♪ it's the holiday season, the

holiday season -- ♪ if. ashley: when a great, the great andy williams, of course. happy holidays. a sprinkling of snow in the city. it's all so perfect on this christmas eve. it's 11 a.m. on the east coast, december 24th. santa is on his way. and maybe a little bit of of a rally. let's check the markets. today is a shortened trading day. the market actually closes at 1 p.m. eastern, in just about, what, two hours from now. and, yes, a little bit of a rally. the nasdaq up nearly 200 point, up 1%. the dow up half a percent, the s&p up three-quarters of a percent. thank you, santa. let's take a look at some of the big tech names, if we can, see how they're doing. we like to to keep track. amazon, nvidia, apple, microsoft and, yes, alphabet. they are all moving high her. in fact, amazon up -- higher. in fact ors amazon up 1.5%. the 10-year treasury tends to be a bit of a headwind for the

equities when it rises. there it is, 4.62 percent on the 10-year, up 4 basis points. that's where we are with the markets. dnc powerhouse fundraiser lindy li is leaving the democrat party. here's what he had to say about her departure earlier on the show. >> my if initial disillusionment became clear when i realized that they spent -- they burnt, essentially, set $. 5 billion -- the 2.5 billion on fire. they spent $450,000 putting kamala harris' face on the sphere. that was an utter failure. this is our hard-earned money. i raised millions of this, and donors are feeling burnt. i haven't met a single donor who disagrees with me. ashley: strong words. brian brenberg, professor, joins me now. you know, brian -- thank you for being here for the hour, by the way, i do appreciate that. look, if lindy li is right about those donors, don't democrats

have a big problem on their hands? >> yeah. if the people who had all their money wasted this round don't want to do that again, they've got a very big problem because some of the same people apparently want to run hike kamala harris. you know, her comments are really interesting because she said being with the democrats has been like being in a cult. and i kind of get that because she's come out and us do agreed with some of what they've done and the positions they've taken, and, you know, one thing a cult says is you can't disagree. like, you have to drink the kool-aid, get onboard or to you to can't be a part of this thing. and that's what the democrats feel like right now. if you're disagreeing with their orthodoxy, you're out. and i think that's a recipe for another 2024 for them if they keep going down that road. ashley: yeah. they believe in free speech as long as your speech is about things that they believe in. >> right, exactly. if it's the approved speech, they're good with it. [laughter] ashley: yes, exactly. want to get to to this one,

brian. senator rand paul's annual fest us have report, which i love but it also makes you mad, he highlights areas of government waste. and god knows there's a lot of that. we're going to highlight just a few of the places where your hard-earned tax dollars went this year with. $20 million spent on a sesame street show in iraq. how much were the actors making? $12 million spent on a pickleball complex in las vegas. good for them. and $10,000 went to a drag cabaret act on ice. apparently, the focus of the show was climate change, so i wonder if the ice melted during the performance. but, look, the biden administration has spent a combined $1 trillion on these projects. i mean, what do you think the guys at doge would make of this, brian? >> like, if i was staring at a big steak on the table sitting in front of me and i was hungry -- [laughter] they're going to carve this thing up because it is ridiculous. ashley: yes. >> it's not even about the amounts of the money, it's just the fact that we're actually

spending tax that payer -- taxpayer dollars on this stuff. and the only reason it happens is because government's really good at hiding what it does. it buries it in these 1500-page bills that nobody can understand. the great deal with doge is they're got a huge flashlight and a huge megaphone, and they just tell you about this stuff. and once you tell people about it they're, like, done. we don't want any more of that. and that's way it ought to be. people ought to know so they can vote in an inform thed way about what their government's doing. ashley: you know, nancy pelosi famously said just pass the bill, we'll read the details afterwards, and that's pretty much where we're at. brian, thank you so much. let's take a look at the markets, if we can. we are up across the board. santa rally nicely in place. taking a look at the financials right now in, citigroup, morgan stanley, goldman, jpmorgan, b of a, all of these stocks are moving higher. citigroup up nearly 2%. let's bring in jacob sonnenshein. jacob, which stocks -- let me

begin here -- which stocks are on your shopping list. >> oh, yeah. it's time to start looking at some stocks to buy. you just mentioned big tech is really carrying the rally. there's a lot of stuff over the last few weeks has really, really been down. i love novo nordisking, it was the down about 20% in one day because a new weight loss drug that it's putting through trial right now didn't have the effectiveness that people wanted it to have, but it's still pretty effective. you still have two big players, eli lilly and novo nordisk, that are going to sop up tens of billions of dollars in what is a growing obesity drug market. novo nordisking is going to grow earnings 20 percent annually for some time. when you're getting that type of growth in this market, paying 22 times earnings is not that bad. i love novo at this price. ashley: you know, jacob, many, you know, market observe ors will ten you it's great -- will

tell you it's great we've had the leadership we've had from big tech and a.i., but it's not a broad-based advance, and that is always a sign of a more healthier market, would you agree? >> i would. and over the last few weeks, you look at many areas outside of tech and a lot of them are beaten down, but over the course of this entire bull market we've gotten decent participation. it's hard to the compete with nvidia, you know, going up a million times, you know, over less than five years, right? but when you look outside of big tech, there are opportunities. when i look, i mean, there are opportunities down 10% in the last few weeks, down more than 10% in the last few weeks. going into january 2025 the with an economy that's still growing, a fed that the i know we're wondering about how many rate cuts we're going to get, but it's a fed that has made clear if it can cut rates, it will. and, by the way, if you get too much inflation and you can't get rate cuts into 2025, it means the economy's doing well.

so look at some of those areas hard growing earnings hard not in -- that are growing earnings that are not in tech. ashley: very good. you know what? we can talk all day long. unfortunately, they won't let us. jacob sonnenshein, really appreciate it. merry christmas to you on this christmas eve. >> merry christmas. ashley: thank you. now this, some people in the cryptocurrency industry want the incoming trump team to get right to work to to overhaul crypto policy in washington. heir reportedly hoping for executive orders within trump's first 100 days in office. and according to reuters, one of those orders could come as soon as january the the 20 which could help crypto become, quote, more mainstream. come into this, brian, again. trump has called for things like creating a bitcoin stockpile. he called himself the crypto candidate. can he get this done? >> well, here's the thing, i love his leadership on this, and i think he should do it. i'm a little skeptical of doing it by executive order though. call me old fashioned, but i do

think congress should make most of our laws. and if we're going to do a crypto, a bitcoin stockpile which perhaps is a good idea, congress should vote on it. you know, we should know who's behind it, and we should have transparent law on this. so i think he can do a lot from the bully pulpit to provide regulatory leadership and that's great, but if you're talking about a $20 billion reserve, i do think that's something that the guys with the power of the purse, which is congress, should approve. ashley: by the way, you're never if old-fashioned at all, brian, so don't even worry about it. thank you. let's move on. the fin-tech firm moonawe pay just expanded their services in texas. residents can now buy 64 different cryptocurrencies using moonpay using venmo and paypal. and one-fifth of the voting age population in texas owns crypto. interest fact. all right, some of the

movers. take a look at micro strategy. it has the largest corporate stockpile of bitcoin in the world, by the way. they've just bought bitcoin for six consecutive weeks. the ceo, michael saylor, says, quote, we'll keep buying forever. every day is a good day to buy bitcoin. that is a bullish statement. take a look at boeing, meanwhile. they just named ann schmidt as hair chief communications and brand officer. they also just won a $51 million contract to upgrade the heads up display in some c-17 models with the u.s. military. and, yeah, let's check back in on american airlines. recovering after that tech issue this morning that that led to a nationwide ground stop that lasted about an hour. united and delta heading higher as travelers look to get home for christmas. so american down by the -- but the rest are of the carriers are up. all right. coming up i, happy holidays from the irs. i say that sarcastically. more than one million people are

to get a special stimulus check. we're going to to show you how soon it could arrive in your bank account. there's the got to be a catch, right? congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez has a big problem with billionaires in washington. >> i don't think we're witnessing the start of an oligarchy, i think we are fully here. ashley: hmm. well, kennedy has a lot to say about that and more, and she's coming up. ♪ ♪ christmas, the snow if's coming down. ♪ christmas, i'm watching it fall. ♪ christmas, lots of people around -- ♪ christmas --

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ashley: former congressman matt gaetz denying the allegations if his house ethics committee report. chad pergram joins us now from if capitol hill. chad, what is gaetz saying about this? >> reporter: well, good morning, ashley are. gaetzs says he did nothing wrong. the ethics committee has what it term thed, quote, substantial evidence that he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and paid other women for drugs and sex. now, gaetz concedes he crank and womanized too much -- drank and womanized too much. some want gaetz to return to public office, perhaps retaking the house seat he gave up in no. gaetz claims he will do neither. >> it was james madison who said that the most powerful position in america would not be congressman or senator if or even president, but that of citizen. because we put such an obligation on the citizenry to ignite the patriotism that the country needs.

>> reporter: -- is the lawmaker who made the motion to strip former house speaker kevin mccarthy of his gavel last year. mccarthy says that cost him the speakership. >> i'll give you the truth why i'm not speaker. it's because one person, a member of congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old. >> reporter: worries about findings in the report is what torpedoed gaetz's nomination to become attorney general. he lacked the votes for senate confirmation. gaetz teased he might become a special counsel and target lawmakers for insider trading. ashley? ashley: all right, chad, thank you so much. i appreciate that. now this, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez was asked on social media, are we witnessing if the start of an old to gary -- oligarchy in the united states? listen to her response. >> oh, i don't think we're witnessing the tart of an oligarchy -- the start of an oligarchy, i think we are fully

here. we're here, we are here. and we are going to witness very unprecedented moments come january. ashley: good time to bring in our good friend kennedy. you know, kennedy, i was looking up oligarchy in the dictionary, definition of oligarchy. it says a small group of people having control of an organization or institution which you could argue is the extreme left progress progressives in the democrat party that's dragging the whole organization down the tubes. but really? you know, she's demonizing the wealthy, basically, isn't she? >> well, she is. st interesting, she never really had an issue with the billionaires who were funding the biden white house and kamala harris' presidential run. they had access to a lot of power. they were given a lot of favors, you know? you look at some of the accusations that have been wiped clean for almost former first son hunter biden, and it's the

very curious how far money will go in washington. so her accusations are nothing new, they're just incredibly one-sided. i think that she is terribly vapid, and she also knows that her ideas have gone nowhere. she just needs to ask cori bush and jamaal bowman how their policies faredded with voters. they're not happy with progressive policies in cities, and it's even worse on a larger national scale. so all she's left with is polemics that also didn't work in the election. so i'm not sure what her future holds other than professional attention whoring. [laughter] ashley: well, she's good at that. let's move on to the next one. luigi mangione, the man charged with the killing of united health care ceo brian thompson, he's pleading not guilty to murder, but his supporters have raised more than $200,000 for his defense fund, and now some people in law enforcement

reportedly concerned that mangione's becoming somewhat of a martyr in all of this. what's going on? he's charged with murder, for crying out how old. >> yeah, it's kiss gusting, but people like aoc and elizabeth warren, hay didn't only -- their condemnation of the murder was absolutely tepid, and they also used it to pivot to socialized medicine which, without a doubt, would kill many, many more people than private health care and private health insurance in this country. so it's an awful thing, to justify murder, because you disagree with the position someone holds or an industry they represent. i'm sure we could all think of things where an industry has disrupted our lives: look at social media. look at the number of suicides social medias has caused. that doesn't mean that the people like mark zuckerberg should be in the i literal crosshairs of unstable people, and it should be completely condemned.

having said that, he is a very hand is? young man -- handsome young man. [laughter] ashley: you had to throw that i- >> i think that's why. if he didn't hook like zac efron, people wouldn't be losing their minds over him it's a lot of disgusting fan girling, and we need to check in with our moral compass this time of year. yes. ashley: i think that's a very good idea. what a crazy world we live in but, kennedy, you're very good at bringing home some common sense. merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas to you, ash. ashley: and to your family as well. thank you, kennedy. now this, talking of christmas, one million taxpayers are going to be getting special payments from the irs of all people. those checks up to $1400 could start arriving in mail boxes by tend of the month. the money -- by the end of the month. the money is going to people who were eligible for the recovery rebate credit in 2021 be did not take -- but did not take it. okay, brian, come back in the here. i know a lot of people are going to be happy to open those

checks, but it's -- >> right. ashley: -- the government just handing out more money. >> yeah. if i got a check in the marriage i'd be happy, i guess -- in the mail, i'd be happy, i guess. why are people getting tease can checks? if because our tax code sokol convoluted, they didn't even know how to claim it in the year they were supposed to get it. and it's another one of those deals where covid is other, it's been over, and we are still wasting money which is causing inflation, putting us further in debt. i mean, how many examples do we need of why something like doge is necessary? this is, like, number 1,564, i think. [laughter] ridiculous. ashley: let's just hope that musk and ramaswamy can get stuff done. they can't do it themselves. it still needs congressional approval, but let's hope that they can really get the axe swinging and get rid of this terrible government -- >> let's hope to. ashley: brian, thank you. let's are hope. it springs eternal, you know.

let's check the markets for you. we have been moving higher pretty much since the opening bell. the dow up 170 points, the s&p up seven-tenths of a percent, nasdaq up 1%. take a look at the big tech names as well if we can. they've all a been moving high her. amazon, nvidia, apple, microsoft and alphabet. amazon, the biggest winner among that group, up 1.5%. all right, coming up, do you need a last minute gift idea? whoo, you're cutting it close. mega millions ticket is, what, it costs $2, but it could be worth nearly a billion dollars. we're going to tell you abouten tonight's massive christmas eve lotto drawing. i know stu loves to talk about the lotto. republicans are heading into the new year with a narrow majority on capitol hill, but is donald trump going to let mike johnson stick around as house speaker? we're going to to deal with it next. if

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thank you for giving! ♪ ♪ ashley: by the way, for the first time since 2005, the first might of hanukkah will fall on the same day as christmas.

just thought i'd point that out. you're taking a look at the all-american christmas tree right at fox news headquarters or in new york city. it's an absolute butte. and, by the way, you've been sending us your photos from in front of that tree. this one is of lucy. hi. thank you so much. and let's take a look, this one is edmond, i believe. there you are. beautiful. that's a giant tree in the snow, what more christmasy could you have? keep those photos coming to us, we love to see them x. from all of us at "varney & company," merry christmas and happy hanukkah. love it. all right, now take a look at the markets. we've been talking about a santa rally, and maybe he's been busy today to, of course, but he's delivered one on the markets. up half of a percent on the dow, s&p up 44 points expect nasdaq up 1%. if -- and the nasdaq up 1 president. treasury yields right around 4.6 2% since the opening bell. it's up -- 4.62%.

let's take a look at the price of gold, if we can. gold is up nearly $3 at $2631 per troy ounce. bitcoin has been making a bit of a comeback. it's been up around -- whoa, it's up even more, up $4,200 to $98,413. making another run at 100,000, perhaps. take a look at the price of oil, moving slightly higher. up a buck at $70.32. and nat gas, we like to keep tack of all of these things. -- track of all of these things. that is at $3.89, a 6% gain. by the way, an average price for a gallon of regular gas across the country, $3.0 to 4. not -- if 3.04. and, again, what is it in california? hmm. $4.33 thanks to the taxes. now this, the gop is heading into the new year with a narrow majority, and house democrats have made it clear they will not launch a rescue attempt for mike

johnson to retain his speakership. brian brenberg back with me now. brian, how do you think all of this place out? it's going to be interesting. >> so democrats don't want to do any if favors to republicans when hay start the new year. oh, my gosh, i am shocked by that. [laughter] look, democrats -- we know their strategy for this year. what they want to say is republicans are in disarray. musk is the co-president, trump's getting jealous, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. i don't know if speaker johnson's going to stay in his spot. i don't think trump has a lot of patience for doing the wrong stuff right now. i don't think he was happy about the 1500-page spending bill. so i don't know that -- speaker job southbound's got, like, a long leech here, but i don't think republicans are in as much the disarray as democrats want to say. in fact, i think it's a lot of projection on democrats' part. of. [laughter] i think they're the ones who have no idea what they're doing here. so trump wants results.

he's going to put people in spots who can get results. if they can't, he'll make it clear he wants to move on, and i think that's speaker johnson's job, put out the a budget, get border security done, get the things done that president trump trump promised on the campaign trail. ashley: yeah. democrats have nothing to add to this, it appear, brian, just a snipe from the sidelines, basically accuse republicans of what's going on in their own party. the biden administration has withdrawn two major proposals for large scale student loan relief programs. it basically closes the door on mass loan forgiveness in the remaining weeks of biden's term. i mean, look, you've got to be happy about this. finally are, progressives giving up on this what i call vote-getting, loan forgiveness? >> well, they gave up on some of it, but they've still gotten, like, well over 100 -- i mean, hundreds of billions of dollars worked through, so i don't -- it's the not like they're a giving up the whole ship, ashley.

they've giving up this last piece, i guess. they say they can't figure out. all of it is a problem. when trump gets into office, what he should do is review every single forgivenesses that biden has done and undo as much of it as possible because we've got to get back to the point in this country where people who take out loans pay them off. that's the expectation. you don't go into it thinking somebody else is going to do it. you go in knowing you've got to do it, ashley. if you don't do that, then you can't have credit markets in america because -- ashley: that's right. yeah. >> -- people have got to pay these things off. ashley: not only is it vote buying, but when we were talking about this with john lonski, it's also a slap in the face for those people who worked very hard to pay off their student loans -- >> yeah. ashley: and god nose if -- knows, for all the a taxpayers out there who never went to college. >> it's so fundamentally unfair when biden says i'm not going to do this little last bit, man,

you should not have done the whole thing. the supreme court made it clear. it's just, it's illegal. and we've got to be done with slight of hand, illegal, supreme court-circumventing policy that rips off taxpayers. gotta be done with it. ashley: amen. >> all right. ashley: bringing the fire, brian brenberg, i love it on christmas eve. [laughter] now this, trump's incoming fcc chairman brendan carr, he just sent a letter, a stern letter, to disney's ceo, bob iger. it's about abc's negotiations with its affiliated stations, and they are all owned by disney. the letter begins, dear mr. iger, americans no longer trust the national news media to fully report accurately and fairly. but americans largely hold positive views of their local media outlets. basically indicating support for more local programming. and i think, you know, nothing more than what happened around

this last election, brian, shows the absolute bias which was clearly there from mainstream media. it was ridiculous. >> yeah. i mean, that's what carr is saying, is you guys have license to operate as news organizations, and you can't be so slanted. ashley: yeah. >> i guess people like local news better because they feel like it actually deals with what's happening on the ground, not ooh ideological slants. ashley: yes. >> all these networks can fix this if they stop approaching every supposedly objective thing as an ideological experiment. and p unfortunately, they failed badly at that in 2024. that's why they're getting these letters. ashley: they just make the coverage fit their narrative and, boy, has it been exposed. brian, thank you very much for that. coming up, the average price of a gallon of regular right now is $3.04 around the country. it's 8 cents cheaper hand last year. that could -- than last year. that could be what's inspiring 107 million people to hit the road for the holiday. we're going to ask jeff flock

who's driving down the pennsylvania turnpike. you know jeff, he's great at doing this. santa claus doesn't have to worry about traffic though. it's clear skies ahead for the big man. we're going track his flight with the good folks from norad. don't miss it coming up. ♪ ♪ pretty lights on the tree -- ♪ christmas, i'm watching them shine muck christmas, you should be here with me ♪ if baby, please come home ♪ (♪) (♪) what took you so long? i'm sorry, there was a long line at the thai place.

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> excuse me, where's the lobby. >> down the hall and to the left. >> thank,. thanks. ashley: that, of course, was

president-elect donald trump's cameo in the 1992 christmas classic home alone 2: lost in new york. trump has appeared in a number of movies and tv shows, but this is often cited as his most famous cameo. aside from ronald reagan, donald trump is the only u.s. president whos has a acted in movie and tv shows before taking office. he's a natural. brian, what is your -- i was asked the other day, what is your favorite christmas movie? >> well, i do like home alone 2 and 1, but my favorite all time is it's a wonderful life. and it becomes more my favorite the older i get, the more my kids group temperature and what -- grow up. what always gets me is the scene, you know, when he goes back to his parents' house and his mother's there and she's running, like, a boarding house, and she doesn't recognize him. oh, man, our choices matter. ashley: yeah. >> i love that movie.

nobody else in my panel -- family wants to watch it with me. my wife maybe but my kids don't want to watch it. i love it. ashley: i love it. for me, it's christmas vacation. not as class classy as you, but cousin eddie steals the show, he's brilliant. [laughter] all right, we'll move on. now this, about 107 million people are hitting the road for the holidays this year. one of them is jeff flock. he's driving down the pennsylvania turnpike. good morning to you, jeff. how's it looking right now? >> reporter: no, i'm not driving, ashley. i am in a parking lot on the pennsylvania turnpike. maybe that gives you a picture out the project of the car there. ashley: e. >> reporter: yeah. -- oh. the westbound lanes moving nicely, and we had been moving here on the eastbound lanes as well but, well, not so much right now. i just got word that, actually, an accident has shut the

turnpike down quite a ways ahead of us, so i might want to get off. a lot of folks though i suspect are caught in traffic jams as we speak. look at the number. you mentioned it earlier, 107. that would be the number of millions of people that are on the roads this holiday, and thas very close to an all-time record. doesn't quite break the record but very close. gas prices, you always want to check those when you're, got a lot of people on the road. those have been not high, not low, sort of in the middle, and they've been kind of the same for a while. we asked, by the way, the folks at aaa when would be the best time to travel on the christmas holiday. i guess that was kind of a stupid question. here's the response. >> so the best times for the road are going to be on christmas morning, so if you have the opportunity to drive tomorrow, that is going to be a best time for those traveling on

the roads. >> reporter: yeah, christmas morning. i got nothing better to do then. anyway, yeah. i'll leave you with this, ask and that's the growth in travel. you know, some people complain about the cost of whether it's gas or airline fares. it appears we don't seem to care. people are doing it anyway despite the increases because there have been increases in the number of people traveling on the roads. all-time record traveling in the air and all-time record with the buses, trains and cruise ships which wouldn't be a bad place to be right now. other than here on the pennsylvania turnpike which i leave you with a last picture of this hyundai right in front of me, and i have the suspicion that's going to be there for a while. ashley: yeah. you could be there through christmas the way it looks, jeff. best of luck the you. that looks pretty awful. >> reporter: it's a wonderful life. [laughter] ashley: it certainly is.

when you're on an interstate that actually moves. jeff flock doing a great job of letting us know how busy it is out on the roads. >> reporter: merry christmas. ashley: lottoplay could get a very big gift this christmas eve. the mega millions stands at $970 million. it's the biggest prize ever offered in december. if someone wins tonight, they're going to walk away with a lump sum of about $440 million. you could buy a lot of eggnog with that. brian, are you buying a lotto ticket? stuart hates the lottery, he calls it a tax on the poor. but, you know, it's a chance at a billion dollars. it's hard to turn down. >> well, he can be a little bah humbugger sometimes.

i don't buy lottery tickets, but, i guess, $440 million? if maybe for the heck of it? you know, that's okay. ashley: it's $2, so you can crime a little bit. you know, what's the harm? you can't win if you don't play. that's what the lotto says. anyway, let's get a sense of the markets right now. we love you, stu. the dow is up 230 points. a lot more green than red. walmart and amazon.com leading the way. so santa dropped off a rally on his way around the world. don't go anywhere, by the way, our "varney & company" christmas tradition is coming up next, stuart varney reading a holiday classic to his grandkids. you don't want to his that. ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ ashley: beautiful, isn't it? is you're taking a look at hawaii. this is on the big island are, just about sunrise.

and, yes, a beautiful christmas eve morning in the islands. pretty much like every morning. right now, of course, santa claus is on his voyage to deliver gifts to children around the world, and the folks at norad are a tracking santa's every move. norad commander joins me now and, commander, we've got some questions for you, but i want to start with the obvious one. where is santa right now? >> well, last i saw, he's in the central asian states near cirnlg stand. ashley: wow. okay. well, we have a question from some viewers. this one is from oliver and penny on long island, new york. so maybe you can answer their question. >> norad santa track ther, it looks like santa's high up in outer space. >> how high does santa's sleigh actually go?

ashley: i hope you heard that, commander. how high can santa go? >> santa can fly all the way up even above 600,000 feet -- 60,000 feet. of course, when he's in the neighborhoods, he's at low altitude. but between cities he can get up to 60, 70,000 feet and back down to treetop height very quickly. ashley: wow. how fast can he go? >> we don't know exactly, but with he can go faster than even our fastest fighter jets. at times he'll slow down when we try to escort him with the fighter jets and wave, but then he and the reindeer can zoom off even faster than our jet fighters with afterburners can go. of. [laughter] ashley: that's impressive. and the big question, of course, commander, when will santa make it to the united states? >> well, we think that, you know, he files his own flight plan if, and so he's a little unpredictable, but we think that if children all across the united states are in bed between

8:30 and 9:00, they'll be safe because you know that he won't stop at a house if the children are still the awake. so 8:30-9:00 at various or parts of the united states, you should be good to go. ashley: that's a very good point and great advice. no weather problems for santa this year? >> no. no weather problems seen so far. and you know what else? even in the past years when we've seen weather problems, he and the reindeer can get through it where our airplanes can't even go. so i don't think there's going to be any problems with santa and the weather this year. ashley: that is terrific news, commander. keep up the good work and thank you for bringing us up to speed on santa's progress. thank you so much, sir. >> my pleasure. merry christmas. ashley: thank you. merry christmas to you. it is time now for our christmas tradition the here at varney and company. here is stuart reading 'twas the night before christmas to his grandkids. ♪

stuart: two-my beautiful granddaughters will be with us this christmas, abigail and paige are watching right now. this is for you. 'twas the night before christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse to. the stocks were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there. the children were nestled, all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. and mama in her kerr chief and -- thatted just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. i sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. then in a twinkling i heard on the roof of the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. as i drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney st. nicholas came with a bound. he was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, and his

clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. his eyes, how they twinkled. his dimplings, how merry. his check chaos you were like roses, his nose like a cherry. he had a broad face and a round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. he spoke not a word, but went straight to his work and filled all the stocks, then turned with a jerk. and laying his finger aside of his nose and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. he sprang to his sleigh, to to his team gave a whistle and away they all flew. but i heard him explain ere he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good night. it still brings tears to my eyes especially when you have little abigail and paige watching and listening. i wish everyone such joy.

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ashley: kate middleton, the princess of wales, sharing a message of love and hope for christmas. >> it is when we stumble and take ourselves from the pressures of daily life the we

find a space to live our lives with an open heart, with love, kindness, and forgiveness, so much of what the christmas spirit is all about. neil: ashley: kate spent most of the year following her cancer diagnosis out of the public eye, she's expected to spend christmas with prince william and the royal family. i am still waiting for the invite. time for the christmas eve trivia question, we didn't forget, the question is jingle bells was written for which holiday? seems obvious, could be a trick question. what would you say? brian: i'm going to go trick question on this one and say thanksgiving. ashley: i will go with easter. you are right, thanksgiving.

the song was published in 1857 by james lord piermont, its original title was one horse open sleigh. i want to thank you as always for sticking around for the hour. be sure to watch weekdays at one:00 eastern time on "the big money show". there's the gang right here on the fox news channel. one last look at the market, the markets will be closing at 1:00 pm eastern. in our from now. the dow is up 200 points, the s&p up 3 quarters of one% and the nasdaq up strongly, 1%. it is the santa rally, not bad at all, strong year for the markets, the question is can we continue next year. that's it for "varney and company," merry christmas, happy holiday to one and all. fox business life starts now, david asman, all yours. david: thanks fo