fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. . >> all right, i'm filling in for my friend on neil cavuto over on fox news today. "your world" please tune in. have a wonderful easter, liz claman is live in d.c. >> have a good easter to you, thank you so much, trish, a flurry of headlines hitting the world in just a couple of hours, on this good friday, the markets are closed in the u.s., but team "countdown" is open for business, live from our nation's capitol. a world on fire, u.s. forces striking at the heart of isis dropping the so-called mother of all bombs in afghanistan yesterday, this exactly one week after president trump ordered the launch of tomahawk missiles over syria. even with that backdrop, supreme leader kim jong-un and north korean regime are

throwing gas on the flames, threatening the u.s. saying he already has taethe's picked out to hit us in a preemptive strike. russian support of bashar al-assad in the mix and you've got one big powder keg. he's here live in a fox business exclusive. so do any of those flash points have the power to divert the slowly strengthening u.s. economy? i've just spoken exclusive to international monetary fund chief christine legarde. >> with all that is happening in the world right now, your prediction last year for 2017 for here in the u.s. was 2.5%. are we still on track to see that? liz: her answer to that very question, you need to hear it coming up. plus where she stands on president trump's push on weighing tariffs.

this video dr. david dao's violent removal from the united airlines flight five days ago that has sent the shares into major turbulence. how the oracle of omaha is feeling the impact though he flies private? that story coming up. fox news' bret baier live on set because it's his set. what his sources are saying about the next military steps to the vegas hotel reeling from a massive fire and charlie breaks it. we're live. let's start the "countdown." good afternoon, everybody. live from d.c. we are open for business and following quite a bit of breaking news at this hour. authorities -- we need to get you updated on this -- combing through the debris trying to figure out what sparked this fire at the bellagio hotel in las vegas last night. it couldn't come at a worse time. portions of the vegas strip had to be shut down at the start of

a busy holiday travel weekend. we're going to bring you more updates as we learn them, but so far, the fire is out. we're trying to figure out how it started. in the meantime, asian markets open for business, not liking the saber-rattling at all out of north korea overnight. japan's nikkei closed down. the south korean market the kospi fell .6% and the shanghai in china fell nearly a percentage point, hang seng fell a quarter of a point. the u.s. dollar weakening against many major world currencies today and looking at the major currencies from the euro to the pound to the canadian dollar, mexican peso, very thin trading, the korean yuan is hurting as people are concerned about what's going on between it and its neighbor to the north. critical headlines in the u.s. as well. the news did not take a holiday

of course, and yet another sign of the retail ice age, retail sales were down for the month of march for the second straight month falling .02%. the expectation was to see flat. so not great, right? we also learned that the cpi, consumer price index number which measures inflation at the consumer level fell .3% last month, yet another sign the economy may be slightly stalling out. and as you heard moments ago, i asked imf chief christine lagarde about prospects for u.s. growth this year. here's what she said -- >> probably going to be a little lower than that because of the amount of uncertainty, the unpredictability of policies of the new u.s. government. you know, how much tax reform will we have? how much fiscal stimulus will

there be? how will infrastructure investment be structured going forward. but growth in the united states is certainly better than it was in 2016. liz: and if you think that stuart varney talks a lot about tax reform, wait until you hear in minutes what the imf chief said about why she wants tax reform here in the unite stat. you need to hear this. she's pushing too for this. there are no public events on president trump's schedule as he spends the day at mar-a-lago gearing up for the final stretch of first 100 days as president. the milestone, just about two weekings away, april 30th is the day. have the early days of the trump presidency been good ones for america's economy and businesses? you may own one, you may work at one. here is richard goodstein and former republican governor of virginia, george allen. the sentiment is good around here.

every sentiment whether it's a home builder sentiment or consumer sentiment, spiking. >> it is. and i know the president just met with the national association of manufacturers about ten days ago. they're all optimistic, and most things are people see a can do spirit, they see the regulatory reform being done and effectuated, but i think people want more, and i think a lot of it is anticipation. a lot of it may be holding back on making certain purchases of equipment thinking, okay, they're going to get a much better stimulus, much more internationally competitive tax code. in addition to the regulatory reform, and infrastructure. the energy policies by the way of this administration have been very positive. whether it's the keystone pipeline or other activities. so those in the engineer community are positive. most manufacturers, small businesses. but they didn't pass that repeal and replacement of obamacare. liz: they did not. >> matters a lot to small

businesses. liz: richard, they can't blame the democrats for that. it was that very conservative wing of the republican party, the freedom caucus that derailed that. a lot of talk that president trump would move toward the democrats to get tax reform done. do you see that happening? and if so, what do democrats need to hear before they sign on? >> one thing they want to see is his tax returns before they proceed. liz: do you really think they do? >> first of all, he's run out of excuses. his returns to be submitted tomorrow or monday, they're not going to be under audit. liz: tuesday, actually. don't panic our viewers. not until the 18th. >> they're not going to be under audit. the fact of the matter is democrats, the last thing they want to do is give donald trump bigger tax breaks. look, when donald trump is calling chuck schumer a clown, continued to run against hillary. that's not exactly endearing him to democrats, right? he's had historically low

approval numbers. liz: actually the past week since the tomahawk missile strike on syria it has come up. >> still lower than any other president 80 some days in. so i think that, look, take tax reform for example, republicans can't decide what they want to do. that same group that were holdouts on health care, they have certain ideas that i don't think the moderate in their party agree with, let alone democrat, and on infrastructure, we had a highway bill, not going to spend a illion dollars. where is that going to come from? i hope christine lagarde is right. liz: democrats love infrastructure spending, too. >> most people do. rather than seeing donald trump's tax returns, people care about their own and how complicating and aggravating it is to be paying so much money and filling them all out. best reform would be make every member of congress fill out and complete their own tax returns. you'd end up with much more simplified systems, but we have

the highest taxes in the world on businesses. i think there can be a coalition of democrats that may not be a lot of them, senator ron wyden from oregon has worked in the past on this and i think they can come together. erseas astructure, if you allow profits, tax at 10%, go to territorial system of taxation, but that revenue can be dedicated to infrastructure. liz: which is what charlie gasparino said was possibly happening. >> yeah, but not just that, it needs to be a big package and revenues from offshore drilling, why not? the federal government gets royalties from the sales, dedicate that to infrastructure. liz: there's been a look at shifting sands from president trump's opinions even just a few days ago or a few weeks ago, china now not a currency manipulator, and nato is not obsolete right now. you may roll your eyes,

richard, but it appears -- >> is it that obvious? liz: appears he's coming to the center and that makes people calmer. >> you say shifting sands which is a very generous way, assumes there were sands in the first instance. whether he said about janet yellen staying. whether he said we should or should not bomb syria. the tweets of his alone are all over the place and i guess the question i ask is, and i defer to you two, do we have any reason tong whatever he said last is going to be sticking a week from now or a month from now? and if our allies, they're looking at the question, are we closer or less close to the unthinkable? a nuclear kind of war. liz: george, you've run for office, obviously, governor of virginia, and you said certain things on the trail and then the facts changed, what do you do so you don't look like a flip-floper? >> you have to be decided by principles and stick to your

principles and evidence comes in. on the currency manipulation from china, even chuck schumer who is blasting away at this is really in the last two years, china hasn't been manipulating the currency, they had in the past. the export-import bank is a prime example of one, i could not understand how republicans are against this. when i was in the senate, somebody said we got to get rid of the export-import bank. my reaction, any time somebody suggests of getting rid of a government agency. liz: they think it's cronyism. >> it does not compete with the private sector, helps american jobs and if other countries are supporting their industries week ought to support american jobs and i think president trump finally got to the truth on the export-import bank and realized that allows american manufacturers to compete. when the facts change or the evidence change you shouldn't just say, well, i'm going to keep the same position, that's

just being not a very good leader and realistic. liz: richard, and we've got to go, what's the number one top economic lesson understanding the president has learned in this first 100 days? >> the talk is not enough. the fact of the matter is that 98,000 job number last month, if it was a democratic president, and hillary president, republicans would be screaming bloody murder. what matters are policies, he said we'd be sick of winning so much. if you look at health care, trade, mexicans paying for the wall, we're losing, losing, losing, put policies in place that move things and not just talk. >> action is what's wanted and people want to see jobs and investment and i think this president and administration has the prescription to do it. they have to execute and work together liz: george, great to see you. >> great seeing you, liz. liz: richard, good to see you. happy holiday and safe weekend. thank you so much. we talked about tax reform,

talked about trade, guess what? a programming reminder, maria bartiromo hosting "wall street week" 8:00 p.m. tonight. her special guest is banking giant john mack, and right after that. season three of "property man" with bob massi premiering, i love this show. i love watching the transformation of the houses. make sure to catch it. to a very serious matter. two warning shots to kim jong-un have been fired in grand fashion. numberion one, the mother of all bombs dropped in afghanistan and the show of force of u.s. military jets ready to take action against north korea if provoked. as kim jong-un stands at the ready. coming up, general keith alexander gives us his threat assessment how all of this could play out on the true war front and the cyber warfare front. think your large cap equity fund

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so you'rhow nice.a party? i'll be right there. and the butchery begins. what am i gonna wear? this party is super fancy. let's go. i'm ready. are you my uber? [ horn honks ] hold on. don't wait for watchathon week to return. [ doorbell rings ] who's that? show me netflix. sign up for netflix on x1 today and keep watching all year long. . liz: breaking news, we've just gotten this in. ex-nfl star aaron hernandez of the new england patriots he's already serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder, has been acquitted of all charges in a 2012 double slaying. the jury apparently deliberating in the double murder trial of herp hernreached this verdict friday. today. nearly two years to the day

after the former nfl star was convicted of the other killing. jurors have been deliberating first-degree murder charges against the former new england pats tight end. he was accused of fatally shooting men in 2012 after meeting them at a boston nightclub. 27-year-old hernandez is already serving life sentence for the 2013 killing. all right, let's move onto julian assange, slammed by cia director mike pompeo for leaking sensitive information during a speech at the center for strategic and international studies yesterday. pompio saying it's time to call out wikileaks for a nonstate hostile intelligence service embedded by state actors like russia. wikileaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service while seeking support

from anti-democratic countries. obviously tensions with russia are very tight right now. let's not forget syria and north korea. how do data-dumping organizations like wikileaks affect our national security? former head of the nsa and retired four-star general keith alexander to tell us about the threat of loose lips, i mean, the cia did not have a tight enough system and tons of data was stolen and put out there by wikileaks, but where do we stand with all the other threats in the nation and the world? >> first, if you start with what director pompeo said, i know him personally, he's a tremendous guy. what he talks about and saying there is absolutely correct. we should call it what it is. wikileaks for all these things, but if you look at what they've leaked and how they've done, it director pompeo is exactly right. it's largely against the united states.

it goes back to snowden, which i have some experience in. liz: make it clear to our viewers, you were nsa director when edward snowden, call him what you will, either a traitor or whistle-blower leaked the nsa information. >> i think the former. and when you think about what he did and who helped him get from where he was in california to hong kong to moscow. not a good way to get to venezuela and who helped him and what they did with the data. the cia leaks clearly looks to me as if wikileaks is focused on our country. when you see how that and other things like the democratic convention hacks, the national democratic party, what happened to them, russia, and so i think we ought to call it what it is and push back. liz: does it bother you to have heard that number one mike pompeo during the election strike a different tune almost

supportive and president trump said in the past, i love wikileaks. >> nothing beats having access to all the information to see what's really going on, and i think what both the president and director pompeo have is now there on the playing field. they see what's going on, and getting that information for our country is hugely important. liz: can we do anything through the nsa, through cyber warfare regarding the north korean situation? kim jong-un announced today he has specific targets in sight. military bases run by the u.s. in south korea. apparently shinzo abe is figuring out if war does break out to evacuate thousands of japanese who live in south korea. what can we do through the human and saving american lives? >> you just said what can we do to stop this?

you don't want to go civil war, what are the military options all the way from think of it is we're going to put an embargo on, stop ships, stop aircraft, we're going to do this too, cyberto military action. i think what the defense department and i am convinced that secretary mattis will be looking at all these options. he's excellent at planning. he will look at all those and say what are the things we do now? when do we do them? the president and secretary have to authorize those and can we stop it before it gets to linda war? that's what you want to do. liz: do you believe kim jong-un when he says he'll do a preemptive strike? >> hard to say, to be honest. i see both sides. liz: i'm not saying i don't believe it. he could do it? >> he could do it. the question is why has he done all the things he's done to

date in terms of the nuclear tests, in terms of all the missiles when xi jinping, president xi jinping was here. why do those things? it's to, one, show his people he's in charge. i believe this is a huge problem for us because he could make a miscalculation that could cause a war, and that's how most of these start. liz: general, the moab, the mother of all bombs dropped on isis strong holds in afghanistan. what kind of message that does that send to a kim jong-un or even a vladimir putin in russia? >> when i look at it, a lot's been made out of it. i think what the military does, and having been part of that planning process, they look at what do i need to go in and impact people in bunkers? and so the question is, what type of damage do you need to create to do that? and depends on the depth, where the people are, what tunnels you are going after and what

ordnance you have to do it? it's a tactical decision, and really comes down to having been involved in some of those in desert fox and others, what you actually do is you say i have these munitions, i have to get these effects and here's what i have to do it. liz: 36 isis fighters dead, according to the afghanistan leadership. >> that's right. so what you would ask the military planners to do is what ordnance do you need? what does that say, to answer your question what it says to russia and to north korea and others is one, we have a president who's going to act in our best interest and is not, you know, he's not holding back, he's going to do the right thing and do it when he needs to. that's a great message. liz: general alexander, i wanted to feel better after talking to you. i'm feeling a little nervous. thank you so much and happy holiday weekend to you. >> same to you. >> general keith alexander. when we come back. 36 minutes before the top of the hour. christine lagarde, the imf

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edward snowden. ♪ liz: amid stable a hotbed of threats amiffed the spring report. outlook for 2017 and beyond. this report often moves markets but in a fox business exclusive. i had the opportunity just one hour ago to sit down here in do see with imf managing director christine lagarde who will present that report. i began asking what matters to a lot of us? that's tax reform. would you really hope to see washington get its act together, rewrite the tax code, sooner rather than later? >> simplification. certainly lower corporate rate. relative to other countries. provided that it is accompanied

with simplification by elimination of some of the loopholes, some of the exemptions making it far more complicated and difficult to manage. liz: you just talked about rates. i will talk about a different kind of rate, interest rates. federal reserve supposedly on track in the united states to raise rates three times this year. we've already raised once. would that help or hurt the economy if we go for three rate hikes. the global economy? >> the signal would indicate the u.s. economy is doing well. and it is doing better. so, that's a fact in of itself is positive of course for the u.s. jobs for the u.s. income for u.s. investments. but it's also means that it has impacts on the rest of the world. it may have negative impact, to

the united states to your name. it will clearly lead to strengthening of the currency. so the u.s. dollar will be stronger. capital flows that are currently located in other markets, in other countries, might flow back to the united states. and that could really impact negatively some of the emerging market economies. some of the developing countries as well. both sovereigns and corporates in those countries are often borrowed in u.s. dollars. liz: president trump has picked key staffers critics of the imf. some of them are at the treasury department just down the road here. is stephen mnuchin one of those critics? i understand you met with him. you will do a dual interview with him soon. is he a critic of the imf? >> i think he a demanding member of the institution and i'm very much looking forward to his challenge, his expectations. his sort of raising the bar the

way we adjust with progress. we demonstrate agility and a purpose. he is very keen i understand that the economy be stable. that the financial world be under the good degree of supervision. for instance, there is no money laundering around. there is no financing of terrorism around. which is something that we absolutely dedicated and provide massive technical assistance around the world. liz: categorize how you feel about the u.s. economy right now. >> oh, upbeat. liz: well that certainly positive, right? now of course the imf just doesn't focus on the u.s. they focus on the globe. i specifically ask in part two, which is monday, would the imf go into syria to help rebuild it? wait until you hear what she says. for even more of my interview monday with christine lagarde, managing director of the imf

we're also talking about president trump, "brexit." frequents -- frexit are. france's elections are two weeks away. she is concerned what happens there. more "countdown" next. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be.

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liz: in a gal lax not too far away in orlando, florida, the stars around castle -- celebrated 40 years. yes, we are that old. "star wars" episode 8, "the last jedi" was released. the movie released on december 15th. 2 comes two years after the

wildly successful "star wars: the force awakens" which brought in $2 billion worldwide. get your tickets if you can. saying it will strike before america does, just moments ago i asked former head of the nsa, four-star general keith alexander, about that. do you believe kim jong-un who says he will do a preemptive strike? >> hard to say. to be honest. liz: you're not saying you don't believe it? he could do it? >> he could do it. liz: "special report" host bret baier is joining me now. thank you for letting me use your set in advance of your show tonight. >> welcome to washington. you look very nice on the set. liz: listen, we're all trying to look good when inside we might be quicking with some jitters and some nervousness about all of this. what are your sources telling you in washington what may or may not happen? >> well, they're very concerned

about north korea. they realize this guy is very unpredictable. i think that is what general alexander is getting towards. hes kind of whacko in a sense. he, his ther was that way t he is even more erratic and with the possibility of doing something on this, which just started, his, the birthday of his grandfather, which -- liz: saturday. >> a big, there it is already saturday. and so we're in this window now and it's open. and there could be something, and i think that the administration is preparing to react or act before they have a sense that nuclear device can be put on something that hits the u.s. mainland. liz: we've got a bifurcated attention span for many of our legislators. the house and the senate failed on the first round of repealing and replacing obamacare. then we've got all these

exogenous events overseas very worrisome. bring it to the legislative side. what will be the first thing they tackle? they're all off, i believe, on spring vacation but, are some of them making it a working vacation? >> well they are. they're meeting with constituent but there was word they would be called back potentially to vote on a health care bill. that is not the case now we understand. that said, they are working on specific writing of a new health care bill that i think will be rolled out that monday, tuesday, when they get back. liz: first day back. >> there will be a vote early on that week. they feel like they have made progress. the administration is really pushing this. the president as you heard in the interview with maria saying health care has to go first. that is the consensus. they're going to push it. they think they can get the freedom caucus and tuesday group, the moderates, to come together on something that can get across the finish line. liz: you've covered washington

politics and movements on the chessboard and palace intrigue. so much talk about steve bannon sort of being on the outs with president trump. how much does that really matter to the average person waiting for tax reform, make sure they do have health care coverage and maybe a job in infrastructure down the road? >> it is very process, it is very inside washington. here is why it matters. if bannon leaves the administration, he then becomes potentially the a thorn in the side of the administration. he has a big whiteboard all the things campaign candidate donald trump promised in his office and potentially a lot of backing still out there with the trump base. and if he is not in the fold, potentially it become as legislative problem for donald trump, the president. liz: real legislative problem. richard goodstein and george allen were talking about it, a lot of democrats are right now

slightly disinterested in working working with the president for a whole host of reasons. some of them their own fault, things like saying chuck assumer is a clown, et cetera. is there any chance we'll ever see people cross the aisle to work with each other? >> so you're saying there's a chance? i think there is. if you look just at people up for 2018 for re-election. 12 senate democrats up for re-election, 82% or more counties went for donald trump. it is overwhelming. there is leverage there. they have to deal on something. the question, can this administration find the thing they can deal on. infrastructure is probably the closest. but that is going to be after tax reform. i think tax reform, they will walk and chew gum at the same time. health care and tax reform. liz: imagine that we'll wait to see. bret saying first or second day back there may be a revelation about health care. thank you so much.

>> thanks, liz. liz: bret baier of "special report." the closing bell is not going to ring today because the markets are closed but with 18 minutes before the top of the hour, united airlines especially on a big travel weekend can not escape controversy. another passengenightmare coming courtesy after creepy crawler that invaded flight the same day dr. david dao found himself assaulted, dragged off another flight due to united error pulling him off. right now the "oracle of omaha," warren buffett, feeling the sting of this drama in the area. we'll explain next. plus taxing matters at the white house over key policies businesses and investors. charlie breaks it. "countdown" coming right back. think your large cap equity fund has exposure to energy infrastructure mlps? think again. it's time to shake up your lineup. the alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add potential income.

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liz: well united airlines once again in deep trouble. the same day dr. david dao was being dragged off a united plane in chicago, another passenger on totally different plane named richard bell, was stung by a scorpion that crawled out of a overhead baggage area. the venomous arachnid fell from the overhead bin, landed on his head and stung him. he looked down. he saw it, that looks like a little mini lobster. it is a scorpion. bell was treated by the flight crew and medical personnel. he said he was fine. unclear how the scorpion made its way on to the plane. united airlines spoken out about the video of david dao being violently dragged off the plane. the pilots say they are infour yateed by what happened. that no united employees were

involved in that incident. the backlash from the video and united's response, cost the largest shareholder warren buffett, some $52 million this week. the company itself saw 570 million sliced off its market cap this week since the incident. mr. buffett has not commented yet whether he would hold on to the stock. something tells me would. he goes through ups and downs with many stocks. you saw him less interested in wells fargo after that scandal athat bank. we'll be watchinthis. you just heard even imf chief christine lagarde is anxious for a corporate tax cut here in the u.s. charlie is here to say neither she or wall street will get the big tax cut the president promised. charlie, big or tax cut at all? >> i was listening to your interview with bret baier and it was, what was interesting about it, he thinks that the health care reform will happen, that freedom caucus members. liz: monday or tuesday.

>> monday or tuesday. okay, so this, this sort of flows pretty well what i'm hearing in this sense. what white house is telling people, their lobbyists, telling people in congress, that they are still eyeing a massive corporate tax cut. it is contingent on getting those health care savings. the number they're saying if they do get health care reform and they get that i think it is something like a trillion dollars worth of savings, correct me if i'm wrong on that, i believe it's a trillion, they could take the corporate tax rate down to 20%. that is the number they're talking about. they will do something fairly significant if they get that health care deal. but it is completely contingent on that health care deal. they don't get the health care deal. here is the rub. there will be less tax reform. the corporate tax cut will be put off to the side. i you think we'll get something called a deemed repatriation where companies would be, say to a company, repatriate your overseas profits. >> right. >> bring them home. we'll tax it at 10% rate as opposed to a 35% rate.

we'll use some of it, some savings for finance an infrastructure bank that the budget becomes much more less, you have less to play with. they do stuff like that. but if they do get the health care reform, that they, and savings that was in the at least the last bill. i think it's a trillion, check my numbers. 20% corporate tax reform is what it es growing down to. liz: you heard christine lagarde, say you have to get tax reform going. it will real juice the.s. economy. >> right. liz: she is pretty conservative about stuff like that, and said that is crucial. >> doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, right? even i can figure this out and i'm definitely not a rocket scientist. the corporate tax rate at 35% is third highest in the world. two other countries have it, i don't think they're developed countries. they have very high corporate taxes. in the developed world we have the highest corporate tax rate t causes companies not to do stuff

in the united states or keep money overseas as well. i think the next couple days when we get back we'll actually be, after easter we'll be hitting the ground running on this this will be a huge story for the markets because dow 21,000 is, is essentially priced in the corporate tax rate coming down to about 20, 15%. it is a big day for economy, markets, monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday of next week. it will be must-see tv, for you, for cavuto. you guys will be hitting the ground running. me, i'm just going to take off that week. liz: aw. thanks for the warning, charlie, appreciate it. >> but it will big week next week. big for the markets. liz: we'll be right there. charlie, thank you very much. have a happy holiday. stocks closing in the red for the week yesterday. charlie talking about the fact there is instability, people waiting to see what will happen. the "mother of all bombs" was droppedded in afghanistan.

it took its toll. sabre-rattling from north korea hower than ever. two billion dollar man chris bertelsen says there are easter eggs full of treats to be found in the market. see what those names are. "countdown" coming right back. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances.

liz: time to go easter egg hunting with your portfolio but instead of peeps and eggs. hi chris. >> happy easter. liz: thank you very very much. i appreciate that wish. markets and viewers are waiting for a wishing of better stock news. even though our markets are closed today, asian markets, chris, sold off, very concerned about the sabre-rattling and threats going on in north korea.

what is monday going to look like? charlie gasparino, says forget about overseas stuff, it will be a great day because we'll see movement on health care. >> the vacuum only filled with global political risk will be filled with earnings starting incomes week. i think you see the attention change right to there. i have three great eggs that will hatch very soon with homebuilders which will also solve charlie's idea of how the two sides of the aisle can get together because from a policy point of view, nobody creates jobs like the homebuilders. i'd say it's four time multiple for it. so they're looking really good and much cheaper than the market. i think that will start to drive it. liz: they are. there are a bunch of names, but you specifically like d.r. horton and lennar, toll brothers as well. why those three specifically? >> well dr certainly had a beat and a raise. i like that. lennar probably has some of the cheapest land. that is really what homebuilders

consist of is cheap land. toll is most creative upper end. they're cheap, 30% discount to the market. i think it is something everybody can agree on. because all the politicians want to come home to say we created jobs this is perfect example even more than infrastructure does. liz: geopolitical tensions notwithstanding, people still feel uncertainty but you add that into the mix, are they really willing to plunge down money for a new home? will that really drive those earnings and more importantly how does geosplit hen shuns factor into the way you invest clients money. >> first one, first-time homebuyers push things forward. we had a long period of time where we didn't create that much new housing. now we're seeing it in a lot of different areas. once a trend gets into place, it lasts longer and goes farther than everybody expects. political tension everybody worries about volatility, certainly our investors.

that become as difficult story. where the yield plays in with interest rates backing off a little bit it has been an opportunity to take advantage to sell fixed income. liz: i got to tell you that retail sales for march were down .2 of a percent. the expectation was not as bad as that, down .1 of a percent. cpi, does the fed, got to go soon but does the fed raise rates two more times this year or just one? your guess? >> absolutely they do. still the economy is about to take off from a growth point of view, particularly if the tax things come through and i also think consumer confidence is at all-time highs. good signs. liz: oh, okay, i will take that chris, lovely to have you. chris bertelsen. happy holidays to you and your families. reminder all of you tune into "countdown" 3:00 p.m. eastern mondays for part two of my exclusive interview with imf chief christine lagarde.

when she says on president trump's stance on fairer trade and "brexit," "frexit." why "frexit" could be much worse than "brexit" ever was. i would like to wish all of you a very happy holiday, for our jewish friends, happy passover, happy easter. david and gerri willis back in new york. connell: liz thank you. good tee sue gerri. >> all major averages look to hope in the read with dow futures down a hundred points. i'm gerri willis in for melissa francis. >> a lot depends what happens over the weekend. very important weekend. goods to have you with us. i'm david asman this is "after the bell." here is what we have for you at this hour. u.s. military on very high alert waiting for the world to see if north korea test as nuclear weapon tomorrow. and how the white house then responds of the latest from our