[laughter] cheryl: oh, santa. >> i'm just thinking i hope my son never wants a motorcycle, number one. but this happens all the time, these really, really high, fast-speeding motorcycles. it's super dangerous. cheryl: new yorks. santa claus -- [inaudible conversations] only santa and the reindeer have are the right to speed if -- >> on christmas. cheryl: -- especially on christmas eve when it's very important the make sure all the kids get their presents on time. >> the has true. cheryl: a quick check of markets, just pour days -- if you include today -- left for trading. right now you've bot the dow down by 155 points, nasdaq down by 76, the s&p is down by 21. john lonski, ashley davis, thank you so much. "varney & company" if is on now, and it's ashley webster in for stu. hey, morning. ashley: thank you very much, cheryl. good morning, everyone. indeed, i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney today n. a

series of christmas day posts on truth social, president-elect trump, oh, yeah, he went off to the canada, greenland and the panama canal. why not? if canada became the 51st state, their taxes would be cut by more than 60%. he claims america needs greenland for national security purposes and that the u.s. should take back control of the panama canal. in his christmas message to the nation, trump says come january the 20th, we will make america great again. trump's inauguration, by the way, is likely to exceed all past ceremonies in terms of fund raising. more companies continue to donate including from those who have distanced themselves from donald trump in the past. we'll get into that. to the markets. of course, they were closed yesterday on christmas day, but heir back open, and heir all pointing downward right now -- they're all pointing downward. the dow off 158 points. the nasdaq, too, down a third. this is after, of course, the markets made gains on monday and

tuesday of this week. let's take e a look at the 10-year treasury yield. it's been up there. 4.63, somewhere in there? it's up again, 4.64%. that is definitely a headway for the equities. the 2-year treasury up again 4 basis points at 4.37%. take a look at bitcoin. looked like it was going to take another run at $100,000. didn't quite make it, down $2800 right now at 95,637. as for oil, oil's been around $70 a barrel and continues the stay this, up half a percent right now at $70.48 per barrel. gas prices, by the way, averaging $3.04 for a gallon of regular, that's nationwide. guess what? in california social security $ -- it's $4.34 which for california is not bad, right, because it's normally up around $5-6 thanks to all those taxes. and, by the way, diesel averaging $3.51 across the

country. on the show today, moscow has rejected the idea of a ceasefire with ukraine but signaled its openness to negotiations. this is after russia launched missile and drone attacks against ukraine on christmas day. and elon musk dressed up as santa for christmas. why not? he also revealed, by the way, he's using the weight loss drug mounjaro because he feels it has less side effects than ozempic. it is thursday, december 26th, 2024. very -- "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ holiday, celebrate ♪ ashley: well, there you have it, why not? a little bit of madonna, "holiday," on this december the 26th, boxing day in the u.k. and commonwealth countries around

the world. it's another holiday, a big sporting day in the u.k., actually. but let's move on as we look down sixth avenue. another beautiful view of the christmas tree outside pox headquarters. we love it. let's get back into president-elect trump who definitely had a busy christmas day. as we say, many a series of posts on truth social he took aim at panama for sticking the u.s. with the bill for panama canal if repairs despite the u.s. having no say in how that money is used. he also mentioned canada and prime minister if trudeau, alling him governor trudeau. trump said canada should become the 51st state, and he reiterated his call the take control of greenland. trump also wishing a merry christmas to the, quote, radical left lunatics claiming they are obstructing the court system and elections. and finally, he berated joe biden for pardoning 37 violent criminals and promised to direct the justice department to pursue the death penalty in the wake of

the clemencies. busy christmas day for president-elect trump. by the way, trump's inauguration is just 25 days away now, and companies are apparently lining up to donate to the event. toyota is the latest to announce a million dollar donation to the inaugural fund. others include ford, general noticers, uber, meta, amazon, goldman sachs and the list goes on, just the tip of the iceberg. isn't it interesting? if liz peek joins me now. i mow you have some thoughts on this. we should point out, liz, some of these names publicly opposed trump in the past, so why are they now trying to curry favor with the president-elect? [laughter] >> well, good morning, ashley. and i think the answer's really obvious. trump is very popular. and, remembers -- remember, in 2016 when he was inaugurated, almost everybody boycotted that inauguration, refused to entertain at it, refused to fund it because he was not popular.

but now, look, he not only won the popular vote, his approval ratings are bo 50% concern 5050%. and i think an awful lot of these companies that opposed him in the past have business before the federal government. let's face it, a lot of these companies have regulatory issues, particularly the tech firms, the banks, etc. and being on the wrong side of trump going into what is promised to be a disruptive year of new rules and regulations, why would any ceo want to take that on? so i think it's a very interesting turn-around. trump is transactional, he's open to new ideas and new people. so i think this is a smart move if for automakers, for example. their future's very much in the hands of keyes right now. so, look, i think it's kind of nice the see these chickens come home to roost -- [laughter] and i hope it's going to be a terrific inauguration. with kind of money, it should be. ashley: i know. it find -- i find it very

amusing. i want you to listen to the what one political pundit said about why trump is focused on taking control of the panama canal. listen. >> he's probably got some pebble in his view about -- shoe about something that's happened in panama that relates to his interests. that's usually what provokes one of these kind of out of left field eye raids. tirades from donald trump. he can say it, and he can complain about it and he can get big cheers about it at conservative meetings. but that's, that's not to going to happen. ashley: pebble in his shoe. what do you think, liz? why is trump going after the panama canal? >> i think there are two reasons. the first one and most important and the reason that he loved -- lumped canada into his tirade on christmas day as well, he really wants these countries to help with border security. and the new york post ran a story this morning about the right-wing leader of panama

helping that. he's cutting down on illegal immigration. he will be an important ally in trying to cut down on illegal immigration into the u.s. which in some casess comes through panama p. admit -- ditto with canada, obviously. there are some interests in pan marx his hotel company does own some properties, heavy within assessed back tanks, and that's been going on -- taxes, and that that has been going on for some time. i would say border control ahead of a tax issue, but maybe both are playing a role here. ashley: i think you're right. liz peek, thank you for joining us on this boxing day. do appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. thank you. ashley: oh, always a pleasure, thank you. now take a look at the headline, this particular headline in the new york times. it reads, a reflective biden harbors some regret as his term winds down. good morning, pad padson.

great to see you -- madison. what are system of joe biden's derelates? >> good morning-- regrets. good morning, ashley. we're getting a glimpse at some of his regrets and also those he doesn't regret. biden is regretting not putting his name on the stimulus checks that went out right at the beginning of his term. those instead before 'em emblazoned with donald j. trump's signature. biden called this move stupid r, and when it comes the trump, he apparently doesn't regret his decision to do the debate with the with president-elect. according to the new york times, he told allies that he only regrets not changing timing because he had a cold, and he think thes he could have cone better if he were healthier. that debate was really the beginning of the end for biden, eventually leading to him dropping out. and when it comes to afghanistan, ashley, his administration has acknowledged some mistakes during the pullout which was deadly, costly, chaotic, but biden does not regret going forward with that withdrawal.

ash? ashley: some regrets, it was an unmitigated disaster, that withdrawal from afghanistan. madison, thank you very much. let's are get back to the market, if we can. we had positive trading days on monday and tuesday going into christmas, but here we are, we're down on the futures market. let's bring in adam johnson. adam, great to see you. you say you are fully invest invested, you're also buying the dips. any stocks in the if particular? if. >> yeah. certainly am. semiconductors. we talk about nvidia with all the time, ashley. and if you look at what has happened in the semiconductors over the past several months, they've kind of stalled out. there's this notion that, yes, a.i.'s powerful, but the semis are undergoing some sort of cyclical kind of pause? i would argue that's the was that -- pause that refresh, and i'm buying a number of different semiconductors that are down from monolithic power and a few names on there, super micro, i used the own that one, but i had

the take the loss because they're clarifying their financials. there's just a lot the like in semiconductors, so that's one clear area. financials are another. and it stands to reason that with the fed sort of steadying interest rates, number one, and with with the trump administration coming in and and arguing for fewer regulation, banks are a place where you want to be. and there's also, of course, growth in the economy. so, yes, you could go long the obvious ones, j morgan, bank of america, etc., but i think you get more bang for the buck in a company like blackstone which is the world's largest private equity and venn venture capital firm. founded by steve schwarzman, i like block or square, jack dorsey's company, that has come roaring back from the low 40s, it's now trading at about 90. i think it doubles again from here because not only do they facilitate those little transactions on your iphone, you

know, the white scare and you -- square with and you put your card through it, they're transferring money to and from people like paypal. and even helping companies manage their payroll to. i like financials and semiconductors right here, ash. ashley: boy, you covered a lot of ground there, adam. thank you so much. we're going to have to leave you there. looks like you're going off to a play a game of cricket. i love that outfit. looks very, very sharp. [laughter] thank you very much, adam. adam johnson, as always. great stuff. now this, shoplifting suspects in california are shocked to find out that stealing a felony if is now, you know -- stealing a felony, stealing is now a felony. watch this. >> it's a felony? [bleep] stealing is a felony. and finish. [inaudible]

[bleep] ashley: yeah. you know or, bottom line is, you know what? stealing is wrong it's against the law, and it's now a felony in california can, and people did it with abandon and are now finding that out, and that's good news. california guy, leo terrell, is just waiting to sound off on that. next week the house will hold their speakership vote. it didn't clear whether or not mike johnson has enough to keep his job. chad pergram will have the latest. plus, while you were opening your christmas gives -- gifts, president biden was signing 50 bills into new laws. the big change he just made to the bald eagle. what? we'll explain next. ♪ i want to fly like an eagle to the sea -- ♪ fly like an eagle, let my --

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ashley: well, the house will vote to reelect house speaker mike johnson on january the 3rd. of chad pergram joins me now from capitol hill. chad, what are you hearing from lawmakers? will johnson keep his job? what do do to to you say? >> reporter: house speaker mike johnson emerges bruised from last week's battle over government funding, anywhere from 4-10 republicans could oppose johnson. thomas massie of kentucky is a no, freedom chairman caucus andy harris is undecided, cory mills of florida is fed up. >> i'm losing confidence with each day. and i think that johnson has to do his best to start finally showing that he's going to do what he says and not just continue the try to make deals with hakeem jeffries. >> reporter: republicans relied on democratic votes to avert a government shutdown last week. democrats hinted they would bail out johnson last spring if

conservatives tried the oust him. that's because he avoided a shutdown and sent money to israel and ukraine. but johnson is on his own right now. >> and it will be no democrats available to save him or the extreme maga republicans from themselves based on the breaching of bipartisan agreement. >> reporter: it's about the math. the house begins with 434 members on january 3rd. there are 219 republicans, but 218 is the magic number to become speaker. the most votes duds not win -- does not win. the house is paralyzed if it cannot elect a speaker. some republicans are upset at conservatives repeatedly undermining their own speakers. >> different members are getting a little uppity against the speaker. i do support speaker johnson for being the speaker right now. >> reporter: it took five days to to tap a speaker nearly two

years ago. the house was frozen for three weeks in october 2023 when members ousted former speaker kevin mccarthy. a struggle could imperil the certification of the electoral college on january 6th. back to you. ashley: fascinating stuff, as always. and, chad, you're always right in the middle of it. thank you so much. appreciate it. now want our viewers to take a look at this headline from the washington post. it reads: u.s. military mission in syria will pose an early dilemma for trump. and the article argues that trump will prioritize preventing a resurgence of isis in the region. florida congressman and military veteran greg steube joins me now. great to have you here, congressman. let's start with that, should it be a top priority for trump in syria? if make sure that we see no reis surgeons of isis? -- resurgence of isis? >> well, the president can do that without putting boots on ground and deploying the

military the syria. i don't think the president supports that, i certainly don't support that. i think we need to work closely with our israeli partners on what they see happening on the ground and rely on them for intelligence and those sort of things. and if he needs to take out isis targets in syria, we can do that with all sorts of long-range capabilities that we have without putting boots on the ground there. america doesn't want another 20-year war in the middle east. these arguments from these type of people if in washington that try to deploy our military across the world, the american people don't support that. and i think president trump feels that very closely from the campaign trail, where the american people are on that, and he'll make the decisions that are best to put america first and to keep america safe. ashley: next one for you, congressman, president biden just recently signed the federal tax relief act into law. it took a while to get done, so congrats on that. what does the bill actually do?

>> yeah. now any american anywhere in the country that has been affected by a presidentially-declared natural disaster will be able to deduct their expenses from their taxes for that tax year. so in a district like mine that was hit by hurricane ian two years ago and then hurricane milton, hurricane helene and hurricane debbie this past year, for each one of those tax years, they can deduct their expenses from their taxes. just my district alone, because we've had six hurricanes in two years, i bet is hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief. but people many if ohio on the train derailment, in california with the wildfires, hawaii with the wild first will be able to deduct those -- wild first, will be able to deduct those expend -- expenses. if you've already filed, you can do an amended return and deduct those expenses. ashley: makes sense to to me. common sense actually winning the day. congressman, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. >> yeah, anytime. great to see you.

ashley: oh, thank you. great to see you. now this, we know donald trump was busy during the holiday, but how did president biden spend his christmas? madison? >> ashley, bidefinishes signed 50 bills into law as his term winds down with less than a month to go. on christmas eve, biden named the bald eagle the official bird of the u.s. taking our fair-feathered friend from an unofficial mascot to very official. honestly, i didn't even know it wasn't the official bidder, but now it is. -- bird. he also signed the stop institutional child abuse act. that's a bill that was heavily supported by paris hilton. it's going to hold treatment centers and care facilities that serve our youth accountable. it was also strongly supported by congress, so he signed into that into law. he also took steps the protect kids in college as well with the stop campus hazing about. it mandates that colleges receiving federal funding include campus hazing in their annual security report. and biden also renamed a couple

post offices, some v.a.s and other federal buildings. very busy christmas eve for biden. ashley: and way to go, the bald eagle. [laughter] madison, thank you very much. we take a look to at the futures before we head to the break, pointing lower. that's what we expect at least at the opening get. and guess what? that bell is ringing next. ♪ ♪ to go further, you need to be ready for what's down the road. as energy demand continues to rise, we're harnessing breakthrough innovations to increase production in the u.s. gulf of mexico. our latest deepwater development, anchor, produces previously inaccessible oil and natural gas,

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at jpmorganchase, the investments we make help make businesses happen, that make jobs happen, that make communities happen. together, we make momentum happen. ashley: taking a look at the futures, looks like we're going to start on the downside when the bell rings in a couple of minutes. let's bring in d.r. barton, who joins us now. great to see you, d.r.. what about this santa claus rally? looks like tough sledding right now. >> yeah, but, you know, ash -- happy boxing day to to you, by the way. ashley: thank you. [laughter] >> the rally starts the day before christmas, it's the seven days, the last are five trading days of the year plus two days into next year, and it's one of the strong thest seasonal periods we see year in, year out. as a matter of fact, about 82% of the time going back to 1950 we get a positive turn, so we're already up a lit -- bit.

i think we've got a lot more to go by the end of the year. optimism is strong, channel checks are strong for retail, and i think we're looking really good into the end of the year and the beginning of the next. ashley: h of ho ho ho, says santa. you brought a couple of stock picks. visa. >> earlier adam was talking about square, and he likes the work they're been doing. ashley: yeah. >> i'll tell you what, visa is just the big dog on the street, right? in this payments area. and they're going to continue to be, and i'm looking for a really strong 2025 for them. they just had a breakout on christmas eve to new all-time highs, ash. i think we could tack another 8-10% on along with dividends for a double-digit gain in 2025. really like visa and the payments area in general. ashley: very nice. and, of course, another familiar

name, disney. why do you like disney? >> yeah. so we got one breakout, ash, we've got a pullback candidate. they've done some restructuring, got a big pot back in november up from their lows. so i think that they're doing some good things. they got a lot of really strong baseline with the marvel and pixar brands. the theme parks are looking to have a big rebound travel year for next year, so i like a lot of what's going on with disney. and if it drops below 108, i think you can get out. but i think you can buy it here around 110, 111 and have a nice ride up for a really good double-digit gain. ashley: fantastic 12:stuff, d.r.. very positive, indeed. have yourself a great rest of the holiday season, and we'll see you in the new year. thank you, dr. r.. okay, so there we go, they're all getting ready to clap and cheer, and here we go. push the button, we are off and going. the day after christmas,

boxing day for some of us. and as you can see, right out of the gate the dow is off 176 points, down about half a percent. let's take a look at the big board and those dow to 30 stocks, which ones are going where. i mean, look at that, 26 of the 30 stocks are moving lower. on the top end though we do have apple, boeing, unitedhealth and walmart. but they're the only gainers in the extreme early going. let's take a look at the s&p, expecting a lower number and it is. modestly so, only down a quarter of a percent on the s&p. that's down about 15 points, still above 6,000. and then, of course, there's the nasdaq which has been on a tear. but down about two-tenths of a percent in the early going, down nearly 50 points on the nasdaq. and talking of which, let's look at some of those big tech names. the behemoths. apple is moving higher, but it's the only one of the group.

all moving lower, marginally so. amazon down about half a percent. okay. that said, let's go through the biggest movers so far. good morning, taylor riggs. great to have you here. let's begin with a familiar name, tesla. what's going if on with tesla? >> yeah. so really interesting, they're up around 86% this year, easily in the top ten of the s&p 500 companies by returns this year alone. we are going to get q4 deliveries next week. analysts are looking for about 510,000. that would be a record, so let's see if we get some fundamental news on tesla next week. microstrategys, another big mover this morning. they are the world's largest corporate holder of bitcoin. they put out a notice to shareholders and the sec that they want to increase shares outstanding to 10 billion from the current 330 million. that means that they would -- that would give them enough at this current share price to buy all the bitcoin outstanding. we'll have to see how that goes through if, indeed, that's part

of the plan. also finally we just wanted to quickly check on american airlines because remember you had that ground sop on christmas eve. -- stop on christmas eve, some delays. not horrible. they sort of came to a resolution tuesday morning, so trying to recover some of hose losses today. ashley: i bet there was so much anxiousness on that christmas eve morning, the worst possible day. as you say, maybe they got away unscathed. let's take a look at nvidia. this company as has seen an influx of retail investors this year, right? >> it's been unbelievable. to the tune of $30 billion. investors just flooding in, that's up ninefold from 20 to 21. sort of makes sense. nvidia's the company that we've within talking about when it comes to -- been talking about when it comes the a.i. but that number, 30 billion, is outstanding. and it's almost double what investors have been putting into the fby which is sort of a

classic s&p 500 etf. ashley: amazing. want to get back to this story. we talked about it before christmas day, but netflix. how did it do with those nfl games that it was broadcasting? >> you know, i've been speaking to a lot of people this morning. it was a big sigh of relief. it was much better than the fight, right? the live boxing fight that they did. [laughter] ashley: right. >> a lot fewer glitches and, actually, we were hearing they were putting out numbers. we don't have the specific numbers, but netflix was saying this was the second largest live sports viewership that they had, so maybe off of to a little bit of a better start. ashley: good. all right. let's talk about uber. apparently they're trying to expand in asia but hasn't been an easy road, has it? >> nope. and taiwan just lost hair $950 million takeover of the other company, food panda business, that they were trying to buy there. they were citing anti-competition concerns saying if you do this, there's going to be too much concentration.

that means higher prices for consumers. a roadblock on uber's expansion into asia. ashley: very good. of course, we continue to follow the soap opera rah of nippon and u.s. steel. what's the latest on this potential deal? >> so perhaps maybe not surprise, nippon steel has delayed the closing date to the first quarter of 20 2025 the where where previously it was the third or the fourth quarter of 2024 given there is about six today dos left of 2024. -- days left. not surprising they pushed out the deadline. we did get sort of a deadlocked cfius review in the u.s., they said they were deadlocked on whether there was a national security concern or not. basically, that punted it back to president biden. he had 15 days to come to a review, he has in the past signaled he would brock the deal. ashley: okay. now, this one raised an eye brow when it read it. the fda just added one of costco's food products to their highest risk level.

what the heck is going on? >> yeah, we do not needs egg prices to go up further. that recall arelater was raised to the highest concern alert was raised to the highest level, severe risk of illness or death due to salmonella. these were the kirkland eggs selling in costco, now sort of raising that level are of risk. so not good. customers can go back to costco and get a full refund. ashley: yikes. talking to food, burger king is offering free chicken sandwiches and cheeseburgers. what's the catch? what's going on in. >> there's no. catch. you only have to spend a dollar. we did the ma math, if you buy four sauces, that gets you to a dollar. you can get tomorrow a free original chicken sandwich, and on monday you can get that free bacon cheeseburger. so maybe right when you're done with the show, you can hop on over to bk and get a prix chick en sandwich tomorrow --

free chicken sandwich, but you have to the spend a dollar. ashley: don't think i won't. and don't think stuart varney, if gets wind of this, he's going to be elbowing people out of the way. taylor, thank you so much for running through those stories for us. we really appreciate it. let's check the big board and take a look at the dow winners. we're literally, what, six and a half minutes into the session. the dow itself is off about 150 points. to we have some winners or to look at -- do we have some winners to look at? maybe, maybe not. let's take a look at s&p 500 winners maybe, or we can just watch the cow. there you go, dow winners, nike, apple, nvidia, verizon, microsoft. those are some of the stocks that are moving higher if what is a down beginning to the session. s&p 500 winners, there you go, supermicro i computer, we have nike on there, target among the winners. and then let's a take a look at the nasdaq, the tech-heavy nasdaq. walgreens boots alliance, fun to

say, up half a percent. lululemon, apple, dollar tree, amd. those stocks are moving higher in a down market. all right, coming up, after nearly 30 years, adam sandler is returning total golf course. to the golf course. many. ♪ ♪ >> he shoots, he score! s. ashley: he shoots, he scores. we'll bing you the very first -- bring you the very first look at the new happy gill more sequel. [laughter] plus, elon musk says there is infinite if potential for creating jobs in america. he says to believe something else would be wrongheaded economic thinking. we're going to put that to e.v.j -- e.j. ap tony next. ♪

♪

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ashley: 12 minutes into the session on the day after christmas and of after all the gains going into the holiday, we're now giving them back. the dow, the s&p and nasdaq all down about a quarter of a percent. let's take a look at eli lilly, if we can. elon musk most posted a picture of himself as santa on x. he revealed he's been using the weight loss drug monosquare row to the shed a few pounds. he said he prefers it over semipick because he feels it has less side effect, and there he is, striking a pose as santa in front of a very elaborate christmas tree. all right, speaking of elon musk, he is calling out wrongheaded economic thinking. he says there is inany fit if potential for -- inany anytime potential for job and company creation. economist e.j. an knownny joins

me now. -- antony joins me now. do you agree with elon musk regarding creating business? >> oh, 100%, ashley, absolutely. mag news januaryism, despite the fact that it's been proven wrong time and again, is still with us, and people still buy into these lies. the fact of the matter is demand if is unlimited. we have unlimited wants and resources with which to fulfill those wants. anytime you see one industry or one job be destroyed, another one is going to be created somewhere else. that has been proven time and time again throughout human history. you know, the people who complained about us losing the horse and carriage industry, for example, failed to point out that we were gaining many more jobs in the automotive industry, and that continues to be the case todayment. we employ far more people than we did in the past even though countless edge it is have gone by the wayside. if. ashley: yeah. it's interesting, i want to get into this one, if we can, e.j.,

red states have dominated job creation since to 2020. the top five states in jobs per if capita are all republican-controlled. idaho, utah, florida, texas, montana. e.j., it seems to be coming more clear that republican policies lead to more growth. i mean, how could you argue against that? >> oh, ashley, absolutely. and, you know, covid provided us, i think, a very interesting laboratory, if you will, where we were able to see how policies on the right and the left diverged so sharply are with those government-imposed lockdowns. and that's why to this day you have many blue states that stillment haven't even recovered to to their pre-pandemic employment levels of. maryland is a very good example of that, particularly because they have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, and that's the reason why you can't always look at one statistic like the ton employment rate. they have fewer jobs today than they did five years ago before

the pandemic. they've had literally no growth. in fact, they've gone backwards during that time. the reason the unemployment rate is low, however, is because so many discouraged workers have left the work force, and where are they doing? if -- going? exactly the sates you just mentioned, all of which are controlled by conservative republicans. stuart: ashley: i want to get in, e.j. before covid hit, donald trump had the economy of the united states at a 50-year high. can he get that going again to that level, and how long would it take him? >> oh, he absolutely can. he's going to do it, i think, through the exact same policies that made him so successful in his first term, cutting taxes, cutting regulation. and now i think there's much more appetite to also cut spending which will be a huge component of that. he can easily are bring energy prices down within a 6-month window. however, he is going to be fighting a federal reserve which has created a lot of

inflationary pressure in this economy. so it's just a question of who's going to win out, the federal reserve or the cost-cutting policies of president trump. ashley: very true point. be interesting to see how it plays out, but it's hard to bet against trumping for sure. e. e.j. antoni, thank you so much for joining us. really appreciate if it. >> my pleasure. ashley:s as always. donald trump's net worth, by the way, has jumped in the past year. the question is, by how much? madison? >> ashley, i got you. trump saw his net worth or rise $3.6 billion this year. it went from being concern he went from being worth about $2.5 billion to a whopping $6.1 billion. finish this is thanks in part to his majority stake in truth social, their parent company. the stock has really been seen as a proxy for trump's popularity. so it's been doing pretty well since october. you see it there. trump's net worth last time he was in office was roughly $4 billion, so it's higher now, but

it's also more volatile because of it being tied so closely to that publicly-traded company. trump saw his net worth hit a new high this year, $8.1 billion. 8.1. but he also saw legal and political stress this year that knocked it back. he saw a loss of $300 million in net worth. that happened in may after a jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in his criminal hush money trial. but trump is officially back on the "forbes" 400 list. that's placing him among the 400 wealthiest americans. he was dropped from the list in 2021, the first time that happened in 25 years. so you might be wondering, i was, how much does someone with that much wealth spend each year? "forbes" found that trump spent $130 million on average each year -- [laughter] between the 2010 and 2019. it's a lot more than my budget, ashley, i'll tell you that much.

ashley: oh, and mine too. that's stuart varney territory finish. >> there you go. ashley: let me ask you this one, madison. what's this about happy gill more sequel? is that true? >> oh, yes. a adam sandler fans got a big gift this christmas. netflix if announced on christmas day that happy gill more 2 could be coming to the a television near you in 2025. all your favorites are back. adam sandler, julie bow went and ben stiller. i want to she to you part of the trailer that dropped yesterday. >> it's great to see you back, mr. gilmore. >> yeah, baby. >> we've only just begun. ♪ oh, oh, it's magic ♪ if. >> gilmore. [laughter] >> so this sequel is 28 years in the making9. it's going to follow this hockey reject that we loved from the original turned golfer as he enters with himself into the senior golf tour. we're going to have some cameos.

i don't know in -- if you noticed bad bunny was in the preview, eminem is reported to be in the movie, football player travis travis kelce, this is one of the movies that helped sandler bam a superstar. the streaming giant has a production deal with sandler's company, happy madison productions, and their 2019 film murder mystery, which i loved, was netflix's most streamed movie in 2019. so they're hoping for more success with this one. we don't know when it's going to be released yet, we just know asylum in 2025, ash. ashley: one of my favorite moments in the first one was his fight with the late bob barker which was an absolutely classic scene. anyway, thank you very much. i'm being rushed along here. coming up, the holiday shopping rush may be over, you think, but now retailers are bracing for record-breaking returns, of course. we're talking billions of dollars' worth of stuff that people just don't want. jeff flock has a report from a

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ashley: christmas 2024 is officially over, but let's face it, not every gift you received was a winner. hopefully, it came with a gift receipt. jeff flock is at the shopping

mall in wayne, new jersey, this morning. all right, jeff, how many returns can retailers expect? >> reporter: they let are us in before they even open this morning. they don't open for another hour, but they're bracing for a big day. we don't know specific create today to, but take a look today, the annual number, it's huge. $890 billion worth of returns, that's about 17% of all the stuff that was bought over the course of the past year. and returns are becoming increasingly important. 84% of those surveyed said they want a place to come to return, not stick the it in the box and put it in the mail. 76% say return policy is a key factor when they decide what they want to buy, and 68% of retailers say they're not upgrading their return policies. returns a are also an opportunity. the company qlik which works with a.i. to maximize if data for retailers, they say 20% of people that return something actually spend more money. we talked to the ceo who tells

fox business, that's an opportunity. >> imagine if retailers could push that 20% up to 30% or 40%. so understanding why that consumer is making the return and then doing something with that information, proposing them other alternatives. actually the loyalty with that customer and turning that return situation into with an expansion of that relationship is really critical. >> reporter: everything i got for christmas i liked, so i'm not returning anything, ashley. how about you? ashley: good for you, jeff. yeah, same here. and, of course, we'd never return jeff flock. he is a star of the show, as always. [laughter] >> i've had a few women who wouldn't agree with you. [laughter] ashley: we won't go down thatted road. still ahead on the show, jace jason chaffetz, john cats mama tee d.c. will be here. -- john

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