MARIA-03
Trump's Tweets; Officer Shot In Tennessee; KFC In The U.K. Hacked; Cargo
Ship Arrives At IGS; Bose Unveils "Hearphones"; Lockheed Marin Shares Falls
As Trump Slams F-35 Program Costs; President-Elect Donald Trump Picking
Exxonmobil CEO, Rex Tillerson As His Secretary Of State Nominee; Living In
Luxury, Why Sales Of High End Homes Are Expected To Spike In The New Year;
Apple Headphone Future Up In The Air After It Already Delaying The Highly
Anticipated Airpods; Congressman Kevin Brady, Chairman Of The House Ways
And Means Committee, Says He Can Get Your Tax Return On To A Postcard - Part 2>
Burman, Cheryl Casone, Lea Gabrielle, Stuart Varney>
Shooting; Police; Stocks; Housing; Dog Fight; F-35; F-18; Fighter Jet; Rex
Tillerson, ExxonMobil; Real Estate; Trade; Business; Stock Markets; Taxes;
Technology; Politics>
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're in the submarine, right?
NARDELLI: He'd pull it out and said let's start with that page.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. By the way, the bottom line is that
SMITH: When you flew with that blind pilot.
GABRIELLE: Yeah.
SMITH: Because you did it for TV, and then you, too, covered your eyes and flew blindly.
GABRIELLE: Yes, and it tough to do. But - and thanks for saying that. I mean, I actually really did fly with a pilot that's blind. And, you know, he'd overcome blindness to fly again, but using another pilot flying next to him and talking in his ear giving and him the information he needs. And I think that's the bottom line is that that's what Trump is saying: "Hey, I'm going to have former director of the DIA.
I'm going to have K.T. McFarland. What's the bottom line? What do I need to know? An intelligence -- you know, intelligence, raw intelligence like I used to collect comes in data points. But then you build trends, he needs to know trends unless it is an immediate threat to our country and I can promise you that his national security advisors will be involved in making sure he knows if there is some sort of immediate threat to our country.
BARTIROMO: And that's General Mike Flynn real quick. The F-35, the Lockheed Martin, is this a program that you're familiar with?
GABRIELLE: Yes
BARTIROMO: And?
GABRIELLE: Yes. OK. So, we're talking about how Donald Trump is basically saying this costs too much? You know, he's --
BARTIROMO: That is what he said in tweet.
GABRIELLE: Yes. And he's been saying, look, we are going to cut down how much waste we are using and then spending of our taxpayer dollars in defense. So I think essentially his tweet was sort of the opening bid in negotiations. He's basically saying "guess what, Lockheed, you're going to have to cut down on this cost." And Lockheed almost immediately responded saying "Well, we are trying to cut down the price of the F-35 by, I think, they said 60 percent. I'm pretty sure it was like 60 percent. They're trying to cut it down. But right now, those things go for a million dollars a pop. So, you know, we're looking to cut costs. It's an important program, it revolutionizes the way we finally see this. People always ask me, "Oh, doesn't the F-35? Isn't that a bad dogfighter?" And I just want to address that because I got so many questions about it.
BARTIROMO: Because that was my question.
GABRIELLE: Yeah. And you know what, dogfighting is a lot of fun, it's a blast. I'll tell you. But even in a fourth generation fighter, the F-18 that I flew, if I ever end up in a dogfight, it's because I did something terribly wrong. We should be on visual range. We should shoot them by radar missile before they ever see us. If not, we should get them with the side runner, heat-seeking missile. And the F-35 is a fifth generation fighter. There's so much sensor and technology that if you end up in a dogfight, you've done seriously wrong.
BARTIROMO: I'm sorry, just explain dogfight. Civilians here.
GABRIELLE: OK. So, Dog fighting is -
NARDELLI: Top Gun. I could see you right now.
BARTIROMO: We just have a picture of you in the cockpit there. It's awesome. Really quickly.
GABRIELLE: OK. So, dogfighting is when you end up essentially, you know, in a one V one. You know, one aircraft versus another aircraft, and you're trying to basically get on the other person's six to shoot him with - to shoot him with guns or missiles. So, that's dogfighting. It's sort of old school fighting. We don't see that really anymore. We don't have much of an air-to-air threat. If we go up against China, Russia, we will, but we want to shoot them down if there are enemies before they ever see us. And that's where the F-35 comes in.
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWEL: You are so cool.
BARTIROMO: Lea Gabrielle, first-hand experience there. We appreciate your time.
GABRIELLE: Thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: Coming up, living in luxury. Why sales of high-end homes are expected to spike in the New Year. And then bonding with the king of the jungle on a trip to the zoo. The heart-warming meeting between the toddler and the lion. Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Thanks so much for being with us. I'm Maria Bartiromo. And it is Tuesday, December 13. Your top stories right now, 8:30 AM on the East Coast, breaking news this morning, President-elect Donald Trump picking ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state nominee. The move coming as the meetings continue this week at Trump Tower, Trump's primary opponent Carly Fiorina sat down with the president-elect yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA: The high quality of people that he's named already, said so much about his executive abilities, but it also says that people recognize the opportunity that our new president-elect has, to really make a huge impact on people's lives in this country, and on events around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: The very latest as more high profile names head to New York to meet with Donald Trump this week and today. Apple headphone future up in the air after it already delaying the highly anticipated AirPods, another top product may miss the holiday shopping season, why consumer may have to wait until next year for the Beats X earphones.
CBS its deal for Viacom no more, why the merger between the media titans was called off, the Redstone say they do not think it's time for these two companies to merge after all, what changed? SeaWorld hoping to make a splash without the orcas, the company's new plans for its first theme park without its feature mammal. And from New York, traffic to snowy roads in the Midwest, driving can be a headache, but the worse state for drivers may surprise you, the not so golden roads ahead.
Luxury home sales on the rise, meanwhile, but break out your checkbook, now, who prices will -- where prices will continue to grow. Oil prices, meanwhile, edging higher this morning extending a big rally yesterday, the international energy agency says that oil markets will rebound early next year, so long as OPEC members actually cut production as planned. Oil now at $53.09 a barrel. Futures, meanwhile, pointing to gains at the open, the stock market is on fire again, we are expecting another all-time high right at the opening of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average said to open up 70 points, NASDAQ up 20 points, S&P 500 higher by seven, that's a third of a percent.
Plus, put your paws up, the little lion who was anything but cowardly when he came face-to-face with the king of the jungle. Look at this. Little baby in a lion suit. High end housing, meanwhile, heading up the new study this morning, shows that luxury home sales grew in 37 out of 43 counties analyze around the country, so will luxury home sales continue to move higher. I want to bring in Rogers Healy, owner of Rogers Healy and associates real estate. Roger, it's good to see you, thanks so much for joining us.
ROGERS HEALY, OWNER ROGERS HEALY AND ASSOCIATES REAL ESTATE: Good morning, Merry Christmas.
BARTIROMO: Merry Christmas to you. What's behind this luxury market move?
HEALY: I think all the people that we're sitting on the sideline in last 4, 5 months, they're back off and they're ready. And, you know, it's nothing that we haven't seen before, it's just people were hesitant, and interest rates are starting to creep up a little bit, so I think they want to get in there before it's too late.
BOB NARDELLI, FORMER CEO OF HOME DEPOT: Bob Nardelli here, question.
HEALY: Good morning.
NARDELLI: . on the high end, most of this is coming out of inventory as opposed to new home starts, is that what you're seeing out there?
HEALY: Yeah, I mean, especially -- we're based in Texas, and places like Houston, obviously, the only gas market taking an adjustment for the last 18 to 24 months. A lot of those homes that those guys had were on the market, and so we don't see a whole lot of new inventory. And rarely, do you see people do spec homes over a certain price per square foot, and obviously, square foot is marked. So, yeah, we have seen that, you know, quite significant.
NARDELLI: go ahead, Dagen.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: You go ahead.
NARDELLI: So you mentioned price per square foot, what are these luxury homes going for now? Is it well above.
HEALY: Well above what?
NARDELLI: Well above 1,000, 2000 a square foot?
Rogers: I mean in places like Manhattan, yeah, that's the norm. But in a place like Texas, out of our top markets we'll see the highest price per square foot go around 340 for an average for luxury, and that's in a place like Austin. But, you know, there're some markets in Dallas, and Houston, even in Midland which is an oil and gas based city, where we'll see 800 to 1200 a foot. But, you know, other than Orange County, Manhattan places, may be some in Miami, as far as high rises are concerned, 1,000, 2000 a foot is really aggressive, I think that largely relevant to the city, you're really going to see $300 to $500 per square foot.
MCDOWELL: Roger, in terms of the turnaround in oil prices, though, how much do people in the state start talking about that? Is -- as the oil and gas business kind of comes back online in the coming months, even years, with a rebound in oil prices, are they talking about that in the real estate business?
HEALY: I think it's a good thing all around. I think that the people that were necessarily getting a good deal as far as prices is concern on the purchase side of luxury homes, that's going to continue to slam. But, you know, with oil and gas prices increasing, we're going to see some -- the people that have an oil and gas career, have more money to spend on the luxury real estate market. So I think we're going to be OK. Obviously, it's going to make it a little bit difficult for first-time home buyers, which is why we've seen a continued increase for first-time home buyers, not just in the luxury market but just in the entry market as well.
SANDRA SMITH, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: When you talk about the first-time home buyer, what's the demographic? Because you do hear that, you know -- the -- I guess the millennial generation is waiting longer, and not really buying a starter home, they're waiting, and saving, and buying the house later on, and what trends are you seeing?
HEALY: Yes, so an interesting trend we saw in 2016, is there actually twice as many single women, first-time, home buyers as single men. And I think that's also why there's a direct correlation with condo increases going on, especially in Texas, we have almost a 10 percent increase on condo sales this year. And so, I think we're going to see continue to see these trends shift. And we've talked about it before, with the rental rates, you know, skyrocketing, I think that the yuppie first-time home buyer generation they're going to continue to go further and further out, which is going to go and create, you know, supply and demand situation with spec homes that are in that inter-level price point.
BARTIROMO: So when do rates catch up with everything? I mean, today, we've got a Federal Reserve meeting, two-day meeting, today and tomorrow, we're expecting Janet Yellen, tomorrow, to come out and say we're raising rates, quarter of a point, at least. Then mortgage rates probably creep up even further. When does that catch up with the euphoria and really take bite out of things, slow things down?
HEALY: You know, I think that the good news is we've got a president-elect who's a real estate guy. I know he's going to go out of his way -- Yeah, he's going to go out his way to make sure the real estate markets stay stable, if not stays, you know, on fire. But we've seen an increase in rates right now, we're over 4 percent a year ago, now we were at, you know, three and a quarter. And we just had our housing report come out that we had the highest fourth quarter in history of Texas, up almost 100,000 homes sold, so all these people that were supposedly be freaking out, haven't. So my, you know, my wishful thinking is that it's not going to be, you know, that big of an effect on the market like people think.
BARTIROMO: So, is it a buyer's market right now or seller's market?
HEALY: It's all relevant, you know. Right now, traditionally the fourth quarter is the slowest, but right now we just had the best fourth quarter that we ever had. And traditionally everything after Thanksgiving until Valentine's Day on the residential real estate side is quote, unquote, slow, but it's the busiest that we've seen it on all of our markets. So, you know, I think that it is a matter of creating a sense of urgency on both sides and keeping people educated, and we'll see what happens.
BARTIROMO: All right. And we will watch it, thank you, Rogers.
HEALY: You got it, thank you.
BARTIROMO: Rogers Healy joining us there. Coming up next, Sea World new location opening with a splash, but not of it favorite mammals will be at the party, we will you about it. And then, simplifying the tax code, Stuart Varney weighs in on the challenges facing tax reform. Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back, 45 minutes away from the opening bell, for a Tuesday, markets are on fire, once again, expecting a 70 point rally right out of the gate this morning. Couple of names on the move, Viacom shares under some selling pressure right now, extending a sell-off yesterday, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone, calls off the talks to merge the company with CBS. This was their plan initially, so it's interesting that they're pulling back. Viacom owns Nickelodeon and MTV, it's been struggling to turn around declining revenue, and the idea was to merge Viacom with CBS, the -- they're control, where two key issues on the negotiating table, apparently, so they are pulling out of that deal. Rushing Goggle parent Alphabet, Pubis State run Telecom Company reached a deal with Google to enable faster internet access. Google will install servers in Cuba to improve connectivity speed to Google's services like Gmail and YouTube. Cuba has one of the lowest online connectivity rates in the world. Eric Schmidt, chairman, signing that deal in Cuba just yesterday.
And month after Sea World parks ended its orca breeding program, company's officials say that they will build the first park without the killer whales in Abu Dhabi. This will also be the first park outside of the U.S. It is scheduled to open in 2022. It will include a research and animal rescue center, as well as roller coasters and virtual reality technologies. All right, Congressman Kevin Brady, chairman of the house ways and means committee, says he can get your tax return on to a postcard. Joining me right now the host of Varney & Co, Stuart Varney to weigh in, that's different than what we have right now, Stu.
STUART VARNEY, VARNEY & CO. HOST: Yes, this is a let me get on -- that is sample of the postcard. Now you can't -- you can zoom in you can't really read it properly. It's essentially 14 lines on the front. Congressman Brady says I want to get your tax returns to fit on this sized postcard. Now, he's the chair of the house ways and means committee, that's the chair of the house tax writing committee, very important guy, very powerful guy. But, Maria, do you think he can do it? Do you think you can get a normal 1040 tax return on to a postcard like this? Because I don't.
BARTIROMO: I don't know. I mean, they change the brackets into three brackets, right? They're going to take away all of these loopholes.
VARNEY: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: So they're trying to really simplify, simplify, simplify.
VARNEY: Yep.
BARTIROMO: That's the idea, I mean.
VARNEY: It's just so incredible to me, having filled out a few tax form in my time, that we will get to this. I just don't see it. Look.
(CROSSTALK)
VARNEY: . everybody wants simplification, simplification, we want smaller brackets, we want tax cuts, I got it, and I hate to be a skeptic about tax reform, but I'm a skeptic about putting it on a postcard.
SMITH: Well, whether or not it's possible, Stu, I think possible. But remember you campaigned on this, Donald Trump was promising that he was going to put H&R block out of business. And if it's all on that card, I think, that might actually happen.
VARNEY: Who was first person that I heard from right after we did the story about the postcard? Guess who was it was? SMITH: Steve Forbes.
VARNEY: No, tax accountant.
(LAUGHTER)
VARNEY: I mean, the accounting lobby just went to the left, big time.
SMITH: That is funny.
VARNEY: They're probably there already.
BARTIROMO: All right. We'll have to see, Stu. You make good point. We'll check out.
VARNEY: Sure thing.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you in 10 minutes.
VARNEY: You got it.
BARTIROMO: Varney & Co. begins top of the hour 9:00 AM, right after Mornings With Maria. Join Stuart in just a few minutes. Coming up, there maybe something worse than New York gridlock, you know that? The surprising state coming in as the worst for drivers. And the king of the jungle, meets a pint sized impersonator, the wild connection between a toddler and lion, and the video that went viral. Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. California named the worst state in the country for drivers, Cheryl Casone with the story. Cheryl?
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Probably not a surprise if you driven in California, the Golden State a golden nightmare according to a study by bankrate.com, looking at six criteria including fuel expense, insurance cost, and car speed -- among some of the criteria. Drivers there are punish with things like higher gas prices, higher insurance cost, and yes car theft. It is the nation highest auto theft rate with 437 cars stolen for every 100,000 residents. Drivers also have average commute time, you can see that on your screen, about 30 minutes. On the flip side the study names Iowa, as the best state for drivers. Iowa has the lowest average insurance premiums in the country.
Well, it looks like Apple is delaying another product, sources say the company is going to postpone the launch of its Beats X wireless headphones until next year. Retailer, B&H Photo is telling customers to preorder the device. It's not going to be available for at least two, three more months, and it follows Apple's announcement in October that it needs more time before it can start selling the AirPods. Remember, its first pair of wireless headphones to go with the seven, which is already out there.
American Express the latest company offering more perks for parents, Amex is now getting paid maternal or paternal leave for up to 20 weeks, so that includes both mom and dad. The new policy starts January 1st, and follows print to leave improvement to companies like Netflix, Adobe Systems and Hilton Hotels. And finally this, here is your daily viral video, it's a baby wearing a lion costume, made friends -- making friends with a real lion through a glass wall. This happens at the Atlanta Zoo. The video shows the lion approaching the glass before putting its paws up to 11- month-old Aria, the lion appears fascinated by the little cub on the other side of the glass, starts to follows him as he goes along the ledge, there were other lions standing behind the male lion, we should tell you, Maria. And by the way, the name Aria is actually Hebrew for lion. His godparents took him to the zoo and the mom packed the little lion costume because his name means lion in Hebrew.
BARTIROMO: I love that story so much. And to see the lion like this with the paws -- your first trip to a zoo is when?
SMITH: Oh, my first trip to a zoo, Brookfield Zoo in the Chicago area, and my dad would take us -- this is fact, every winter growing in Chicago its used to snow and cold, but he would wait for the absolute coldest day of the winter, and we would bundle up go to zoo because nobody would be there. And they always kept it open. So that was brutal, and then we had to eat a bowl of oatmeal before we went. And that video though, I'm really concern about the glass.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: I don't know if I trust this glass.
MCDOWELL: Can I say something to be a downer, zoos depress me.
BARTIROMO: Why?
MCDOWELL: Because there's animals in captivity. If there's part of it that -- and I grew up in the middle -- in the woods, so we didn't need to go to the zoo. They were -- wild animals.
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWELL: Bears and animals -- it's a thing, it's like when the first trip to the zoo I was like why are they behind glass.
SMITH: Well, it is the right thought, you right. There's a lot of research is also done with some of these zoo's.
BARTIROMO: We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: This new revolution and the new norm of driverless cars and technology, impacting so many industries. Is that going to impact yours, I mean, driverless cars it's obviously going to mean lower input into terms of oil.
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Driverless trucks are very much in our future of evaluations. They're using some in Australia today, we're studying that. But, again, it allows you to be more efficient with the capital you've invested, the equipment you have, take more costs out of your operating, and probably step up its safety performance as well.
BARTIROMO: Would you put your family in a driverless car?
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: No, probably not. If I do, I'll still have my hand on the wheel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That's from my interview one year ago with ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, Trump's pick to secretary of state. And you have a good reaction to this, Bob?
NARDELLI: Yeah. I agree with him on truck, for example, Maria, I think if you look at driver fatigue, if you look at all the regulations, I think fuel efficiency, route optimization are all good. You're still going to need the drivers for the local delivery. I tend to agree with him. I would not put myself in an autonomous car in Manhattan, would you?
BARTIROMO: I don't think so.
NARDELLI: Yeah. So I would not put my family in it either. I think it would come, but I'm not just.
SMITH: But it is just an autonomous car, I'd think twice about putting up with some Uber car or cars that didn't look safe. I mean, that's the consideration of family that are growing through. And now, Maria, I look back at that interview, that awesome interview.
BARTIROMO: Thanks.
SMITH: . with Rex Tillerson. Did you ever see something like that coming, Rex Tillerson, secretary of state?
BARTIROMO: No, definitely not. But I would say this, I always thought that ExxonMobil is such a great proxy for what's happening in the world. And I used to talk about this with Lee Raymond, the prior CEO of ExxonMobil a lot. Because he's dealing with major heads of state across the world to get entree and permitting into drilling, and so I think it's a very savvy sophisticated pick.
MCDOWELL: The possibilities are limitless of what Rex Tillerson can do in that job because it's such an out of the box pick by Donald Trump. And did anybody look back at Donald Trump when he declared his candidacy -- other than a very few, this was the man who's going to be the next president of the United States. So, he keeps surprising us.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, he's surprising us and he's putting business people in some important roles, Bob.
NARDELLI: You know, you mentioned Lee Raymond, I had the privilege of working with Lee and Rex when I was running G.E. power system. And you just think about the quality of the leadership that's been in that company with Lee and now Rex. It's amazing, right?
BARTIROMO: I totally agree.
MCDOWELL: Rex Tillerson brings one thing to government, and so does Donald Trump that we never talk about and that's accountability. Accountability and results.
BARTIROMO: Yeah.
MCDOWELL: God, can we actually get some results?
BARTIROMO: Well, that's why I like the idea that Donald Trump is counting and his watching. I mean, there's a new sheriff in town, and he's letting everybody know it.
NARDELLI: It's part of the DNA of business.
SMITH: Yeah, expectations are high though, that's for sure.
BARTIROMO: Well We go into 2017 with an expectations of tax reform, and expectation of a repeal and replace Obamacare.
SMITH: And growth.
BARTIROMO: Growth and border security.
NARDELLI: You know this from your track experience, the pace you set better be the pace you keep.
SMITH: And better run your last lap the fastest.
NARDELLI: So we've got four years of sprinting. This isn't a cross- country race.
BARTIROMO: That's good stuff.
NARDELLI: Thank you all very much. Merry Christmas to all of you.
BARTIROMO: Dagen McDowell, Sandra Smith, great to see you, thanks so much for a great show. That will do it for us, we'll see you tomorrow. Varney & Co. begins right now. Stuart, take it away.
END
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