joining us tomorrow, john bolten will be here along with kevin hassett and tim draper. have a great day. "varney & company" is next and here is stuart. stuart: that's a great introduction, maria, thanks very much indeed. escalation on two fronts, military and political. good morning, everyone. firstoff, escalation in the south china sea. the financial times reports american warships will challenge china's man made islands. our navy will sale close to them. america is saying we do not recognize your territorial claims and we'll challenge them. hillary clinton comes out with a sharp anti-wall street policy, tax them, fine them, restrict them. as joe biden considers a run, hillary takes a sharp left turn. ben carson on the show today, is he the most conservative? he says, yes, i probably am. it's his birthday, so you let him win. if you're vladimir putin you let him win and score seven goals, and he was fully clothed. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ >> all right, it's thursday morning. where is that market going to open today? it closed yesterday at 16,900. today,