maria: welcome back. 30 minutes before the opening bell for a thursday, let's check markets. down a 154 on the dow industrials. final thoughts, mark tepper. >> i'm going to to buy some palantir today. down 10% yesterday, down 3 in the premarket due to projected pentagon spending cut, but when you're trying to do more with less, you need a.i. maria: i like it. michael balboni. >> donald trump is trying to settle the wars in gaza and ukraine, it's a good move. maria: you would think. we all want peace. >> and i think birthright citizenship is going to end. i believe the supreme court's going to reset american values, culture and make sure that americans get american jobs, citizenship -- maria: all right. we'll see you tomorrow, everybody. "varney & company" picks it up. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, everyone. the cuts and the doge revelations coming thick and

fast. two blockbusters in the last 24 hours. the president told secretary hegseth to cut 8% from the defense budget in each of the next 5 years. no one was expecting draconian measures like that, least of all republicans. overnight the president ordered an end to using taxpayer money to incentivize or support illegal migrants. no sign the doge guys are letting up on their war on wasteful spending. by the way, in part two of the trump-musk interview with sean hannity, musk said, quote, if we don't get control of the debt, the country will go bankrupt. overseas trump calls ukraine's zelenskyy a dictator. he continues his tilt towards russia. he has reversed america's relationship with putin, and it's the not going down well. the media, even some republicans, are critical of this new world order, but at this stage nobody else has any plan to end the bloodshed. let's get to the markets, and we're going to start with

walmart which reported earlier this morning. as so often happens, the sting is in the tail. on the call the company offered weak guidance for the future. the stock is now down 5.5%. that's not the helping the rest of the markets. the dow industrials down 140, about 50 points accounted for by walmart's decline. s&p down 15, nasdaq down 44. interest rates edging a little lower. we have the 10-year treasury just above 4.5%, 4.5. the 2-year right around 4.25 again, 4.27 the is the number. bitcoin, $97,000, 97,5, to be precise. next, on the show today the president lays out his plan to give back to to taxpayers 20% of the doge savings. it's a kind of doge dividend. split opinion here. some want all the a savings to pay down debt, others want their money back. the president wants to end new york's congestion pricing which

charges drivers for driving in certain parts of the city. trump posted that he had, quote, saved the city. long live the king, he said. congestion pricing is unpopular. killing it surely enhances the president's standing in a democrat-leaning city. here's something new, microsoft has created what they are calling a new state of matter. it's another breakthrough on the road to the quantum computing. not that much impact on the stock so far, however. here's one last one for you. the mayor of los angeles, karen because, she was famously in -- karen bass, she was famously in africa when the l.a. fires broke out. in her first postfire interview, he blames staffers -- she blames staffers for not warning her not to go. thursday, february the 20th, 2025, varney "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ if. ♪ ♪

♪ cruising and playing the radio with no particular place to go ♪ [laughter] stuart: you almost caught me sing ising on camera. i do like chuck berry. he gets you going. >> he does. but we have a particular place to go, and it's right here, mr. varney. stuart: all right. you want me to get started. >> noshes i'm just saying -- no, i'm just saying i'm happy to be the here. stuart: we're going to start with the latest waste exposed by doge. president trump gave us a rundown of some of what they found so far. bear with us, it's a long and sometimes shocking list. watch. >> just some taken at random, $2 million for sex change operations in guatemala. $20 million for sesame street performances in iraq are. $20 million the? if $101 million for 29 diversity, equity and inclusion contracts at the department of education. $520 million for a consultant --

i want to know who is that consultant. of. [laughter] to do esg. $that 25 million to promote biodiversity, conservation and developing socially responsible behavior in colombia with. $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. nobody knows what that even means. [laughter] stuart: nor me. trump says it's just the tip of the iceberg. there are fresh revelations every day. looks to me like the blood gates are open. -- floodgates are open. the trump administration already faces 74 lawsuits, 3 3 of which have been filed against with doge. joining me now is shannon bream. shannon, will these lawsuits slow the president down? >> they might, stu. i mean, we know that there are certain judges who have already issued some injunctions or at least temporarily putting these things on pause. but the trump administration is not going to slow down fit

doesn't have to. they've already appealed at least one of these cases to the supreme court. we're waiting, we could get a ruling at any point now on this decision to the fire a top official and what the trump administration says is, listen, if a lower court can stop me from firing people within the executive branch and doing the work of the presidency, it's going to not only harm me, but the presidency as a whole more long term.we stuart: the president from said, look, he's open to using some of the money saved by doge to put out dividend checks. watch this, saab nonto. >> we give 20% of the doge savings to american citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt. by doing this, americans will tell us where there is waste. they'll be reporting it themselves. they participate in the process of saving money. stuart: shannon, is this another item that democrats could block through the courts? >> i would not be surprised if they would try to do it, but they'll have to turn around and

look over the biden and obama and other democratic administrations. there have been times in which money has been given back, stimulus checks or other things with the current president's name on them. every president knows that that hits the mailbox of a person and at a time heir struggling still with inflation and gas and eggs andall of these things, it makes a real world connection for people to get that check in their hands and say, oh, pan, i'll be able to -- manage i'll be able to breathe a little easier for a month or two. but there are those who say, no, let's put it toward debt and deficit, let's not turn the it back with to the american people. it sounds like the president is considering something that would do a little bit of both. stuart: it sounds like at some point everything goes to the supreme court, and they make the ruling on the whole lot are. is that right? >> yeah, i think a lot of these cases. and, of course, you know, our viewers know the supreme court doesn't have to to take any if case. it is that last court of jurisdiction, and they only take

maybe 70 cases a year for their term. so they can't possibly if take every single one of these, you know, disputes that's coming to them, but they can probably take the biggest of the big that will really possibly if shape the contours of the executive branch's power. stuart: the big deal. han nonbream, we're going to -- shannon bream, we're going to watch you every sunday on "fox news sunday is." senate republicans moving forward with their budget reconciliation plan. it does not include the extension of the trump tax cuts. good morning, lauren. what's trump saying? lauren: he stunned senate republicans by endorsing the house's one-bill approach -- stuart: that's got the tax cut. lauren: the house resolution implements my full america first agenda. everything, not just parts of it. still, the senate gop forging ahead with their two-bill approach, leaving the tax cuts for later. majority leader john thune says the president likes optionality.

there is concern the house cannot pass a budget resolution with a one-seat margin. that's it. the house is in recess, but they do want their bill on the floor next week. we shall see. stuart: we shall, indeed. thanks, lauren. check futures, please. 20-odd minutes to go before the opening bell. i'm seeing some red for the dow, not much red for the s&p and the nasdaq. adam johnson with us in this morning. >> yes, sir. stuart: what does the market do if we e do not get trump's tax cuts extended in the immediate future? >> it falls immediately, stabilizes and then comes back. and here's the logic behind that. a tax cut is good for even, right? so is enthining -- enshrining the current tax cuts because it spends more money in people's pockets, and they spend it. fine. if you don't get that, that's a negative. the reason i don't think it matters much longer term is because, stuart, in the past quarter that's just been reported, we talk about these earnings reports each week, what

we are finding is not only has profit growth accelerated to 13% year-over-year, but margins for the s&p 500 also tracking 13% per year. that combination hasn't happened since 2021 when we came out of covid. that's why the market is making new highs, that's why the market's trading at 22 times earnings and, ultimately, i think that matters more than the squabbling in washington over tax cuts. stuart: okay. let's talk walmart. everything was fine. strong earning report, then came the call. a pretty weak outlook. what does that tell you about the consumer in 2025 the? >> that's a bit of a caution. flag, cautionary flag. and yet look what we've gotten from booking holdings, which is travel, expedia, delta airlines. people have discretionary -- the wynn resorts, another one. in other words, these places where people can spend their money on stuff they don't need, right? traveling, dining out, etc., they're spending that money.

so while on the one hand you look at wal-mart and you say, yeah, that's not great, maybe people are getting squeezed, there's enough disposable income because, remember, unemployment's down 4% -- lauren: i was just on the walmart call, and certain categories -- automotive, toys and patio -- up more than 20%. so the walmart if customer is there, they're just shopping in a certain way. stuart: walmart was down about 8% an hour ago, now it's down 4.5%. maybe the market's i thinking their conclusionings. >> translator: well, and this is interesting, stuart, because over the past three months we have seen three one-day declines of 3%, ask and four days later the market completely recouped those losses. the point being there's money on the sidelines, and when companies like walmart get hit, there are people out there who buy them. people like me, by the way. stuart: there you go. [laughter] coming up, a new house gop report claims nearly a half

trillion dollars has been spent on illegal migrants since biden took office a. president trump calling president zelenskyy a dictator. this is the start of a new era of u.s.-russia relations. former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, kurt volker, is going to to handle that next. ♪ ♪ (husband) we just want to have enough money for retirement. (wife) and travel to visit our grandchildren. (fisher investments) i understand. that's why at fisher investments we start by getting to know each other. so i can learn about your family, lifestyle, goals and needs, allowing us to tailor your portfolio. (wife) what about commission- based products? (fisher investments) we don't sell those. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in your best interest. (husband) so how do your management fees work? (fisher investments) we have a transparent fee, structured so we do better when you do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.

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stuart: there's some red in the futures, especially the dow, off 142 points. i should point out -- walmart is down, a dow stock, that's taking 35 points off the a dow. not that much. hamas, well, they've returned the remains of four israeli hostages.

greg palkot joins me now. what's netanyahu saying about in this, greg? >> reporter: well, he's saying it's shocking, it's sad and a lot of people are saddened all across this country. it was a sad and somber day here in israel. this is the first of the deceased israeli hostages to be released in this phase one of the latest ceasefire agreement. the highest profile, the family of 32-year-old mother and wife shiri and her two sons, 4-year-old ariel and 9 month-old ka fixer r, both of them the youngest hostages taken by hamas. tear father was also captured, but he was released alive earlier this month. hamas claims without evidence the family was killed in an israeli airstrike. for the nation, the plight over these long months have embodied all of the hostages' suffering.

the remains of a retired journalist also transfer thed. perhaps most significant isly, an important peace activist, aid aing palestinians inside gaza with their medical needs. of after another pop began da displaying gaza is by hamas if including a stage, poster, militants, a crowd, you name, the coffins were brought by the red cross the an idf military location where they were draped with israeli flags and a small funeral service was offered. then the convoy of vehicles a headed north towards tel aviv with well wishers lining the road offering their own personal recognition of the huge sacrifices made. the remains are now not far from where we are at a forensic center here in the tel aviv area for final confirmation. well wishers were there too. israel ally prime minister netanyahu said this would be a shocking day for the country. it was, indeed.

israeli president herzog asked for forgiveness on behalf of israel to the hostages and the families. well felt sentiments coming from president herring sog. let me wrap up this, stuart, with a recap of what we're expecting in the next couple of days. six living hostages set to be released on saturday, four more deceased hostages to be handed over next week. still, talks regarding phase two of the agreement with promise of many more hostages to be released which was set to begin next month, that a phase has not even really started. so there's still very much a long haul ahead of us on a very sad day, stuart. back to you. stuart: indeed. greg palkot, thank you very much. president trump, he went after zelenskyy's handling of the war in ukraine. watch. >> i love ukraine, but zelenskyy has done a terrible job. his country is shattered, and millions and millions of people have unnecessarily died.

you can't bring a war to an end if you don't tuck to both sides. you've got to talk. today haven't been talking for three years -- they haven't been talking. so we hope to see a ceasefire soon to reestablish stability in europe and the middle east. stuart: former u.s. ambassador to nato, kurt volker, joins me now. this is a new era are of u.s.-russia relations, or it seems like it. where's this new relationship going? >> it's too early to say. i think what president trump is trying to do is indicate a little bit of pressure on russia through sanctions and energy prices, but at the same time dangling some carrots for russia. and it was striking to me that when the teams met in saudi arabia, they left with four agreed principles, three of them about a u.s.-russia relations. rather than only one about ending the war in ukraine, and that one was just that they're going to to establish negotiating teams. so it seems like we've got to do

a bit more on the side of pushing russia to actually end the war. stuart: but does anyone if else have a plan to end the bloodshed expect killing in ukraine? a firm, viable plan? anybody else got one? if. >> no one has one, including the u.s. add administration. there is no plan. what people are doing is trying to get the pieces in place so that people understand the need to end the car. putin -- the war. putin still thinks that he can take over ukraine, eliminate ukraine as a country, so we need to convince putin that it's not worth it so he stops. zelenskyy has already indicated many times he's ready to end the fighting part, phase -- you know, the hot phase of the war and have a ceasefire and then worry about getting territory back later, but putin is still interested in fighting. the only thing that will convince him is pressure to show that it's going to be too costly. and i think that that has not yet been done. stuart: what does china think

about all of this? are they, perhaps, emboldened to go after i taiwan? >> china's waiting and watching. if they see that russia succeeds in taking over ukraine or the u.s. backs down or europe backs down, i think they'll be encouraged. but at the same time, president trump is pretty unpredictable, so i don't think they're just going to leap into action. i think they're going to keep watching. stuart: the president is unpredictable, i think that's the understatement of the decade, mr. ambassador, but you made it. thank you very much, kurt volker. see you again soon. adam johnson, i want him to comment if on a little politics here as it relates to the market. >> yeah. stuart: is the market worried about the tariffs we're going to impose on china and everybody else? >> well, it is, and yet it's such a work in progress, no one knows how it's going to to play out. and, in fact, if you saw in the if journal this morning, there's even talk about -- well, mr. trump said late yesterday that a maybe there's some sort of, quote, deal that can be made with china. so my, my view, stuart, is that all the talk about tariffs is

simply posturing. it's the gamesmanship that's happening behind the scenes that that's trying to force issues. think of what we've already seen. when mr. trump wanted both mexico and canada to enforce their own borders and they said no, fine, i'll slap tariffs on you. within one day they each decided, well, in mexico it would be remain in mexico, and canada committed to putting mounties on the border. a similar is thing happened with colombia. we wanted to try and send colombians back to colombia, the plane was not allowed to to land are. mr. trump said, fine, 100% tariffs on anything out of colombia, fine, the plane can land. same thing with europe. they put a 10% tariff on any u.s.-made car coming into europe, and we only put a 2.5% tariff, so he threatened more tariffs on europe, and europe said, fine, we'll drop it to 2.5%, same as you. it's a bargaining tool. i think the market seeing it as that, and that's why we're not

if down the way we were back in 2016 when he first s.t.a.r.t.ed talking about tariffs. -- started talking about tariffs. stuart: who's elon going of after this time? lauren: all the money that's going to ukraine. conservative commentator, charlie kirk, he posted on x, let's pull it up. thank you. now it's time for elon and doge to audit the money we sent to ukraine with. here you go, and then the elon musk's one-word reply getting a lot of attention, okay. president trump said the u.s. has given $350 billion to ukraine, congress has approved five aid packages for country. those total $175 billion. the ukrainian president says his country has received just part of that, and and republican senator josh hawley is calling for a full audit of our ukraine aid so is, clearly, this is ripe for an audit, for doge. stuart: they're going after a everything. lauren: everything. stuart: lauren, thank you very much, indeed. quick look at futures. we're in the red at this moment.

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stuart: check futures, still got that red on the screen but not that much. d.r. barton joining us this morning. d.r., you've got two stocks a the you like, arista that networks and asml. you've no idea the number of people who have come on this

program and recommended those two stocks bigtime. it reminds if me of nvidia and palantir. what's so is good about a arista that and a a sml? >> stuart, i think they're doing two the different things that we really need in the age of a.i. and coming quantum computing. and what they do, asml makes the machine this is that make chips. -- machines that a this make chips. so i think they're positioned in a good place. and as an investor, their stock has been going kind of sideways, not shooting off the top of the the chart like some others. so is that's a good thing for us. arista networks, they're the nuts and bolts of the internet. they do a lot of things like old school cisco did back in the day. so they both are providing a different play that's not just nvidia with, that's not just palantir. stuart: you think those two stocks, arista that and the other one, should be core

holdings for people? >> i think both of them could be and and should be core holdings. i think the reason, stuart, one of the good reasons especially for asml, it's a european-based stock. i sent you some pretty graphics in my notes this showed how europe has been outperforming recently, playing catch-up9 with the u.s. i think that will continue. so i think, yes, they could be core holdings for us. stuart: got it. d.r., sorry to cut it short today, but i've got a lot of news to to go after. you know how that can be. have fun, d.r., make some money, and we'll see you soon. let's transfer our attention to your screens where we have the big board and the nasdaq composite. the bell rings, 10 seconds to the opening of trading. the guy's going to reach forward, press that button any second now, here we go. boom. we're off a, we're running. we're opening on the downside for the dow, looks like about 177 points, that's .40% thus

far. with we do have walmart is a dow stock, and that is down. doesn't show up on your screen, but it is down. walmart shedding 35 points off the dow industrials. is there are a few other big losers. the s&p 500, that that has opened on the downside to the tune of .2%. the nasdaq composite, that's opened on the downside to the tune of .4%. red across -- .14%, red across the screen. big tech, we have apple, microsoft if up. alphabet, amazon, meta down. i want to get more details on walmart. good morning manying, taylor. >> good morning. stuart: they just reported their earnings. they were pretty strong. then the call came along, and the stock went down. >> i'll have the experts weigh in this is an overreaction, but frankly, i didn't see that. yes, you're guiding lower revenue and profit for the year, they're still looking at 3-4% growth versus 5% growth last year. a lot of executives on the call came out and said they would describe the consumer as steady.

that seems good to me. they did add that spending is far from if a complete rebound. okay, we know that, right? inflation has been hurting the middle and low income class. general merchandise sales are improving and demand from the holiday season was with in line with what we expected. i think a lot of people are saying -- after a 70-80% runup in the stock last year, maybe expectations were high going into the print. stuart: got it. palantir down bigtime yesterday, down again 7% this morning. ouch. what's going on? >> yeah. look, there are reports that the department of defense wants to cut the budget 8% annually for the next 5 years. we know palantir has been so tied to to defense spending. interesting, we'll is have to to see, does pal. en tier and a.i. help -- palantir and a.i. help improve productivity, or do they actually start to see cuts? a lot of analysts reiterating $200 prison targets because they think palantir -- price targets -- can win in this environment is but certainly a

lot of questions about defense spending. stuart: adam, that 8% cut in even of the next 5 years for the defense budget, that came as a real shock. >> i tell you what's even more shocking for me as an investor, palantir trades at over 200 times earnings. so you can buy palantir for 200 times or buy nvidia for 30 times. which would you rather own? i'll take nvidia. i don't own palantir, i kick myself because i remember when it was 8, and i didn't buy it and i could have and should have, but up here at 200 times earnings, no thank you. stuart: taylor, this is a difficult one for you. [laughter] tell me about microsoft's new matter that's going to be used towards or quantum computing. is there think way you can explain new matter? >> i know. i need to go back to probably engineering or science school or whatever it is. i think my brain was a little bit more in the math part, but met me try to tell you what i have gleaned from this. so, yes, microsoft came out and and said they have a new chip that shows that the quantum computing, basically, is a lot

closer than we thought. years, maybe not decades. now, quantum computers, we know, have the programs of carrying out calculations what they are saying would take, in what today would be, like, millions of years, and they can do it a lot faster than that. the fundamental building block of quantum computers, and you and i have talked about this before, is called the cue bit. extremely difficult to control, prone to errors, but microsoft saying that the major on a one chip less prone the these errors than rivals'. so, again, who was it, the nvidia ceo, jensen huang, said quantum could be decades away? microsoft saying maybe not, maybe closer to years rather than decades. stuart: okay. not bad -- >> how did i do? if. [laughter] >> a for effort. i still can't understand what quantum computing does and a.i. doesn't, but i think, taylor, you win the award. you explained it pretty well. stuart: we're going to move on to the a winner.

alibaba, i think, is a winner this morning. they had their earning report, last time i checked alibaba was up -- whoa, 11%. >> really strong. within the a.i. cloud are business, really strong. they are the a.i. cloud leader in china, and it's working. stuart: wayfakeer online turnishing.. -- wayfair. >> this is interesting, the stock is up 7%. they had a loss of 25 cents, expectations were a loss of 2 cents per share. highlighting a really weak economy in europe, but they said revenue if was really good. and so if people are buying,, they can manage the income that statement later. stuart: hasbro. >> okay. you are not buying enough "star wars" action figures or nerf if guns, or maybe you are because the stock has really turned around from the premarket. they are forecasting 2025 revenue below expectations, but they are that targeting a a $1 billion cost savings program through 2027 in a new strategic

plan. stuart: got it. how is costco -- i believe they've been talking about this -- how is costco using artificial intelligence? >> you know, it's called the travel port where a company that they have partnered with that basically louse you to search for flights -- allows you to search for flights that they're saying is more efficient, faster and gives you better results. stuart: that's it? >> that that's kind of it. stuart: costco's one of your favorite -- the favorite retailer. >> yeah. i don't own it a because i'm a growth investor. while costco is growing, it's not the same thing. i'd rather own nvidia, marvell, etc. it's a heck of a company. stuart: one last one, taylor. carvana, they're down sharply after their earning report. what's the problem? >> they're offering a share sale of up to a billion dollars which means more supply of shares. the lower the price goes, all else being equal. otherwise though, they actually beat on the top and bottom line. analysts are actually raising the price target saying they provided a lot of evidence of

sustainability in some of the the unit exhibition as this company has begun -- economics as this company has begun to scale. stuart: it's called dilution. >> see? you did well on that a one. stuart: we're going to she -- see you on "the big money show" at noon. thanks very much, indeed. adam's brought along his stock pick, the thing is down 4%, super micro. >> yeah. it was trade rahing at $30 last week, now it's 57. stuart: okay, point taken. >> my target, stuart, is 190. stuart: why? >> okay. very simple, the company guided up 60% growth this year and next year, that that a gets you to 583 in earnings next year, you put a33 multiple on that, it takes you to $193. nvidia, for example, trades at 32 times, marvell technology trades at 50 times, etc. so what happened with this stock, and look at -- look at that chart. it went as high as 123 and then

went down to 19? if so the company was wrongfully accused, as it turns out, of accounting irregularities. an external investigation cleared the company two weeks ago, and and management came out and guided up. the founder and ceo guided up that the 60% this year and next year. he said, in fact, i think i'm being conservative. so so the stock trades at 12 times earnings. 12 times earnings. that is so cheap because it got so punished. and the short seller that put the report out, hindenburg research, by the way, has since closed its doors, out of business. stuart: ouch. >> ouch is right. super micro, i'm buying aggressively. it's a volatile name. 2% of capital, maybe 3%, not more. you don't need to be a hero, but you want to participate. stuart: got it. adam a, thank you. coming up, democrat congresswoman jasmine crockett says voters who like trump need to be better educated. >> soon you will understand -- [applause] why it's important to maybe have

somebody that isn't loud and ridiculous and maybe sleepy joe is what we wanted because we could at least sleep at night. stuart: oh, dear. marc thiessen, i can't wait to put him on the show, because i know he's got something to to say about that, and he will. trump says elon musk was the only man who could lead doge. >> our country was in serious trouble, and i had to get the best guy, somebody with credibility. this will be the biggest thing he's ever done. stuart: that's for sure. of. [laughter] no wonder he picks him. we'll have more on that later. and we've been talking about walmart's earnings. what does it reveal about the strength of the consumer in 2025 the? the stock is down 6% now. gerald storch after this. ♪ if i think it's gonna be all right, all right. ♪ everything will always be all right ♪

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looking at them. $97 a share, down 6.5% as we speak. our retail, go-to guy is gerald storch, and he's on the show right now. gerald, strong earnings from walmart, but they forecast a weak future. because this stock deserve to be down 6.5%? >> look, they're up 83% over the last 52 weeks. heir knocking it out of the ballpark -- they're knock it out of the ballpark. hay had a fantastic fourth quarter. seam-store -- same-store sales were up almost 5% in the u.s. what would you do? issue a conservative guidance. i wrote this last night, many believe guidance will be conservative. guess what? that's what they did. it doesn't mean anything. the business is doing great, so it has nothing to do with the consumer except insofar as one of the reasons walmart is doing so well is that the consumer remains stressed by inflation and rising debt loads. and when that happens, they shop at wal-mart, even more after a

fluent customers. -- affluent. so i think they're set is up perfectly for the year. stuart: i always a think of walmart in direct competition with amazon. i think there is a competition between the two. who's winning? >> look, they're both winning. tear two of the greatest retailers -- they're two of the greatest retailers in the world right now, and they're both global and both doing great. amazon was up 34% over the last 52 weeks, their stock. they continue to capture huge market share. so they're two of the kind of the golden four i keep talking to you about a, stu. i would add in besides walmart and amazon, costco and tj, and as big winners that are taking massive market share from everyone else -- tjx. walmart's e-commerce was up 20% last quarter, so they're doing just fine. stuart: what are they doing so well, the fabulous four? >> well, they're offering value in an economy and environment where value is critical to everyone.

and then the you have the case of of walmart and amazon who are both doing great on the internet as well. tjx isn't really an internet if company, isn't that amazing? tjx, you've got to go to the store and and do the treasure hunt, but they continue to perform like clockwork year after year after year. stuart: how are the retailers handling the threat of trump's tariffs in are they bulking up beforehand, stocking up? are hay prepared? >> the bigger retailers are ready. walmart said on their call today they're ready for this. the sky is not falling. the impact of these tariffs, whatever they're going to be, we don't really know yet, is not going to be anywhere near as heavy or as bad as people are talking about. if first of all, smart retailers have been pressuring their suppliers. hay did that with the first donald trump tariffs years ago to make sure they can keep the costs down. secondly, they're moving production to lower tariff places domestically, and thirdly, there are substitutes for many of these products, and ask they're searching those out.

it won't be nearly as bad as what the sort of title tariff percent is. it'll be a fraction of that. retailers aren't going to like it was it's change and it's -- because it's change and it's work. they'll complain about it and lobbiest e -- against it, but they're going to do just fine anyway. they'll take more share. stuart: always like it. richard a -- gerald storch, thanks very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. stuart: coming up, the doge guys digging in and the examples of wasteful spending are spilling out. s the trump and musk purging the entire bureaucracy. that's going to be my take, top of the hour. speaking of government waste, doge just revealed that schools spent nearly $200 billion of covid funds with little or no oversight. for an example, $400,000 spent the rent out a baseball stadium. we'll ask former education secretary betsy devos if she knew about that kind of spending when she was energy -- education

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stuart: doge calling out schools for how they spend federal covid relief money. listen to some of the things they spent the money on. for example, $393,000 to rent out a major league baseball stadium? $86,000 on caesar's palace are hotel rooms, vegas. and $60,000 on swimming pool passes. former education secretary betsy devos joins me now. madam secretary, did you know anything about a spending of this kind when you were education secretary? >> well, absolutely not, stuart. and it's just another example of why the federal department of education should not exist. when school union bosses kept schools shut down for months on end and extracted $190 billion from congress for learning loss and instead we see it going to activities and things like you have just pointed out, there is zero result, zero

accountability. and the accountability we see is children's achievement levels continuing to decline. when 70 president of our fourth -- 70% of our fourth graders cannot read at a grade level, something is fundamentally wrong. i'm very pleased that this doge is getting into all of these numbers, and i think it will continue to put momentum behind the call to to dismantle the department of education. stuart: i want to take a look at some of the things the which we may have settled in the education arena. for example, have we settled the issue of biological boys in girls' bathrooms in schools? have we settled that? >> i think president trump's been very clear on that, and i think the implementation of that and the expectation is that every school and every community will take that executive order very seriously. if there's any question about it, congress has every opportunity to clarify that in the title ix law which is 37 if

words long. adding the word biological there should put an end to this, you know, absolutely. if that's necessary. but i think most people are very much embracing of making this distinction and clarifying it for anybody who has any, any muddled notion about it. stuart: and if any district goes through with it and and has biological boys in a girls' bathroom, presumably, we can grab back federal funds. is that how it's going to work? >> that is every -- yes. there is every opportunity to do that, and i think that this administration will clearly pursue that avenue if necessary. stuart: how about cell phones until schools? is that a settled issue? >> well, many districts and states are actually looking at bans in schools, and there's lots of testing of that. i think in the places where it has been implemented it's been

well received,i think we'll see more and more of that. i think it's best done at the local and state level, and i think we'll see more and more districts and more and more states adopting this kind of parameter or boundary around a cell phone usage in schools. stuart: betsy devos, come back and see us again soon, please. all right. let's take a check of those markets, please. coming up on the 10:00 hour. there's plenty of red now. dow's off 270, nasdaq's down 166. that that's plenty of red. adam a, thanks for sticking around for the hour, we appreciate it. still ahead, more on the market slide. south dakota senator mike rounds on trump wanting a tax cut extension in the budget reconciliation bill, but the senate does not. we're trying to figure that one out. former acting dhs secretary chad wolf on how the agency's planning to crack down on i.c.e. raid leaks using lie detectors in if and marc thiessen responds to to democrat jasmine

crockett's claim that we're going to wish we had sleepy joe in office again. florida congressman carlos gimenez on the idea of doge dividend payments.e 10:00 hour . ♪ -- changes in latitude, changes in attitude -- ♪ nothing remains quite the same ♪ ...

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