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ashley: there you have it. welcome back. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney. in tokyo people ring the ganga. it is midnight in japan, australia and new zealand to welcome in 2025. it is very organized and sedate. it is 10:00 eastern on the east coast where times square making new year's preparations. there it is. more than a million people are expected to cram into that space but the forecast is for rain. a soggy one. let's get to your money, the final trading day of the year. the markets pretty much to the flat line. after the selloff we've seen the last couple days or market

sessions, slightly higher on the dow, s&p and the nasdaq. take a look at the ten year treasury yield, off the highs we've seen at 4.6, down another half basis point. take a look at the price of oil hovering around $71. $71.47, up $0.48 and bitcoin on the rise. right now it is up $3300. for bitcoin. now this. sheldon whitehouse calling for a war machine to lead the democrat attacks against republicans. right into state party charity said democrats have no institutional and centralized the setup to attack the gop.

he added republicans rapidly and effectively deployed false narratives while we, democrats struggled to bring true ones to bear. mark, the democrats are in disarray after a shellacking in the general election and feeling desperate for direction. you think that is true? >> what have they been deploying against donald trump for the last 8 years, the molar probe, two impeachments, 90 one criminal charges at federal, state, local level, civil suits to bankrupt him and his family and his associates and they need a war machine, they through all that at him and it backfired like they never believed, the american people never had a campaign of

personal destruction been so decisively rejected by the american people at the polls. i don't think they need a war machine, they need to look in the mirror. ashley: they need some new arguing points because it has gone down the tubes miserably. let me show use this. don lemon losing amaga supporters and an expert of rent built on youtube. >> so stupid and you deserve it. you deserve it because you are so dumb. yes, i am gloating over your stupidity. you have been co-opted because you are in a cult and you don't realize it because you have stupid amaga brain and you don't get it. how stupid and dumb are you? ashley: that is the face of democrat arrogance and that is

why they lost in the election because they just arrogant, can't think of a better word, another basket of deplorable's moment, no concerns for middle america, they are out of touch, elitist and they are complaining bitterly, honestly, why do democrats keep doing this? >> you know what is stupid and dumb, watching in 2016 while donald trump rode the issue of illegal immigration to the white house and when they take back the white house unleashing the worst border crisis in american history and expecting to get elected after doing that and on top of that the worst inflation in four decades, the worst crime wave since the 1990s and the worst foreign policy debacle in the country in afghanistan, that is what i would call stupid. ashley: perhaps the biggest stupidity, they don't get it,

they got handed their lunch during the last election and don't understand why. we could talk about this all day. we are used to getting your take, a huge music buff. give us your top three. >> i am on a quest to see my favorite music artists before they die and to find new ones. stevie wonder was unbelievable. the rolling stones, the next band, opening act and v show. trust me, go to spotify, you will thank me.

ashley: i'm a music buff, finding new music which is not always easy. one show in particular missing from that list, taylor swift. >> i didn't see taylor swift, wasn't in my dance card in 2024. ashley: of all the bands before i let you off the hook, what is your favorite band? >> my favorite band. i've got so many. i love the rolling stones. i've seen them live three times, and the fact they are now mandated programming along with the beatles, making music in their 80s is unbelievable. ashley: great stuff. >> happy new year to you as

well. ashley: dc mayor muriel buys her, what did she say about the meeting? >> a great meeting, take a look at what she had to say. donald trump and i had a meeting to discuss our shared priorities for the president's second term, donald trump and i went to washington dc, to be the best city in the world. this is not the first time they met, trump is returning to the white house but in 2016, his first transition, there has been bad blood between the two. withdrew military personnel during the george floyd protests. the reality star.

and and talked about areas, bowser said they are going to find common ground with common president. harris got 92% of the vote. the home he's returning to. >> scott shelladd dagen:. ice dead earlier the santa claus rally had a bellyflop. is it dead and buried now? >> one of those technicians.

the dow is up 13% of the year, the s&p 23%. those are heavy highs. a lot of expectations from these banks like deutsche bank next year, 10% to 12% growth, and it was a day for us old folks, 8% to 10%, that was very good. got to put the brakes on it a little bit, moving toward a more normal equity return. neil: you believe a eyes in the early innings, and even if there are calls for its early demise, don't be fooled.

>> john chambers of oracle is someone you might want to take a listen to, he has been quoted recently saying a i will be the combination of the internet and cloud computing, everybody will jump on the bandwagon, this is the end of it all. it is going to be going forward. our offense if this is a sporting analogy is artificial intelligence. inflation worries to worry about and other things that we haven't taken care of. that's the defense. the way i see this happening is we have such a bad defense we need an offense that is a little bit better. we will give up a lot of points. we will still win. ashley: i love the analogy.

you think bitcoin will go higher, how much and when? >> 5% of your portfolio, is very volatile. if you are going on the news it will only have positive news next year it will rally not because it's a better idea, the news is a slow drip of positivity. ashley: happy new year. great to see you. thank you. look at stocks making movies today, they lead the list of companies with the biggest declines on the s&p 500, total of 98 s&p stocks in 2024. those are higher in today's session.

the first utility stock to top the s&p index since 2001 and they are down 1.3%. joining the s&p in may, they saw a 62% annual gain this year. look at the big pharma stocks, drugmakers plan to raise the price 250 medications, certain vaccines, cancer therapies and even pfizer's covid treatment. most of the big pharma names higher except half of 1%. still had, elon musk finding common ground with rob gronkowski, what both men think the government fumbled on. more than a billion people are expected to watch the ball drop, there are no credible threats for the events but the

nypd is beefing up security big time. we will show you how they are preparing. a toddler left across the border all alone. [speaking spanish] ashley: just heartbreaking. smugglers had just abandoned those two young girls on the rio grande river. we will talk about that next. the next mega millions drawing is now available on jackpocket. jackpocket lets you order official state lottery tickets right on your phone. just pick your numbers and place your ticket order, see a scan of your ticket

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ashley: donald trump says democrats want to delay confirming his nominees. in a post on truth social trump says senate democrats are organizing to improperly stall and delay conformational process for great nominees. they will try all sorts of tricks starting very soon. republicans must not allow them to do that. we have a country to run into many problems to solve, mostly created by democrats, that in from donald trump. let's take a look at these markets as we finished 2024 which overall has been a stellar year for the stocks. after the recent selloff some green on the screen, dow up 167 points, the s&p up 12:45%, the nasdaq up slightly higher. let's take a look at the price of gold, quite a good run for

gold this year, up $14.5 at 2632 per troy ounce. since 2010, 14 years, it has been boosted by factors like rate cuts, geopolitical uncertainty a bit of a safe haven, barron's reports that gold has 46 record closes of this year. it is up again, $2622. take a look at this, texas dps found a 9-year-old girl and 5-year-old girl abandoned by a smuggler in the southern border. and it is pitiful, the border patrol council vice president joins me now. how do we get this kind of thing to stop?

how do we prevent this? >> you have to start enforcing immigration laws and have consequences for these horrific acts. if they have an address find out where the founding members are and why they abandoned these children with smugglers because the smuggling organizations, smugglers, cartels continuously use children and everybody realistically but when you see the children used as merchandise, as cattle, they realize they can use them as a distraction, they can use of them to bring more drugs into the country, and they don't see consequences against the individuals that are doing this. as horrible as it sounds you have to go after the parents as well. what were they thinking by handing over their children to the smuggling organizations? ashley: it is beyond, next one up, moving on to this, there were 44,000 arrests at the southern border, sounds like a

lot to me but that's near the lowest level since july of 2,020 but that doesn't tell the real story. what is going on at the border? >> you can fluctuate the numbers and see them in different ways, what the agency has stopped showing or pushing out is the got away numbers, the numbers move up and down but at the end the agents are stuck in the processing centers. so they can see what is coming across and then looking at the statistics at the porch of entry as well. for agents and they don't tell half the story of what has been coming in. ashley: i have 30 seconds left,

the new york post reporting tren de aragua gang members tried to force their way into the us and are ready to attack border agents. what can you tell me about that? >> they are not being forced in. they are walking in. the last four years this administration has allowed anyone to come in, wait for their court date, so realistically, those are the horrors agents are facing every day. we see the cartel violence out of the border and some of it some individuals that were shot near the border, they came across, border patrol tending to those individuals so we see that violence coming are cross with actions and lack of consequences by the administration. ashley: hopefully better times are ahead. happy new year to you. >> happy new year. ashley: the fbi is warning about the surge of recent

burglaries at the homes of star athletes. have they found who is behind these high profile robberies? lauren: at the south american crime group, they say the group targets these star athletes and conduct surveillance before breaking into their homes and stealing their stuff. it is a physical and technical surveillance to learn where someone will be gone and that is when they go to their home. according to abc the fbi wrote, quote, these homes are targeted for burglary due to the perception they have high end good like designer handbags, jewelry, watches and cash. here are some of the targets we have seen, in the september timberwolves guard mike connolly was robbed. in october two chief stars both had their homes robbed and december 27th, dallas mavericks point guard luca donica's home

was burglarized. there's not much of these guys can do because their schedules are publicly available, people know when they're going out of town for game so it presents a problem. ashley: we understand ice has ended two programs for illegal migrants, which ones? >> the first is the wraparound stabilization service, that involved working with an geos offer services to migrants that provide psychosocial and behavioral health support for illegal migrants. we talk about therapy and mental health support effectively. ice said the program is ineffective and came with immense cost and little improvement so that is done. in june, ice and that a vendor contract with the young adult case management program. that program offered 18 and 19-year-old migrants legal

services, screenings, referrals to social service programs and human trafficking. it started in 2023, available in 16 cities when the program ended. ice said that it had fiscal limitations that didn't align with their mission. two costly programs that are no longer accessible. ashley: coming up it has been a week since a woman was burned alive on a new york city subway. the founder of the guardian angels is blaming sanctuary policies for the murder and is promising to restore order on the trains. we will bring you the plan. we could see a 20% tax hike if trump's tax cuts to expire next year, a warning from house ways and means committee chair jason smith. grady trimble will bring us the state of plane next. ♪

when you're in the military you're really close with your brothers and your sisters that are in the military with you. and when you get out of the military, you kind of lose that until you find a new family. we can talk about our struggles and the things that we did overseas and not everybody can do that. adam! how's it going, brother? we live pretty close to each other. so he's always coming over. when i go to jack's house, we watch a lot of football, hang out. we go outside the friendship has kind of grown into a family i was overseas on a deployment. i got separated from my marines and i got hit in the neck, and it broke my neck and paralyzed me.

14 years ago, i was on a training mission. did a military freefall, and i had some faulty equipment. i hit the ground. going, 30 to 40 knots and was instantly paralyzed. i met jack fanning when he invited us to park city, utah, through his foundation. i was able to actually get on the mountain and ski with my family, i can't put into words what that meant. i got paid in the military to do crazy fun stuff. and after my accident, i'm still that same guy. and when i was able to jump out of a perfectly good, helicopter, at 10,000 feet, i did it. i was talking to some vets last week amazing how we have these houses where they can come over because they■re in chairs too. carpet and wheelchairs don't mix very well. tunnel to towers, they got rid of all that. they redid my whole bathroom. that's probably the favorite part of my house. i thought they were just going to do the upgrades.

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ashley: the last trading day of 2024 the markets closed marco the dow up one hundred 33 points and our into the day's succession, the s&p up a quarter of one%, nasdaq 12:45%, nasdaq of 0.2. after last couple of selloffs, we will take it. let's look at the movers. we they will launch new models and upgrades almost every quarter, looking to expand its global footprint to 60 markets in 2025. krispy kreme, now you' re talking my language, the donut people starting the new year by offering new deals to customers. the company says they are doing this as a thank you after reporting a cyber attack this month that led to operational

disruptions with online orders. krispy kreme, i can't even say it, i'm excited, up 3.6%. analysts upgraded ralph lauren to a buy rating. the price target is $250, they see the copy looking to attract younger customers and people willing to spend more, seeing stronger international demand, stock up marginally, 0. one%. one%. now this. house republicans want to extend donald trump's tax cuts. the chair of the ways and means committee, jason smith, warning taxpayers will face a 22% hike if they are not extended. grady trimble is at the white house. the republicans have the votes to extend the tax cuts. >> reporter: we don't know if mike johnson will have the votes to get reelected. we have to wait and see those tax cuts.

the tax cuts donald trump ushered in during his first term, set to expire at the end of 2025. that is how jason smith is warning that if they let that lapse it could be a huge tax increase for every day americans, 23% on average, smith says for the last four years americans watched high prices eat away at their paychecks and financial well-being, 22% tax increase will only compound that pain particularly for lower income americans living paycheck to paycheck. elon musk is chiming in on the tax debate arguing the us tax code has to be drastically simplified, democrats arguing new trump tax cuts will only help the rich, patty murray writing on x republicans went to extend the trump tax cuts to

give handouts to billionaires and megacorporations while forcing the middle class to foot the bill. democrats say the trump tax cuts will add to the national debt but republicans point out tax revenues jumped roughly 45% from november 2017 to this month, december 2024 according to treasury department data. that bolsters their case to extend that. ashley: grady trimble, thank you very much. get back to these markets as we finish 2,024. nice to look back and decide any trends that continue into 2025. ray wong joins me now. thanks for jumping on the phone as we have that selloff which actually came back a little bit later in this session. those are rotation and magnificent 7 stocks. what is going on?

>> let's start with the magnificent seven, we see the gains that were in apple, microsoft making gains, gains going on with nvidia, people are rotating out, they are going into amazon, google, tesla and part of the reason they are going to be one of the leaders of ai and amazon as well because of the automation and technology they put in and the ai models and tesla has a lot of upside not just because of the cars and the ev but the mega packs and powers storage and automation with their ability to get robots and robo taxi. ashley: if you had to pick your top three ai plays, who would you pick?

>> that's a different question. we played everything on the first level of ai, the second level is in software companies and the third are using ai so software companies like salesforce, adobe, service now, oracle, palantir, people can consume it and the third order companies using it like walmart and uber, talking about dynamic pricing uses in ai but we are seeing procurement, operational efficiency of exponential scale. ten time is better for 1/10 the cost. ashley: a big year for ipos. does that continue next year? >> it was a bad year, half of what we normally see in a good year. please likes to write and

discord, these companies are ready to go, you see a number of one hundred billion dollar ipos coming out of the gate, so much was held back. there's a market view that lena con in price valuations. driven by what and mende price targets are so you see the hiring already begin for what is about to happen in 2025. ashley: we will leave it right there. happy new year to you. now this. rob gronkowski agreed with elon musk about simplifying the us tax code. what did he say? >> reporter: he said make it simple, take a look, responding to this idea we need to make

the tax code simpler, he wants simple tax code and so does everyone else. he has the money to make sure he is filing taxes in the smartest way possible, 70. $6 million during his time in the nfl but he is agreeing with musk to simplify the process which doghe says is out of control. they talk about how much more complicated the tax code has gotten. in 1995, one. 5 million words in the tax code, now 16 million and they say because of this complexity americans collectively spend 6. $5 billion preparing and filing taxes each year. these must be simplified. that's a lot of time and a lot of money goes into this. accountants and companies like turbotax tank during tax season

because of how complicated the system is. ashley: tax filing is an economy by itself. i love that they would simplify it. i think he has the right approach. some colleges expected to close for good as an roland number is tank. what's driving people away from trying to get higher education. we will ask brian brenberg. you have heard of lab grown beef, one company in chicago poking up fish free seafood. you see how they use fruit fibers to create their fish. doesn't it sound tasty. next. ♪

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ashley: the final countdown as you look down on what seems to be a desolate times square. thousands of people, to watch the ball drop. rain in the forecast, you are not allowed to bring an umbrella. waterproof jackets definitely, the rules attendees must follow, and are large bags or backpacks, no folding chairs or picnic tables. no alcohol allowed. have a great time.

the iconic new year's eve ball weighs 12,000 pounds is 12 feet in diameter, illuminated by 32,000 led lights, covered in 2600 crystal triangles which represent the different virtues, wisdom and harmony. the ball is capable of displaying 16 million colors and billions of patterns, 60 million colors. can there be that many? people around the world will be toasting the new year with a glass of bubbly tonight but champagne sales are in the decline. do we know why? >> reporter: they are being blamed on uncertain economic conditions and a tense geopolitical climate. does it make for good celebrating? it doesn't help that this was a strenuous growing season for

champagne and small harvest so this is from a specific region. they say the 2024 expectations coming in 10% lower than last year and predicting a 5% value drop, conditions have been disastrous but one day you where people were enjoying champagne was election day. alcohol and food delivery service saw orders for champagne jump 93% on election day compared to a normal tuesday but people weren't just operating but commiserating with champagne. wine orders were up 53%. there you have it. ashley: now we know. now this. we told you about cloud-based meat, fish free seafood could be on a menu near you soon. kelly joining us this morning.

how exactly is non-seafood seafood made? >> interesting process. if you've ever made something like this, i will let you take a listen and figure it out. what if i told you that this is not real tuna? >> it looks real. >> i probably would. >> reporter: aqua cultured foods based in chicago is the only company and more amusing cellulose, a fiber found in fruit to make a seafood alternative. aqua uses fermentation to grow the cellulose. it is like brewing beer, much like the fake meat industry, aqua's ceo and cofounder says a reason for the push is the environment and to help rebuild ocean's ecosystems. >> i thought i was going to have this magical experience

diving underwater and it wasn't. it was really shocking to see dead corals in the ocean. >> reporter: their prices were on par with market prices for the real thing, $26 a pound, $28 a pound for scallops. aqua's products are being used in dishes at michelin in chicago. >> something exceptional that is becoming more popular. back to the beginning, the philosophy of a lot of companies. >> reporter: aqua estimate 70% of seive it is consumed outside the house. that is why the focus is on restaurant grade products. this is going to be used, sushi

like things, not meant to be cooked. ashley: i wish the entrepreneurs carried the best of luck but i'm not seeing it myself. great stuff. thank you very much. still had, donald trump revealed to the new york post he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers. john levine spoke to him about it. he will tell us what trump is thinking next. ♪

ashley: donald trump told the new york post he supports elon musk's plan to give immigration visas for highly skilled workers. new york post political reporter john levine joins me to talk about it. you spoke to trump about this. what exactly did he tell you? >> he called trump on the phone from this building on the saturday and answered first ring and i said to him we have a situation online where a line is very supportive of the visas

and online allies who are very against them. where do you stand? he gave me a succinct answer, i love them, i used them on my own property. that is why they are still here and he was very supportive of the elon post edition. there was a lot of confusion how it would shake out in this administration and he offered a lot of clarity. ashley: you mentioned a couple people there. further to the right they say you are taking jobs away from americans and you campaigned on this issue in part and it seems you are going back on your word. did he talk about that at all? >> a brief conversation. we didn't get into the history of his past statements and it lies somewhere in the middle. we do, we do need talented foreigners like elon musk you have come to this country and created thousands of jobs like the google guys but i don't

think we need millions of engineers coming that will undercut salaries for american-born engineers and we can 't have what happened to blue-collar workers happened to white-collar workers so the answer lies in the middle. if he 5 the guardian angels returning to patrol the new york city subways. a woman was set on fire and killed in the subways earlier this month, let's get to it, you're in new york city, do you feel safe or not on the subway? >> i know how to ride the subways and 30-something guy on the subways, i wouldn't put my mother on the subway, wouldn't let young children ride the subways, they are manifestly more dangerous than they were when i was coming up. my father said to me never ride the subways at 2 a.m. and i never understood why he said that because they were so

safe. it was the michael bloomberg error but now we know i do understand why he said that. they are not as safe, groups like the guardian angels, like gotham city, battle days of yesteryear restarted and they want to start on the subways again and i hope it's not necessary but it is moving in the wrong direction. ashley: happy new year and thank you. i want to thank madison alworth. still ahead in the show. brian brenberg on new jersey tossing out requirements for teachers to pass a basic reading, writing and math tests. james carafanoh on a peace deal with ukraine. the message of faith for the upcoming year from jonathan morris and we are looking back at the biggest moments on "varney and company" in 2,024. the 11:00 hour is next.

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with the free institutions of america. (♪)