deal with the matter based on the strong japan us alliance the united states has an interest and lauren lauren intentions this vital region as i believe all the countries in north east asian share that same interest with us. this underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms an effective channels of communication between china and japan to reduce the risk of escalation. i'll be raising these concerns with great specificity directly when i meet with chinese leadership. my stress and aiden is on the six day asian tour that will take him from tokyo to beijing and then on to see all the trip was planned before chinese authorities announced last month. aides said that the air defense identification sound. they can all foreign aircraft must give prior notice it before entering the area. he warned the mean scores if planes don't impede their instructions. the zoning is a group of islands that japan controls and china and taiwan claim. japanese leaders have been urging china to withdraw its declaration. china's foreign ministry spokesperson said his country is not the one escalating regional t

deal with the matter based on the strong japan us alliance the united states has an interest and lauren lauren intentions this vital region as i believe all the countries in north east asian share that same in touch with us. this underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms and effective channels of communication between china and japan to reduce the risk of escalation. i'll be raising these concerns with great specificity directly when i meet with chinese leadership. vice president biden is on a six nation tour that will take them from tokyo to be djing and then on to saul the trip was planned before chinese authorities announced last month. they set up the era defense identification zone. they said all forty aircraft was give prior notice before entry the area. they warned they may use force if planes don't obey their instructions the zone includes a group of islands the japan controls in china and taiwan claim japanese leaders have been urging china to withdraw its declaration. my dad started his tour in japan the highlight us japan rotations. he first visited the headquarters of t

lauren opening new stores and overhauling older ones. by 1997, ralph lauren was the top-selling designer in the world. consumers spent almost $5 billion a year on his products. goldman sachs saw greater potential and pressed laurenc. he was not so sure. >> he always had concerns that once it was a public company, he would have less freedom of action, that it was no longer his own brand, because he had shareholders and the board to deal with. ♪ >> despite his initial reservations, ralph lauren decided to take his company public in june, 1997. liz dunn, a retail analyst at macquarie capital, has been tracking lauren's company for years. >> part of the challenge with going public is that investors want to see growth quarter to quarter, year to year, in a very consistent, linear fashion. and so i think in the early days of the company's history as a public company, they struggled with that. >> when he first went public, we would cover his annual meetings. and he would stand in front of his shareholders going, "wall street does not understand me. our shares are just sitting there. they do not really move. i wish they would get what we do." >> lauren was now working to satisfy his shareholders. the company began to se

lauren bush lauren and michelle obama's chief of staff. >> this week bloomberg released a study of the 50 u.s. companies doing the most to make the world little bit better. it's good for people and based on the data it's actually good for business as well. oversaw the project as the executive director of points of light. us, lauren bush lauren a pioneer in humanitarian businesses. help our viewers understand how company that made your list are both going about their business and actually making the world a little bit better. what are they doing? >> great. so it's a survey that recognizes community-minded companies in america on the s&p 500 list. what we're looking at is how engaging ine community. that looks at things like dollars, employee volunteers, how are companies using the skills and talents of and localle for good communities. their advocacy on behalf of issues. arehese things combined looking at the holistic picture of how companies are investing in communities. point number three, measuring the impact. how do you quantify this so that say, oh, this is worth our doing? >> right. it's a great question. we work with companies in the survey, it's about social value and business value. what the community -- what the company's doing having social value in the communities? having impact? is it moving the need

that spring in lauren simonetti on the floor the new york stock exchange, are you on twitter, lauren? lauren: i am. definitely every day. cheryl: you're watching the stock of twitter right now. lauren: it hit a new high. went public at the new york stock exchange in early november solely trade as a public company for 30 or so days up 200 or so percent in that time. and nice gain today. anothemothers talk to hit a higy is yahoo. a stock that has doubled this year. down a little bit right now hopefully can turn that around. finally, facebook, nuke appoints the s&p 500 as you know up 25% in the month of december alone. another stock that has doubled in the year 2013. a lot of winners today, a lot of new highs today. come of the social media and the tech sector, cheryl. cheryl: i do not follow you on twitter, but now i do. and you are following brian. we will have to talk about him later on. thank you. the closing bell ringing, 50 minutes to go right now, christmas is over and many retailers are in damage control. we'll talk about that with liz macdonald. does this mark a turning point for onlin

it says ali is lauren lauren loner and therefore the rates it can occur in a pink compact highest level is lower today than it was with that. right now i'm in this day and it is always going to lay low and i and the effect of the kids we have an unfair fiscal system so people do not want to pay more tax in new bern on friday's closing closing tax loopholes obviously in this talk about attacks perform france's budget minister under the previous government of the new cadets are busy as of preferred to the option that second one i guess was taught not a moment ago. belt tightening. instead of tax before talking to the truth is we must talk about expenditure. those are in income to finance its services and social welfare so the first define the parameters of the state senate to ensure that it died so this is of course all about politics because you have a government. one was saying his committing political suicide attacks in too much middle classes but if you cut spending and you've been elected as a left wing government. it's not also focus on site so fearful sotong with mature drivers wou

lauren: like what? lauren, look? just stop! i don't...i don't want to talk about this here.

lauren simonetti. another record day for the dow and s&p. lauren: absolutely. 12 more hours until 2013 ends on wall street. the dow at a record high as we close. the dow took out another intraday high. it closed at a new high. the nasdaq hitting a fresh annual high. a solid day of volumes. also to the upside, the vix popping a little bit, but still maintaining the gains for the year. shares of ibm, you look at the dow 30. 29 of the 30 dow components up. many of them up better than 50%. the sole loser is ibm, down about 3% in 2013. the first annual loss since 2008. back to you. i just went around the floor looking for white wine as a joke but everybody has read. adam: exactly. i will be rubbing that into cheryl. wall street 2013 gains actually reached and final gone to main street? the majority are actually feeling optimistic about the economy once again. "wall street journal" economic rigor in fact ms. contributor steve moore joins us to talk about what this paul truly means. what is remarkable is younger people are actually more optimistic about the economy in 2013 and going forward than older people, correct? >> that is understandable. young people got clobbered during the recession. it has been a really terrible time for people in their 20s and early 30s finding a job. the reason people are feeling more upbeat about the economy is because the economy is doing better. very little question i we have seen a pickup in growth. we are starting to some jobs pickup. this pickup and optimism is based in a new economic reality and i am with the majority, this will continue into 2014. adam: first, they would be i would think troubling news for president obama on the handling of the economy. 41% approve of the way the president is handling the economy compared to 2013. 55% disapprove of how he is handling the economy. what does that mean for him in the coming year? >> obamacare has dominated the news, people see what a disaster that is and it is hurting the economy in terms of employment. if the economy starts to pick up and we start to see more solid growth in 2014, president approvals ratings will improve as the numbers do. i would not be surprised if he is over 50% in 2014 if we get 3% growth threshold. adam: one thing we notice is how sluggish it has been compared to previous recessions. let me ask you the political question, the democrats will stake their future on income inequality. is that going to resonate if the economy is picking up? >> if the economy picks up, that benefits the democrats, benefits the incumbent president, no doubt about it. if the economy picks up, they will probably want to talk about jobs and talk about things being better. i have never believed income inequality is a good message for democrats because basically what they are saying is the middle-class and poor poor people have gotten creamed, how is that a mandate to elect more democrats? adam: could they reach out to younger voters and grateful approval the economy is doing better on the issue of the minimum wage or will that not resonate? >> so few workers earn the minimum wage, the vast majority of americans are well above the minimum wage. i have two kids in college that will be graduating. they don't want minimum wage jobs. they have their stakes higher than that. i don't think there's a lot of huge, deep support for the minimum wage. but there is support for is the lang obamacare, getting rid of some of these hurting businesses, getting rid of the workers threshold on obamacare holding back employment. all of those things have a direct negative effect on the economy. he talked about the stock market doing better, i think it does help. 55% of americans have money in the stock market either directly through stock ownership or the retirement plan or the 401(k) plan. we have seen some decent numbers in housing values as well and that is a primary measure of wealth of americans as well. adam: a lot of tax expire at midnight, but congress reinstate the r&d exemptions, financial firms that their business overseas, will we see those reinstituted? >> probably. this is an instant replay of what happens over the year. what is really scandalous, look at the provisions in that. you talk about some of the big ones that are important, something for the windmill, by motorcycles, racehorses. we don't really need these. we would not extend any of these special interest tax breaks quite frankly. i want to get rid of all of them. adam: allowing them to reap big rewards? we don't have time to talk about those rights now, but i wish you a happy, healthy new year and cheryl casone has an new year filled with red wine. >> youtube. lori: i think we will be talking about the hangover this afternoon. this stock alert for you. hertz global shares are soaring. adopting a one-year poison pill to gain sizable control the car rental company. unusual and substantial trading activity. the plan was not adopted in response to any specific bid. adam: also watching the stock of phillips 66 jumping to a 52-week high. berkshire hathaway is buying it in a deal valued $1.4 billion. receiving 19 million shares currently held by brookshire. -- brookshire. lori: let's check in with peter barnes coming up with all the data for us from washington. peter: rising two tenths of 1%, less than expected occurrence the case-shiller monthly housing index but prices posted strongest annualized gain in more than seven years, up 13.6%, the fastest pace of growth since february 2006 back in the bubble days. an author says don't expect it to continue in 2014. also, do not worry about a new housing bubble. the economist david blitzer said "monthly numbers show we are living on borrowed time and the boom is fading because price increases are getting smaller each month." he predicts closer to historical averages. he says the key issue for the strength of housing in 2014 is the federal reserve efforts to keep mortgage rates down throuuh quantitative easing bond purchases, which it is now starting to taper. all 20 cities in the index rose year-over-year led by 27% gain in las vegas and 20% gain or so to the three california markets, all of those were hit hard in the housing crisis as you recall, but don't call the increases signs of a bubble, blitzer says. the last was caused by subprime and zero down payment mortgages, and we don't find many of those around anymore. lori: that is for sure. thank you. coming up next hour we will get more from the s&p david blitzer joining us on "markets now." adam: prices are down for the second straight day on reports the current resume oil exports and take a look at the metals. early losses mostly higher today. for the year there purchasing them apples and losses of silver down 35%. lori: pushing demand for the heating fuel. now straight to jeff flock joining us from a coal plant in chicago. hey, jeff. jeff: i can vouch for the winter temperatures. this state line former coal generator was built in the 1920s as the largest electric generating power plant in the world. why are we here? go to natural gas numbers up for the year, down today 3%. giving back some earlier gains, but a lot of reasons natural g gas, it makes sense to be bullish natural gas. take a look at the temperature numbers in the short term forecast the next 10 days or so. all of the purples and blue and green on the map if you look at it closely, the map will show you where it is abnormally cold driving demand. that is short-term natural gas. the number of coal-fired generator plans and this one here being shut down around the country as a result of regulations. if you are long natural gas, you like this trend actually because it takes the other option away from the electric power. don't the ability to go back even if natural gas prices rise. and w we're obviously getting a lot of natural gas these days, by some point maybe prices rise, you don't have the option to go back to these old plants. natural gas prices. lori: jeff flock rocking it. adam: say warm, jeff. we will fill you in on that outbreak. lori: by justin timber lake is saying bye bye-bye to jc pennies. adam: why is she so darn happy? you would be as well. Ñ@ç@çpçpç lori: this news alert, 10 this recording and widespread outbreak of the flu this week. virus contained to spread across the country. most of the southeast. h1 and one strain you know it as the swine flu. there have been four reported infant deaths, many adults admitted to hospitals, flu shot recommended for anyone older than six months, and it is not too late. this is key. it is not too late. i haven't yet, but because of this latest development i thought so much to put on my to do list. adam: free flu shot. two months ago. lori: your full of useful information that i can't use. adam: as we do every 15 minutes, the market and laurennetti. lauren: i always get it, i forgot this year. they gave them two months ago and we missed it. lori: both of you after the program. lori: i got sick regardless every year. it has been up all day today, certainly a big winner better than 5% right now. the private equity firm increasing its stake from foreign .5% to 6.8%. basically this is being seen as a positive for the stock for reorganization of the business. shares are up about 1.5%. back to you. we will see who gets sick in the eed. lori: let's make semi with charles who talk about the market drivers for 2013 and 2014 specifically investing for growth. what does wall street need for companies in order to go? charles: the s&p 500, a line of cash. how did they use that money in last year and next year that will tell us about the rally. they say there are two ways to pay back the shareholder. event or share buyback. they both kind of tell a very interesting story. huge money in both of them. $448 billion in buybacks, $339 billion

the car coach, lauren fix, lauren, let's have you back on the program soon. >> good to see you. >> bit coins are virtual currency, you familiar with this? the charity has gone from serving 50 meal as week, to 900 it is branching out. the story. the tragedy of losing his best friend, inspired jason king to tackle the tragedy of homelessness. sean was murdered last year. it was very brutal, and it effected my family a lot. >> in february, seans outpost was born, after one of sean's presents outreach program for the homeless lost its funding the charity began feeding the homeless one meal a week, ten months later charity has served more than 26,000 meals. he also purchased this nine-acre property, with no panhandling and overnight catching allowed, the homeless can live here, undisturbed. >> it is a lot better than out there. uh have a shelter, i am not worried about cops on me. >> what is unusual, he has accomplished all of this using bit coins. the vir call currency that allowed you to build things in the real world, he even pays the mortgage with it. he says the outposthas already rais

lauren teamed up with the organization donate life. they urge people to enroll as organ donors. >> my friend lauren received a heart transplant. i have a liver transplant. and we have -- between us, we have about nine extra yearof life already. >> so, you'd think that lots of people would sign up to be organ donors, but lauren learned that many don't, and that gave her a new mission in life. she helped persuade her state legislature to pass a new law. it changed the driver's license form. >> in the past, that section on that form was optional. now when people are going to get their license or renew their license, they will have to answer the question, do they want to become an organ donor? they can either check "yes," or they can check "skip this question." >> by being required to check either "yes" or "skip," people can't just ignore the question like they could before. it's believed that extra moment of consideration might be enough to make more people willing to become organ donors. oh, and, by the way, the name of the legislation? lauren's law. >> wow. that was, like, incredible, to actually have a law named after me, and that could ultimately make a difference in organ donation and hopefully increase the numbers of enrolled donors. it was just a great experience. >> ♪ oh, say, can you see ♪ by the dawn

. >> we're going right here with lauren. >> lauren. >> congratulations. here you go.xt, how to teach your kids to focus on the giving instead of the getting during the holidays right after this. ♪ [ female announcer ] resisting the magical taste of silky smooth dove® chocolate is difficult. but choosing which one is even harder. we'rone bite at a timeness with olive garden's new "tastes and toasts of italy" a festive menu of small plate appetizers, 4 dollars each, weekdays until 6pm. pair 'em with wine, beverages and friends at olive garden. you give them the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®. but for everything we do, we knbut then it goesh more. that to the closet...to die. so try new glow unstopables. they fill your closet with scents so fresh they last for 12 weeks! downy unstopables. try with downy infusions. these clorox wipes disinfect twice the surface of the "other brand." so what's that look like? ♪ it looks a lot like that. clorox. disinfect twice as mu

lauren simonetti's following that. lauren: we will see what is leading s&p 500. the top five companies have not changed all day, many of these energy and refining stocks, names like marathon, all up to, 3%, some even more than that. one of the winners is phillips 66. you can see that experiencing 93% cut. warren buffett berkshire hathaway, his major company is buying a unit of phillips 66 for $1.4 billion. not in cash, they have about $42 billion in cash but they're doing it with shares of phillips is to six which they already own, 19 million shaaes to be exact. as a result of that deal, we are not sure why this is happening, he is trying to avoid taxes or think they have already risen so much this year, we don't know. it is not only lifting the shares of her chair and phillips, but many refiners and sectors. back to you. cheryl: thank you. temperatures may be dropping but one market is feeling the heat. that is natural gas. why are natural gas prices on fire? because of the frigid temperatures that we are seeing all over the u.s. jeff flock standing by in chicago with more on that story. jeff: i tell you, it is not just cold in chicago, it is called all over. i am on south street you can see through the snow. a lot of people making a bet on natural gas. futures contract lost 4% but look at why it has been up lately. this is the weather driven. see where it is abnormally cold. few look at the map we have, the purples and blues and the green depicting areas of the country it is abnormally cold right now. that means demand for natural gas will be pretty high. the website has a demand meter on there. almost the needle of the meter. here is the reason to be bullish natural gas long-term. it has to the diminishment of coal-fired plants around the country. a lot of them have gone off-line because of the regulations. maybe you think that is a good idea. the fact is these plants are going away and gives electric power generators a lot less flexibility to switch back to cause natural gas prices rise. maybe there is nothing. that took the foot off the gas pedal a little bit. not as many call opportunities moving forward. i leave you with this beautiful scene of the financial district here in chicago, the harris bank building twilight, bank of america building, it is all right here getting snowed on. is going to be a lovely evening. cheryl: how cold is it in chicago? >> last i checked it was 4 degrees. maybe a little warmer now the snow is flying it was 4 degrees. cheryl: stay warm, jeff flock. thank you very much. that is what it was made for. >> happy new year. cheryl: a difficult year contact was earlier, emerging market. the index is down about 6% on the year, so this trend turnaround in 2014? where can investors find the most opportunity? wells fargo emerging market equities fund portfolio manager. that really is the question. i'm curious if emerging market if the story will turn around ia post taper, what do you say? >> emerging market will have to adjust to a new world. imagine the fragile five earli earlier, i think for the last several years a lot of emerging markets have been able to hide behind a lot of global liquidity, cheap money, avoid making some very painful decisions with regard to restructuring the economies and fixing the deficits which have been very easy to fudge. very interesting year for the equities. cheryl: lets get country specific with china, russia. lots of those stocks even if they have traded on the nasdaq in particular have done really well. but part of the traditional brick, there are concerns about those particular countries moving into next year. you think this story is improving? >> i think with both of those countries it will depend on how they manage their individual structural challenges. they need to reduce their dependency on commodities, which are probably seeing better days going forward. really focus on spurring other aspects of their economy. there will be some very right lights and interesting companies. china i think understands the challenges they have with moving away from investment expenditure, highly leverage growth and consumer spending. that will be hard but i think china has put in place a good plan for that over the next several years. cheryl: the same question as far as china really does go over into india, india hasn't had struggles of the middle class china has, but have been struggling nevertheless. >> they have suffered for a number of reasons. the big one friendly has been their government has really not made any significant reforms, especially relied on money to bail them out and allowed them to ignore very important reforms in india. there's a lot of momentum there now, have made some efforts. sections of next year. this may take a more pro-business stance, but india is a tough call it the stage. cheryl: another tough call has to be tricky. they have been mentioning a lot about government, the instability. one issue is the proximity to northern africa and again what is happening with the crowd in lt the effect until this year. it looks rough, what do you say? >> turkey is a classic example. a huge account deficit they were able to easily funded and create very high global liquidity and they began to turn off in may as the taper talks began, people began to worry how is tricky going tt fund that deficit? that has been compounded with very serious political issues in that country, so the market has sold off, but it is a great example of pretty good opportunities as people worry about things like the fragile 53 had turkey is a member of that group. as they focus on that theme, we can very well see good companies being tossed out as people talk about one or two factors in the country trading interesting opportunities. cheryl: hottest emerging or frontier market. >> we will see the chinese internet names continue to perform very well. cheryl: sticking with china. thank you very much, good to have you on the show, happy new year. >> thank you. cheryl: the closing bell will ring. 16 minutes to go, all of the money you have made in 2013, it is on your screen. we will talk about the volcker rule. helping to prevent another financial crisis again. will it ultimately get shifted away? and tonight one of the biggest nights of the year, people will get pulled over for drunk driving. one organization hoping to change all of that by offering a little roadside assistance. so there could be hope for you. cheryl: as you get ready to celebrate new year's eve you may be wondering how you can get home after the big night out. as you can see in this live shot, this is times square, thousands of people already flooding into times square for tonight's huge parties, a million people expected to be at the crossroads of the world to watch the famous ball drop at midnight, that will be tonight. the on-demand car service uber is warning surge pricing will be in effect, customers can expect to pay premium fares during the peak times after 12:15 a.m. uber trying to head off accusations of price gouging. they got hammered for raising prices five times the normal rate in the past. outside of new york, aaa will be on head in some states to help revelers get home if they can no longer drive safely. organization calls it tow to go. aaa is warning the service only available as a very last resort and not available everywhere in the country. be safe. wall street's war on the volcker rule is actually heating up. after the lawsuit was filed by the american bankers association, regulators now considering dropping a provision of the rule that could force banks to sell off their investment. it says it could take a while to get through, more than the annual earnings, and if that provision actually is implemented, that is what they will have. we'll regulators stand firm, given to what is demands by wall street bankers? let's bring in the professor of economics. we have been debating this going on three years now, coming out and filing a lawsuit, they are not giving up. do you wonder if the volcker rule will be diminished piece by piece by piece? >> i don't think so. this particular thing they are suing over is not really at the center of the volcker rule. the center is proprietary trading. this isn't even on the outskirts of the volcker rule, it is on the outskirts of the outskirts. it is about this hybrid sort of hybrid security that some banks issued, it is capital for regulatory purposes. cheryl: why would they just give up? why are they grabbing onto this? they are worried about the small banks. they have said i don't know how i am going to survive this. i used to have 40 lawyers, now i have 100 lawyers, they don't have the capacity to deal with this. >> it has come down really heavily on banks in general. it tends to be fixed cost, it is more heavily on small banks, large banks and they are hurting. it is an opportunity to do something for the small banks. cheryl: one bank should not be investing in the ceos of another bank. understand banks should not be doing this kind of trading. >> it is investing. the securities of another bank.% it is on the edge. my guess is the regulators are going to rethink this one, but it just happens to be somehow associated with the volcker rule. cheryl: july 2015, who wins? >> that is a year and a half from now. they are the ones who put the volcker rule in the dodd frank act in the beginning, they win. cheryl: thank you very much, it is good to see you, happy new year. >> happy new year, happy new year. cheryl: deputy chair, we will talk about with bitcoin coming up at some point. the closing bell will ring in six minutes from now. on "after the bell" we are going to have the it place to be this new year's eve. that is times square, but the it place to be for $395. david asman coming in for "after the bell." stay with us. 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[ indistinct talking ] [ ma announcer ] right there in their trading platfm. ♪ [ indistinctalking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade. cheryl: david as man joining me right now. he is busy looking at numbers. david: i am. what a fun time for us to be here. thank you for joining us. we're right here in times square in the middle of it all. we'll give you a lot of outside shots at this hour. the crowds are building. look at that. that is literally a stone's throw. the windows were shaking. i never heard the sound as loud as it is today in times square. let's go to laurenetti at new york stock exchange. i want to talk about something that is really shaping things up. what is happening with hertz? hertz is up 9%. why is it moving up so fast? >> it was at a new high today up more than 10% at one point. the board of directors adopting a one year plan to keep investors getting too much influence over the company. not to mention that third point's dan lobe has taken a 5% stake. cheryl: kkr taking a big stake in marvell technology, lauren. tell me about that one. >> absolutely. moving that stock substantially. marvel up 10%. changes maybe in corporate strategy for the chipmaker coming soon. david: phillips 66, warren buffett wants to buy a piece of it. >> maybe this is warren buffett's way of saying in the future the moneymaker will be oil moving through pipelines, right? cheryl: let our viewers know, twitter's stock is actually doing better right now. [closing bell ringing] david: the bells are ringing. is that the real confetti. i think that is the artific

lauren taylor. in london. lauren. >> this is the scene right now in independence square. key government buildings prevent occupations from the protestors. let's cross to barnaby phillips who is live in kiev. barnaby. >> i'm also in independence square. these crowds here in defiance of a government order. they've been here all day listening to speeches, listening to music. chanting slogans. the atmosphere is very festive. it has to be said. let's look back on the day's events right in the center of the ukrainian capital. in the city center it does feel like a revolution is underway. the city hall has become a headquarters for protestors. all day people came in, just have a liquor enjoy the food and hot drinks, or -- look, or enjoy the food and hot drinks. the carpet won't get damaged in these extraordinary times. the problem for the opposition is where do they go from here? how do they turn occupation into political victory? >> translator: the way to resolve this crisis is through early presidential and parliamentary elections. we want a new confidence resolution in the go

lauren simonetti handling the details. lauren: the range on the dial about 70 points today, so that is pretty tight right now. at the lows of the session down 18 points. the market still positive but just barely. if you look at the centers, they're pretty mixed at this point. utilities leading the market higher, but discretionary stocks and health care stocks lagging at this point. maybe seven record highs in a row, but might stop at six. six stocks hitting record highs today. it still is a relatively strong day. nevertheless, back to you, connell. connell: unemployment benefits for more than a million americans set to expire tomorrow. it will expire unless congress acts to restore them. rich edson in d.c. with whether or not that would happen. rich: they will expire. democrats want to review them retroactively when they return. republicans seem to have little appetite. these are passed during the financial crisis. the law offers 73 weeks of unemployment insurance. this means you unemployment rate will fall. deutsche bank says the rate could be 6.7% by the march fomc meeting due to the benefit expiration. this is not count on the improvements in the labor market. for some, americans holding out for better job may take another offer. economist mostly credit the bulk of the drop of the unemployment rate for americans falling out of the workforce. when they are not looking for jobs, they are not counted in the unemployment rate. democrats want to expand the benefits for one year. one analyst says they will likely discuss an extension whose passage is far from certain. >> the fix coming up this year that will need to be done was included in the budget deal. it carries a very large price tag, three types of packages will undoubtedly have to be beyond the gimmicks and identify real areas of offset so there are increased deficits added in this year. rich: the cost of extending the benefits for one year more than $25 billion. connell. connell: all right, rich. rich edson in washington, d.c., for us. wwe're joined in the studio in new york, good to see you. what is your take on all of this community of these benefits will not be extended? >> this is the season of hope. some did not like it because it got rid of the sequester. the budget does not have this extension of unemployment benefits, workers, taxpayers are hoping these discussions come to nothing because more benefits mean fewer jobs. connell: the other side of the argument which you know very well around the holiday season, taketaking us away from people d this will hurt real people, why is the opposite of that true? >> the counter argument is a political one. even president obama's former chief economic advisor has studied this and found when you have more generous benefits, it makes sense, people are less eager to find new jobs, less eager to find a new job. with the economic bureau of economic research found was not only discourages workers but also discourages employers from creating new jobs because they know it will be more expensive to get labor. connell: the unemployment rate actually as a result of this could come down. that is going psychologically could be a help in some way. 7% unemployment as a result of this. >> some of that is a result if you are not eligible for benefits, he may not report yourself as looking and may drop out of the workforce. north carolina ran the experiment where they reduced the benefits beyond what they could have offered given federal programs and what happened? employment but up. not just unemployment going down, but more jobs, less costly for people to create jobs and more incentive for people who don't have benefits. connell: that is your word of the session, incentives. we are getting these benefits coming in, they don't have the incentive to go out and look. now you think we will see a lot of people say i will not hold out anymore. never job is available, i am taking it. >> incentives matter. he has come to the same conclusion. this is one of those issues like the minimum wage right, left, center, economist not moonlighting as political hacks look at the data and they say this is friction in the labor market, this is fewer jobs even though it sounds good. if you believe that. we are now five years from the recession. not just people driving out of the labor force, there's not a good argument this is making sense. i think it is amazing what american business has been able to do with all the headwind. a big force the economy offsetting a lot of mistakes, but i don't think we will grow to our potential. connell: were not even used to it. >> washington is so dominant whether the federal reserve monetary policy or on the fiscal side. like him to step aside a little bit and let the market runoff. connell: as always, thank you for coming on, we appreciate it. moving along to talk about the market a little bit with you, treasury prices continue their fall and the 10-year yield continues to go up. we had it up to 3% briefly, first time since july of 2011. is it enough to put pressure on the stock market rally that has been all over the headlines? senior fixed income strategist at morgan stanley joining us now to talk about all of this. i don't know if 3% is a significant number or not. appreciate that. several of our guests will focus on round numbers, yes, 3% trouble for the stock market rally. is it an important rally number? >> it is a psychologically important number. beyond 3% it is that much easier to get to 3.25%. i think what you're going to see, a little bit from james earlier is the data over the next month all about expectations. a really good month of november, the sentiment will disappoint a little bit, they didn't want to be quite as strong so you will see at full back a little bit. the mood will be higher. >connell: the mood higher would happen quickly and next thing you know 4% or more. if you get there quickly it could upset the market. you don't see that happening? >> we don't. the average for the 10-year is 2.6. getting to 3.5 is not that big of a deal but you have to get there in a smooth, easy manner. in may and june were shot up close to 3% in a matter of two months is not healthy. that shakes confidence, people step away from the market, you don't want to invest, but if you get in a slow fashion, better economic growth, i think it is okay. connell: stepping away from the market there is a stock market, but the bond market for people, especially retail investors people want to transition their money into bonds, it has been a tough place to be, the search for yield has been pretty much nonexistent. what type of a year will 2014 be? >> 2013 was the third negative year. only the third negative year of total returrs since 1999, 1994 was the other one. a pretty amazing run. next year will not be that much better, but it will be slightly better we think simply because long rates will be tapped out. that is what has driven the unemployment this year cap tout nominal growth around 3.5, 4%. don't get your hopes up too much. connell: almost an undercover story. the rates staying low. what about janet yellen? >> i think the way they changed their guidance is interesting. down to six or even lower. it has confused the market a little bit, and we can get some clarity before the next fomc meeting. it might be more pessimistic. the transition would be more of the same. connell: that was the big debate. why did you want to see summers instead of janet yellen? >> i thought a change of pace getting through taper and would be for the fed. more of the semi didn't think was good for the market. the way they have transitioned into bernanke, it has been yellen running the show for the last three or four months anyway. that seems to be the way it is run. i think she has done connell: the spirited ben bernanke. thank you for coming on, that was good, appreciate it. report by the associated press says iran is developing a new development of centrifuges. that violates the geneva convention. and a new link with brain injuries to alzheimer's later in life. and chinese officials find tunnels used to smuggle tech products. from one city to another. we will have that as well, stay on top of the market. look at oil now as we go to break and be back on "markets now." [ bagpipes and drums playing over ] [ music transitions to rock ] make it happen with the all-new fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades when you open an account. connell:'s we will talk about this chinese tunnel supposedly smuggling in iphones and other things in a minute. but lauren with another technology story. what is with twitter's price today? lauren: volume still pretty big at this hour, 21 million shares. if you recall yesterday when the stock was up about 5%. 3 million shares changed hands. it was so much more than the 30 day average of 18 million. about 4% of total volume here at the new york stock exchange, so volume is very heavy. the moves are mostly to the upside as the stock triples with the ipo in november. downgrade in the underperformed today. the analyst says we believe nothing has changed to justify the rise in valuation. when twitter reports earnings next month, the first earnings report will be key, connell. back to you. connell: for coming up on twitter throughout the day. talking about iran now. that country's nuclear chief has announced plans to begin development of a new generation of centrifuges pity coming as a country reached a deal with western powers to cut back its nuclear program promising to not bring any new centrifuges online fo

lauren zimmmerman on floor of the new york stock exchange. still market on fire, lauren. what's going on? >> it really is. it keeps getting better as the day progresses, tracy. the dow is up about 120 points, nasdaq up 12 and s&p up eight 1/2. records for the dow and s&p 500. look at twitter, also hitting new all-time high, just about $75 a little while ago. this stock started trading as a public company in the new york stock exchange in early november. it is uphundred% in 30 or so days since then. -- up 200%. unbelievable performance, tracy. tracy: to say the least. laurenes. >> okay. tracy: nsa leaker edward snowden making a little christmas day appearance on british television believe it or not. build by the u.k. channel as alternative to the queen's annual christmas speech. wish stuart varney would be here to give good dialogue because i can't do it. snowden calling on citizens to work together to end widespread state spying. take a listen. >> a child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. they will never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves and unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. and that's a problem because privacy matters. tracy: sure does. well, soon of course snowden is wanted by the u.s. government for leaking troves of classified information. the white house and intelligence community calling on fugitive to be returned to the u.s. where he faces felony charges. so much for your privacy. >>> making money on obamacare. the cofounder of a website that rates doctors like yelp rates restaurants. more like an

lauren is following that story for us. lauren. >> he has been facing down protests over his handling of a trade deal with europe. hundreds of thousands of people have been taken to the streets. earlier, he warned foreign countries against meddling in his countries internal affairs. these are live pictures. the protestors till there. we have a report. >> in his first news conference since the protests began, the ukrainian president explained why he signed the deal with russia. >> we continue to work with the i.m.s. we are partners with them but this loan we have received from russia is beneficial for us, because russia did not apply any conditions. >> it doesn't rule out a relationship with europe. >> there are no contributions under course of ukraine for any european integration. in fact, we are not talking about integration, but economic relations. >> pro european demonstrators build a new barrier at independence square, despite the president's message. the president's news conference was a highly controlled event with a handful

lauren simonetti on new york stock exchange. lauren, you're almost free. >> good way to put it, cheryl. time to pop open the champagne. they are a chinese mobile internet provider got a nice pop today, better than 5%. there is a lot of talk about this stock. the news is that morgan stanley disclosed yesterday that it acquired a 5.2% stake in the company. but as you know, and we've heard this before, particularly on "countdown to the closing bell", short seller, muddy waters, accused nq mobile of fraud. there is lot of red flags raised by nq mobile. it is a small cap tech firm and trades pretty volatilely. it is up today. happy knew year to you. and happy new 2014. david: happy 2014. thank you, lauren closing fors last time in the 2013. let's go back to the s&p. larry shover, how is it shaping up for the new year? >> we're judged by the calendar, shouldn't be. s&p 500 is up 25%. 46 of those stocks made all-time highs -- 246. people are saying we have to have a selloff. when you think of all the monkey shines in washington, with the fiscal drag of higher taxes, our gdp is still doubled this year, not to mention china is growing at 7% and draghi continues to create miracles out of europe. this is a time of favor for our market. it will be hard to bet long after a long rally we've had. i'm looking forward to long and prosperous 2014 with double-digit returns. david: double-digit according to larry shover. monkey shines i love that description for what goes on in% d.c. larry, have a wonderful new year. thank you very much. >> you too. cheryl: thank you, larry. oil prices rebounded this year, climbing 7.2%, posting the fourth annual gain in five years. with global demand rising next yea

lauren simonetti watching it a all, and we are near the highs of the day, or are we pass them? laurendays in a row. we have not seen a long since march. volume of course is very light. there are two answers everyone's stock declining, so the market is very positive. report initial

lauren simonetti is at the new york stock exchange looking at all of it. hey, lauren. >> hi, dagen. well, the dow is trying to stay in the green today, up about four points, the nasdaq and s&p 500 are down. i was taking a look, it's unbelievable that for all three major averages this year, there's been only two months where the major averages have been down, june and august. pretty unbelievable when you think about it like that. let's take a look at coke shares, number two in the dow right now. there was an article in barron's over the weekend citing a couple of things that should pique investor interest in the new year, a revival in earnings, steady dividend growth, a growing global middle class. and if you consider the fact that the broader market and the dow both up 26 plus percent this year, coke shares only up about 12%. so they've underperformed and might have some room to grow in 2014. dagen, back to you. dagen: thank you so much, lauren. the white house over the weekend announcing that the obamacare, the national web site, that sign-ups had spiked passing the one million mark. but enrollment in health care exchanges overall including the states still could be below the obama administration's own targets for 2013. joining us now for a look at 2014 and, well, everything, fox news contributor, jehmu greene. good to see you. what do you make of the number? >> well, you know, it's like the song, the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar, and it did for obamacare. clearly, the rollout, the first few weeks of the web site was abysmal. but this is what was supposed to happen all along. there was never any doubt i, i think, in anyone's mind that there were millions of americans who were desperate for health insurance. and they do what we all do in paying taxes or buying christmas presents, they waited until the last minute, and there has been this surge. these are just the numbers from the federal exchange. i thi

lauren simonetti joins us with more on this. good morning lauren. >> good morning, ainsley. the airline becomes the biggest an line in the world reducing the number of domestic carriers to 4, delta raises airfares united matches and so does u.s. airways. those still separate separately. the hike is 10 bucks. it is the 12th attempt to raise prices this year. we have to see if southwest and jetblue match. but regardless air fair will be more expensive for everyone after the propose the budget deal doubles some air travel fees. air travel becoming more expensive but maybe more noisy, too. today the fcc will begin debating whether passengers should be allowed to make cell phone calls during flight. 48 percent of americans oppose the idea. 19 percent support it. among frequent flyers opposition is even stronger with 78 percent opposing. if you are one of the nearly 300 million people who use yahoo web mail you know the service is down for 40-hours and it has not yet been fully restored. the problem first appeared monday night steming from a hardware issue. the ceo tweets the service is restored but if you dig murder it is not 100 percent back up and running. 70 percent of e-mail sent during the outage they still have to be delivered. that's expected later this afternoon. sthooivengs lauren>> good to see you. >> millions of people waking up to arctic air had morning. >> we could get 3 inches of snow. lady in red you look so pretty this morning. >> thank you. you do as well. we have seen three inches in new york. we have had the lake-effect snow machineic canning up yesterday producing significant snowfall and shy of four feet in new york. 44 inches of snowfall on the ground during this storm system. incredible stuff. more than 20 inches widespread across other sections of parts of new york. significant snowfall. we are pektsing more snow as we head into later on today. warnings across parts of up state new york and downwind of lake erie. temperatures like you mentioned arctic air still in place across parts of the plains and in the northern plains international falls in minnesota current windchill 40 degrees below zero. temperatures are actually the coldest we have seen in three years across parts of the midwest. chicago 2 degrees below zero. we have to go but i want to

lauren green is with us. lauren. >> first glance at the catalog. it is glossy that it looks like it could come from macy's or j. crew. but it doesn't, it is a gift catalog but from the christian charity world vision. the gift catalog filled with gifts not just for you or anyone really we know. therefore the world's poor. flipping through it you find high quality pictures of farm animals, fruit trees and sewing machines. world vision says these catalogs are intentionally designed to look like any retail outlet offering and it helped boost giving. >> the format of a catalog really lends itself to show all the work that world vision does. so that is one of the reasons why we use that format but the main reason is that people are used to shopping out of catalogs. it's a familiar format for them. >> reporter: farm animals like goats, really a popular choice. not only do these animals help feed entire families which is the serious part of it, take care of a person in your family really impossible to buy for. >> like my father what do i buy my father for christmas? he doesn't need anything. doesn't want anything. you can buy some chickens. you can buy some goats and give those goats and chickens to a family that needs them overseas and then daddy, a card, hey, guess what i got you for christmas, two goats and 10 chickens. >> reporter: franklin graham's charity, samaritan's purse is one place you can buy a goat for a needy family. here is another one you may have not heard one. goats forean old goat started by fox's ellen rattner. when she turned 6 0 and didn't want to get presents. this celebrates the true meaning of christmas. jenna: maybe i will get jon a goat for christmas. >> reporter: it changes whole meaning of getting your goat. jenna: there you go. jon: i bought goats for all my kids through ellen's charity last year. jenna: that is great idea. jon: goats for christmas. jenna: thank you, lauren reporter: sure. jon: well a cool dinosaur discovery to tell you about. for years scientists believed the head ornaments on all dinosaurs were made of bone until now. a rare fossil find shows a soft tissue crest atop one dino's head was more like fleshy material found in a rooster's comb. it was found in alberta, canada. they were found on a duck bill dinosaur. they were common, so we're sold,5 million years or so ago. jenna: it has been three years since the death after border patrol investigation that launched the "fast & furious" scandal. hundred of guns remain missing and two of brian terry's killers are still on the loose. coming up a look where this investigation stand today. >>> a teenager charged in the death of four people, blamed it on rich kid's syndrome or something like that. we'll have a doctor if "affluenza" is a real affliction. that's coming up. jon: new developments to our top stories and breaking news this hour. jenna: well, apparently, it just keeps coming, the prob

. >> lauren is elizabethtown, north carolina. hi, laurenyou are on. >> caller: hello, good evening. i wanted to know the relationship that ms. carter had with the late betty ford? >> well, they became very good friends. and they worked on the era together as we mentioned. and they communicated a lot -- worked on projects together. and as i mentioned earlier, mrs. carter gave a nice eulogy. the ford family and the carter family became good friends. for bette ford because for candor had taken a step forward for first ladies as well. and i think that made it a little easier for later first ladies to speak out to say what they thought. >> and the -- the carters have concentrated on humanitarian issues globally. but i'm wondering about the relationship with the democratic party after leaving the white house after trouncing in the 1980 election. how welcome were they by the national party. what was their role? >> well, you know, immediately after that kind of defeat, those aren't the kind of people you're going to send out on the campaign trail o

lauren ashburn, amy holmes and chuck lane are joining us now. >> lauren ashburn has a right to say what he wants and a&e has a right to take him off the air. do you agree? >> he has the right to say whatever he wants. except he is working for a network that has the right to fire him for saying anything he wants. so he has the right whether or not he should have done it in such graphic terms is another matter. if he had just said marriage is between a man and a woman, this wouldn't have happened. >> or if he had just said i'm a christian and i believe the piebl says thbible says homosex is a sin, it would have been fine. >> it would have been fine. >> was this, at least in part, a political decision on the network's part? >> well, it seems so. in fact, the head of a&e said there were networks who worked on his show that said they couldn't because of his views. i'm totally baffled for why a&e fired him. >> he's not fired. >> well, they suspended him because even tmz is calling a&e out saying they knew about his views. this is a reality show and he is giving the audience a slice of his reality. >> and what about when phil robertson says african-americans during the jim crowe segregation era were happy and singing. >> i read those quotes and i believe that he believed that. it doesn't necessarily surprise me that people are confiding in him about back breaking work of cotton. he says he was in the fields and nobody complained to him about it. he's not there as an anchor or spokesperson for a&e, i think she could have just said that. >> did they overreact and could they ever kept him on the air if he apologized? >> they make a lot of money about these top rated shows. >> it's the top rated cable shows. >> yes. and, in fact, they're going to run a marathon over the holiday that's includes a bunch of stuff from him. eventually, they will have to patch it up because the family has made clear that they're not happy about this. they put out a statement saying we can't imagine going forward with this show. >> there is no show without him. but he put back this semiwalk back when phil robertson said i used to be about sex, drugs and rock and roll and i would not treat anyone with disrespect, but -- >> he showed things like this many times before. >> that's why they hired him. a&e warned robertson before this not to make inflammatory remarks. >> with all of their bull area gaty, we can't have one single ee v evangelical on the cable? >> he can't be the -- does he have to but that. he's a person on a rate reality show. ? no, i have this. >> talk about a&l and what its rights and responsibilities are. the network hired this guy knowing what it was getting. >> howie, when i was at usa today live, i was responsible for creating reality tv programming, pitching the network and reviewing the contract along with a lawyer and making sure everything was in its place. here is what happens when you negotiate a contract with a&e. number one, you sign your life away. you say that they have complete rights to do whatever they want with this show. and in very rare instances do they back down. number two, they say you have to sign a morality clause and if you do anything outside of this morality clause, see you later. >> so, of course they have a right and you have to fight, it leave the with did. >> and a number of people have been jumping in saying this is a double standard, lots of vulgarity on the air. >> miley cyrus twerking and smoking pot. >> yes. and msnbc dumped alec baldwin and after an anti-gay outburst at a photographer, which he denies. >> right. but i think there's a difference between being a host on a news network versus being a character on a reality show where they're being served up, they're supposed the be candid, they're supposed to allow americans into their dining rooms and their dinner table. now they're burping at the dinner table and we can't have that? >> with can we talk about no public publicity. >> i remember when chick-fi-let made a substantively similar comment, their sales spiked because a lot of people thought he was stoned the same way phil robertson was stoned. >> whether you love or hate phil robertson, there's no constitutional right to appear on a division show. that is up to your employer. >>> i want to shift gears and talk about the privacy of the nsa. the administration's sweeping surveillance program is probably unconstitutional and almost orwellian. that was all the media needed to surround a man in russian, ed snowden. he ought to be convicted and hanged by his neck. >> some are saying this ruling vindicates ed snowden others are saying he should be hung. what does this say about the media culture we live in? >> come on, howie, we love personalities. we love to fixate on one person to tell a story. look at any newspaper article where you lead in with the victim of some issue and then you tell the full story. that is the same thing here. i think edward snowden should be the face of this. this is the guy -- >> but this is like everybody in the country, not just the guy who leaked the documents. >> of course. but we do tell the rest of the story. and i think a lot of people see him as a patriot for doing what he did and other people say him, like president obama, as a villain. >> is it fair for the press to say snowden leaked this huge number of documents because he thought spying was wrong and now we have an advisory panel saying he should be brought in or main he's doing the right thing? i think they have the responsibility to report on the information that he has. >> and why to your point -- and yesterday there was a story in the "new york times" based on new documents about u.s. and britain having like a thousand targets included in the israeli prime minister's office. but we're not going to -- we don't have to decide his guilt or innocence, but why have we made the debate about him? >> well, i think to lauren's point, it's easier to tell a story through people and humans and heros and villains and black hats and white hats. let's face it, a lot of this story has been confusing. zl you're saying we don't like complexity? >> i would like to point to the christian science monitor. it has been very good explaining these terms and what is going on. >> and chuck, one of the things snowden media defenders tend to down play is this is a guy who broke the law and is now a fugitive from the law. >> because he's leaking documents. i mean, this is going to be one of those -- >> you say be friendly to the source? >> well, surprise, surprise, right? we're not calling for the prosecution of the guy who is giving us the documents. i think that's to be expected. >> so there is a self-interest in the journalists who love leaks and you would say going a bit easy on snowden because he's doing what journalists like? >> well, i mean, there's journalists and journalists. >> the law be -- >> no, there's lots of jou

lauren hudson and her father wrote this book about teaching capitalism to america. so lauren you are 13, what do you care about capitalism or free market. >> kids my age my my generation they don't understand it. when they hear it. >> people my age don't understand it. >> i don't think anybody understands it pleatly unless they kind of read about it or hear about it. >> what do you understand? what's good about it? >> it is crucial to our society for our jobs and taxes for the government it is really important. >> you have details in your book like chapter 30 hiring people makes a difference in their lives. what's bad about that? >> which wanted to say capitalism is more than must making money or jobs. everybody's goal is to make a profit and stay in business. if they make a profit they can help grow capitalism and help make it better and help society as a whole. >> rob you were helping? lawyers are -- >> i am a defender of business in my practice. lauren and i worked on this together over her summer break. it was a labor of love of mine to write about capitalism and support business. >> it is selfish. >> yet business is what you are going to provide lauren with her future opportunities. it is extensive in terms of the impact and students don't have a good handle on it. >> i certainly agree with that they should learn something about capitalism. >> they offer free videos from fox and abc that try to explain free markets and the term free market is better a knew weeks ago the prime minister of england said -- >> i want it taught in schools celebrated in communities. >> good for the prime minister. unfortunate he makes that announcement dressed in a tuxedo in a fancy dinner reinforces everybody's idea that free markets are for fat cats. >> i like the use of the bully pulpit. it is part of the reason we wrote the book. it needs to start with lauren's generation. if wick reach these students there is hope for capitalism. >> my brother in h

lauren simonetti to see where we're coming out. you have to start with crocs today, lauren. >> big winner, up more than 20%. folks over at stern ag, upgrading. stock saying this investment from blackstone really going to be a positive catalyst for the stock going forward. cheryl: laurening an upgrade. >> absolutely. lions gate got a 3% pop. "barron's" research reiterating guidance and giving it a 41-dollar price target. catching fire, the movie, really solid for lions gate. david: there is no stopping "the hunger games." they're filming now. they're down 5% now, right? >> down 5%. the volume is heavy. thursday, friday and today, the stock has been all over the map. volume has been very, very in twitter shares. cheryl: entertainment name, lauren, disney, hitting all-time high today. [closing bell ringing] entertainment or parks? >> all-time high for disney. number one on the dow and s&p 500 today. cheryl: bells ringing on wall street. let's look how stocks finishing out. the dow is finishing to the upside. we were up 25 points as we move into the close. nasdaq as well. russell 2000 finishing slightly into the red. david, a nice even day for the markets. david: even day. i think they're waiting for the new year to try to figure out where they put their heavy money. loo

lauren simonetti is there, and the markets now are mixed, lauren. what's going on? >> reporter: mixed but flat markets. the dow's up, oh, about not even fife points, it was down just a point back on friday, first loss in seven days, believe it or not. so trying to change the tide here. i want to show you cooper tires, up just about 4% today, 23.85 is the level. cooper tires saying it's terminating a more than $2 billion deal with india's apollo tire, that deal was reached over the summer, but now cooper tires is finding out that apollo's financing had dried up. if this deal did go through, it would be with india's second biggest takeover here in the united states, but it looks like that's a no go, and cooper tires is the winner. lori: well, the battle's begun in illinois over pension reform, a group of nonunion retirees filing the first of what could be many more lawsuits to come challenging the state's plan to fix its public pension system. the most underfunded in this country. jeff flock joins us now i from chicago with the very latest. >> reporter: $100 billion with a b underfunded, the worst in the night, as you report, lori. and i'll tell you, the state legislature took two years to try and fix this. today put a fix in place, bipartisan fix, but it's being taken to court. you know, i reported on this a r a couple of hours ago, i said in the 1:00 show i would give you the folks who are making the most in terms of pension. you know, a lot of people are dogcatchers and pick up the trash, but take a look at who the big winners are. i don't mean to disparage anybody, these are largely doctors at the university of illinois medical center. but dr. gupta makes $439,000 a year in annual pension after retirement, and that's netted him about $3.5 million so far. most of those other folks are doctors. i want to show you another list, and this is something that taxpayers united of america put together. these are largely the second list educators. sort of interesting, though, you look at larry fleming, he stands to -- if, in fact, he lives out to age 85 -- will make $11.8 million in pension. that represents the 2.8% you see there, that's how much he would have contribute today that. beverly is a former teacher, she'll make $11.5 million and only contribute less than a percent. the two guys at the bottom, gary and henry are both district superintendents who retired at age 56 and age 57, they both then went on in retirement to head districts in other states, one in arizona, the other in california. so they've retired, they're making pensions in excess of $2, $300,000 a year, and they're still working making a pretty good salariful of you know, i don't mean to disparage anyone or begrudge anyone money, but the state is $100 billion in debt on its pensions. somebody's sort of got to take a haircut somewhere, it seems. orr hover yeah. huge discrepancy. those numbers really tell the whole story the. jeff flock, thank you, sir. adam: we want to turn to the senior fellow at the manhattan institute, and we want to talk about the lawsuit that's been filed. those numbers that jeff just threw out, those certainly get headlines, and we all gasp and, wow. the reality, i just interviewed randi weingarten who's head of the american federation of teachers, and we were talking about illinois, and she said, look, the average teacher's only getting $2323,000 a year in -- $23,000 in pension, is that accurate? >> that's misleading. the reality is somewhere between. you hear public pension people all the time make these claims, and the reason they do is they include everybody who's getting a pension, including people who are getting only partial pensions, spouses who are getting what are known as spousal benefits. for instance, about half of all public schoolteachers in america leave the profession within ten years. they get very, very small pensions, okay? if you really want to see what people are getting, what you have to do is you have to look at what kind of pension is a teacher getting who retired with 30 years' service and is on a full pension? because that money is what costs the system a lot, and it's a lot more than $21,000 a year -- adam: but now as randi weingarten and others would say, so what if it costs $11 million for that one teacher should she live to 85? that was the promise we as citizens or at least the people of illinois made to that human being. in this contract for your work, this is the argument, this is what we're going to do for you. so why should that person or others under that contract now have to give back? i realize the money doesn't exist to pay them, but whose problem is that? >> hold on, there's two issues here. these folks are already retired -- adam: right. >> so it is difficult to take money away from those who have already earned it. the problem in places like illinois right now and what the lawsuit is about is that state laws in many places won't even let you change the rate at which people earn pension benefits for work they haven't done yet. adam: right. >> and that's the crucial issue. of you have hundreds of thousands of people working in government, and we can't change -- for work they haven't done yet. adam: 20 cents of every dollar collected by the state of illinois actually goes just to pensions, which means it's not going to schools, it's not going to law enforcement, and that's only going to get greater because of the unfunded liability that jeff was talking about. so what's the solution? is it an increase in taxes? because people are already strapped in that regard. is it a cutting of pensions? should the courts eventually allow that? >> well, the real solution is pension reform that allows you to change for current workers for work they haven't done their rate of pension accruals. we're not going to take away money they've already earned, but if you can't change how much a worker who's, let's say, 30 years old is going to accrue pensions for the next 20 years of his life, it's going to result in what people are calling service insolvency. higher taxes and fewer services. the worst of all worlds for taxpayers. adam: the term i keep hearing is crowdout. the two kids who live next door to me are three and a half and two and a half, and i joke with their parents that those two kids already owe the people of united states $9,000. but let's get back to this issue, the courts are going to have to make a decision. at thened of the day, are the teachers who are, say, 40 years old today going to get what they were promised? illinois has, i think it's a constitutional provision passed in 1970 that you can't change these contracts. it's there, how do you change it? they're not bankrupt. >> well, yeah. adam: states can't go bankrupt. >> right, but what they can do, of course, is get to the point where there's such a tremendous squeeze that everybody, including the teachers, feel it. in other words, one of the things that's happening now around the country is that pay for public employees, salaries are not increasing. the reason they're not increasing, there's no money because the money's going into pensions and health care. and you have the one thing that you can do to save money on pensions, you can fire people. and that is -- san jose's a good example. san jose could not reform be its pensions, they've laid off a thousand workers. adam: but in illinois this pension reform that the legislature passed puts the onus on the unions to sue the general assembly should they not make good on funding. >> sure. adam: so if the general assembly were to dare to try to fire -- they're never going to sue, are they? >> well, right. around the country governments, states and localities are laying off workers because of the pension crisis. that is clearly -- adam: absolutely. steve, we're going to continue this discussion throughout the new year on fox business. we're going to have you back. check out our extensive coverage at foxbusiness.com/pension 911 and randi weingarten, the head of the american federation of teachers. she's our prime interview right now. you can watch that interview and see why she's reluctant to offer a full solution to in this problem. lori: well, on a much brighter note -- adam: happier note. [laughter] happy new year, everybody. lori: that's certainly going to be an uplifting chat. in the meantime, everybody's talking about these fitness be devices that measure every step you take, every cycle of rem sleep you get. fit bit, nike's fuel bands, exactly, among the biggest names in wearable tech. but the smart stock is taking things -- smart sock is taking things a step further. straight ahead. adam: and still looking for something to do this new year's eve? applebee's is putting on a big party, and you're invited for a few hundred bucks. ♪ ♪ >> hank greenberg filed a ethics complaint against new york attorney general eric schneiderman. he says the ag ignored a ethics violation when the deputy took undisclosed private jet ride from greenberg's attorney. >>> sales of existing homes rose slightly existing in october. increase in pending home sales in five months. national association of realtors says, higher mortgage rates and higher home prices have slowed sales. >>> faa announced six states will develop test sites for drone aircraft. alaska, nevada, north dakota, texas, new york and virginia will host research sites. the congress has unmanned aircraft sharing skies with passenger planes by the end of 2015. that is the latest from fox business, giving you the power to prosper. lori: as we do every 15 minutes, give you update on the stock market, ben willis of ap"operation enduring freedom" and company joining from us. new york stock exchange -- albert freed and company. >> happy holidays to you, nobody has anything to do quite frankly. we're open as a business expense, quite truthfully. the major market decisions have been made. we'll wait until the beginning of first week of january for the flows or fawcett to be turned back on. market of stocks and very few stocks. stocks like disney, coca-cola, things that were mentioned in the press over the weekend, getting some trading activity. other than that it is a painful event. lori: twitter getting headlines, not for the right reason. down 20% since last week. what are your thoughts on the a potential tech bubble brewing? >> i don't believe there is anything close to a bubble in the equity markets. there may be individual stocks that may not fit traditional guidelines as far as trading. those are the areas of, where the, those that have to have a huge risk tolerance want to trade, whether twitter or tesla and stocks like that, the key stocks as we've been calling them lately, they trade on their own accord and not by any traditional valuations. money can be made in them. that has been demonstrated time over time. even though they don't fit within the traditional scope of investing. that is not an area where i have expert tease, frankly. lori: don't have a lot of time. what is the next market driver, ben? >> i think the market driver will be money flows into equity market first week in january. that is from new 401(k) money, asset allocation models coming out of fixed income. a lot of that happens very first week of the year. lori: good stuff. ben, see you soon, sir. >> thank you. adam: if you're still looking for a place to hang out new year's eve how about hanging out at approximately bee's with 375 per person fee. that is right, 375 bucks to dine in applebee's in new york city. you might get dinner with ricky bob by this isn't standard meal. this is extensive buffet, premium open bar,dj dance floor and party favors. for people eager to see the ball drop, they will let patrons, quote, make their way to the streets off times square. good luck getting times square. there are deals like this for 14 grand. two nights at a hotel, a massage and dinner. i don't think applebee's is offering massage or hotel. lorr: sounds good to me. anytime the mess is not in my home it is invaluable. adam: you're making reservations. lori: for both of us. applebee's's, baby. >>> where are the tech biggest trends? one company is looking to move the gadgets to your feet. adam: we have a company making the smart sock, coming up. 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[ indistinct talking ] [ male announcer ] right there in their trading platform. ♪ [ indistinct talking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade. lori: got smart watches. smart glasses. wearable tech is creating quite the buzz these days. our nix guest is a pioneer in wearable tech as break through into the world of sports and fitness. he is the ceo and cofounder of heat salon and he is here to tell us about his company's new smart sock. which can help you get you in shape with your step. sir, welcome to you. first and foremost, why focus on the foot or ankle more exactly, correct? >> yeah, that's correct. hi, lori. thank you for having me. wealth sock is important because it is positioned on the foot and, lori, the foot is such an amazing machine. 25% of the bones in our body are in our feet, lots of ligaments and muscles. da vinci said the human foot is a master of engineering and work of art because there is so many moving parts. amazing it doesn't break more than it does and important to monitor our feet. lori: this wears around the your ankle. so much wearable technology around the market, especially fitness. fit bit, jawbone. nike has a version, what sets your smart sock apart from those? >> what sets us apart we combine the traditional accelerometer based device, anklet device which is comfortable and adjusted to any ankle size to our own proprietary textile sensors. those are 100% textile washable sensors embedded in the sock itself. lori: you mentioned issue of comfort? is it specially among marathon run officers it looks a little cumbersome, i have to be honest with you. >> the new version is 30 grams. less than two ounces. virtually impossib marathon runtory detect actually. the sock itself is as comfortable as any technical sock. lori: we're watching somebody, an athlete runner attach it to his ankle. there is app that goes to smartphone or some other device that will give you details, the metrics, the distance, help you adjust your food placement, if you will? help me out? how does it work? >> the way it works, lori, if you're wearing a, one of our t-shirts which provides heart rate monitoring capabilities together with our socks and listening to music while going for a run for example, we interrupt the music and real time we tell you when you fall hyped on your cadence as an example. when i go back to my heel striking tendencies as an example. we go well i don't understand how far or how fast or hard we exercise but we get into the how well we exercise which is% important for most people. lori: how much does this whole setup cost? >> the t-shirt and the sports bra is now on sale for $59. that is preorder price. the suggested retail for both will be $89 in january, as soon as availability kicks in. for the smart socks, availability is actually scheduled for end of march and, pair the smart socks with anklet and mobile app will cost $199. you can preorder at 14. lori: you said for men it is shirt and for woman a sports bra, a variable sports bra? you didn't send us any pictures of that? >> go to www.sensoriafitness.com. you can see it. lori: washable. throw it in the machine with other laundry. >> 1% washable. lori: thank you very much. sharing his latest sports sock and sports bra i guess. adam: imagine what it would say. >>> nsa snooping new revelations the spice agency intercepts shipping deliveries to plant bugs. whether lawmakers will finally rein in the agency. lori: will democrats call for raising the minimum wage hurt corporate america? tweet us. your responses. our expert just ahead on next hour of fox business. don't miss it. and she might have if notor kari, the entity thief who stole jill's social security number to open credit cards, destying jill's credit and her dream of retirement. every year, millions of americans just like you learn that a little personal information in the wrong hands could wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft. lifelock offers thmost comprehensive identityheft protection available. if jill ha lifelock's protection, she may have bn notified before it watoo late. lifelock's credit notificion service is on the job 24/7. as soon as they detect a threat to your identity within their network, they will alert you,rotecting you before t damage is done. and lifelock offers the proactive protection of checking and savings account takeover alerts. lifelock's comprehensive identity theft proion guards your social security nuer, your money, your cret, even the equity in your home. it doesn't mattew old you are or how much money you have. identity thieves steal from everyone. you have to protect yourself. i protect myself with lifelock. [ male announcer ] while identity theft can't be completely opped, no one protects you better than lifelock. and lifelock stands behind their protection with the power of their $1 million service guarantee. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and try 60 days of identity theft protection risk free. 60 days risk free. use promo code onguard. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensite documents out of the wrong hands. a $29 value free ♪ ♪ >> i'm lori rothman. adam: i'm adam shapiro. hashtag, twitter stock trouble. shares losing $8.5 billion in market cap the last few days. has the twitter bird flown the coop? nsa snooping. they intercept spyware shipments. lori: will democrats call for raising the minimum wage hurt corporate america. tweet us your responses and our expert will join us with his take just ahead. adaa: if you're in the market for a new car, you need too stay with us to find out why quick action may get you the best deal that and much more ahead on this driving hour of "markets now. markets looking for gains on the second to last trading day of the year, after a strong day that has the dow on track for the strongest percentage gain since 1996. lori is sharing? are they candied almonds? lori: yes. you weren't supposed to out me. adam: i will out you with the almond. laurena smith at cme. it is top of the hour. lauren, no almond for you, ma'am. >> gee, what kind of new year's is this? got markets are flat. the dow is up two points. the trading range today is just 23 points for the dow industrials. nasdaq is down 4 points. s&p is down not even two points this is flat markets, light volume. things should pick up tomorrow. not light volume would be twitter's stock. this stock has been very trading very volatilely over the past couple days. it is down once again today after a 30 teach% drop on friday. huge volume on friday. huge volume on thursday and pretty big volume today. we expect twitter to report the fourth quarter earnings sometime in january. we did contact the company that should be another catalyst for investors or potential investors in twitter. >> thanks for that, lauren. back to sandra smith where gold is feeling pressure. why? the 10-year flirting with the key psychological level. >> hey, lori. that is a big level to watch on gold and oil b it

let's head back to lauren simonetti on floor of new york stock exchange. do tell, laurendavid, absolutely not only hitting annual highs. look here, 16.09, essentially closing at the high of 16.10. the stock was up 4 1/2% today. this is the news this is being reported in the china times, that a chinese billionaire and philanthropist named bao. chairman of renewable resources company there. he has lots of money. once gave out 43 cars, behave out much of his fortune after the earthquake in 2008. he reportedly considering making a bid for "the new york times." david. david: wow, "the new york times" being owned by a chinese national. very interesting stuff. who knows. thank you. cheryl: s&p futures are closing. let's head back to lincoln he will is in the pits of the cme. lincoln? >> cheryl, good to be with you. guys definitely square up against a slightly truncated session tomorrow and not really that much interest coming in here. people seem to be squaring up for around 1850 level in terms of puts and calls signaling a slightly higher start to the new year. we did a little

lauren zimmmerman on floor of the new york stock exchange. lauren? day markets were open. it was a half day. shares of 3-d systems got hammered. they're up 7% today, new high. if you're curious this year the stock is up 158%. 3-d printing and servicing market is absolutely tremendous. it was more than $2 billion last year. it is expected to hit 6 billion in the year 2017. you will see dentistry, automotive, aerospace industry continue to use 3-d technologies. this company thus far has been a big winner. one of the reasons that it got a pop today, canaccord raised its target by $10 to $95 a share and have 3-d systems with a buy rating. back to you. cheryl: as long as they can print 3-d 100-dollar bills. >> that would be awesome. a scary concept and completely industry at the same time. cheryl: it is. that's cool. >> i like the $100 bills. i can think of a whole bunch of things to be 3-d printed. david: how about 3-d cows? scott shellady knows about real cows. he doesn't need 3-d cows. he has real thing on his farm. what is the s&p doing at the close h

lauren simonetti joins us now with that story and other top business news. good morning lauren>> good morning to you, too. there is chatter this recent positive review including the job's report showed unemployment fell sharply to 7 percent last month. what convinced the fed to pull back the extraordinary support for the economy as early as next week when the fed meets december 17th and 18 rt. economists actually believe that pull back won't happen until next year. the national association of busy con mists say 62 percent expect it by march and another second quarter of 2014. they are working with a company called loyal parade to help membe members buy shares for the same price. they have a $350 balance in it. they are look to go sell 21 million commentaries at 18-20 dollars a pop. the government working on a mpln to keep seniors on the roads. what technologies can help prevent car crashes when they are outside of the lane. about 1-5 drivers are age 65 or older. last year 6500 in a car crash. they are working to get the numbers down. >> it is not every day you highlight a kicke

lauren simonetti standing by. what are you watching, lauren? >> hey, cheryl, we're trying to get back in the plus column. market is fractionally lower. nasdaq down the most. lots of new stocks breaking out to new highs today. ups and fedex hitting new highs which is really interesting. showing a mixed performance right now. despite delivery and shipping concerns the stocks hit new highs. they had both price targets raised by baird. i want to show you dow components at hugh r new highs, exxonmobil, up half of 1%. a lot of follow on. once the stock broke through $100 you see momentum continuing to the upside. so kind of a lackluster day overall for the markets but certainly seven dow components hitting new highs. disney, american express. back to you. cheryl: laurenm: the latest data shows the u.s. economy is gaining momentum but will it keep gaining momentum next year? our next guest says we could see breakout growth. steve blitz, chief economist at itg investment research. joins us live on "markets now. thanks for joining us. what makes you optimistic we can see greater growth above the 2% trend in 2014? >> well i think if you take a look at some of the fourth quarter data, specifically in terms of what non-financial corporations are doing you see a little bit of an increase in cap-ex, interest rates are very low in terms of hurdle rates on returns. so i think it is a year with the potential is that we finally see some corporations spend some of that cash and begin to build and expand capacity to basically produce items and goods and services and all sorts of things for domestic consumption. adam: were you encouraged by the durable goods numbers we saw just a few days ago? >> oh, absolutely. i was very encouraged by it and i think that when you

lauren simonetti at the new york stock exchange this morning. lauren: is it frustrating coffee prices are down as a commodity but maybe only one price decrease earlier this year from major coffee makers? that is not fair. coffee commodity is down sharply on an annual basis but the coffee stocks are up and up sharply on an annual basis. let's show you green mountain. amazing charts to look at, and as you can see starbucks up 43% this year as well. green mountain up 73%, so it has been a great year for stocks like this. back to you. dagen: we have to remind people of dolly itself up 26%. an update for you, more than half of the residence in north dakota have been evacuated after a mile-long train carrying crude oil derailed and collided with another train triggering a series of explosions less than a mile from the town. they sent plumes of toxic smoke into the air, and officials have been urging residents to evacuate. the weather system could blow the toxic fumes into the town. the burlington northern santa fe railway says 20 cars caught fire after the derailed around to 10:00 p.m. yesterday. it raises concerns of the concerns of transporting by rail rather than pipeline. berkshire hathaway will trade $1.4 billion of stock it already owns in phillips 66 for one of the refiners smaller chemical businesses. it will help capitalize on a 2008 investments you made in conoco phillips which used to own phillips 66. in that deal, he paid roughly $82 per share for 85 million shares of conoco which now trades at $70, but today's acquisition shows how the oracle of omaha can turn even the worst deal into a good bet. coming up, tim tebow ringing in the new year with a new gig. we will tell you where he landed. one of the most popular resolutions year after year, losing weight. how many of us actually stick with it? almost nobody. we will tell you about that. and she might have if notor kari, the identity thief who stole jill's social security number to open credit cards, destying jill's credit and her dream of retirement. every year, millions of americans just like you learn that a little personal information in the wrong hands could wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft. lifelock offers the most comprehensive identityheft protection available. if jill ha lifelock's protection, she may have bn notified before it watoo late. lifelock's credit notification service is on the job 24/7. as soon as they detect a threat to your identity within their network, they will alert you,rotecting you before t damage is done. and lifelock offers the proactive protection of checking and savings account takeover alerts. lifelock's comprehensive identity theft proion ards your social security nuer, your money, your cret, even the equity in your home. it doesn't mattew old you are or how much money you have. identity thieves steal from everyone. you have to protect yourself. i protect myself with lifelock. 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lauren. the dna of that show is so much the dna of lauren.ntoring process there, they have a culture there that just speaks directly to the product. it is really impressive. >> how have they been so successful giving all these distributional outcomes? >> the vertically integrate themselves. they were doing digital shorts to augment part of this show. if you missedthat saturday night live, people would talk about it. now you can see it all the time. they are all over the place. every single platform is pretty impressive. >> with the kids today laughing john belushi? >> yes, i think so. i think they would totally get him. >> what is new next year for you creativelook at the process of saturday night live? what should we look for in the show? >> next year, seth meyers has been a big part. of january. the end is going to be pretty big shoes. that seth was the head writer. -- seth was the head writer. once tonight is the big read with everybody at the table. it is an amazing thing. exciting --ty >> who runs that on wednesday night? is lauren.t ans

lauren's side. >> yes, i was thinking about it and i always joked with mer about when i walk you down the aisle lauren i said i'll tell you how your first poopy diaper was out of the hospital. that was yucky. she says you're not going osay that, daddy, i said i'll whisper in your ear, that was the joke i was going otell her about the first yo diapers. >> lauren was a teacher universally loved by students and facts alike. >> teaching was what she was playing with mer doll. she was a teacher. and she would line up her dolls and load chairs and she would be in front and would teach them, teach them how to read, how to write and just was very intense on teaching. she had that from very early on in life. >> and later on in life, many jiles got chance to see his daughter. >> she handled 20 first graders and second graders and they listened to her. >> that morning lauren found that unfathomable courage. >> she took the first bullets, probably. >> knowledge jilesing entered sandy hook promise. >> trying to control it, hopefully, not have as many killing as we had. as we're having right now. >> despite heart felt lobbying efforts by newtown parents including jiles, the senate failed to pass gun control legislation this year. jiles is undeterred on amission. >> to make lauren proud. >> gianna is heartbreaking to watch. you talked to other people, you

i'm lauren green, now back to dennis. dennis: thanks very much, lauren.st shipping day in its history. joling kent is following the action in the broption. jo? -- in the bronx. >> reporter: hey, dennis. we're expecting 22 million packages to be shipped, and among those packages thousands of them will be shipped from here. the fedex regional shipping facility in the bronx. take a look, we're actually at the loading dock right now. thousands of packages have come out of this particular loading dock this morning. they're being distributed all across the five borrows here in -- boroughs here in new york. the busiest day in for fedex history. 130 million shoppers snapping up good deals online today, an 11% uptick. these semi trucks are getting ready to go out, again, forrwhat is probably going to be the busiest shopping day in history for fedex. now, we talked to a worker who's been driving trucks for 17 years, asked imhow his busy -- him how his busy cyber monday is going to go. >> thanks to the internet, it's a beautiful thing. i'm excited to get started. to

lauren. >> many thanks for the update there. the results are in a few hours time. thank you. >>> let's go back to lauren in europe with more news from there. >> thanks. >>> ministers are appointed to germany's new coalition government which is finally formed after pro tracted negotiations. it ends three months of political limbo. angela merkel's new government could be sworn into office on thursday. what do we know of the details of the deal? >> reporter: the details coming out so far, laurenare pretty much what we had expected. angela merkel's cvu and her bar varian partners have the majority of the seats in the cabinet. they won the election. they have eight seats. the social democrats will take six seats. now, amongst the key positions of the social democrat will be given in the foreign ministry, and it will be frank steinmeyer. he was the foreign minimum strer in the first coalition angela merkel led in 2009, and he did rather bad in the general election running as chancellor against angela merkel in 2009. but she, obviously, remains as chancellor and crucially she and her party will keep control of the finance ministry and will ensure her right-hand man, her architect of economic policy and indeed policy towards the rest of euro zone will stay in his position. that's very important. >> in general terms how definite will this coalition be in policy terms? >> reporter: well, i think it will be a little bit to the left of the previous coalition. she's now working with a

lauren ashbush, his co-host and fox news contributor. you barely got here due to the weather janice was talking about. >> it's wicked. >> lauren, let me start with you. you have them together. i'd love to be on this airplane, by the way. former president george w. bush and laura bush there as well. you have hillary and president obama together. yet on the outside it appears as if she maybe wants to distance herself, i guess because of obama care. >> she has a high wire act she has to perform right now. because if she does run, she worked for the president. but yet she doesn't want to be associated with him if the health care rollout and the rest of this goes south. she has to balance what's good for her. and it doesn't look right now that being aligned with obama is that good for her. >> it's interesting, because i remember when i first started in journalism in the early '90s. we were talking about hillary care. it really does go all the way back to hillary clinton. but understandably now, with all of the debacle of the rollout, howard, she doesn't want to be associated with this. right? >> that is true. but at the same time, she doesn't want to alienate president obama's core supporters, particularly african-american voter who is she may need in 2016. james carville, long time clinton intimate, told me the other day no successful presidential candidate has ever run by saying the next four years are going to be exactly the same as the last eight. she has to be a different kind of democrat. then there's the bill factor. this came up in 2008 when the former president made some comments that ticked off obama supporters and other democrats. recently he weighed in on the troubled obama care rollout, as you know, gretchen. >> right. >> suggested something the president actually ended up doing. but i don't think there was a lot of warm feelings in the white house about the way that bill clinton did that. >> kind of one of those things like you like it, but you don't. anyway, a second report now says president obama only met with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius once face to face in the last 3 1/2 years. when white house press secretary jay carney was asked about it, he has a bizarre response. >> i wish you had called me beforehand. because i -- i'm in a very charitable mood today. so i won't go too strong on this. but that report, not the report you cited, but the published report that was written by an advocate is based on a ridiculously false premise. cabinet secretaries don't regularly get entered into the visitors logs because they come frequently. kathleen sebelius comes frequently. >> all right. so he's defending the fact that these meetings took place. although two reports now say that they really didn't. >> maybe they snuck her in the back door. >> i don't know. lauren, the fact of the matter is, he said that the reporter should have privately called him. are we to assume, then, that he did not want the rest of the world to know about this? >> he just did. that's what doesn't make any sense about this. >> the cameras were on. >> everybody is going to see him saying you should have calmed e me. this is a symptom of a bigger issue which is that the white house is having a very contentious relationship right now with the press. we have seen this for a very long time. it is the most secretive white house that we've seen. and the press photographers, even put all them into it, have had a huge battle with the white house. saying you're not allowing us to cover news events. yet you're allowing pete sousa, great guy, to take these images. >> they were not always allowed that way. this has been a change around for the media as well. >> every press secretary gets into it with the press. this has been a very difficult few months for jay carney. the toughest co

lauren, we'll be watching i think. it will be interesting to see what she does and how she does it. she looks real young. tanks for coming on, laurenve you on the show. >> she is. thank you. gerri: are you keeping your car in the garage and traveling by air? if so, be ready to pony up to pay travel taxes. for some cities you will have to dig pretty deep in those pockets. that story is my top five. number five, chicago the windy city is always expensive for travelers and tourists. number four, minneapolis. the city has high fees for lodging, rental cars and food. number three, indianapolis. travel related taxes total more than 18 bug as day here. number two, boston, new england visitors, get ready to pay more than 19 bucks a day in travel taxes. and city, you will not believe this, the city with highest taxes to travel, it is portland, oregon. according to the global business travel association, a visitor there paid nearly 23 bucks a day in taxes. later in the show, have you ever considered rating your marriage on a scale of one to 10? we'll tell you why it may be a good idea. >>> next, making a lot of money on the next big thing ge

lauren, stick around because later on we've got colleen taylor coming on from tech crunch, and she's got some fascinating insight into what she thinks twitter is worth. it's a surprising interview coming up. lauren, thank you very much. stay with us, we've got a lot going on on this friday. first full week -- excuse me, last full week of the year of trading. closing bell ringing 50 minutes from now. it has been a terrific year for stocks, you didn't can't deny it. how can you protect your gains for 2013? coming up next, we're going to the talk to a money manager with $15 billion under management about specific strategies to play the market as we get into 2014. and as stocks are no longer your thing, how about investing in, oh, yeah, a private island. uh-huh. we've got the founder of an international real estate broker, that's a fox business exclusive. you'd be shocked, you'd be shocked how much some of these islands go for. you don't have to be a billionaire. you can own an island, trust me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ cheryl: our power mover of the hour is tech strong. this is the parent company of cessna, you know, the aircraft? the stock is higher by 1.25 percent, announcing it will buy beechcraft corporation for $1.4 billion. they exited bankruptcy earlier this year and was seeking buyers for the plane business which has been losing money. credit suisse and morgan stanley in this deal and then jpmorgan was the financial adviser. there is txt for you. text, get it? stocks are trading lower today on light holiday volume, but overall it has been a boom year for equities. markets are posting double-digit gains for the year. many bulls though are now calling for the rally to continue into the new year. one fund manager with almost 15 billion in assets says it's time to take some profits and bulletproof that portfolio. randy bateman, huntington fund's chief investment officer, here from austin, texas. hi, randy, how are you? [laughter] >> great, cheryl, and happy new year to you and the fine folks at fox. cheryl: i just actually came back from texas a couple of days ago. i have to tell you, this has been a heck of a year. we have had a wonderful runup in equities, but why would you advise clients to maybe move some money off the table when there doesn't seem to be anything pulling to a pull -- pointing to a pullback for 2014? what are you seeing that we're not, randy? >> i'm not seeing anything that anybody be else is not seeing, but what i do think is very important to recognize is the fact that we've had a booming market not just this year, but really since 2009, late 2009. we've really seen a really strong recovery in in this market. and i kind of equate it to let's say we're right in the middle of the basketball season as well. if you're a good college basketball player and think you're going to get drafted by the nba, your agent is going to tell you first thing to do if you get drafted, take some of that bonus money up front and buy you some insurance on your knees, on your back, on your neck -- [laughter] it's a rough sport. and that's what i'm saying do now. you've had a wonderful year. you've we've had a big bonus in this market. take some of it and buy some insurance, and there's a lots of ways you can do that. cheryl: okay. thousand you've got me worried about my knees and my feet and my ankles, so what kind of insurance do i need to buy right now? [laughter] >> okay. well, you know, there's lots of ways you can go about it. you can pick individual stocks that you can buy puts on and still participate in the market if you vary the degree to which the put is in the money. one of the things you might want to do with your entire portfolio, however, is buy some insurance which hike just the s&p 500 -- which might be just the s&p 500 etfs, the spiders, itself say. you can purchase a put due in june, the markets trading about 183 on that. you can buy the puts at a 181, so slightly out of the money. and it costs you, oh, maybe $6 to do that. you can cover an entire $100,000 portfolio for a little over $3,000 and still give you a little bit of of upside. it just seems like to make sense right in here. we don't know what the market's going to do. there are some headwinds with regard to taxes and regulations that's going to occur, and to me, the best thing to do is take advantage of the largess that the market has provided us over the last few years -- cheryl: it has. >> host: -- and let's go for it. cheryl: some investors look back over times, especially maybe a year ago when the dow was sitting at the levels that it was one year ago to today, 25% higher, and they think, gosh, i wish i would have stayed in the entire year, and a lot of people actually didn't. on a more positive side, are there sectors you're overweighting right now? several people coming in with 2014 calls with sectors like financials or industrials, what do you like right now that you would put must be into? >> you know, there's a couple of scenarios that we're trying to look at, and one of those is what i mentioned earlier, increased regulation. and i think traditionally when you have increased regulation much like after the sarbanes-oxley law was passed, you see merger and acquisition activity. a lot of small names simply cannot compete and want to merge with a larger competitor. a great company that's going to participate in that is ever corp. partners out of manhattan, providing investment banking research and advice. another area -- cheryl: you mentioned ever corp., but when you were on november 7th, you brought in tractor supply, tsco is ticker. stock is up 9% since you picked it, and i'm curious, hey, being from texas, do you still like the stock now? >> yeah. that's another theme that we're playing is the agricultural area. we to feel that farm income has grown pretty dramatically over the past few years, it's actually doubled over the past four years. you've also got fracking that's taking places in the rural area so, consequently, you're seeing a lot of capital in the rural environment that hadn't been there previously. you can do the traditional things like caterpillar and deere and the fertilizer companies, but we're trying to look maybe a little bit deeper in terms of the deeper pockets that the farmer has. what is he going to spend his money on? cheryl: especially if the farm bill comes through, and we just had somebody on a few moments ago saying they expect that to get polished off and pushed through in washington. brady bateman, huntington funds chief investment officer, thank you, have a great new year. >> you bet. and you as well. cheryl: i'm going to have a good year, everybody, 25% on the dow year to date. closing bell ringing 40 minutes from now. well, ka-ching, this is a shopper's paradise. bargain hunters hitting the malls, but will the post-christmas sales give retailers reasons to celebrate? we've got an in-depth look at the entire holiday shopping season. and also investors looking for a place to unwind after this year's bull run might want to consider owning one of these. yes, coming up we talk to an entrepreneur who's going to tell you how to buy your own offshore haven as in your own island. fox business exclusive interview coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. it's not the "fumbling around with rotating categories" card. it's not the etting blindsided by limits" card. it's the no-game-playing, no-earning-limit-having, deep-bomb-throwing, give-me-the-ball-and-i'll-take- it-to-the-house, cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so let me ask you... at's in your wallet? just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record beforwe even picked himp. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. 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[ male announcer ] lease the 2014 ml350 for $599 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. ♪ ♪ cheryl: we closed at this point yesterday with the dow hitting its 50th record hose, 16,439, right now we are at 473 just a little bit, but we shall see if these markets can actually clock in yet another streak. we've got 35 minutes to go, we'll see what happens. again, the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p a tiny bit off from yesterday's record close. again, new highs for all of the indices last night. >>> well, do you think that owning a private island is just for billionaires like richard branson and larry ellison? well, maybe not. what if i told you you can actually own an island for less than a new york city apartment? joining me now in a fox business exclusive is chris, private islands incorporated founder and ceo. chris, thank you for being here: how much can i get an island for? give me an example. >> well, we've got islands in all different price ranges. our least expensive is 35,000, but you can't build too much on that, and it goes all the way up to 200 million, which we have -- cheryl: where are people buying these islands? like what part of the world? >> well, we have islands for sale everywhere. the hot spots are bahamas, belize. we've got a great, fantastic property in panama for 400,000 u.s., and it's developed. it's got a beautiful little house on it, it's completely rent bl, it's a fantastic property. cheryl: okay. 400,000. let me ask you this, if the average person, as you say, could buy an island if that's what they wanted to do for themselves, a lot of people need bank credit. can i go to my bank down the street to get a loan to buy an island? is that an issue for the buyers coming to you? >> generally speaking, the bankings won't lend money for private islands. they're usually cash purchases. but it depends. like in some areas like in georgian bay just a few hours north of toronto, then you might be able to get a bank loan. but these are generally cash purchases. cheryl: what is the rate of return on an island? i mean, obviously, you're a broker, you've probably bought and sold a few islands, i'm assuming. is there a profit to be made on selling my island once i'm ready to get rid of it? >> well, private islands inc., we sell about 15-20 islands every year, and it really depends on why they're being purchased. i mean, if they're not build -- they're not building anymore islands, so they do appreciate. the values go up significantly, depending on the region. and also depending on when the island was purchased, right? cel cheryl okay. well, that's certainly a good point. but, i mean, real estate to most people is not just where you live, it's an investment property, especially if it's on an island. you know, one of the things we all made jokes about in europe was that greece was the greatest place to go buy an island and, actually, there were a few islands that have been sold in greece. what is that market like now? >> well, you know, the greece -- the market in greece has always been a little problematic. there's a lot of red tape, very hard to build on any of the islands. and what happened was there was that german politician that made that comment, well, you know, before germany bails out greece, they should sell off their islands. and that's how we ended up with another 12 private island listings in greece. but it's not because they were having financial problems, it's because they learned about our company, and these island owners said, hey, let's try to sell the island. the truth is you can't do much with these properties. there's just too much red tape and, you know, they're beautiful looking properties, but you can't build a lot on them, so you're just not going to make your money back. cheryl: about out of time, but i do want to ask you is it true angelina jolie bought brad pitt his own island this. >> >> no, that was a rumor. actually, we have that listing, it's called pet rah island. the asking price iss20 million. we've gotten a huge number of inquiries because of that. unfortunately, though, the rumor is not true, and the island is still for sale. go to the web site and inquire. cheryl: okay. chris curlow, thank you very much. interesting concept, something to do with all the money we made in the markets this year. thank you, chris. >> you're welcome. cheryl: all right. if you're watching this, you can deal with your returns. closing bell's going to be ringing, we've got 31 minutes to go. it may have been a merry christmas for retailers, but will it be a happy new year? we're going to go live to chicago for a reality check from one of the city's top shopping destinations and talk to one of the most respected researchers in the retail tracking business as well. >>> plus, amazon wants to forever change package delivery by using unmanned aircraft, but it could be just the beginning of a robotics revolution in the delivery business. coming up, we're going to tell you about a potential game changer for international trade. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] wt kind of energy is so abundant, it can help provide the power for all th natural gas. ♪ more than ever before, america's electricity is generated by it. exnmobil uses advanced visualization and drilling technologies to produce natural gas... powering our lives... while reducing emissions by up to 60%. energy lives here ♪ it's been that way ysince e day you met.. but your erectile dysfunction - itld be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you cabe more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immedte medical hel for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swellingf the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. ♪ ♪ cheryl: some defense contractors are traying to defend -- trying to defend or return to their 52 week highs from earlier this week. let's go to lauren york stock exchange. >> reporter: hi, again. the defense companies are turning in a solid performance today in the sense that they hit some new 52-week highs. you see that for lockheed martin, general dynamics as well as raytheon. here's the news. according to several published reports, the obama administration is supplying iraq with a hellfire missile to fight al-qaeda, and that is made by hock heed martin. so d lockheed martin, so one of the reasons why lmt hit a new high today, just a penny below $150 a share. cheryl: all right. thank you, lauren, we'll see you in a little bit. looks like shoppers skipped brick and mortar stores this holiday season, foot traffic falling about 18% from last year. that's according to shopper track, but it's not necessarily as bad as it seems. jeff flock is in downtown chicago with more. jeff? >> reporter: oh, shopping, the magnificent mile here in chicago. and you're right, i'll tell you, talk about shopper traffic. put those numbers up. as you just

. >> lauren, new york stock exchange, thank you so much. >> we got a really close up of lauren there.ve tv folks. >> most emailed story of the day. a major messup. u.p.s. and fedex missed the deadline to deliver your christmas gifts. so when will they come? we have got a live report coming up at some point. but, first, we are going to check in, okay, and we're going to be back on "fox & friends" in just two minutes. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant martin luther king jr.: we hold these truths to be self-evident -- that all men are created equal. john f. kennedy: the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans. barbara jordan: the american dream need not forever be deferred. lyndon johnson: this is the richest and the most powerful country... delivers half of all packages across the country. they are blaming the surge in prechristmas online sales that they jumped almost 40% from last year, fedex was also affected. now, amazon says it will refund any extra shipping charges as well as give an extra $20 gift cards. adding a $25 gift c

lauren was hired to be a permanent substitute teacher at sandy hook elementary and on december 14th she was filling in for a teacher in a first grade classroom. when the shooting began, lauren made the students hide. some even in the tiny back room in the back of the class. the coroner told lauren'sims families are trying to make some good come out of this darkness of that day. >> this is lauren's dad and step mother. good morning to you. >> i see the pain. it's always there. i can't imagine it ever goes away. but how are you all doing? >> we're doing pretty well. it does feel good to talk about her. it's my therapy, actually, to talk about lauren makes my day. and i think of her all the time. and she is with me in spirit all the time. so i'm doing well. >> joyce, if there was any light to come out of this horrible darkness of a year ago it was the story of teachers like lauren and what they did in that moment and i think we all like to think we would have been as brave as she was. but i don't know. what do you think about when you think about what she did in those moments? >> teachers are always the strongest person in the classroom when anybody even thinks of threatening or questioning the children. and it's amazing that the inner strength in not only educating and meeting all