnings and growing earnings at 75%. so it's pactically the samewall -- valuation as the s&p 500 but growing about 10 times faster, or right? and it's still down $200 from the all-time high. they're not going to cover off the ball. they beat earnings a couple of weeks ago. the stock is shooting up. keep buying. stuart: meta. >> it's also trading at 25 times and growing earnings 35%, right? so, again, it's roughly the same valuation as the s&p 500 but growing, you know, 6, 7, 8 times faster. meta has 3.2 billion daily active users. 40% of the world population. but it's still growing earnings at 35% because it's finding all these new ways to monetize.

i keep waiting for a sort of amazon prime type button where you just push the button and you instantly buy the thing in your news feed. stuart: that'd be interesting. where's meta going? >> oh, i need to raise my target, i think it's going to 600. stuart: okay, got it. you said it right here. thank you, adam. please, don't forget to send in your friday feedback with to varneyviewersfox.com. president biden had his physical yesterday. he didn't take a cognitive test. the white house says, hey, he doesn't need one. roll it. >> i think folks need to understand that the president passes, again, a cognitive test every day. he is able to do the work every day that is rigorous, that is for more rigorous than it would be for any 15 minute clinical appointment. stuart: during the show we'll show you how biden needs cue cards even in private, closed door, one-on-one meetings. what's with that? we got the latest inflation

numbers. price increases are not ticking up. what does economist peter morici have to say about that? surely, he's pleased. peter is next. ♪ if. ♪ ♪ up, up and away. ♪ 'cuz thaw don't trust me anyway, so whatever ♪ ♪(song in french)♪

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♪ stuart: yes, we got the latest read on inflation, and it's the fed's favorite measure of inflation. it's the pce. up 2.4% in the last year. that is not hot. edward lawrence at the white house. okay, edward, what are the banks saying about this? >> reporter: yeah, and banks are watching this very closely because it could affect the interest rate decisions that the federal reserve makes. jpmorgan chase analysts are now sawing they could watch for a '70s-style sort of stagflation coming in here and goldman sachs' ceo david solomon is

saying there's a higher e level of uncertainty around higher costs and backing off a little bit from a firm soft landing stance. now, the president is watching this closer than ever. he needs the fed to start cutting rates because that will make the markets take off and people feel better about their financial positions. prices under this prosecute president rose 18% since the month he took office. this is what people feel upset about. but pce inflation month over month starting to pick back up, going from flat in november to up .3% in january. core pce without food and energy prices also going up month over month. but year-over-year with, you talked about it, pce inflation dropping to 2.4%. core down the past 12 months, slightly falling to 2.8%. that's harder to get rid of. these numbers will likely keep the federal reserve on their course for three rate cuts this year. >> as we navigate the reminder of this journey, i will be -- remainer of this data, the i will be focused on the data, the economic outlook and the risks

for the path that best achieves our goals. or to paraphrase, we'll watch the data til it's clear all systems are go. >> reporter: and other members expect a summer rate cut, in fact, the markets are pricing in a june rate cut at 53%. that's likely where it could the happen if everything holds. stu? stuart: we to a lot of fed watching on this program, do we not? >> reporter: like it or not. stuart: well said, lad, well said. thanks,'d ward. peter morici is an economist. we need him. and he's with me me now. is inflation going to stay tame? the numbers show tame inflation, 2.4% pce. staying that way? >> well, in february that number should be bigger or simply because gas prices have gone up. the important thing to look at in these numbers and the cpi is services less housing and energy, because that's what jay powell worries about. and those numbers are moving up

rather rapidly. you know, if you get a home repair this month, it's much more expensive than a few months ago. for example, a plumber, electrician the or something. that inflation has been continuing. and they're going to have to see the back on that broken before they'll lower rates. the earliest we're going to see is june. my feeling is only two rate cuts this year. it's going to disappoint pied ifen, i'm afraid, but that's just the way i see it -- president biden. stuart: peter, we'll be back finish stay there, please. i'll get back to you in just a second. i actually want to talk about panera bread. they are excluded from california's new $20 minimum wage with. how did they get out of that, lauren? lauren: did you know they were a bakery? stuart: i do. lauren: well, there is an unusual clause california law that says chains that bake bread and feel it stand-alone are exempt. i'd also call it convenient that a major franchisee owner, greg flynn, went to high school with

governor gavin newsom and is one of his campaign donors giving, oh, add that up, $1 is 65,000. critics call panera rah's exemption if crooked and want an investigation. stuart: very interesting. peter, please come back in on this. so a donor makes a huge contribution to governor gavin newsom and gets a special deal on the $20 minimum wage. how about that? if i would call that corruption. how about you in. >> well, i think it's pretty close. it kind of bring withs me back to my boyhood when we had politics in albany and new york city, we could get tickets fed. instead we get the law fixed. also, why are convenience restaurants not fast food but mcdonald's is? it seems to me like the state legislature just wants to pick on mcdonald's. you do the same thing in both places. more than that that, convenience restaurants have a higher price point and sit-downs even further up. they can better afford to pay $20 an hour than a fast food franchisee can. stuart right. >> it seems to be really bad economics to set the minimum

wage in a staggered fashion in this way. stuart: but who's -- >> it's not justifiable on economic grounds. stuart who's going to work at panera? if all the other workers around them are going to get $20 -- >> that's another thing i was wondering about. how this guy was going to be able to avoid it if the hardware store next door's paying $20 and mcdonald's is paying $20, you can set the panera wage at $11, it isn't going to do them any good. stuart: governor newsom, he wants to be the president of the united states. this is going to be brought up. if he makes the nomination, this is going to be brought up. >> president xi just decided that'ses the man that he wants. you can do business with him. this is exactly what he wants -- [laughter] somebody who's ripe for corruption. i mean, let's face it, mr. newsom looks right now that he's ripe for corruption like that apple, pluck if it off the tree, take the it -- take it out of the garden.

stuart: nothing toxic about "varney & company." peter morici, thank you very much, indeed. >> have a good weekend. stuart: the democrats deliberately launched an attack ontop trump's campaign for re-election. it's not going good. that's by take. you're going to get it at the temperature of the hour. alphabet, google, have taken a beating since pulling the plug on its a.i. tool gemini. google lost $96 billion in value from the fallout. a report on that is next. ♪ ♪ ♪ trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade, giving traders even more ways to sharpen their skills with tailored education. get an expanding library filled with new online videos,

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stuart: this was a big loss. google lost nearly $98 billion in market value over bias issues with its gemini chat bot. the ceo, sundar pichai, is being called on to testify on capitol hill. hillary vaughn with me now. what are lawmakers saying about this? >> reporter: stuart, senator josh hawley is the one that is calling for google's ceo with,

or sundar pichai, to testify under oath in front of congress after google's a.i. bot gemini blew up in controversy. senator hawley saying it's time for congress to repeal section 230, the law that gives platforms like google legal immunity from things happening on their platforms. hawley saying this: if conservatives want to rein in google gemini, there's only one way, repeal section 230 and allow americans to sue these a.i. companies. if we don't, they'll soon control everything, news, information, our data, elections. hawley's demand for a public hearing comes afterring google's ceo did damage control, writing a letter admitting they messed up. quote, i want to address the recent issues with problematic text and image responses in the gemini app. i know that some of its responses have offended our users or and shown bias. that's completely unacceptable, and we got it wrong. we'll review what happened and make sure we fix it at scale is. but google's gemini is not just catching the eye of lawmakers. state attorneys general are saying tech platforms should be

held accountable. >> it creates an opening to sue. it might be -- suppose that on facebook or some other platform there's something that slanders you or libels you with. that might be manager you could sue for. if the -- something you could sue for if. if the provider is using a.i. to screen out ideologically disfavored content, that could be a basis for a lawsuit as well. >> reporter: and, stuart, congress maas concern has not passed any if meaningful tech legislation in recent history, and anything they do pass usually is reactive. but repealing section 230 would be proactive in the section that it would make these tech companies think twice before releasing a product if users using that product could ultimately sue them over it. stuart? stuart: watch out for that. hillary, thank you. the sec is opening an investigation into the prominent artificial intelligence company openai. if what for? lauren: $13 billion backing from movement "the wall street journal" says they want to know if openai misled investors when

it fired ceo sam altman. they want access to altman's internal communications, what went down between the current and former directors of the board. sec officials also told other executives at the company to preserve their documents. you know the story, it was the end of last year. of sam altman was fired, then rehired fife days later because -- five days later because he had the backing of, like, 700 out of 770 employees that worked there. stuart: delve into every record he's ever kept and get it out in public. lauren: doing its job. stuart: adam, sundar pichai, he thinks this stuff real seriously. >> well, he has to because integrity -- i'm not going to say integ ifty's a one-shot deal, but you don't have too many shots. and if you get it wrong, then you've really lost your position. google's already under fire because some of the search results were steered towards a

woker bias, right? stuart: yes, they were. >> and now there's this? so he can't afford to have that. he needs to take the stand that he's taken which is what happened, team? if how did we, how did we let a.i. create pictures of george washington where he's portrayed as black or nazi soldiers portrayed as ethnically diverse? are you kidding me? we can't reinvent history. google has got to get it right, and sundar pichai wants to make sure -- stuart: and they've got to get it off the system. >> cut it out like a cancer. lauren: t not open for interpretation. it's a true or false kind of thing. >> cut out falsity and and lack of integrity. stuart: thanks for joining us for the hour. still ahead, nikki haley warned utah voters that republicans will lose if trump's the nominee. is she right? if i'll ask crust bedford. china urged statements with large nuclear arsenals to negotiate a no use first treaty. gordon chang on that. and is the market too

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