so much excitement with willow, when that chip was introduced as well. before you go, i've only got about 30 seconds here, but options plays -- >> okay. well, yeah, z wave, we've had a lot of buyers in there. that's a very popular way the play it. and you nailed it, google, with the willow chip, that is a super fast processer, and that's going to a make some of this happen for all of these companies, for nbis, for qubt and for rigetti, rgti. you need something like that as well as an endorsement from jpmorgan, which they got when jpmorgan put $300 million in the continuum. cheryl: hurt. >> yeah. we'll be talking about this a lot in 2025. cheryl: thank you, jon, appreciate it. happy new year's to all of you at home. taylor riggs in for liz claman. taylor: okay, cheryl, this is the last time we're doing this. ly miss it. i want to wish you happy new

year, cheryl. meanwhile, welcome, everyone. they're celebrating new year's in dubai at this hour. take a look at that beautiful country, beautiful, tall building there. we're going to be across it all. this is as here in the u.s. we are entering the last hour of trading for your 2024. there certainly was a lot to celebrate. i'm taylor riggs in for liz claman. let's do it. the s&p 500 on pace for the best two years since 1998. you have back to back gains of more than 20%. the top winners in the s&p 500, palantir, vistra energy, nvidia all up anywhere from 350 to 170%. and then there was bitcoin. remember that? it more than doubled. at one point it was up to to $108,000. we're below 100,000, but you're still up more than 100 on the year. there's a tale of two chipmakers this year. take a look at broad withcom.

a record year, it more than doubled. had the best december on record. and on the flipside, intel had its worst year ever, dropping more than 90% since it was -- 60% since it was listed 53 years ago. let's get more on the winners and losers in 2024, and we're doing that with the floor show is. joining me now, solis alternative asset manager dan free and dutch masters. dan, let's me start with you since you're sitting here. we're coming off back to back 20% gains. does that leave legs and room to run next year? >> there's a lot of hesitancy entering next year because you've had two 20% back to back gains, and i feel while everyone is generally on the to mist ec, there's a feeling since we've had so much great gains, it can't be that good uh-uh -- good again. i understand why people are a little hesitant. taylor: dutch, what do you

think? >> you know, i happen to agree with dan. i think it's going to be -- it's not going to be an easy ride this year. i think -- i was talking to our resident genius trader dis, our head of strategy and research, and he said we're probably going to have a year where we do have a 10-15% pullback and shake people out. so it's going to be a little tougher than the last couple of years. taylor: talk the me about that. you are talking there's going to be -- thinking there's going to be a 10-15% correction. >> i think we have a fed thinking there's more economic activity than there really is, and the problem with that is they're not paying attention to the fact that they need to start lowering rates and and getting on that real quick. we may push a -- there's just no way to get to a 2% inflation without really risking, you know, a version. and the fear of that will, would probably trigger something like that.

taylor: do you agree? >> to to dutch's point, i think it's important to the emphasize, for the sake of the tv show, i'll take the optimistic side of what dutch has to say. if you're the fed and you're woibd about getting to 2% inflation and you think you need to hike rates or do something along those lines to to get that, you've already demonstrated that you are not willing to do it. and from an equity investor standpoint and really a risk asset investor strandpoint more broadly, that's been and probably remains bullish. i'll say they're probably not going to get 2% inflation anytime soon and, frankly, i don't think that they're upset about it. taylor: dutch, i want to the get back to some of the individual calls. you both highlights nvidia if tesla. those are clearly one of the big stories of 2024. going forward, dutch, you see nvidia going to 180 a share, for nvidia. what drives that? just the a.i. revolution? if. >> yeah. i think that, you know, we're really good at picking sectors, and in 2024 we had the a.i.

sector, but we really focused on the hardware and the buildout of the databases. obviously, the software side nvidia's the leader, so we were all over that. and we think that will continue. we also think that the other one that rewe'll won on bigtime last year was the software application space, and we think that has legs into next year if rates come down. we will see that sector continue and so, yeah, it's really an a.i.-driven thing. but out of there what we have is something that was talked about earlier was the quantum computing. it's very interesting to us. we think that there may be, you know, more legs behind that the as we think that might be the flier. thll the a stocks that have been talked about, ilng is --

ilnq is one we really like, however, the safer ones are dell, arista and some of the others you just showed. ionq's a little more of a pure play. taylor: dan, come in here. the original question was about nvidia, but you think about the second derivative plays to the big a.i. revolution. that clearly another big theme for '25? >> yeah. listen are, i think there's a lot of nervousness about how much these stocks have run up and whether there's incremental buyer if you're on the institutional side of things where we live are, who's going to take these higher, and so inherent in all those worries is a fear that maybe the trade the has played out. but if you use the 1990s as a prompter, there were many, many -- barometer, there were many, many years of strong growth both on the capital expenditure side of things as the buildout of the tech boom was ongoing and from a revenue and earnings standpoint. and i think that's a good, analogous compare comparison to

make. if you equate the release of chatgpt as the sort of awakening to the broad broader masses ofis going to revolutionize the world as much as everybody says it is, certainly isn't going to be done in just two years. taylor: right. i keep hearing it's the like the party that goes to 4 a.m., and instead of it being 8 p.m., it's maybe 9 or 10 p.m. but the party party still goes to 4 a.m. tesla's been an interesting one. you have the elon musk factor. you have an ev softening demand story, so would have some -- you have some tailwinds and headwinds. what drives tesla for you to more than double? >> well, you know, our chief strategist has been right on tesla all the way along, and, you know, what he sees is that, obviously, a lot of people don't see all the things that they have going on underneath the ev

world. i want to get back to dan. dan, you know what? what you just said in early stages, first, second inning of the buildout, you're absolutely right -- >> that's why i said it, sir. >> that's exactly where -- i love that you said it because that's dead on. that's where we think it is. back to tesla, you know, a lot of people have lost fortunes shorting this stock, and you just can't do it. and we think that what drives this is, obviously, there's a fan base here that you cannot stop, and they just, there are so many levers now that they can pull in so many different areas. taylor: dan, we both live in new york city. i see more and more cyber trucks here. it's shocking to me. >> there's a few -- taylor: you like tesla overall? >> i can't talk about specific stocks. we're a hedge fund, so we have rules and regulations that i have to abide by, but i think you brought up something important. as dutch mentioned, there is a fan base for tesla many in general and, obviously,

institutional and regional investors have to contend with that permanent tailwind. but at the same time, the ev story is a thing. in the sense that the u.s. is just not progressing to the degree that europe is and certainly china is. and so you're talking about ev sales being high single digit percentage of cars, of sales in the united states. that's fine. but if you're looking to get, as the current administration is and surely future democrat administrations as well would like to get 30, 40, 50% of the cars on the road being evs, we are not there. we're not going to meet the 2030 or 2035 goals. so if that continues, ultimately, that's probably going to matter for a company like tesla. but as was mentioned, there's a number of other verticals under the headline that could be pen firm as well -- beneficial. taylor: we're out of time. dutch, to you with, biggest risk of 2025. >> the fed keeping rates too high, too long. taylor: dan?

[laughter] >> i'll go with tariffs, but it's the not one word. taylor: yeah. okay. i love having you both. dan greenhaus, dutch masters, thank you. happy new year, and my favorite saying is see you next year. >> thanks. >> see you next year. [laughter] taylor: great. all right. the cybersecurity sector has been in the spotlight this year as criminal activity in the cyber verse hit record levels. cloud security firms all reaping the benefits as stocks are the sector's top performers, fortnet rising over 60%. palo alto networks and crowdflare up over 20%. cyber criminals, though, not taking time off for the holidays. you have the treasury department vealing that china's state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber attack earlier this month. the chinese hack hers reportedly compromised a third party cybersecurity provider and gave access to treasury workstations and unclassifyied documents.

grady trimble has more on the latest hack attack on the government system. hey, grady. >> reporter: hey, taylor. the treasury department is calling this a major incident. they say that hacking group affiliated with the9 chinese communist party, as you nose noted, got access to work nations and -- workstations and unclassified documents, though exactly what was in those documents, they did not say. they first found out they were hacked on december 8th, and they sent a letter so the senate banking committee alert aring them to the hack yesterday -- alerting them yesterday. the hackers remotely accessed the info of one of the department's third party cybersecurity companies. that company is called beyond trust. treasury tells us the compromised service has been taken offline, and there's no evidence the hackers still have access to treasury systems or information. experts say that this problem is a growing one. government agencies that are particularly vulnerable to this kind of cyber attack, they say

in particular the treasury department is vulnerable. >> they're the ones that are levying and owning the sanctions that are being done on, you know, chinese and other governments. it makes them a target, you know, more so than, you know, say just a corporation when it comes to state-sponsored hacking. >> reporter: and the chinese embassy is denying any involvement or responsibility for this hack cans par for the course when these kinds of things happen, taylor. taylor: yeah, right? deny, deny, deny. [laughter] grady trimble, thank you so much. meanwhile, the oracle of omaha goes on an end of the year shopping spree. warren buffett, berkshire hathaway, bought up one particular stock in the final days of 2024. find out which one next. and make sure to to tune into "the big money show." brian brenberg, jackie deangelis and i have all the breaking market and economic news each weekday at 1 p.m.

eastern only here on fox business. "the claman countdown" is coming right back. ♪ muck. ♪ ♪

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taylor: we have some breaking news. take a look at u.s. steel. those shares are surging now 12%, you guys. this is after a report from the washington post that said that nippon steel is proposing giving the u.s. government a veto over any if reduction in u.s. steel's production capacity. this is seen really as the last ditch bid to get approval for nippon's purchase of u.s. steel. we'll see. biden has said, clearly, he's going to block it. let's take a look at other big movers on the way today. take a look at shares of drug developer sagan o after its

partner, pfizer, ended the hemophilia a gene therapy co-development agreement. this in turn is delaying the prospects of bringing the development to market. argas is upgrading ralph lauren from a buy to the hold giving it a $250 price target saying it is attracting younger and less piece-sensitive customers. now giving yum a $155 price target, they're citing same-store sales rose at kentucky fried chicken and tack -- taco bell in 2025. let's talk about the oracle of omaha, right? if berkshire hathaway snapping up more verisign shares. warren buffett's company paid about $15.6 million for rough ofly 76,000 shares of the internet coe neighbor -- domain name registry services provider.

berkshire has a stake of more than 10%. meanwhile, a take a look at shares of tesla. they are expected to release vehicle fourth quarter deliveries this week, most likely thursday. analysts are anticipating around 510,000 units. it would be a record for the quarter. tesla shares surged nearly 2% in december -- 21% bringing the stock's annual gain to a whopping 68%. meanwhile, ukraine saying that for the first time evers it is -- ever, its sea drone destroyed a flying tart in the form of a russian hem copter. -- helicopter. we're going to discuss with the cofounder of drone works. this is a fox business exclusive. and we're taking a look at the future of food. forget farm to table, ocean to table. we're looking at, well, you go to the lab to table to create, with this creation of fake fish. are you an eater? we're coming back with that report. ♪ ♪

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taylor: the u.s. is escalating its campaign against the iranian-backed houthi rebels in the middle east. u.s. central command forces conducted multiple strikes on houthi targets and along the yemen coast in the last 24 hours. the strikes targeted a command and control facility and sites that produced and stored weapons, notably drones which are becoming common place in

modern combat around the globe. this is including russia's war on ukraine. russia launched an aerial attack on ukraine overnight striking kyiv and other regions with multiple missiles and krones. -- drones. local officials say there are no casualties. but drone warfare is ramping up around the globe. huntville, action of -- alabama, based performance drones is developing technology to bolster or the u.s. military's arsenal. i'm pleased to to have the cofound matt higgins. matt, great to have you. i was searching through your x feed, and one to have great things that you -- one of the great things you liked was a quote from elon musk where you -- he said the person who wins the war the is the person who makes the best drones. >> yeah. what we're seeing happening on ukraine is a fundamental shift in military doctrine the likes we haven't seen til the development of the nuclear

arsenal. and ukraine was able to tap into a very simple technology which is these fpb drones, small drones s and realize the only way they can push back the russian army which is far superior to use these drones and deliberately and intentionally attack a russian tank with something that costs $1,000 and destroy an $8 million piece of equipment. and now the genie is out of the bottle. so this entire conflict is going to reframe how future wars are fought. and every country, particularly the united states, is going to need to develop their own domestic drone industry. taylor: performance drone works, i believe, just secured, what, a $15 billion army contract of this was to field one of your drones. they say it's light and it's fast, max payload of 10 port, max speed of -- pounds, for me, for someone in the audience at

home that's just a layperson, what does that mean for the battlefield? >> i'll give you the quick evolution. this actually all began on a sport we developed9 in 2015. it became clear9 that the technology we were developing could be put to, you know, evil use in the future, and we need to develop a domestic-made military company in huntsville, alabama. so we've been working on this for seven years. and the goal was to give every soldier the ability to call in their own air support on their backpack. the c-100 is a 20-pound drone that's foldable, it enables reconnaissance, hover for as long as you need and, if necessary, deliver blood, supplies or munition. and so it took seven years to develop this. it tells you how complicated this technology is. what i'm grateful for is now it's in our hands. taylor: yeah, it's incredible. you mentioned huntsville, alaska, and, i mean, i went the space camp there -- huntsville, alabama.

it's an innovative area in space. talk to me though, what's interesting when we think about 20 that -- 2025, trump has repeatedly said i end wars, i don't start them. what does that mean for your business? >> well, pat of the way you -- part of the way you end war is the is through deterrence, and every country is going to need to develop their own integrated, domestic, small-domestic supply chain around drones. and what does that mean? right now we don't make motors for drones in the united states. we don't make, you know, we don't make the blades. they all come from china. and so if you believe what elon musk says which is all future wars are drone wars, that means the united states needs to be prepared, and we're not. i hope that these drones are never put to use, but we need an arsenal, and we need one kind of drone in particular in the united states called first person of view drones. those are the ones that you're seeing in the ukraine that are flying into those tanks. we actually don't produce them at scale in the u.s. i hope he ends all future wars, but i also know we need to be

prepared. taylor: in the meantime, they're working on doge, the department of government efficiency. they want to make significant cuts and that talk to a lot of people that says that includes defense spending. that republicans need to get over this idea that somehow you can't cut defense spending. what the does that mean for your business? >> i think they're absolutely right. you need to shift and redirect that to some of these incredible companies in the united states that are trying to bring forward this technology, and if they can't get through what's called the valley of death. between the time you get one of these starter contracts that help you tinker with innovation and the time it takes to get a program of record which, as you can see in our case a, is years. most companies can't get the funding and either they fold, or they sell, and that technology goes to simply a shelf in some back closet. we need to redirect funding from this battleship mentality where things take years and by the time it get to the battlefield,

it's already outdated. the the reason that ukraine has been able to create this stalemate, they've created this culture when a tactic count workings they immediately go back to distributive fact tries, change it up -- factories and change it up. in the united states, the equivalent of that is a decade can. i believe we can redistribute particularly to the drone sector. and it's not just buzz i'm in it, it's because i'm in this country, i'm an american, and and i was there on neb. i saw what happens when the u.s. is ill-prepared, and right now we are not prepared. taylor: let's talk about unfortunate things that keep you up at night. one of the biggest things you've said, these drones getting into the hands of the wrong people. how do you prevent that? >> again, i was on the ground on 9/11, i helped oversee the rebuilding of the trade center site. i remember thinking, how were we caught so off guard? the next 9/11 is going to come from a swarm of drones. it's not going to be flown by a pilot who learned out of an

academy in florida. it's going to be from a pilot who learned on a video game or in syria. we develop a national, multilayered system of drone defense that is organized throughout the entire country. think about it, you can't use jamming in an urban environment. if a drone is coming, you can't sented a missile to -- send a missile to to attack it on sixth avenue. we don't have a domestic drone supply chain to stand up, so way we do that is get together, roll up our sleeves. i think the trump administration is ready to do it, and we developed a national defense system. what was crazy about new jersey -- taylor: can we talk about that? i want us to be careful not to go down that road. but speculate with me, humor me. what the heck is going on over skies of new jersey? >> well, it's funny, because i helped cofound a drone company, people kept thinking i was the expert. the reality is, a lot of it i do think is what the new york times

said. newark airport and a little bit of drone dis-- hysteria. but there have been multiple incursions on u.s. bases, near them, that have been reported not to be hysteria of a small uas that was unidentified, and we never found out who was flying it. and that is crazy. and i think most americans have a paternalistic view of our government, oh, we'll be protected, if there's a swarm, we can identify it. that's not true. what that has vealed, what's happening at bases around the country, we don't know who's flying these drones, and we need a counter u.s. system to be able to identify. we need our own iron dome like they have in israel, but it's not from enemies without, it's from enemies within with. taylor: was it kind of hike a chinese spy balloon situation? >> i think a lot of it was the false reporting, but i think the bigger thing is i don't know, you don't know, and i actually believe our government doesn't know. a. taylor: yes. >> i think they act like they don't know to make you think

they do know. taylor: if you know it's not a foreign actor, that makes -- means you do know what it is. and i'm not confident you know what it is. >> right. there are some great companies trying to stop this. palantir, by the way, also working on this. we're working on the problem. taylor: thanks in part to everything we're talking about. ma if9 higgins, this was fun. thank you so much for your time and your expertise. >> thanks for having me. happy new year. taylor: you too. let's take it from the future of warfare to the future of food. wall street seemed to lose its taste for plant-based foods in 2024. look at meat producer beyond meat and dairy alternative oatly's stock, they're down. now, despite the struggles, one company betting on lab-grown proteins that will be the next food alternative to catch on with consumers. if fox business' kelly saberi joins me live from chicago the to dig into the lab to the table movement. hey, kelly.

>> reporter: hi, taylor. and it's not just this one company. there are an estimated dozens of companies that are trying to win over the hearts and stomachs of investors and foodies alike. but there's something special about this company. you may have already tried vegan sushi that's made from things like tomatoes and other vegetables, but take take a look at this. what if i told you that this is not real tuna? if. >> i probably wouldn't believe you. it looks real. >> it looks a little scary. [laughter] but, yeah, i probably would try it, yeah. >> aqua cultured foods based here in chicago is the only company in the world using cellulose, a fire found in fruit -- fiber found in fruit, to make a seafood alternative. they use fermentation to grow the cellulose. it's kind of like brewing beer. much like the fake meat industry, the ceo and cofounder britney says a big reason for the push is the environment and to help rebuild our oceans'

ecosystems. >> i flew to the great barrier reef thinking i was going to have this magical experience diving underwater, and it wasn't. it was really shocking just to see truly, like, done corals in the ocean. >> reporter: their prices are on far with the real thing. $26 a pound for tune that that and $28 a pound for scallops. right now aqua's products are being used in dishes at michelin-recognized restaurants in chicago. >> again, something exceptional that is going to be coming more and more popular and accessible because dating back to the beginning, the sustainability is going to be the philosophy of a lot of companies. >> reporter: aqua estimates some 70% of seafood is consumed out outside of the house, and that's why their focus right now is on restaurant-grade products. now, taylor, i just want to note some other pros and cons about

this. a lot of people eat fish to get those omega 3s and protein intake up, but you won't necessarily get that here because it's just sell you close. it's not -- cellulose. but on the other hand, you are eliminating the risk crofs-contamination, and if you're pregnant and you're a fish or sushi lover, you'll still get to eat this, or if you are concerns about mercury, of course, that is alleviated as well. taylor: i know i am not speaking to the crowd here. i just think we should get rid of all of the processed stuff and just go back to, like, what's grown on the earth. but we'll leave it there, kelly. love the reporting. happy new year. >> reporter: happy new year. taylor: all right. so investors' m&a appetite a little bit whetted as the trump administration if expected to be more open to deal making. what does this mean for m&a activity in the banking sector in to 2025? if it's the next. ♪ ♪

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taylor: after some pretty big moves on monday, fannie mae and freddie mac, they're just a little lower at this hour. investors poured into the gses yesterday after bill ackman if says he expects donald trump to remove them from from conservatorship. fannie may if up more than 30% -- fannie mae on the expectation that the companies will go private within the next four years. it would be a big move for the new trump administration. the companies have been under government control since the 2008 financial crisis. meanwhile, wall street expecting need gates to to open up under trump -- floodgates, so what m&a action do we expect next year? joining me now in a fox business

exclusive is montgomery scott director of research, chris marina. chris, great to see you, happy new year. >> you as well. taylor: is that something you can talk about? do you see privatization, and if so, what does that sort of por portend to other sectors within your world of banking? >> sure. i think it's something that's been on the table if the administration would change, which it is, and i think it's going to be a good thing for the biggest banks in the country, bank of america, jpmorgan, all those who are robust players in the mortgage space should be a player under a bigger way under a conservatorship changing back to a normal business. i think it's healthy, if it were to play out. taylor: taye interesting. you talked about jpmorgan, bank of america. how well do those look concern -- how good do those companies look from a financial perspective as we wrap up this quarter? >> so the main factor of production for a bank is their cost funds, and all of those banks tend to do a fare amount

of wholesale borrowing and deposit taking p. so those costs are down significantly since the fed began to cut rates in mid september. so there's a meaningful drop in fed funds which, therefore, is a meaningful drop the quarter. that bodes well for net interest margins this quarter and leads to guidance being stronger for 2025 the when we see earnings and management talk here in a few weeks. i think it's bullish, and you can extend that to the regional banks and mid-sized banks where i think they're very healthy both in terms of spread revenue as well as their credit outlooks here this next quarter. taylor: and i want to go into the regionals, but i think i want to just remind myself and really the audience as well the inverted yield curve and the benefits now of a normal yield curve, right, where basically you are lending out with lower rates on the short end, but you get those higher loans on the higher rates on the long end. so that's really where the banks do well, right? when that curve looks normal

versus inverted, which we had previously seen for multiple years. finish. >> that is correct. and it just happened in the month of december, so you really have to have an entire first and second quarter to let that whole change turn over in a bank's portfolio. but you're exactly right, it's actually very good for business and, frankly, should be good for investor confidence towards these stocks in terms of getting more front flows through the banks as well as seeing the valuations improve as well. taylor: so talk to us now about regionals. a lot of people say there's no way you could have big banks merge. jpmorgan already has trillionses in assets under management, but do you see consolidation for regionals? >> over time i do. i'm not convinced it's a 2025 event. i think the regulatory agencies are going to the change gears with the new administration on january 20th. , and you're going to see new folks appointed, get confirmed, and then it'll really begin to take hold as the new men and women who lead these organizations will do their new missions second half of the

year. i think a lot of these companies are going to tee themselves up for a late '25 or '26 the deal flow. i think most of your m&a is going to be in the mid and smaller banks where the consolidation needs to happen anyways. but i do think over time you'll see some of the regionals converge. there simply are too many banks in the country, and i think we can eliminate some of the extra opportunities that are there and just really kind of hone in on a much more consolidated industry in the next 5-10 years. taylor: like who? what names? >> so i think you have regional banks whether it be comerica or first horizon that i think are interesting that could be part of a bigger organization. they've got great depositses and a really good fingerprint that other banks would be interested in. at some point you could consider whether key corp. which was recapitalized this summer, you know, would be acquired by another bank. you know, that could be a few years away, but that's also part of, i think, bringing in the canadians a few months ago. certainly, you could see wells

fargo considered to be a buyer if the as asset cap were lifted x that's also on the table, and they could become a player to create another multitrillion dollar organization. a. taylor: we talked a lot about stress within the regional banking sector, the moral hazard of guaranteeing all deposits even above the fdithe do you sen the regional banking sector? -- due to. >> i think it's going to be limited. i think the credit issues in this industry are not zero, but i also think they're mostly solvable. most of these banks are extremely profitable, and they're box to become more profitable with rising margins and spread income as we talked about. so that's going to lead to a lot of cash flow to fund provision and reserves if and when they need it. i think what happens this year is mostly recognizing the risk and chargeoffs the banks have to to get rid of. could be in commercial real estate and probably also in --

which tends to have higher losses over time. all that will play through without disrupting the system. i think more of the consolidation has to do with taking out costs, removing competitors and kind of being a much more, i would say, focused industry with more focused players in the next 5-10 years. taylor: i wanted to ask about commercial real estate. are my fierce totally overblown when -- fears totally overblown when i see there's no way these companies who are saddled with debt and the valuations for these commercial buildings aren't what they were five years ago? how much of that is overblown? >> there's more leverage in the market which tends to lead to the data becoming negative for msbs -- cmbs, and everyone assumes it's a corollary to the banks. the banks have some issues, but i the banks tend to lend high 50s, low 60s in terms of cents on the dollar, so they have less out.

and i think you're going to see some of the other folks, mezzanine and equity holders, get wiped out with the banks taking less of a loss. the the banks have reserved a fair amount for commercial real estate already, and i think you're going to see them come through relatively unstated -- can unscathed, but it doesn't mean they have issues, they certainly do. think you're going to see a office space get charged down and a lot of new issues that may come up this year will get funded out of cash flow. taylor: well, love the conversation. chris, thank you so much and happy new year. >> you as well. thanks a million. taylor: meanwhile, the a.i -- a.i. powered the market fireworks in 2024. which stocks will make a pop in the new year? today's countdown closer todd horowitz has a few ideas. he's sharing them in a moment. and getting your financial house in order appears more americans

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taylor: you're looking live at new york city's times square, more than a million spectators are expected to watch the ball drop and ring in the new year, many of them want to improve themselves in the new year as well. according to consumer insights, the top new year's resolution so to save more money followed by eating healthier, exercising more, losing weight, and rounding out the top five, spending more time with family and friends. now, that makes sense as people want to save money, right, in the new year. data shows u.s. credit card loans and credit card debt hit the highest levels since 2010. that's where we're to going with jeff flock. he has the details on exactly how much americans are in debt. >> reporter: oh, it's only about a trillion dollars, taylor. and t getting so bad that that banks are increasingly now writing those credit card debts down as unrecoverable. take a look at the latest numbers on that, $46 billion with a b written off in the first three quarters of 2024.

and that is an increase, a huge increase, of 50%. since last year. it's the highest rate since the 2008 recession. it's different in different parts of the country. states with the highest debt can, that would be alaska, $8,514 per user. maryland, new york and new jersey if also top thing the list, over $8,000 a user. folks at wallet hub compiling that. the focus at lending tree interviewed -- folks at lending tree interviewed folks after christmas. they found that 36% of people went into credit card debt for christmas, to pay for it. 60% of those, they say, are stressed about it. maybe,ed be more. 4 2% say they regret the amount of money that they spent over christmas. and what is the can cost, bottom line cost, to people who are carrying credit card tet? well, in the last year $170 billion with a b is how much we spent because we carried a

balance and a had to pay interest on it. and that, of course, is a benefit to the big banks. the top credit card lenders, j -- jpmorgan, capital one, bank of america. that's good news for them, perhaps, but not if good news for those of us with debt. taylor? taylor: gotta get spending under control. jeff flock, thank you so much. meanwhile, the closing bell just about three and a half minutes away. take a look here, you have the major averages, they're set to close the last trading day of the year. a little bit here to the downside to the tune of one-half to maybe even 1%. it was a mixed picture for the month of december. the dow, the s&p 500 met with a little bit of the grinch. santa brought joy to the nasdaq for the second straight month. but again, remember, the major averages enjoyed a wonderful ride for the year. the dow, the s&p 500, nasdaq all up for the second year in a row. you see that that 12-30%. the s&p 500, as we've been

mentioning, enjoying two straight the years of 20% gains. the nasdaq was up more than 29% as well for the second straight the year. that's where we're going next because the new year, usually a time for optimism, right in our countdown closer says 2025 the could have a lot of the same problems as 2024 especially when it comes to inflation. he also shares his insight on his picks to get you through the tough times ahead. joining us now, the host of the bubba show, todd "bubba" horowitz. great to have you. look, at the top of the show, my opener said he's looking for a 10-15 correction in the new year. do you feel the same? >> hi, taylor. yeah, i do look for the same. in fact, i'm probably looking for a little bit more. we have so much debt and, unfortunately, although the fed has been cutting rates, the debt is not coming down. our rates as a borrower are going up, so the only one who's benefits -- benefiting is the big banks, not only -- on the

debt the the consumer has to pay. i think when these credit card bills come due after the first of the year, we're going to see big problems. taylor: talk to me about smci. it has been very volatile this year. why does it look good for next year? >> i think they've had a nice amount of bad news this year. they had a lot of can accounting problems and issues, and they've taken a big hit. they still make money and, of course, the stock is at about 90% of where it was at one point. of it was equal to its split at 300. it's now 30. i think it has a real great play, and a lot of stocks will bomb well before the markets -- bottom before the markets start to bottom. i think this is a great play. it's a great low risk, high reward potential play here. taylor: 30 seconds, you also like coe terra energy. why? >> well, they're a big player in the permian basin, they're a big player in shale, and if trump

gets what he wants and we start shipping lng, they're a big player in the natural gas field p. so it's a company that a makes money, got a nice dividend, and i think they can only get bigger. and if we go to our own energy, they start making more money. taylor: and ten seconds, a.i., here to stay? >> yeah, of course it's here to stay. unfortunately, we'd better fix our power grid but, yeah, it is here to stay. taylor: instead of 8 p.m., it's only 9 or 10 p.m. now of the party that goes i'll 4 a.m. todd horowitz, thank you so much. all right, you guys, that's it. that's the very last show of 2024. the marks are closing -- markets are close closing. happy new year to everyone. we're it willing bit to the -- little bit to the downside, but for the year, it's been wonderful. that's it fo