courtney reagan. i'm tyler mathisen in for shepard smith. it's half past the hour.. >>> california looking to take a page from the texas legal playbook and apply key parts of that state's abortion law to gun laws in the golden state >>> one cyber expert says it may be the scariest vulnerability he's ever seen the problem just discovered that puts all of us at risk, and why it's not going to be fixed any time soon. >>> but, first, a state of disaster after a series of deadly tornadoes slam in to kentucky >>> the city of dawson springs among the hardest hit. it is also the hometown of governor andy beshear's father families now starting to return to the area to salvage what they can, but many are returning to nothing more than a pile of rubble their belongings swept away or buried under debris. about 70 miles east, this was the scene yesterday in bowling green, kentucky. hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed. rescue crews searching for missing people there reporting from that city in just a moment but first, to nbc's ellison barber live in dawson springs. ellison,

i want to go to courtney reagan on teva pharmaceuticals. >> take a look at teva pharmaceuticals moving forward on headlines that a jury in new york state is finding that the company did help fuel the opioid epidemic shares had been higher on the session and are now down almost 5% after that verdict has come across the tape. damages are not yet determined that will come at a later date in another portion, of course, of the way that our court system works. again, a new york state jury is saying that teva pharmaceuticals did indeed help fuel the opioid epidemic and shares are lower by 4.5% >> they sure are we'll keep an eye on that. that's courtney reagan another talk about high growth and high valuation and a lot of you are thinking about mega-caps and our josh lipton certainly is as well and he takes a look at three big ones for us. hi, josh >> so, scott let's dig into some potential buys here and let's start with apple and that stock having a solid showing in 2021 and it's actually trading right around its all-time highs here. some on the street will say, listen, stay on the sidelines

mastercard showing holiday sales rows at the fastest pace in 17 years sister retail reporter courtney reagan the numbers >> with inflation and a new covid variant spread, americans shopped 'til they dropped. holiday sales were 8.5% over last year, that's across all forms of payment, in-store and online shoppers returned to stores and kept those online shopping habits, on top of 2020's e-commerce surge we saw an increase in in-store sales 8% over last year. online sales ultimately making up almost 21% of total retail sales. that's up from 20.6% in 2020 and 14.6% in 2019. department store sales grew 21%, according to the report. shares of macy's, dillard's, and nordstrom up between 2 and 3% today. no word yet from the retailers officially about the season. apparel sales overall more than 47%. investors placing bets at ralph lauren, lululemon, and american eagle among the beneficiaries. lululemon, up 2.7. american eagle up 3.5% today sales of electronics up more than 16% according to mastercard's holiday sales report shares of apple up more than 2%. best buy higher too but just by about 1% walm

i am courtney reagan in for brian sullivan looks like we are in for a positive direction right now 61 higher by about 10 this morning's action does come on the heels of another solid day for wall street. s&p and nasdaq surging seeing their best days since march. in the driver's seat was tech. oil coming off a big day with a more than 3% gain there. get a look at what's going on in the oil market now wti crude adding a little above $70 a barrel in crypto and bitcoin trading. let's see if we can hold above this key $50,000 level at least on coin base there. we'll talk more about that later on in the show let's check out what's happening overseas julianna tatelbaum is live in london good morning >> that's right. courtney it has been quite a morning. in germany, elected to become the next chancellor of germany ending a 16-year tenure by angela merkel. this morning, he'll be sworn in. a tremendous day in europe indeed turning to the markets edging higher. tracking what you are seeing state side yesterday was a strong session the stoxx 600 gained nearly 2.5% you said you were seeing the str

i'm courtney reagan in for sara eisen.e head boo the final hour of trade. >> i'm jon fortt wilfred frost will join us in a moment let's look at what's driving the action uk confirming a person infected with the omicron variant died. it's spreading at a phenomenal rate energy is among the worst performing some of the meme stocks are hit particularly hard. amc and gamestop down sharply. 59 minutes left to go in the session. court? >> it's going to be a big show, jon. in a moment an exclusive interview. wilfred will join us with ceo games gorman we don't hear from him that often. >> bob pisani is tracking the moves at the new york stock exchange josh lipton at the nasdaq. bob, what are you looking at >> jon, again we are dependent on omicron headlines and take a look at the dow decliners all cyclical stocks dependent on the economy. see weakness in financials like american express and goldman sachs and a spattering of consumer names disney affected by omicron headlines. energy is a proxy for global travel essentially and grow

courtney reagan has more for us. hi, court. >> hi, wolf.h brand strength and solid direct to consumer businesses has lulu lemon and liky as top retail plays in 2022 among several analysts capri holdings are the top 2022 pick for amk partners, the partners of jimmy choo, and versace said it won't revert back to discounts even if competitors do walmart and amazon on their top picks for 2022 lists, both have underperformed with the retail sector this year, but ubs says the stocks are mispricing e-commerce's impact. battle & body works said the pandemic accelerated market share along with pricing opportunity positioning bbwi well for 2022. the adviser group also has it as a top pick back over to you >> courtney, i feel like a lot of this hifnges on what the consumer will do weave had the heckup with omicron and things were pulled forward with the holiday season and every line in every retail store has been strong consumer spending buffetted by stimulus checks and all sort of monetary stimulus which does go away next year, so what's the expectat

i'm courtney reagan in for sara eisen. inflation headlines sending the averages lower today. >> i'm dominic chu wilfred frost will join us in a moment let's look at what's driving the action today ppi jumping 9.6% in september. fastest pace in record fanning the inflation concerns as the fed meeting gets under way today. the world health organization said the omicron variant is spreading at a rate not seen with a previous variant. pfizer said the covid pill is effective against the variant. the tech trade is lagging adding to sizable losses on the week. microsoft, tesla among the biggest decliners. we have about 59 minutes left to go in the regular trading session. >> it is a big show. coming up, another big exclusive interview you cannot afford to miss wilfred will have brian moynihan to talk about inflation and the consumer and much more. >> straight to the market action and a rough session for the tech shares josh lipton is at the nasdaq with a closer look. >> you mentioned tesla lower in today's trade after the ceo sol

courtney reagan has more on the bounce, and whether it's a trading thing or more fundamental. y, courtney, i'm sure. what are we seeing around they retailers? >> this one is harder to figure out, brian it's been choppy i think it's too early to call it a santa claus rally, but many names have held their ground today. it finished up the day 2%, staying in line with the broader market retailer that sell higher-end goods globally have been among the hardest hit really, but tapestry up, though, still down, though, 7% for the week so it's got in ground to go. nordstrom timely gaining today, but down 9% for the week, 33% in a month. denim players, kontour, and levi, down, but gap still off 9% for the week something nor joyful for the online players the real real, didn't really juice up its own shar, but secondhand competitors gained 5% now there's some strength in some special names, bed bath & b yond, still down 19% 2309 week, though designers brands, that's the parent of 2k6789 sw,-- dsw down this week. jll, tanker outlets up 5%. so we'll have to watch this trade closely, brian, an

welcome, everybody, to "power lunch," along with courtney reagan i'm tyler mathisen. courtney in of course for kelly. here's what's ahead this hour. the post fed trade today's gains fizzling just a bit. it is a hard one to track but the s&p remains just about 1% from its intraday all-time high. the dow, less than 2% from that. but will the biggest gains be found going forward in small caps a veteran market analyst makes that case. cloud stocks over solar, tumbling over proposed new rules out in california but one analyst say the future is bright and investors should buy the dip. >>> the supply chain nightmare before christmas we will talk to one toy maker who says it is not getting berks it is guessing worse. >> christmas is a week aawayweey the s&p is lower after a higher start. the nasdaq is the hardest hit. we ar retreating by 2% the bond market yields, lower, the ten-year is now 1.4%, bitcoin pulling back this afternoon. the cryptocurrency is now down 18% over the past month. off 30% from its year high let's get more on the post fed market move and bob pisani at th

welcome, everybody, to "power lunch," along with courtney reagan i'm tyler mathisen. his hour. the post fed trade today's gains fizzling just a bit. it is a hard one to track but the s&p remains just about 1% from its intraday all-time high. the dow, less than 2% from that. but will the biggest gains be found going forward in small caps a veteran market analyst

i'm courtney reagan in for sara eisen.day. >> i'm dominic chu wilfred frost will join us in a moment let's look at what's driving the action today ppi jumping 9.6% in september. fastest pace in record fanning the inflation concerns as the fed meeting gets under way today. the world health organization said the omicron variant is spreading at a rate not seen

i'm courtney reagan in for sara eisen. wilfred frost will join us in a moment let's look at what's driving the action uk con

i'm tyler mathisen courtney reagan is right over there, she will joan us in just a second a selloff onall street a busy end to a busy week. technology tachgs, the nagds on pace for its worst daily performance since september, volatility elevated. our market expert on where to find safety in this disturb leapt storm. >>> and a big miss, the economy created far fewer jobs last month than expected. but wages are up they could dent corporate margins next year. we will look at the industries most at risk. >>>+a defense power player and an scuff interview with the lock immediate martin ceo we will talk russia, the growing threat from china at a time had he the defense sector is underperforming the broader market should it be courtney >> what packed show we have. a rough afternoon for stocks as tyler just pointed out the dow and the s&p at least are off their worst level of the session root to you. the dow though down for a fourth straight week. the nasdaq getting hit the hardest. down bm 3% more than 2.5% at this point technical levels are being tested the nasdaq 100 touched its 50-day movin

courtney reagan explains why this can be better for the retailers. >> items bought online have threellion worth of goods to be returned following the holidays and 40% is online returns. once a customer initiates a return algorithms determine what a retailer does next sometimes they refund the cost and tell them to keep it returnless refunds will total 4.4 billion this year. walmart said the decision considers the value, supply chain costs, sustainability and most importantly what will lead to the best possible customer experience here's an example of different return decisions say a shopper paid $40 for dog food and $700 for a dining room table. 20% profit margin for dog food and $10 for the table. when they want to return both the cost of shipping, processing restocking, resale and leads to a loss for dog food of either choice but still a positive mar jib for the table so the shopper is told to keep the dog food but returnthe table. >> i had this happen to me and all seems nice but if i return something i didn't want it so how much could they get if i keep something that i don't wan

are stepping up patrols for sure, now retailers are taking action on their own here's cnbc's courtney reagannding higher before the pandemic, three quarters of retailers reported an increase in this type of theft last year. the survey also points to societal changes and new law enforcement and prosecution policies, adding to in-store then los angeles tops the list for organized retail crime like this smash and grab, then chicago and miami, these are spreading beyond big cities. rob carr of the illinois retail merchant association says it's not a victimless crime the more that's stolen, the more a retailer has to sell, possibly for higher prices to make up for it he estimates it will cost at least $200 million in lost sales tax revenue this year. >> for the first time in my 27 years, public safety and crime ranks in the top one or two spots in terms of whether decide to locate. >> reporter: nearly two thirds of retailers say these organized retail gangs are more violent and aggressive than before adding increasing value and more retail ceos are speaking out. >> as forour employees, these are

we've got some hearnings out rent the runway, new ipo just crossing courtney reagan with the numbers.y to report as a public company they are reporting a loss of $6.72. there is an awful lot of information in there related to the cost of the ipo. revenues did come in stronger than expected at $59 million the street was expecting more than $53 million here. gross margin up very sharply year over year and the active subscriber growth improved 78% year over year to about 117,000. total subscriber growth year over year up 45% to about 150,000. they are expecting for the fiscal fourth quarter. so this current quarter that they are in now, that ending active subscribers will be between 121,000 and 122,000. they do note that all major u.s. retros are back to approximately 90% of precovid subscriber count, except for new york, washington, d.c., and san francisco. they also note they launched an at-home pickup in five major metro areas resulting in lower shipping costs that is something of course that we're watching as this is a very capital intensive business for the logistics of shipping the

rival stitch fix is sinking, obviously, today. 52-week low on its own earning disappointance courtney reaganw, you could say maybe at least they lowered the bar a little >> yeah, you know, obviously, rent the runway sort of owns the rental space in many regards, but i think that big question mark is the total addressable market now especially as the world has really changed post pandemic i think what we are going to want to hear from the executives is what they think it looks like right now with women interested in renting more high-end clothing to go back out of the house, go to meetings, go to special events and go into the workplace. and then what that means for growth going forward so, this company, of course, has been one of the hypergrowth names. it has a lot of potential, but now it's a show-me story very capital intensive with all the inventory and logistics to ship out the items and clean the items and store the items. and so the path to profitability could be several years the potential is there but can they do it kelly, to your point about stitch fix when you have other names in t

. >> i am frank holland joining courtney reagan. a mixed afternoon for the markets. the dow strike for a sixth straight positive day. the s&p tracking for its best year since 2013. the nasdaq 3% off of its year high nike the biggest gainer on the dow. walgreens and home depot rounding out the top three gainers. boeing, verizon, and salesforce are the biggest drags on the in index. bond reelds on the ten-year above 1.5%, likely to the nasdaq being in the red. >>> wall street is looking to end the year on a high noted, the s&p returning more than 27% so far the dow up more than 19% looking ahead, investors say financials, health care and technology will be the big winners in 2022. that's according to the cnbc quarterly stock report, which surveys strategists and portfolio managers the survey also found that financials, economic recovery, cyclical and mega cap tech are some of the most popular investments now. and our next guest mostly agrees jerry casse at that leany, president and chief investment officer with capital mark management he has a couple names he says coul

now it's set to open a massive flagship store in new jersey cnbc senior retail correspondent courtney reaganhould we expect? >> the ceo of the company that owns the toys r us says shoppers can expect to feel that toys r us nostalgia it opens mid month at the american dream mega mall in new jersey the toy store will be over 20,000 square feet on two levels a little bigger than the typical drugstore in total area. >> you're going to encounter the song you remember and see jeffrey. maybe you'll take a selfie but you'll have a full assortment of toys all different price ranges all different styles and all different categories >> there's going be a two story slide. an ice cream shop and cafe today's new store announcement comes four months after the partnership with macy's is announced. there are still 900 toys r us stores in 25 kcountries around the world. this is the second relaunch of the toy brand since it went bankrupt and liquidated three years ago. first relaunch failed under the weight of the pandemic both pop up stores closed in january of this year whb global bought toys r us in march f

over to you courtney reagan, and we're talking about a lot of the retail names and are you seeing strength we already bought some of the stuff we want. >> people still have money in their pockets and they're cash rich and they have an unlimited amount of places to spend it at, but american eagle specifically has a short interest above 12% so we shally talk about a host of names that have this shortage that elevated it at that level this one has more than its peer group. so to his point, i think the options trader might be playing and i think i know something and he's got a lot of torque to get into the upside here >> interesting >> you guys are focused on this options trade. we brought it out and you have the options trade. >> be sure to tune into the full show friday at 5:30 p.m. eastern. >> up next, "fast money. we've got your final trade stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right time now for the final trade let's go around the horn stevie g you, i know i've been pounding the table on this one. it's up 25% about 12 days and i think it's going up another 30%, and i have a lot of conviction like

but this weekend could pry a final boost to the holiday and courtney reagan who i out can off beforeessa tomorrow is called super saturday in resale the last saturday before christmas. this year is expected to be the second busiest in-store shopping day of the year according to sensor mattic solutions. they say 148 million americans will be shopping tomorrow. that's down from last year but up from prepandemic in 2019. a record number of americans shopped early this year. 42% say they will buy their last gift before tomorrow standard shipping deadlines in time for christmas have pretty much passed for a lot of retailers like nike, lowe's, nordstrom, usps and fedex non-expedited shipping that deadline passed, too 41% of super saturday shoppers will shop on line, still, and in store. an increasing number of those shoppers will use the omnichannel services like target's drive up picup or on line orders that are fulfilled by stores same day last year same day delivery ship details grew more than 300%. ship ceo kelly ka rouso says daily order volumes doubled in the back half of december co

i'm tyler mathisen joined today by courtney reagan here's what's ahead. the rally resumes. the dow and the s&p now at session highs as investors embrace the volatility but is it too risky to buy some of the hardest hit stocks since that post thanksgiving slump less than a week ago and opec drama the cartel decides to keep adding more barrels to the market each with oil prices down 20% over the past month z. they do it to gain favor with president biden? we'll explore that one. >>> and a retail reit ready to rally. morgan stanley says buy the dip in shares of the largest shopping mall owner in the country. we will talk to the analyst behind that report about potential returns and risks. courtney >> thank you, tyler. well, the market rally is gaining steam this afternoon the dow jones industrial is higher by about 2%, 700 points right now. the nasdaq higher by just under 1% 1 2 points, and the s&p 500 is up by 1.7% boeing is the best performing dow stack after china's aviation regulator took another step toward clearing the 737 max for commercial service apple is the worst do

for the news i'm courtney reagan in new york. >>> millions of americans may be out shopping tomorrow,g will they be headed to the movies too if box office estimates are any indication, the answer's yes thanks to "spider-man: no way home." that movie expected to take in as much as $150 million in the opening weekend. and if the previews from last night and presales are any indication, covid is not stopping people from watching the web slinger. cnbc's julia boorstin live with the box office breakdown hi, julia. >> well, shep, sony's "spider-man: no way home" has already grossed $50 million at the domestic box office. that was yesterday and that's the third highest preview gross of all time. theater chain cinemark said it was their best opening night ever even before the pandemic. this performance follows rave reviews. the film has a 95% positive rating on rotten tomatoes. and this opening puts it on track to gross as much as $200 million opening weekend. that would put it right behind "black panther" and in the top ten openings ever. internationally the film's already brought in 114 mil

courtney reagan is here with the story.ther big help with omicron and the idea that work-from-home is still going to be with us for quite some time? >> very possibly, kelly. we know that athleisure has so many players but lulu really has a very secure spot in that ecosystem. it's sort of a very desirable brand for many people. and we know that the google search trends actually are seeing about a 34% increase compared to sort of the same time in 2019 so we think the momentum is sustained here if we're going to stay at home maybe one, two days a week, maybe more than that what's better than sitting in those lululemon pants? i think there might be some concern about what's going to happen with that mirror acquisition if the company is really going to be able to turn that into a profitable enterprise so i think we're looking for some clarity about that on the call but comp sales are expected to be very strong the average on the street i think is looking for 26% but many analysts are actually individually taking that higher here

i'm tyler mathisen joined today by courtney reagan here's what's ahead. the rally resumes.ghs as investors embrace the volatility but is it too risky to buy some of the hardest hit stocks since that post thanksgiving slump less than a week ago and opec drama the cartel decides to keep adding more barrels to the market each with oil prices down

i'm tyler mathisen courtney reagan is right over there, she will joan us in just a second a selloff ongy tachgs, the nagds on pace for its worst daily performance since september, volatility elevated. our market expert on where to find safety in this disturb leapt storm. >>> and a big miss, the economy created far fewer jobs last month than expected. but wage

i'm courtney reagan in for melissa lee. guy adami, tim seymour, karen finerman and nadine furman the bulls are back in a big way. the market soaring for the second day with the s&p posting its biggest gain since march we'll be joined by mike wilson for his thoughts on why you should be bracing for more volatility ahead. >>> plus a semi surge. chip stocks soaring to a record close today. every single name up more than 2% but is it too late to get in on that trade? >>> and believe it or not, it wasn't all green arrows in the market merck, astrazeneca and lilly sitting on the sidelines during today's rally. what the traders are saying about the action in those names now. >>> we start with a massive rally on wall street the nasdaq ripping higher by 3%. no surprise, it was the biggest of the big tech stocks leading the way. apple, microsoft, amazon and the company formerly known as facebook adding a combined $280 billion in market cap just today. that's bigger than one whole salesforce but it wasn't just big tech. every sector i

tomorrow is expected to be one of the busiest shopping day of the year courtney reagan joins us withhat. >> reporter: tomorrow is super saturday it's expected to be the second busiest day of the year for stores because of the last weekend before the christmas shopping this is according to sensor mat you can solutions. shipping deadlines have passed for retailers including nike, in order nordstroms they expect 148 million americans will shop on saturday. that is down from 150 million last year but up from 147 million in 2019. and the group now forecasts holiday sales will grow 11.5% over last year, according to the retail sales figures that we have so far this year. and a record number of americans, 42%, will buy their last gift before tomorrow. shopping much earlier this year. a lot of super saturday shoppers coming out will do so in store, a quarter of them. a third will shop online, even with the tight shipping windows, 41% will do both some using services like target's drive up or pick up options in store for online ordering but same day pickup target has shipped the delivery serv

. >>> holiday sales rising at the fastest pace in 17 years courtney reagan has the numbers for us hey, courtney. >> hi, scott supply chain and covid worries put it all together didn't matter for the 2021 holiday season it was a strong one for retail total retail sales up 8.5% over last year. that's in store, online, and across all forms of payment, from november 1st to christmas eve, according to mastercard spending calls extending the holiday season dates earlier and retail sales were a touch stronger up 8.6%. many shoppers we knew took advantage of the early deals to make sure the gifts were bought before stock outs soared shoppers returned to stores and kept shopping habits online too. in store sales for more than 8% over last year e-commerce up 11% over 2020. online sales ended up making up almost 21% of total retail sales. it's up from 20.6% in 2020 and 14.6% in 2019. so a pretty big jump if you look over two years apparel sales growing an impressive 47 plus percent followed by jewelry at 32% department store sales gaining more than 21% and the always popular electronic category

. >>> despite the pandemic, the resilient consumer has given retailers a lift this year courtney reagant to expect from the group in 2022 more of the same >> yeah. i think so, and that could be a good thing, because in a world that is still in a pandemic with new variants emerging, it's pretty amazing to see how resilient the u.s. consumer has been and is expected to remain job opportunities are ample in the united states. wages are finally rising, home values are appreciating. it's a set-up for consumers to have discretionary income to spend even in the face of the rising inflation it's 42% compared to the 28 % rebound and many analysts have bullish outlooks for the new year, even if the economic outlook is expected to slow down from the rates we have seen. for all of the negative headlines, many tenants had banner years the dying department stores didn't play out for the biggest department store by revenue. shares of macy's grew 147% this year and it's a top pick for 2022, and dillards gained nearly 300% shares of nordstrom ended down 26% for that name. bath & body works gained 132% f

i'm courtney reagan in for melissa lee.nd day with the s&p posting its biggest gain since march we'll be joined by mike wilson for his thoughts on why you should be bracing for more volatility ahead. >>> plus a semi surge. chip stocks soaring to a record close today. every single name up more than 2% but is it too late to

courtney reagan with the numbers. >> a mixed picture for the top and bottom line. $2 $2.76 adjusted ther $2.08. the street was looking for 2.4, but the company points at a 4% drag because of delayed shipments. the company did demand margins nicely 300 basis points over prepandemic levels the quarter was driven by international. the ceo says holiday sales are off to a strong start. the company raising the previous end of its revenue guidance and also raising its full-year earnings guidance above analyst expectations right now shares are only slightly lower in the after hours. back over to you >> courtney, thank you just looking at the xrt, which is the retail etf broadly speaking, another more than 3% decline, also caught up in some of these concerns around the omicron variant, that might be doing to our behavior. we've seen consumer confidence take a dip actually a decade low. and yet consumer spending seems to have held up relatively low i think thanksgiving sales were disappointing on the surface, but overall it's a pretty healthy consumer environment there's some questions about what

courtney reagan has the official numbers on what we have seen so far. hey, court. holiday season was really strong to retailers with total up 8.5% since last year so extending the holiday period extend earlier many shopper took advantage of the early deals to make sure gifts were bought in time shoppers returned to stores and kept online habits as well online sales made up almost 21% of total retail sales, up from 20.6%, appeared 14.6% in 2019. apparel sales growing an impressive 47-plus percent followed by jewelry up 32% department stores gains more than 21%, and the always popular electronics saw increase the season isn't necessarily over remember, this is a big week for retailers to entice shoppers to make exchanges instead of returns and for consumers to cash in the gift cards and take advantage of the discounts that always happen during this week and christmas. becky? >> which we hope will happen this year. what popped out to mountain the most there was the increase in e-commerce sales >> 11%. >> that's shocking when you consider so many of the stores were clo

courtney reagan joins us with more >> hi.ypically they have three-to-five times the return rate of items bought in typical stores v-stock estimates about $114 billion will be returned following a holiday and nearly 40% will be online returns once they initiate a concern, algorithms weigh a variety of factors to determine what they do next n. some cases, they lower the cost some say keep it returnless refunds will total $4.4 billion this year wal-mart says it considers item values, supply chain cost, efficient circumstance sustainability, post-importantly what's going to lead to the best possible customer experience for some the just keep it phenomenon can be key to keeping commerce loyal. >> we recommend consumers keep it if they can lure that customer, they can generate a high return rate from the same customer. >> reporter: but ceo tobin moore worries these types of returns only add to the waste issue. >> this year there will be probably over 6 billion pounds of waste generated by consumer returns that end up in land fills.

reagan traveled on. it's pretty cool. thank you, courtneyden, meanwhile, is reacting to a warning from vladimir putin that any military action to help ukraine would be a red line. "the washington post" today says it obtained a u.s. intelligence document confirming russia is planning a military offensive against ukraine as early as next month involving up to 175,000 troops. russia deployed more than 90,000 troops in recent weeks with putin claiming that russia is threatened by nato drills near the border, and he added that if nato sends troops and weapons to ukraine, that would be a red line that would trigger a strong response. >> reporter: has russia invaded ukraine? they're expected to invade in 2022. >> we're aware of russia's actions for a long time. and my expectation is we're going to have a long discussion with putin. >> reporter: putin, red line on ukraine? >> i won't accept anybody's red line. >> joining me now, admiral james, former nato supreme allied commander and nbc chief international security and diplomacy analyst and contrib

nbc's courtney kube joins me now from the reagan presidential library in simi valley.ig headlines from today's forum. >> reporter: well, what we're hearing right now from secretary austin, right behind me, is about both russia and china. those have been the two issues that have really dominated much of the conversation here. of course, the conference is about larger defense issues, but those two countries and the potential threats that the u.s. is facing for them are really where the discussion has been. so secretary austin now just speaking about the threat from russia. as you know, lindsey, the reason this has gotten so much more attention, even in the last few days, is because the russia military build-up along the border with ukraine has really accelerated and it's not just combat troops. defense officials are now saying that in fact they have logistical capability along the border, and that's one of the things that's really been a game changer for concern. the one thing that i'm consistently hearing here, though, is that they don't really know -- the defense offic