President can do for the families of those killed in action. Point the president was making is there is a different process. Sometimes they call, sometimes they write letters, sometimes they engage directly. The comments were certainly, i think, taken very far out of context by the media and any frustration, thats where it should be focused. Blake . Let me ask but something Steve Mnuchin said since you talked about the stock market a lot, and the president does as well. He said, and i quote here, theres no question in my mind if we dont get it done, meaning tax reform, youre going to see a reversal of significant amount of gains. Essentially saying if tax reform doesnt happen, there could be a major correction on the corner of wall and broad. How concerned is the president of that possibility . Were confident that were going to get tax cuts done, and so thats what were focused on and going to continue pushing forward until we get there. Reporter on the health care bill, if you dont mind. Im sorry, one question. Reporter the california wildfire situation. Does he have plans at this point to visit california to survey the damage in person, and if he doesnt does, that speak to or lack of interest in helping the state recover from the wildfires . Not at all, again, the administration has been very engaged throughout this process. Were going to continue to be there, were continuing to talk with state and local officials on the ground and work with those individuals to make sure that whatever aid is needed, that we can help provide that process. Reporter is he going to go to the state, though . There isnt a trip planned, but certainly hasnt been ruled out. Philip . Reporter can you clarify the president s position on kurdistan [inaudible] and the president of kurdistan as an ally in general . The position hasnt changed. We urge all sides to avoid escalating this further. We oppose the violence from any party and wed like for them to be focused on helping continue in the fights against isis, and thats and iran, and thats where wed like to see their energy focused on it. Reporter the status quo sorry, one question. Reporter more than two months that the president said he declared the Opioid Epidemic a national emergency. A lot of work had to be done and called it time consuming work, you can explain why its taking so long to detail what the time consuming work is, and what players are involved in the process . Very indepth Legal Process that goes with declaring national emergency. Well make further announcements next week, but there have been multiple people. Its an interagency process, stakeholders have been involved and well have further announcements next week, like the president said. Reporter can you tell sorry. One question. Reporter can you talk about the strategy from the white house Going Forward on this . I know that you told us before that democrats were a must have on this bill on tax reform, is that still where things are . Its simple, the strategy is to get enough votes to pass tax cuts. Reporter can you elaborate on getting democrats on board . Look, wed love to see democrats on board. We dont know why any democrat would be against providing tax relief and tax cuts specifically to middleclass america. I dont know why anybody wouldnt want to get on board with that. Hunter . Reporter thank you, almost a month since Hurricane Maria hit puerto rico. Almost 80 of the island is without power and about a million americans, a third of the population dont have reliable drinking water. Does the administration consider the current state of affairs in puerto rico acceptable . And when it comes to puerto rico, does the buck stop with President Trump . Look, were continuing to do everything we can to help the people of puerto rico. Its one of the reasons that the governor will be here at the white house tomorrow to continue those conversations, to talk about how best the federal government can help aid state and local governments and help in the building and recovery efforts. Reporter the president once said he considers himself to be a low Interest Rate guy does. He still consider himself to be a low Interest Rate guy . And will that have bearing who he selects . The president said hes interviewed a number of very qualified individuals, and hell make the announcement in the coming days and deliberate all the details once that happens. Im sorry. Reporter [ inaudible ] days . Days add up to weeks. [laughter] the phone call real quick, what is the president denying . Is he denying he spoke these words to the widow, that he must have known what he signed up for, or she took it the wrong way and took it out of context. The president s call as accounted by multiple people in the room believe that the president was completely respectful, very sympathetic, and expressed the condolences of himself and the rest of the country and thanked the family for their service. Commended them for having an American Hero in their family, and i dont know how you could take that any other way. Reporter it was the context, he felt he put it in the wrong context . Im not going to get into the back and forth. The sentiment of the president was very clear. He took the time to make a call to express his condolences to thank the family for this individuals service, and i think it frankly is a disgrace of the media to try to portray an act of kindness like that and that gesture and try to make it into something that it isnt. Peter . Reporter does the president before he invoked the argument . He has spoken to general kelly multiple times. Reporter does he know he would be raising the sons memory without talking about im not sure if he knew about the specific comment. They had spoken about it and hes aware and they had spoken several times. Reporter is he comfortable with the way it has been hes disgust by the way it has been politicized. The focus is on the process and not the fact the american lives were lost. Hes disgusted and frustrated by. That if he has any anger, its towards that. Fred . Fred . Reporter the house, the ban on paying for abortions, [inaudible] the president would sign this legislation, is the white house putting pressure on the senate to pass the Lindsey Graham bill that was banned . Im sorry, what was the last part of the question. Reporter is the white house putting pressure on the senate to pass the Lindsey Graham 20 week ban. There have been conversations about that, and the administration supports that policy, but beyond, that i dont know if there have been further conversations or pressure applied, but certainly support that effort. Reporter sarah . April . Reporter congresswoman wilson, i talked to her a couple of hours ago, she says since benghazi, that jackson was in niger trying to find out information during the mission about boko haram. And she said that his transmitter was still emitting for two days. His signal when he was located. She said that makes no sense why he wasnt located. What say you about that . And also, what do you say about her comment that he did not know as a wife, the widow, that the president did not know his name. He kept saying your guy, your guy . Just because the president said your guy doesnt mean that he doesnt know his name. As the president stated, the hardest job he has is making calls like that. I think it is appalling what the congresswoman has done and the way shes politicized this issue, and the way that she is trying to make this about something that it isnt. This was a president who loves our country very much, who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in the uniform and wanted to call and offer condolence to the family, and i think to try to create something from that that the congresswoman is doing is appalling and disgusting. Reporter what do you say about what she said about the mission . As i said before, im not going to get into the details of that action. Reporter was she right . As i said before, im not going to get into the details of that action at this time, and when we have further information, ill be happy to discuss it for you. Reporter thank you, i just want to setting aside the congresswoman, setting aside the discussion about the politization of this. The woman who raised Sergeant Johnson spoke to the Washington Post and said she felt her son had been disrespected. Im not asking what congresswoman wilson had to say or any of that. Given that somebody is making the phone calls is somebody the commander in chief has to do. Given that, is the president at all reconsidering the way he communicates to these families . Has general kelly counseled him on perhaps how he may want to choose or change his words in the future . General kelly was present for the call and thought it was completely appropriate. He thought the call was respectful and thought that the president did the best job he could under those circumstances to offer condolences on behalf of the country. Phillip . Reporter can you talk about the negotiators rejected the u. S. Proposals were described as unconventional and troubling. Is nafta dead . Not yet, but as the president said, its a bad deal and wants to make sure bee have a deal that benefits american workers. Thats what the administration is focused on. Were going to continue to push forward. If we cant get, there well let you know what the changes are. Francesca . Reporter in a tweet, President Trump said fbi director james comey lied, cheated as did hillary clinton. What exactly does the president want the Justice Department to do . Is he calling for a prosecution of james comey. Whats he asking for here . The white house hasnt and wont offer a legal opinion on comeys conduct, but, in fact to the contrary, the white house is actually deferred, as it should, any and all legal questions regarding director comey to the department of justice. Thats the appropriate venue for the things to be dealt with. Reporter in the tweet this morning, thats what im asking . Refer any legal action to the department of justice, anything on that front will be handled by them. Sarah . Reporter normally when the president said something, we hear from him quickly about it, whether its an issue with an senator or the nfl. Why did it take nearly two weeks for him to say anything about this isis ambush, but even to offer public condolences or to explain to the American Public what happened and how the deadly combat mission involving american troops went so wrong . As i said before, there is protocol for that, but also we did make public remarks from the administration. I know i did in short order after that happened from the podium at direction of the president , and i speak on his behalf. And i did that on behalf of the president and the administration. Reporter sarah, you brought up politicizing a couple of times in regards to congresswoman wilson. Did the president politicize general kellys sons death . He was responding to a question and stating a fact. Reporter just to clarify your earlier answer, youre not denying that in some point in the conversation, the president used the words, its what he signed up for. I spoke specifically to the sentiment offered by the president. I didnt get into the details of a personal call because i dont find that to be appropriate. Trey . Reporter thank you, sarah, you opened up at the top discussing the liberation of raqaa. How does the president envision future u. S. Involvement in both syria and iraq postisis . We want to continue to work with Coalition Forces to completely destroy and defeat isis. Right now thats the priority and the focus and thats where were going to be continuing to focus on at this time. Thank you so much for today. See you tomorrow. Thank you, sarah. There you have it, Sarah Sanders wrapping up the White House Press briefing, as always, covering a wide range of issues. Sanders saying that President Trump is not in favor of any legislation, that as he puts it, enriches the Health Insurance companies. He is against the Alexander Murray bill that would extend subsidies to obamacare Insurance Companies, unless they can come up with other solution. President of course focusing on tax reform that benefits the middle class, getting into the controversy of what the president said to the widow of a fallen soldier, saying the president was completely respectful in that exchange. All right, here to weigh in what weve been hearing about, two former governors, governor jim hodges and governor george allen. Governor allen, let me begin with you. Okay. What are your thoughts on the president with regard to the health care . There are so many issues, hard to know where to begin. The focus ought to be on tax reform. Thank you. Obviously important as well. You run the show. Im going to get to tax reform, believe me. But Health Reform because i started talking about the subsidies and the president calling them a huge bailout for the Insurance Companies. The Alexander Murray bill kind of keeps those going for a while. That is unacceptable, i would imagine, to republicans, correct . Yeah, probably so. It depends on what else is in it. Theres aspects that are good as far as letting the states have more discretion and having Health Insurance plans and may have a high deductible, but cover Major Medical expenditures which is one of the big concerns in cost shifting, but continuing to subsidize a system that is too costly and doesnt have enough competition really is not a solution. That is just really just continuing on for another month, year or two. Action is needed. All these members of congress, particularly the republicans in the senate and the house have been talking about repealing and replacing obamacare. Right. There are ideas, the president s doing what he can as far as markets or risk pools, where businesses band together and have the leverage with Insurance Companies, thats important. But theres so many other important aspects that need to be done, and this is kind of a bandaid on a failed system and more needs to be done. Governor hodges, one of the original ideas was to replace the money with block grants to allow the states more power where the money is spent. Would you like block grants as a former governor . Not under these circumstances. Let me say i dont think theres a lot to dislike about the Murray Alexander plan. Frankly the people that will lose if this isnt done is the people paying full freight on the insurance exchange. Theyre the ones who are going to pay probably 20 more. The Insurance Companies themselves need these subsidies because the subsidease are provided to individuals who buy insurance. So the people that are suffering are individuals paying full freight right now. Theyll see their rates go up. George made a very good point, that is more flexibility to the states is important, that is a part of this deal is providing more flexibility to states, another band of insurance to be available to consumers. I dont see much to dislike about this. I think it gives the policymakers a couple of years to come up with a final solution. I mean, id like to see a little more bipartisanship in washington, and heres a chance to finally do it. Bipartisanship is good, i really do think the solution is the states. Governor hodges and i were governors. Governors ought to welcome controlling their own destiny. Some states will do it right, some wont. But what the problem is now all of this is dictated by washington, theyre proscribing what the insurance policies are. I know speaking from my own family, my household, its going to go from a little over a thousand a month to over 1800 a month, and we dont use it. Were a healthy family. I know, i know. What needs to be done is get more competition, more choice. Have policies that dont have to cover everything, but the key thing is Major Medical significant injuries. Governors, were already out of time. We didnt even get to the tax reform we need to cut taxes, we have the highest taxes in the world and they ought to be less. Leave it right there. We need tax reform by christmas, were told. Governor george allen, governor jim hodges. Thank you very much. Lets get out to blake burman, we saw blake in the press briefing room, getting in a question on Steve Mnuchin and a valiant effort, we dont get the tax reforms, the markets are going to go out the window. Sarah sanders, not really answering the item, though. There were two items, a podcast that was published this day. One of those mnuchin issued a warning to members of congress and folks all across washington and really across the country with it being this, if a tax reform doesnt get done, he warned a reversal in the stock market, as you know, ashley, a runup before President Trump and certainly since. A lot of it built on the thinking or some of it that tax reform is coming down the line. I asked the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, if President Trump is concerned that if there is not tax reform legislation, whether or not the treasury secretary might be right. Sanders didnt really comment on it other than to say that the president is more focused on getting this tax reform legislation passed. The second item that mnuchin made news with in that podcast was saying that indeed, the wealthy, ashley, might end up getting a tax break there. Has been back and forth whether or not the wealthiest of americans would benefit from the tax plan, and mnuchin said, and i quote here, when youre cutting taxes across the board, its very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy with tax cuts to the middle class. Math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do. Sanders was asked about that mnuchin comment. That there may be some people that receive tax cuts that are also in the wealthy bracket, yes, but the fact is the priority again remains that middle class americans are ones that are most impacted and thats where the priority and focus lies. Reporter sanders saying the wealthiest, just some, might get tax cuts. The president does not support the murray bill, that would shore up payments allowing flexibility with the states. The president said this amounts to a bailout of the Insurance Companies and thats why he doesnt support it. Ashley . Blake burman, who always has running shoes. Wears them in the room and charges out. I charge out. You are a very fit young man. The bulls are charging ahead to a neverbeforeseen milestone, hitting 23,000. We know thats kind of old news at this point, its whether we can close at that level. Thats the big question at this hour and by all accounts hanging in there nicely. One stock responsible for nearly twothirds of the dow rally. Ibm, looking at biggest gain in nearly nine years after blowing past revenue and earnings forecasts, but also want to point out that ibm still the second worst performer in the dow this year. So there you have it. Only after ge. So having a banner day today after the earnings, but it has been lagging somewhat. Another stock i want to tell you about. Assurant says it is buying Warranty Group to beef up international presence, assurant looking at best day in more than a month, up more than 6 . The biggest loser, chipotle. Analysts downgrading the stock and slashing price target, wait until you hear why. Apparently chipotle workers are paid too much. They are weighing on the mexican chains bottom line. Shares down nearly 3 . Down nearly 10 bucks at 319. 79. Right to the floor show, traders at the New York Stock Exchange, the cme group and the nymex, as we do every day on the 3 00 show. Teddy weisberg, my good friend down at the New York Stock Exchange. You know, teddy. Do Money Managers these days wake up in the mornings and feel just a little nervous . They felt theyve ridden this train for so long and start tock frightened of their own shadow, worried theres something lurking that none of us have thought about thats going to bring this market down . Well, i think whatever that event is, unfortunately, as you know, they dont give us a script or crystal ball or ring a bell, so i guess thats healthy to be nervous about where we are and how far weve come. I think if i were a money manager and couldnt sleep at night, id be more worried id miss the market not have exposure to the market. I think they have a much bigger problem. You pointed out todays market to a large degree is all about big blue, ibm, and a less extent, goldman sachs, down yesterday, but reversed that quite positively today and particularly interesting, you know, ive unfortunately been here way too long but i remember when big blue basically was the focal point like facebook and amazon and google are today and the whole world revolves around ibm and i, for one find it quite refreshing that its revolving around ibm today. A blast from the past today for ibm for sure. Ira epstein at the cme. The earnings, we havent gotten many so far, but so far pretty good. We feel the economy is moving in the right direction. Why shouldnt the markets be moving higher . They should be moving higher. Ive been consistent on the show saying. That i see no reason for the market to stop this rally. Its just like a vacuum cleaner. Sucks in money from every source and keeps moving higher. Yes as a money manager, i would be nervous in the sense, youre not going to get out at the top. It doesnt matter, so many safeguards, youre not going to have a 1987 again. Enjoy the run. On breaks, the market is bought because earnings look good and were in a quarter that traditionally does well. I dont see whats going stop this market at this point. Lets talk about oil. Luka at the nymex. Luka, more has been taken out of inventories which is a good proxy for the economy, is it not . More people using oil means that the engines of the economy are moving along nicely. Is that the way to read it . It used to be the way to read, it but oil is a real dichotomy right now. The shale producers in the u. S. , there was a big article about shale producers in u. S. And canada cant continue to produce at the lower prices, right . That would be positive for prices. Something big out, there the saudiiran ipo. If everyone is so positive on on oil and supply is limited and people cant pump, why is this ipo constantly getting pushed back . And why doesnt it look like its going to come to market . This is the Biggest Oil Producer in the world, probably the biggest power in oil around the globe. So oil around here, i think its going to go up above 55. I doubt that. Lots to ponder. No doubt about it. Teddy, ira and luke, as always, thank you so much. Well be right back. Listen up, heart disease. You too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies, and data without insights. And fragmented care, stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. At optum, were partnering across the Health System to tackle its biggest challenges. Thats it. Im calling kohler about their walkin bath. At optum, were partnering anah. Not gonna happen. M my name is ken. How may i help you . Hi, im calling about kohlers walkin bath. Excellent happy to help. Huh . Hold one moment please. [ finger snaps ] mmm. The kohler walkin bath features an extrawide opening and a low stepin at three inches, which is 25 to 60 lower than some leading competitors. The bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. Kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. Are you seeing this . The kohler walkin bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. Everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohlercertified installer. And its made by kohler americas leading plumbing brand. We need this bath. Yes. Yes you do. A kohler walkin bath provides independence with peace of mind. And ask about saving 1,000 on your walkin bath, or visit kohlerwalkinbath. Com for more info. Think has exposure to energyfund infrastructure mlps . Think again. Its time to shake up your lineup. The alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add potential income. Bring amlp into the game. Before investing, consider the Funds Investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Read the prospectus carefully at alpsfunds. Com amlp. Ashley today marks the onemonth anniversary since Hurricane Maria charged through the caribbean towards puerto rico wiping out the power grid much and of its infrastructure. As of tuesday, only, still only 18 of electric utility customers actually have access to power. Others are depending on diesel fuel generators. Apr energy will have the lights humming in san juan very quickly through mobile power plants. The army corps of engineers hired the company to bring in two electricity producing turbines. Apr Energy Chairman john campion joins us now. Sounds like muchneeded help for puerto rico. Your Company Provides the turbines, are they already in place . Placed them on the sites in palo seko, a power plant in san juan. The boat docked on friday, saturday the machines were onsite and hooking them up. Ashley they run on gas . Diesel . Diesel, its the quickest fuel. Ashley there is enough gas available to keep them going . Yes, yes. Ashley how much electricity can the turbines produce . 60 megawatts, at site conditions 50 megawatts which is enough for 300,000 homes, thats a lot of people. Ashley have you seen the devastation . Spent the last 14 days back and forth to puerto rico. I went down with my partners General Electric on monday. The hurricane happened the wednesday into the thursday with General Electric, we went down there. They build our turbines. They build the turbines, we operate, we maintain, its a great partnership. Ashley why has it taken this long to get them down there . The trouble is that what we normally expect with hurricanes, youd see the bucket trucks come in, thats the last mile. The lock of distribution to the house and the generation was devastated. Taken quite a long time to assess what was wrong and part of the problem is san juans power, a lot of that comes from the south and transmission lines coming from the mountains and the transmission line was wiped out. Ashley we know the infrastructure was shaky before the storm hit. Does that present challenges . Challenges we as a company are used to deal with. 45 days after the fukushima tsunami we signed a contract 45 days after that, supplied a lot of power into japan. We do these things around the world. Ashley as we speak, energy or electricity is soon pumping into san juan . Yeah, we wont solve the full problem and bring more machines on and solve more of the problem. We have a team working closely with the army corps of engineers. We have a problem and we dont talk enough about the army corps, you want those guys. Our team works with the army corps of engineers, we work with the governors office, very much a collaborative effort and i think everybody is working together with the common goal of turning electricity on on. Ashley wish you the best. John campion, apr energy ceo and chairman. Appreciate it. Quick look at the big board. Dow 23,000, its here all right. Hopefully hang onto that into the close, 27 minutes from now. Another record close. Hohum. Markets continue to march higher. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell taking on the National Anthem controversy at the conclusion of meetings with owners and players in new york city. Connell mcshane is there, hell tell us if the players will be forced to stand for the starspangled banner. Countdown is coming right back. I can do more to lower my a1c. And i can do it with whats already within me. Because my body can still make its own insulin. And onceweekly trulicity activates my body to release it. Trulicity is not insulin. It comes in a onceweekly, truly easytouse pen. It works 24 7, and you dont have to see or handle a needle. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, if you have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if youre allergic to trulicity. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or symptoms like itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and indigestion. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. I choose onceweekly trulicity to activate my within. If you need help lowering your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. Ask your doctor about onceweekly trulicity. Can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can well im gone our recent online sales success seems a little. Strange . Nk na. Ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. Theyre affordable and fast. Maybe too affordable and fast. What if. People arent buying these books online, but they are buying them to protect their secrets . . hi bill. If that is your real name. Its william actually. Hmph affordable, fast fedex ground. My business was going nowhere. So i built this kickin new website with godaddy. Building a website in under an hour is easy 68 of people. Who have built their website using gocentral, did it in. Under an hour, and you can too. Type in your business or idea. Pick your favourite design. Personalize it with beautiful images. And. Youre done and now business is booming. Harriet, its a double stitch not a cross stitch build a better website in under an hour. Free to try. No credit card required. Gocentral from godaddy. Ashley nfl commissioner Roger Goodell delayed for over two hours, but finally stepping up to the mics following a twoday meeting with team owners and players. Connell mcshane was waiting for all of this to evolve. Hes at the conrad hotel in lower manhattan. It appears the meeting couldnt have gone that well based on the outcome because the commissioner punted, did he not . Reporter very good, especially for a british guy, using the american football analogy. I get it. The commissioner said whats in the guidelines is players should stand for the National Anthem, but hes not going to force them to do so. So there was acknowledgment, ill get to this in a moment from one key owner, the controversy over the National Anthem protests is having an impact on the nfls business. To that point, its the question they asked the commissioner, Roger Goodell. The gallup polling out shows that the nfls popularity has been falling over the last five years. Its gone down, and what the polling found, didnt speak directly to the protests, what it found is a political divide. Republicans identifying as pro football fans down 15 . Democrats down only 3 . Heres what goodell said about that. What were trying to do is stay out of politics. Were not looking to get into politics. What were looking to do is continue to get people focused on football. Reporter all right, trying to stay out of politics. No denying the league is caught up in a political story that does have business implications. The owner i was alluding to is john marin, the owner of the jets, he was asked about the story of the protest. No question it had an impact on the business, its an important social issue, and you have to put the interest behind the issues of importance. The commissioner is trying to find a middle ground where they keep everybody happy and agreed to meet with the players to talk about social justice issues sometime in the next two weeks, but for the time being, no change in the guidelines. If the players want to continue with the anthem protests, they can do it. Ashley did they suggest maybe people just want to watch football be and entertained . Reporter i think the polling speaks to that. The politicized nature of all of this. People look at this and say, well, maybe we dont want to see politics on the football field, but theres a balance here that the league is trying to strike. They know one constituency that there are concerns theyve outlined on social justice issues, thats why there was support expressed yesterday for criminal Justice Reform bill thats working its way through the congress. On the other side, what john mayer said is true, impact on the business. Tv ratings being down and the popularity being down on the poll numbers. Theyre trying strike a balance, whether theyre doing so effectively is another question. I dont know. Ashley i dont think striking a balance is anything well see. Thank you, Connell Mcshane and thank you for the shoutout for the football analogy. Im an american citizen by the way, i embrace it all. Lived in green bay, i followed the packers. I lived in nashville, i covered the titans. I got it all. Connell mcshane. Reporter thats for sure. Ashley ill leave it right there. Lets get back to talk about having it all. What about the markets . The dow up 172 points, it can close above 23,000, certainly looking like a reality. Is it not . Live to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange where Nicole Petallides is talking to the traders about the latest milestone when countdown comes right back. music plays throughout who knew that phones would start doing everything . Entertaining us, getting us back on track, and finding us dates. Phones really have changed. So why hasnt the way we pay for them . Introducing xfinity mobile. You only pay for data and can easily switch between pay per gig and unlimited. No one else lets you do that. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Xfinity mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Call, visit or go to xfinitymobile. Com. Ashley closing bell rings in just 13 minutes from now. This hour, the dow looking at the biggest rally in more than two months. Up around 170 point at 23,165 and full steam ahead on tap today after the bell, American Express, ebay and united continental. Straight down to the New York Stock Exchange and Nicole Petallides standing by with our good friend john corpina, historic close above 23,000. Take it away. Reporter launched one milestone after another. We first of all hit up the earnings after the bell, talking about American Express and ebay any thoughts on earnings and those particular earnings or earnings season overall . Listen, historically buoys on markets, we clearly see the effects of ibm today. Well see the effects out of American Express also. Reporter you know what . What happens with ibm was absolutely unbelievable and that added almost 100 dow points. Just this morning. Reporter we see American Express as a winner going into the bell. Your thoughts on dow 23,000 . Obviously a milestone and continue to talk about these and seems like were hitting more and more of them much frequently. Interesting to see how long we stay above it. If you look at the other milestones we passed, took a little consolidation, once we pulled over, the market pulled back and consolidates a little bit. It will be interesting to see if we can stay in the level for sometime because it will add to the upside. Reporter whether people like trump or they dont, under this administration, weve had four milestones, thousand milestones this year, 20, 21, 22 and now 23. Do you think the moment couple continue into the new year or all about the tax plan . This market is strong, very difficult to fight this tape, as we say, in the business, and until we see real catalysts that are going to push this market to negative territory, i think we have to stay entrenched with it and continue to work with the momentum that were seeing. Reporter some people say look, its the fundamentals, its not trump and his administration at all, the fundamentals have been proven. Thats right, you could have made the argument in november. Market has the upward momentum toward the end of the Obama Administration and continued since then. Reporter what do you think of the banks . In december, likely to see another rate hike and your thoughts on that group . If you look at financials over time, thats been a sector that people have stayed away from coming out of the 2008, 2009 crisis. Regulation is much more higher, much more demanding on the banks, and that officer investors the confidence in investing in them. Reporter the confidence. Thats what were talking about. Were going to see it move higher. Reporter weve had so many winners this year, ashley. You name it. From nvidia to facebook to apple. A great year on wall street. Ashley certainly has and continues to go upwards and upwards, up, up and away. Thank you for setting the table for us for the close and after the bell. And the closing bell rings in just under 10 minutes from now. Up just under 160 point. Weeks away from the annual shopping frenzy. Will amazon be the grinch that steals the retail sparkle . 12 billion man will tell us whether or not the ditch will buy traditional retailers ahead of the Holiday Season. Countdown is coming right back. Ashley we have been awaiting a press briefing under way on the shooting in maryland earlier today as a manhunt continues right now for a gunman who shot five people, at a business, in a Business Park about 30 miles north of baltimore. Three People Killed two. Injured. We believe the person that is responsible for the shooting may have been involved in another shooting in delaware. We have a multistate manhunt essentially going on at this hour. Were continuing to follow the information on this. Again, a person involved in a shooting earlier today which three people were killed two. Injured in maryland, another person shot in delaware, were continuing to follow that story for you. Lets move on. Its not halloween yet, the major retailers are gearing up for the christmas season, will the brick and Mortar Stores hold their own against ecommerce juggernaut amazon, a question we ask pretty much every day. Brin in ernie sissilio. You know the dominance of amazon, we know how dominant they are. Maybe because im old school, i still like to go into the brick and mortar places, i like to feel the product, put something on. Actually have that experience. I cant be bothered to order something online and it doesnt fit or i dont like it, it doesnt feel right. The product is cheaper than i thought it was. I dont want to go through the hassle of returning it maybe because im old. Am i an outlier on this . If youre an outlier, there is two of us who are outliers. The entire issue of buying items online and the issue of returning them has become much easier, that whole process is sped up, and actually its not costly to the consumer, so the Companies Making easy, amazon in particular with returning items and people actually will order items and return them, order several items and return them. I think the key issue for christmas, however, coming up, lets get back to the consumer itself, is that we think its going to be a strong season. Consumer spending should be pretty strong. We have strong job growth, which is developing high confidence or pushes high confidence to a new level. Incomes are growing, september was a good pace, whether its an outlier or not, time will tell. We think bricks and mortar retailers have a difficult time competing against not just amazon but the Amazon Effect if we could use that term, if you will, the online. Clicking is better than the bricks this christmas. Issue is that on incremental basis, more difficult for the bricks and mortar retailers to defend their Business Models and grab incremental sales, because what were talking about is growth in sales, not just absolute sales. We do think that the clicks will beat the bricks, but it will be a good Holiday Season for consumers and for retailers in general. Ashley what about the markets as a whole, ernie . Okay, weve got the milestone, 23,000, it really is just a milestone, it doesnt mean anything, but it does speak to the strength of the economy. Solid earnings and profits from companies. I mean, if you havent joined in, in this rally, you obviously feel sick about it, but would you still be inclined to believe this market can still continue to melt upwards . Well, we wont use the word melt, but perhaps propel upwards. The issue and it was i think borne out today to a large extent ashley, is ibms earnings. Our view is earnings drives stock prices and earnings are strong, if you go to the Fourth Quarter of 2016, the first half of this year, and looks to be a beginning of a pretty good thirdquarter earnings reporting season. Earnings are the driver behind stock prices. And even more so that will be the case because one of the issues that weve had at our backs has been Monetary Policy, quote, easy money, if you will, thats changing. The fed is beginning to tighten, has begun to tighten, not only in raising shortterm rates but also draw down balance sheet. We have Monetary Policy as a headwind, not a severe headwind but a headwind and key issue particularly tax and regulatory reform. Ashley let me go to Nicole Petallides at New York Stock Exchange. Tax reform. There is all forms of thought if Steve Mnuchin says if we dont get tax reform this market is in trouble. Others dont say that. I have heard Tax Reform Tax reform, since last november, when the administration was put into office and boosted this market. Over the last couple of weeks i heard a different tone. We heard it on the jpmorgan conference call. Theyre not counting on tax reform anytime soon. Im paraphrasing. It is interesting. Now with the optimism that wall street has had, globally weve had, people are counting on it less. I think ultimately they still think it will happen. If were off the table it would be a market crusher. If it doesnt happen, immediately, i dont think that will, what im hearing, people are still believing it is going to happen but theyre not counting on it right away. They are looking at fundamentals and optimism. Ashley ernie, i have 10 seconds. Which sector do you pick over all others right now as far as a Growth Prospect . We like financials, ashley, for the reasons that i mentioned about the feds about righting Interest Rates and about fiscal policy. Balance sheets are strong. Valuations are very reasonable. Ashley high Interest Rates will help. [closing bell rings] ernie, thank you very. Light the fireworks. Record closes for the dow and s p 500. That is it for the countdown. David asman and Melissa Francis pick it up. Melissa the dow closing above 23,000 for the first time ever, surging higher, 159 points as we close out. Third record close in a row. A new record for s p as well, but nasdaq, too close to call. Im Melissa Francis. David im david asman. Glad you could be here. Another historic day on after the bell. More on the new milestone for after the markets. Here is what were covering for you in historic hour. The Senate Voting on key amendments to the budget bill. This is a major step towards passing tax reform. But do republicans have enough support among them . A live report from