bertha coombs has more on what could happen after obamacare. >> alex didn't have health insurance for years after getting laid off from g.m. >> i didn't have any major health issues in that time, but i did have to go see my doctor every so many months. >> with obamacare subsidies, he pays $50 a month for an exchange plan. >> it works for me very well. i get good care. i get to see my doctor regularly. >> he's worried he will lose his care when the republican congress repeal the affordable care act. >> to take away these benefits from us i think at this time this borders on criminal. >> this week the congressional budget office suggested that it could lead 30 million americans without coverage within 10 years. >> the democrats have traditionally focused on expanding coverage but not really paying attention to costs. the republicans are focusing on on costs but not really focusing on coverage. >> the trump administration and republicans promise their obamacare replacement plan will provide access to coverage is and be were cheaper by offering more options. they liken to a fixed price bu

bertha coombs has the details. hi, bertha. >> that's right, sarah.the nasdaq closing down the first time in 2017. still up for the week, small caps were among the biggest drags. small caps negative for the week after a nice start last week. part of the issue really has been in technology, particularly when it comes to chips. chips have been very strong. strong performers today. we're seeing profit taking here today and they were among the biggest drags in tech, nvidia. some of the big jest losers today. when you take a look at some of the winners, there were a few technology names including amazon, and it wasn't all a down draft today when it came to the nasdaq. big caps, we actually saw a rebound particularly when it comes to biotech which yesterday got hit, trumped by the comments from the president-elect about drug makers get agway with murder and, his words, the biotech etf today making a really nice reversal with the upcoming higher after a negative start. in fact, we had some highs today in health care, biotech names including array and clovis.

bertha coombs is over on the nasdaq. >> .37. only .37 away. it was agony all afternoon. all standing here ready to go. nonetheless, let's take a look at how close we got. again, the most important stocks, goldman sachs. nice move this week. gold man had been a little over 2.3%. remember the highest priced stock, that got us right up against it. jpmorgan had a good week overall. as for the rest of the dow week, some of the laggers led. nike, one of the worst performers did very well. pfizer had a very decent week. united technology, a stock that was a big mover after the election had moved sideways and had did very well this week. laggards didn't help us out, chevron and exxon. chevron/exxon both down on the week. exxon down almost 2%. this at a time when oil stabilized near 18-month-highs. those were the two biggest disappearances. home depot and walmart. two other disappointments. i know you have a few winners, a few laggers. bottom line is we're right up against the door. >> let's head uptown now to the nasdaq where bertha coombs has been watching the stock. >> both th

bertha coombs standing by. bertha? >> hey, jon. the nasdaq 100 is actually the market's biggest out-performer year to date with big-cap techs like alphabet, microsoft' done and broadcom all hitting fresh all-time highs. but with the president's emphasis on america first, when it comes to business incentives, small caps have outperformed the major averages looking back to the election with their u.s.-focused companies for the most part. it was in the nasdaq universe. large-cap tech is last and surpassed small caps year to date and the biggest reason why is the uncertainty over biotech. the nasdaq biotech index surged following the election, if you'll recall, but it's become a drag of late with uncertainty over drug price negotiation policies. it's one health care issue, one which democrats may be willing to work with president trump amidst the repeal of obamacare. and fundamentals have also been weighing on some of the biggest losers, like regeneron, down 14% so far this year. the cholesterol drug blocked from the market after a cou

bertha coombs is live at the nasdaq. bertha? >> it's taken the index seven months to go from 5,000 to 5600 since the new year. tech heavy nasdaq 100 has really fueled those games, not the small caps this time, despite a pullback we saw through the election. during that time apple, for example, has seen a really nice recovery, up 23% over the last six months or so since the composite regained 5,000, to a new 52-wooerk high today and alphabet on deck to report earnings tomorrow is up about 16% that time and today it's at a fresh all-time high. it's on a fundamental basis the earnings story right now that is driving big cap tech. these new records this week. today it's seating technology with a blow-up quarter. surging to a two-year high. bear in mind it has a 12% short interest. that's why you're seeing that big a move. chips like micron and others strong results and, of course, microsoft. back to you. >> bertha, thank you. we are standing by, once again, for the white house press secretary. will he mention dow 20,000 or any more

bertha coombs is watching. >> the nasdaq continues to be perfect in 2017. 6 for 6.six days in a row for a very strong gain. it really started with the large caps. that's where you've seen the biggest gains, but not today. apple has been sort of waivering in and out of positive territory and the names are a bit of a brag with large caps not really the cap stallout. take a look at some of the new highs coming from pacific continental bank. that's the best performer in the russell 2000. columbia banking is 644 million. ho hostess brands, twinkies, doing well. biotech is really the reason why the nasdaq is doing as well. take a look at the i.b.b. up six straight days, 8% gain, kelly. that's what's driving things with the jpmorgan health conference. >> yeah, it's helping the small cap russell's as well. strong start to the year. it's time for cnbc news update for sue herera. >> kelly and bill, here's what's happening at this hour. vice president joe biden speaking to small business owners who have earned awards from the motor city match program. he called that program a

bertha coombs is covering the nasdaq's run and mike san tolli joins us with this as well. dom, starting with you. >> we know the biggest gainers in terms of point contributors on the session, boeing on the heels of earnings. caterpillar. goldman sachs. goldman sachs, jpmorgan chase. no surprise there. financials have been the best performing sector since the elections. boeing, caterpillar, ibm. if you look at some of the laggards since the election so far, it's a bit of an interesting story. consumer staples, some of the more dividend paying names. proctor & gamble. crisco. walmart. procter & gamble. walmart. in today's trading one of the biggest drags is an earnings related story. boeing on the upside with regard to point contribution. united technology one of the biggest drags today. blue chips and guys focus on the key historic dow 20 k day. >> to bertha coombs at the nasdaq for a look at what's led that index to a record territory of its own. bertha. >> if you look at the biggest gainers today it's an earnings story for the most part. it really tells the story on the b

. >> bertha coombs has breaking news for us at the news desk. >> the judge in the aetna/humana merger case has rejected their merger. the department of justice. the court judge john bates saying the court concludes that the proposed merger will, quote, likely substantially lessen competition in the medicare advantage in 364 counties. a combination of aetna and humana would effectively create a monopoly and also in the public obamacare exchanges in three complaint counties in florida. the judge was not persuaded by the argument that the companies made that they struck a deal with melena health to divest, saying that the experts said it was difficult to enter into the medicare advantage market. what's interesting here is that he also argues that there is a real difference between traditional medicare and the medicare advantage market for those who aren't familiar with the medicare markets. traditional medicare is what you get from the government. there are no networks. you can go to any doctor. medicare advantage markets are more like the private insurance most of us experience in the p

we have bertha coombs on site. hey, bertha. >> hey, bill. 2017 has been very, very good for the nasdaq. on pace for a fifth straight day of gains and yet another record high. it all started with the big caps. nasdaq 100 at a record high today. to close above 5,007 makes it a new record. apple also a two-year high. that's part of the reason that you've got the nasdaq 100 so fired up. apple on pace to close here at the highest since november 2015 on the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the iphone. that is spreading over to chip stocks. chips very strong. you have nvidia moving higher. skyworks is part of the apple iphone. biotech has really been the story here so far this year. biotech is up 7% over the last five days. close up every single day so far this year. some of it today on news coming out of jpmorgan, a trial drugstory from incyte. aria pharmaceutical having been taken over and acquired by cada. also you have vca. it's being taken over by marv. and being taken over by united health. a lot of m&a and i

. >>> bertha coombs walks us through the tightrope that lies ahead. >> it will be a balancing act for the republicans. they have to make sure they don't up end it too fast or delay a replacement plan too long. by next month a repeal vote needs to lay out just how long obamacare subsidies remain in place because insurers are developing plans now for 2018, ahead of a may deadline to submit rates for next year. the trump administration will have to approve those rates and finalize them in 2018 -- the 2018 rates in august. analysts say it will have to be a lot of progress on a replacement plan over the summer because, if insurers do not see a clear road map they may pull out of the exchanges in september ahead of open enrollmen enrollment. >> that might mean they'll scale back participation, they may have to raise premiums. all of this uncertainty comes at a pretty big cost for consumers. >> and that's just talking about the exchanges. the biggest uncertainty lies on the fate of medicaid expansion, which is providing coverage to millions more under obamacare. bill and kelly. >> thank you,

bertha coombs is here. >> today powered by amazon.t's the big cap that was the biggest mover up 4% on the day. and amazon trouncing a lot of those brick and mortar retailers. you heard about the story with macy's, kohl's, having disappointing sales as the online sales were better. the brick and mortar sales were down. amazon captured 38% of christmas shoppers. folks like me who are on prime and just automatically shopped there. they seem to get a lot of momentum, not only that, of course their echo now being integrated into ford. we won't talk about distracted driving with regards to that. apple today also positive all day helping to keep the nasdaq and the nasdaq 100 above water and outperform the rest of the market. you know, really been such a big small cap move here at the end of the year, but today was all about those big caps. take a look at some of the other big tech cap names that were strong today as well, including yahoo notwithstanding the fact that verizon officials say they're still not quite sure what is going on there i

bertha coombs has the highlights. >> representative tom price is a six-term congressman. he knows a lot about hearings. he got grilled today. democrats on the health committee grilled him over issues of repealing obamacare where he has been at odds with his new boss, donald trump, mike medicare. >> can you assure this committee that you will not cut one dollar from medicare or medicaid should you be confirmed to this position? >> i believe the metric ought to be the care the patients are receiving. >> take that as a no? >> it's the wrong metric. >> it's not just that he is a staunch opponent to obamacare, the toughest questions surrounded his trading in health stocks while legislation was pending. >> congressman, do you believe it is appropriate for a senior member of congress actively involved in policy-making in the health sector to repeatedly, personally invest in a drug company that could benefit from those actions? yes or no? >> well, that's not what happened. >> tom price says that he will be selling all of his stocks in his portfolio if he is confirmed. he'll go be

let's get to bertha coombs. >> the nasdaq at a record high again today. but today a little bit of rotation in the leadership. it's really about the small caps that are moving things higher. russell 2000 has been a laggard over the last few days. it's moving higher today. big reason why is bioteches, getting that big push out of lot of bullish news out of the jp morgan health conference, we saw meg tirrell there. big move for bioteches. right along with the nasdaq's strongest start in nearly four years or so. and it's up nearly 8% in these last six days. some of the big winners include repka out of jpm, licensing deal, insight at a new high, all-time high following on its deal yesterday at jp morgan as well and among the new highs within the nasdaq itself outside of health care you've got comcast and charter comcast, parent company of cnbc. etrade, upgrade from goldman sachs and hostess brands, on very high volume, guys. notwithstanding that recall of the mint twinkies, but it made a presentation recently and seems to be getting a lot of attention. back to

we won't attribute that to you, meg, bertha coombs is here to tell us what might be driving it. >> meg, we've had a nice reversal. you are not the only one interested in the nasdaq here this afternoon. it's led by the nasdaq 100 and that's underpinned by apple's nice reversal, hitting a fresh two-year high this afternoon. that is bringing up tech stocks. you are seeing the fang players also moving into positive territory. facebook, amazon, alphabet and also netflix as well. facebook impact today. very firmly seeing its market cap above that of exxon, making it the fifth most valuable company in the s&p. back to you. >> technology still driving the market here. holly, though -- >> it's driving our world. >> yeah. holly, the treasury market saw tremendous volatility on a pretty important day, this ten-year note auction. but it still was a very solid auction, wasn't it? >> we had a great auction today. the best demand we've seen in the ten-year since june, which was very strong. even though meg said it's a whole new world in technology, nasdaq and whatnot. we are not necessarily seeing a

bertha coombs has more. >> it was more of a slow burn than a fire. tom price faced questions about policy. what's going to happen to obamacare enrollees. democrats pressed him particularly about how he'll carry out president trump's executive order on reducing the burdens of obamacare regulations. >> will you guarantee that no one will lose coverage under the executive order. >> i guarantee you those who lost coverage under the affordable care act, we will commit that they don't lose coverage under whatever replacement program. >> you will not use this executive order as a way to bypass the law. >> our commitment is to carry out the law of the land. >> that's his commitment right now. democrats also asked him about block grants for medicaid and whether that's going to mean new requirements for people to qualify for them. that depends he said. republicans aren't all necessarily aligned. senator bill casady and olympia snow introduced a bill that said states that like obamacare can keep it. not sure they'll get backing on that. a lot of negotiations to

for more on how this could effect the industry, bertha coombs has been following obamacare and reportingthe policies for years now, bertha, i guess the important point is for insurers and companies and hospitals that they are going to repeal and replace but still wide open uncertainty as to what they're going to replace with. the house speaker sort of punted that question from the reporter. >> yeah, the issue is as the obama administration found out, you can lay out your roadmap, but then you need the insurers and the other players to head on that road with you. and insurers really need to figure out what the risk is. and while they are not expecting that things are going to get upended here for 2017, the clock is actually ticking now for 2018. take a look at the roadmap a little bit of where we need to go. during the first quarter right now this is when insurers start to prepare their rates. they look at their plans, they look at their network, they start getting things together for 2018 because they've got to submit those rates under the law by the beginning of may. and if you recall l

bertha coombs, how they're performing percentage wise, nasdaq is the strongest. >> big round number, nasdaq composite has topped 5,000. for the 100 biggest stocks to top that number, that is a pretty big round number that folks have been watching. it's especially interesting. today when you look at where the volume actually is, it's in some of the biggest names like amazon, which had sold off after the election. this week we're seeing this big rotation to some of those unloved stocks. volume today in amazon, facebook, netflix today hitting a new all-time high. this stock last year had really suffered going into the end of the year. and we're seeing a lot more appetite for those kind of names. the cloud plays. amazon, the fact that amazon did so much better than the brick and mortar players over the holidays. just really sort of validates that business model, the fact that we're all moving in that direction. the other interesting thing i note today is that it's really these unknown names where the volume is. chip stocks had been big. not much volume there. also not seeing much volume

bertha coombs with what's happening. >> good morning, sara. the nasdaq yesterday went over that 5,600 mark intraday and then actually closed there. and that moved from 55 to 5,600 took just 12 sessions year-to-date, but the real momentum on the nasdaq year-to-date has been the large caps. nasdaq 100 is up more than 5.5% year-to-date. today being helped by all-time highs with the likes of microsoft which will be reporting later this week and google parent alphabet as well. also csx which has been a strong performer here on the nasdaq added to the nasdaq 100 last february, that has been a big driver. if you take a look at a one-year chart of csx, that stock is up huge. and we are seeing tremendous investment, strong results coming from the industrial sector, a lot of these transport numbers are here on the nasdaq are what's helping to lift the sector and performing very well. as far as the usual suspects that have really provided the most impact, it's the four horsemen. now, it's not netflix, but amazon, facebook and apple and google that have b