ashley webster, meantime joins us first from the new york stock exchange. let's go through some big winners on pretty big day, ashley? >> pretty big day. the 18th, ho-hum, record close of 2016 for the dow. as you mentioned nine since donald trump won the election. take a look at financial sector. they were a huge winner in november. certainly after trump victory and starting off the new year in the same vain, new month, december 1st. goldman sachs up 3 1/2%. jpmorgan, pretty impressive. look at retailers who really struggled today. dollar general, down 5 1/2%. you can see there, guess, the apparel retailer down 10%. and express, again smashing its guidance for the year. really getting punished down more than $2.72, down 20% on the day. not good news for retailers, at least some of them. back to you. connell: thank you, ashley. melissa: oil continues the rally. seeing the biggest two-day gain since january. investors think the opec deal is for really guess. >> it is for real, if you don't believe it, a lot of people saying the deal isn't for real and same peo

ashley webster from fox business network joins us live from the floor of the new york stock exchange.t's quite a story, what can you tell us about this report? >> well, it's interesting, but as with everything else with china, melissa, we just don't know who this automaker is. a large u.s. automaker. well, we asked ford, the head of pacific operations for ford simply said, we're unaware of this issue. general motors said in a statement after this news came out, gm fully respects local laws and regulations wherever we operate, we do not comment on media speculation. now, let's be honest about this, china has in the past gone after other automakers for what it calls price rigging. basically trying to run a monopoly. they've gone after audi, mercedes, diamond, even toyota. so the question is who is the u.s. automaker? we don't know. let's not forget, melissa, all of this, of course, amid the tough words from president-elect donald trump when it comes to dealing with china. >> i mean, we do so much business with them. this feels like it is really what you just said, a response to what's g

ashley webster is in. ashley: wherever she goes, that's how popular she is. good morning, i'm ashley webster in for stuart this morning. here are big stories that we are following, of course, dow 20,000, it could finally be here. tired of saying it, us 55 points away. that's why we have 55 in the middle of the screen. consumers are more confident than in 15 years. and donald trump is taking credit for that. secretary of state john kerry about to make a speech on his vision for peace between israel and palestine weeks before obama is set to leave office. president obama planning new sanctions for russia, retaliation for so-called election interference, but amazon reporting its best holiday period ever, more than a billion items shipped. that is a lot. "varney & company" begins right now. ♪ >> ♪ babe, i got you babe ♪ ♪ i got you babe ♪ >> sonny and cher. remember that song? of course, bill murray, groundhog day. we're saying that because the dow can't make it up to the high higher. 41 points, could we get to the magic mark soon after ringing the opening bell.

i am ashley webster in for stuart. in two month, trombone please. what happened to hitting dow 20 k? there you go. we are up 7 points, 19 a 24. the price of oil basically flat. we had less than two trading days left in the year, we are going to limp into 2017, we are not going to hit 20 k yet. we are a day away from the new year's eve celebration in times square. how have the police ramped up security in the wake of the berlin christmas market attack? we have former new york city police talking to us about that. president obama has 22 days left in office and is doing his best to solidify his legacy. donald trump says he will try to undo it. our 3 of "varney and company" start right now. ashley: oil inventories, we like to keep track of things, up 1714,000 barrels, what is that mean? more in store? does it mean the price of oil goes down? we have opec, non-opec countries saying they are going to cut production at the beginning of the new year. oil has been moving higher. >> we expected a decline. you get a surprise incr

we will send it over to ashley webster. the conversation never ends.he future commander-in-chief is hard at work. the hot topic. we have seen a steady stream of a national defense experts. smile, wave to the reporters and say nothing. there are meetings for president-elect donald trump. robert gates. the former un ambassador.

we will send it over to ashley webster. the conversation never ends. the future commander-in-chief is hard at work. the hot topic. we have seen a steady stream of a national defense experts. smile, wave to the reporters and say nothing. there are meetings for president-elect donald trump. robert gates. the former un ambassador. now these meetings, under one year anniversary of that deadly terror attack in san bernardino california. and one day after they made a surprise announcement at a rally in cincinnati. he will nominate the marine general as his secretary of defense. we have the foxbusiness all stars. meantime on wall street. they showed an increase of a hundred 78,000 jobs into the unemployment rate oh by the way. tiger woods is back. they bring it on the any and freddie. let's begin the count on. what a difference a single day makes. after clocking in another record close it now is staying in the red. flirting with session lows. if you can. they were the shining stars write about this time yesterday. wells fargo, bank of america. jc morgan. just

ashley webster is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. and, ashley, everyone expected the fed to raise rates so what was it that janet yellen said later you think spooked these markets the most? >> that's a good question. put away the 20-k hats for now. i think the fact they recognized that more stimulus to the economy may require more rate hikes. we put two next year. fed saying three an possibly more. that was kind of threw cold water on the rally. if you look at the chart, it went up a little bit right at 2:00. we knew the rate hike was coming in. when reality set in there women be at least three, maybe more, at least that's what the fed thinks, that's when banks and stocks that led the way started to dive down. you see that pretty well. pretty choppy afternoon to say the least. no doubt about it, there was sell youoff, selling on news and buying on rumor as they say down here. that was pretty much the story once we got word the fed was aware that the economy was heating up and maybe three rate hikes or maybe more could be in store. so

ashley webster's here along with jeff flock who's joining us and "countdown to the closing bell" hostz claman who's there at the nyse for part of this party. liz, it could still happen! hey, we've got a few minutes left on the clock before you take it, it could still happen in the two, it could happen in the three o'clock hour, but the expectation is at least it's going to happen before the end of the year? >> one more big headline, boom, this thing's going up. 80, we're about 84 points away, 83 points away from, of course, the big moment of dow 20,000. and i can't say the traders are vibrating here at the moment because they've seen this party before, and we haven't quite gotten in the door to dip into the punch bowl at the moment. but they are waiting. and what can i tell you, trish? for lack of any negative news headlines, we've got another rally on our hands, and the dow has hit a lifetime high. we're seeing real strength here. again, the russell's lagging. not the s&p though, it's up 14 points. trish: 92 points away or so. look, ashley, the big question, of course, is what happen

ashley webster is in. ashley: wherever she goes, that's how popular she is.ere are big stories that we are following, of course, dow 20,000, it could finally be here. tired of saying it, us 55 points away. that's why we have 55 in the middle of the screen. consumers are more confident than in 15 years. and donald trump is taking credit for that. secretary of state john kerry

let's bring in ashley webster. welcome back. and liz. ashley: the gang is back. liz: delighted.tuart: we've seen all kinds of records broken for the dow. give me the numbers how many since the election. ashley: there's a varney gain. stuart: varney gain. ashley: the dow is up 5% since donald trump won the election and let's not forget the night of the victory and the next day and early hours of november 9th. it dropped 800 points and we thought this is it, armageddon. up 15 of 19 sessions since he won and also, seeing 11 record closes of the dow in that time. i just want to mention the russell 2000. people don't generally talk about that. the smaller cap company. the true american companies who saw it as a huge win for them as well. 10 record closes since donald trump won the election. >> a rally. >> it's a trump rally that continues. >> i want to get back to the big speech last night. there was a big announcement. the mr. trump named james mattis to be secretary of defense. watch this. >> i'm grateful for the opportunity to return to our troops, their families, the civilians th

let me grab ashley webster talking to traders. >> what traders are talking about, is action of bank stocks. they say the market is following bank stocks. if you look at this wells fargo, citi, bank of america, prior, once we got the rate hike, fine, those stocks went up. then we got word well, maybe because we need to slow down the upon economy a bit we need three rate hikes next year. we saw selloff and following banks down. whiplash in 10-minute period. liz: i wonder if it was just me, my neck hurts. traders are walking around with all kinds of braces. no dow 20,000 hats just yet. we're at 19,833. for all betting office pools on 20,000 not going to see it happen. ashley, thank you very much. we're keeping eye on these markets. 14 minutes before the closing bell rings, as these traders go by, i'm grabbing to them, talking to them what we expect to see at close. right now red on the screen. when we come back, charlie gasparino, he is breaking it right here on fox business, don't move. it's your money. liz: i know the market falling 101 points for the dow jones industrials. it tells awe mor

lee carter, that does it for us, "varney and company" is up next, ashley webster is in for him. ashley: good morning, stuart varney is off today but don't forget we have four more trading days left to get to doubt 20 k. we could even hit it today. big, expensive, fancy graphics ready to go. it has been a couple weeks. the politics president obama a very confident man who says he could have won a third term, would have beaten trump. donald trump firing back. is real feeling betrayed by the obama administration saying it has evidence obama is behind a un resolution on israeli settlements. more fights breaking out across the country. what is going on? police in riot gear using pepper spray on groups of thugs. it is a jampacked show. we have a lot to get at. "varney and company" is about to begin. >> if we don't get a strong push into the end of the year and we get 20,000, i am looking for small pool back that will be the best buying opportunity. >> i don't think it will happen. it will be a little before today or tomorrow or next week, i agree with cr, people say selling this market

i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. relations with russia, obama saying russia hacked the election and russia responds saying obama is a lame duck, and showing signs of paranoia. putin says he won't retaliate, he's waiting for donald trump to be president. the new normal beefed up security ahead of new year's eve. times square surrounded by concrete barriers and hundreds of trucks, police taking no chances. what about dow 20k, wa, wa, not happening this year. look how far we've come. let's not be down about it, up almost 2400 points, and this, the trump rally, the dow up 1500 points since donald trump won back on november 8th. this one, your hopes for 2017, go to the "varney & company" facebook, rage and tell us your hopes for america in the next year and we'll hear some of the comments read on air and we want to know what you're thinking. it's the very last "varney & company" show this year and it starts right now. ♪ three words, i really don't care for, happy new year. here is my new year toast, prosperity, liberty, f

. >> i'm ashley webster with today's fox business tech minute.a regulators telling uber to put the brakes on self-driving cars in san francisco. after launching service dash-cam footage showed a self-driving volvoses ripping through a red light. they said it down need one because a human driving permit behind the wheel. >>> dropping a fire tv streaming device in bag of popcorn to a house in the english country side. it took 13 minutes from order to delivery. >>> amazon testing in the uk because u.s. laws are just too strict. >>> finally anyone tend bringing mario to iphone and ipad today. free to download but will cost $9.95 to unlock the full payment. we're on dow 20,000 watch when "countdown" comes right back. ♪ [vo] is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event. liz: we have this major breaking news right now. a charleston, south carolina, jury convicted dylann roof in the racially motivated slays of nine

. >> i'm ashley webster on floor of new york stock exchange with the today's fox business tech minutepe to relaunch falcon 9 rocket after it exploded in september due to malfunction in the fuel system. elon musk the launch is december 16 that will carry six satellites into space. >>> pebble will reprovide a relaunch for products. pebble is struggling financially and laid off 25% of the brand. it. >>> there is another acquisition in the books. apple brought a finnish start up company to boost indoor mapping services and stay up to speed with google. the value of the deal is unknown. coming up next on countdown, we take you to the floor show for a check of the markets. ♪ [vo] is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event. liz: check this. the dow jones industrial average fighting to snatch the record close that slipped away in the last minutes of trade yesterday right during the show. here is the number to watch. it needs to edge slightly above 19,

i want to go with ashley webster on the floor of the new york stock exchange as we continue to wait -s. he's walking out to the podium. he's touring the factory. this is the carrier factory where a lot of the workers there did vote for him. he promised to save their jobs. carrier wanted to move their plant to mÉxico and he really took this issue on, on the campaign trail and hit it over and over again and said, look, when i'm president, this kind of stuff is not going to happen because we need to put american workers first. ed rollins, you were saying, this is so vital to ronald reagan, ability to get things done and energize themselves. >> what a message this is? a month ago when it was knocked down campaign, not a man who is even the president and putting a team together, he's making significant change in community and it's more than symbolism. it's a reality. i can do it, i will do it and can go out to the people and say, you know, 800 jobs. there will be more jobs and this is what we are going to do. trish: have we ever seen anything like this? >> i've been around as long as you'v

ashley webster, elizabeth mcdonald.odd horowitz, mike murphy. 20,000 on the dow is 126 points away. that's it. are we going to hit it today? i've gone around the block on this one. mike murphy, 20,000 today, yes or no? >> tomorrow, tomorrow, i'll take tomorrow. steve cortez? >> i don't know if we'll hit it today. we'll hit it before christmas. it's not just the policies that have changed. it's that the mentality has changed anthes important to the animal spirits. >> lizzie. liz: we hit it tomorrow, after the fed raises rates they'll see it. stuart: ashley webster. ashley: i'll say today. stuart: todd horowitz in chicago shall freezing cold, i'm sure, 20k today? >> possibly today. but maybe, they've got a good chance. it's thin they're going to run it. they'll give it a run, whether they make it will be the other question. stuart: okay. look at the stocks on your screen. these are the big winners ng mo the 30 dow stocks. all of them are up and boeing in particular, we've got a story on that, pfizer, merck, they're up. mo

let's see what happens with ashley webster, liz macdonald.ter, scott shellady. >> do we get there at christmas? >> i thought it would be after the new year and looks like i was wrong and i'll take the rally if we hit it. >> scott she dow 20,000 before christmas? . i can hear you laughing. >> we're going to need one of the big days like last week to put us over the top. 50/50 chance before christmas and i'm with keith, i think the beginning of the new years is when it will really happen. stuart: art laffer, you told us you expect the dow to go well above 20,000. you didn't put a number on it, 21, 22, 23? what did you get? >> i didn't put a date on it. you've got to do one or the other, but never both. i think we're in for a big rally the next five, six, eight years, i'm excited about that and i think that's the biggest story never told when you look back at this era. i'm very excited about the market and very excited about the future of the u.s. stuart: all right. we're off a fraction at the moment. i'm calling it dead flat after two minutes'

. >> i'm ashley webster from the floor of the new york stock exchange with your fox business brief whereare simply treading water as we await to hear from the fed just under 18 minutes here on fox business network. it is all about tech, as tech leaders meet at trump tower. look at these tech titans. all major leaders from silicon valley meeting with donald trump but how are the tech stocks done since donald trump won the presidential election? on the upside, ibm up 8%. twitter up, apple up 4%. tesla, elon musk also there today. that stock up 2 1/2% but there's another side to the story. netflix up a third of a percent. amazon down 1 and a third. facebook down 2 1/2%. alibaba group down 8% since the donald trump election. not everyone joining in the rty. more "coast to coast" with neil cavuto coming right up after the break. ♪ neil: all right. we're about 15 minutes or so from seeing the first rate hike of the year and second since going back to 2006. mortgage rates could quickly follow. greg mcbride, bank analyst. if you're used to, greg, to very low interest rates and hit with four some

donald trump became president-elect of the united states of america, four weeks, adam schapiro, ashley webster, great job which and go straight at it. my time is up. >> we will focus on donald trump and stuart pointeded out, is he causing a lather on this back and forth about corporations and whether they are gouging folks. the latest, boeing, take a look at how he added to the heat. >> we are playing this out of control. over $4 billion, air force one program. it is ridiculous. boeing is doing a little bit of a number. we want boeing to make a lot of money but not that much money. >> that was the latest estimate to complete two aircraft that would form air force one, the plane the president flies in. any plane the president flies and get that designation but we are talking specific claims boeing would be making on behalf of the president of the united states, donald trump's way of saying not interested in the stock is feeling the heat as a result. boeing keeping one eye on it stock price, put out a statement a short time ago that really did not address what donald trump was saying, we are cur

. >> i'm ashley webster on the floor of the new york stock exchange with your fox business brief.a look at the 10-year treasury. the cost of government debt falling. the yield going up to 2.46. we haven't seen that kind of level since july of 2015. so treasury yields continuing to rise. meanwhile take a look at the financials and their performance in the month of november, very impressive indeed. you can see that goldman sachs gained 23% in the month of november. hit highest level in about nine years in today's session. bank of america, jpmorgan, citigroup, all impressive gains. meanwhile the automakers out with the november sales numbers. ford, as you can see, up 5%. gm up 5%. fiat up 1%. ford sales up 4.9%. gm sales up 10%. not bad. more coast to coast with the every suave neil cavuto coming up after the break. neil: still awaiting air conditioner event going on in indianapolis. the president-elect will be there, more intriguing how this whole deal was cobbled together, the vice president-elect, mike pence, indiana governor, who did provide some of the state incentives at play h

lee carter, that does it for us, "varney and company" is up next, ashley webster is in for him. oday but don't forget we have four more trading days left to get to doubt 20 k. we could even hit it today. big, expensive, fancy graphics ready to go. it has been a couple weeks. the politics president obama a very confident man who says he could have won a third term, would have beaten trump. donald trump firing back. is real feeling betrayed by the obama administration saying it has evidence obama is behind a un r

i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney.responds saying obama is a lame duck, and showing signs of paranoia. putin says he won't retaliate, he's waiting for donald trump to be president. the new normal beefed up

i'm ashley webster in for stuart. the big story.ore. president-elect donald trump bringing jobs pack to america and sprint saying it will bring 5,000 jobs. trump taking credit. and one

let's bring in ashley webster, ms. mcdonald, scott shellady, john layfield and charles payne.h is a trump rally. i'm going around the block, your future careers are at stake. will anybody tell me this is not a trump rally? what are you mopping your brow for? >> it has everything to do with trump. the economy hasn't been different since he has been put in charge but lower expectations as far as negative ramifications of higher regulation, lower taxes, less regulation and $1 trillion spending plan. who will get in front of the train? 100% sentiment and we will see the gdp turn around. it is not measured by negative situations or questions. maybe we will high the 50th person with a 55th person instead of staying at 49 so a lot of positive decisions come through this economy. watch what happens to gdp, not just the equity markets. stuart: trump rally, yes or no? >> 100% trump rally. the markets were created after trump was elected, looks like things would be bad and this is a business friendly administration and elizabeth warren rally, the fact is not going to be in a position of

it is friday morning, and ashley webster, liz macdonald, scott shellady and scott martin all with use're less than 400 points from dow 20,000. real fast, when do we get there? first of all, scott martin, welcome to the show. >> thank you, stuart. i think we get there fast and furiously. this market has a lot of momentum behind it, it loves what it sees from trump so far. lower regulation, better fiscal policy, i think we see it by d dec. 31. stuart: scott shellady, 20,000 when? >> probably just after that. it's almost like the most ignored rally. we've got a bunch of children stomping their feet saying, oh, all right, i have to buy the market now, i guess. you see the market slowly but surely chugging along. we'll still have some bumps, but ultimately it's going to happen. stuart: and, liz, there's a couple of big investment firms saying it continues well into the new year. >> yeah, goldman sachs and credit suisse. they just said it today. back to yo. stuart: really? [laughter] that was good. the russell and the dow transports have just hit record highs. that points towards more gain

ashley webster, elizabeth are here, scott martin as well and deidra. the fed rate hecks, do we still have a chance of 20,000? >> yes, sir. we are 1% after 20,000 even after yesterday's drop. fluctuations of the market should send us there. i'm bullish in the longer immediate, stuart and a pullback is useful to bring buyers in. the markets need to -- ashley: this is an opportunity to get in. i know he has to make it reality, the fact that the fed says we are going to try and slow this down, is a good thing. stuart: do you think the fed rate hike will interrupt the steady march higher? >> not until january. it's proving all the disbelievers. but i tell you what, two more rate hikes, potentially, in the first quarter of next year. that's what i'm looking. i think we will hit 240k but january can be the pullback month. stuart: speed bump? >> they hike rates and market tumbles. they did. pullback. stuart: now we are 46, 47 points in dow industrial in the first three minutes of business. a little bit of bounceback from yesterday's loss. mr. trump met with pe

joining us, ashley webster, elizabeth mcdonald, shah gi -- galani.alf hour ago you said we'll breeze past 20,000 and you said 21,000 this calendar year, say it again. >> there's an excellent chance we could get to 21,000. the market has enough momentum and on a forward basis if you look what the optimism suggests, it suggests lower corporate tax rates and repatriation, and that amount going into buybacks and the year end rally more than likely and the prospect of just more and more money coming into the market. as bond rates tick up. you're going to have those investors fleeing bonds and coming to stocks and the market could get easily to 21,000. only 5 percentage points away which is nothing with this the market with this momentum. stuart: let's see if charles payne joins in. 21,000 by the end of the year, what says charles payne? >> i wouldn't bet against it, but we talk looking out much further out. the next couple of years, 4 to 5,000 points on the dow jones industrial average. stuart: 4 to 5,000 points up? >> we're looking at a breakout not unli

donald trump became president-elect of the united states of america, four weeks, adam schapiro, ashley websteright at it. my time is up. >> we will focus on donald trump and stuart pointeded out, is he causing a lather on this back and forth about corporations and whether they are gouging folks. the latest, boeing, take a look at how he added to the heat. >> we are playing this out of control. over $4 billion, air force one program. it is ridiculous. boeing is doing a little bit of a number. we want boeing to make a lot of money but not that much money. >> that was the latest estimate to cpl

ashley webster, scott shellady, jeff sica, john layfield trying to get us through the friday trading.ow, the big tech names, i want to know why they have taken such a hit since the election? i'm going around the block. start with you, layfield, in bermuda, fresh off the beach, i can see. why are the tech stocks down? >> fresh off the golf course, got to correct you. i think the tech stocks are down for a couple of reasons, what you and ashley pointed out articulately, tech stocks under donald trump. a worry about the international business model under president-elect trump. and the sector retations, they're going into things like financials because you don't have elizabeth warren in the picture. they're going after banks and i think the next sector rotation goes into companies that have predominant earnings in the united states, something like an under amour, or barnes & noble, verizon, i own all three. because the corporate tax rate coming down. stuart: okay, jeff sica, the big tech stocks, why are they down? >> the big problem with them, they rely on cheap chinese components. with t