maria: welcome back, american farmers headed to washington warning mexico's push to ban genetically modified corn could put many out of business fox madison alworth in pennsylvania with the story madison, good morning. >> good morning, maria. yes we're on farm as you can see, clearly still snow on the ground so not yet planting season, for corn. but the thing is farmers here as well as across the country they are concerned about that proposed ban telling us that if that were to go into effect all gmo corn could be the single most catastrophic thing to happen to, corn farming in america. >> just can't even picture in my mind what this is going to

do. and, to -- like i said farmers one end of the united states to other doesn't matter where you sell it or what it is used for it is going to have an effect. >> that is an important point to make because farm we stand on with 900 acres of korn don't sell correctly do mexico mostly fromh from midwest anything that happens disrupting the export market will have direct impact on commodity price of corn mexico buys a lot of u.s. corn last season purchased 10.6 billion dollars worth of corn from the united states. on both side of the aisle meeting no progress there, that is why usda sayings after recent meeting quote mexico's proposed approach which is not grounded in science threatens to disrupt billions of dollars in bilateral agriculture trade cause serious economic harm to

u.s. farmers mexican businesses, stifle innovation needed to help producers respond to present climate food security challenges we spoke to fifth gentleman generation corn farmerships mexico he said the would not switch to growing non gmo corn because of environmental and financial impacts, so he is hoping for good news. maria: . >> destinies tied together we need to resolve this issue allow gmo corn to continue going into mexico. >> you know maria 90% corn grown in u.s. is gmo corn mexico trying hard to prepare for potential ban imposed a 50% tariff on any white corn leaving the country. to try to provide enough corn for tortillas, in prevention for the potential ban, lots of

hope from farmers headed to washington meeting with lawmakers from roughly 4:00 to 5:30 pm farmer on the ground like here live they tell me they are desperately hoping for good news. >> madison alworth the next hour of "mornings with maria" begins right now. . . >> good tuesday morning. thanks very much for joining us this morning, i am maria bartiromo. it is tuesday, january 31, top stories right now 8:02 a.m. east coast markets lower as we await earnings, of course, anticipate the federal reserve's two-day meeting kicks off today. the dow industrials right now off the lows of the morning, but, nonetheless, a decline 80 points s&p down 5, nasdaq lower by 30 points, mcdonald's

pfizer general motors exxon mcdonald's reporting those companies reporting down beats on earnings and revenue caterpillar missed on earnings he but beat on condition advanced micro devices out after bell may set tone for tomorrow, gm stock up 4 1/2%, on those earnings, that is one reason the dow industrials are off lows of the morning, the federal reserve kicks off two-day policy meeting this morning expecting a rate decision tomorrow, at 2:00 pm eastern. federal reserve expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, bank of england european central bank have meetings this week we will hear rate decisions from them on thursday. european markets this morning are also lower, take a look. the tone was set in the eurozone with fdown 51 cac quarante down 20 dax lower by 55. the international monetary fund cutting growth outlook for uk and u.s. for 2023 lifting global growth

estimates due to the opening reopening of china's economy, all after stocks financed lower yesterday finishing at session lows the dow snapped 6-day winning streak decline 261 points at 4:00 on wall street down 3/4 of one percent nasdaq down 2%, 227 points lower ahead of january jobs' report, of course, out on friday. expecting job growth he go in january 185,000 jobs, join us friday morning for all-hands-on-deck for that special report. oil prices, this morning, are pulling back opec set to meet virtually price of brent 84.13, crude oil 77.14, that is down 1% right now, in asia overnight red across the board hong kong weak spot, the others fractionally, the back in the u.s., americans say united states' biggest problem is government, as president biden ends pandemic related

emergencies but voters still question, white house's spending motives "mornings with maria" is live right now. . house lawmakers are set to vote on two bills, that would would terminate all pandemic related emergency declarations, president biden announcing he is extending the aspiration dates on covid national and public health emergencies until may, may 11, now. the president was singing a different tune in september, watch this. >> it -- the pandemic is over we still have a problem with covid we still doing a lot of work on it. it is -- but the pandemic is over. maria: over so why waiting until may? questions are looming over white house spending the cost of the student loan handout is projected to cost billions more than previously expected, joining me right now all hot tpz all morning long lee carter mark tepper, mark, so much to discuss your reaction.

mark: superweird that all of a sudden on may 11 the emergency declaration is going to end when he said this all the way back obviously, in september of last year. and that to me makes it blatantly obvious why all this emergency declaration is in place, in the first place. and that was because it was as loophole a free pass for the government to spend, spend, spend, you mentioned the student loan handouts obviously, that was a -- a key reason that president biden really helped to propel democrats ahead in the midterms. and, topic of student loan forgiveness completing sending wrong message to younger people, you know. basically saying the message that you don't have to sacrifice to get ahead the government is going to bail you out, you know. look. i remember when i was o going to school if you wanted college paid for you could sign up for military, obviously, people for some reason don't want to do that rather sit on couch get government to pay for their

college, and, you know, just look at how this whole student loan thing impacted those people who decided, not to go to college instead enter trades no relief for them, look. a bunch of nonsense came out of this emergency declaration should have ended months and months and murnz ago. maria: eye know. he said it in october, lee. look, this -- student loan handout is just more stimulus, lee we know how we got to 40-year high inflation, because of all of the free stuff, and free money we've got new gallup poll shows americans do not any inflation or illegal migration are the country's biggest problems 21% say failure in leadership inflation economy second most cited problem 15%, lee look what they say is u.s. biggest problem government poor leadership. lee: the thing i find interesting looking at aggregate number saying one in five americans saying biggest

issue is government, poor leadership when you look at numbers between republicans, and democrats, one in four one in four, republicans say it is government, and one in five democrats saying that it is government. so, the problem is on both sides of the aisle everybody saying government isn't work, for us, and i do believe the american people are fed up with the gridlock the fighting with lack of leadership, with inability to get anything done on both sides of the miami this isn't one or the other the buck obviously, stops right now with president biden republicans need to be aware all lord i what is laid out kevin mccarthy in house, and all of that i think that doesn't help any of this, bottom line is this american people are saying, who is going to fix very real problems we have. always the we said problems themselves need addressing now saying the government itself needs fixing we want new leadership. >> who is watching the store? we are taking a break we

will keep spop plight on it much here ahead o coming up how markets moving big week earnings economic data sean o'hara will join me to weigh in on week ahead former walmart u.s. president bill simon here with a look at potential reaction "new york post" columnist miranda devine is here how more americans say the classified document drama is a scandal you are watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business ♪ oh, she says i can't take no more teardrop down on the floor ♪ i can't help now ♪ ♪ .

>> welcome back. futures indicating decline start of trading this morning,

stocks are down. 49 points on dow industrials, 42 points low on nasdaq. this is off the lows of the morning, by the way, has been a busy morning earnings, caterpillar, out missed on earnings per share weight on revenue the stoke of caterpillar down 2 1/2% mcdonald's down % dwm gm if exxon double beats look at general motors the reason that the market is well off of the lows, gm is up almost 5%, right now. exxon reported record year 56 billion dollars, in profits, exxon in 2022. that stock, as you can see, up a fraction. joining me right now is the president of pacer etf distributes as you know o'hara here great to see you. thanks so much for being here let me get your take on earnings season everybody expecting a slowdown in mark story what is your takeaway from the profit story. >> good morning, maria. thanks for having me i think

the profit storming energy sector big story you saw what happened with exxon this week chevron last week i think people are starting to get nervous about what is coming up as we start to digest higher rates dealing with for a year, as inflation continues to be a challenge. that will be you know an interesting thing to today attention to forward in terms of of what that does to company bottom lines. maria: you've had a hot hand in one of your etfs tell us where you are seeing bigs no at pays they're year over last year. >> so cowz, our large cap value etf tremendous year last year off to phenomenal start up i thank you 2 1/2 billion dollars net this year, what is interesting i was talking during the break, to folks on the panel here, the international stuff in our lineup is picking up in terms of inflow funds like gcollege,

global vision, a purely integral version even the emerging markets version has been taking in money, so the flow still leaning towards value opposed to growth probably right answer in this environment you want to get paid today versus future earnings until things shake sought. >> that is why i wanted to bring this up i know you had hot etf all about shift that we've seen until the market from growth to value, do you see any -- indication that that changes given the fact that this year, has been much about growth? the nasdaq has been the leading index up about 9% year-to-date ahead of first fed meeting this morning, kicking off two-day meeting where where expecting another rate hike tomorrow about a quarter of a point higher on interest rates, from the fed. so your expectations there and whether or not this shift has led in terms of the pivot to value versus growth. >> i think probably a little

premature i think a little bit of short covering that happened sort of this month drove some big tech names up we're not antitech in our large cap value fund we own meta i think up 20%+ we bought at right price i think real story you have to see where you are relative to current earnings what you think is going to happen to future earnings, we would be rather be positioned in fund where say trading at 8 or 7 times earnings getting a really high free-cash flow yield as opposed to growth seeing what happens in the future. >> mark. mark: i would love to hear your take why you think you guys are seeing such fund infosys into international and merging markets over the course last i don't know talking about tina no alternative to u.s. stocks do you think that is kind of changing. >> how many times do we need to get poked in the eye going book to international right? for last decade the case i this is what is going on right now their ahead in terms of

finding right level evaluations. on international base from global base even merging markets bases stocks at historically low levels relative to u.s. in terms of performance relative to u.s. in terms of pe ratios starting to generate lots of free-cash flow i think that is what is driving it that we are a little frothy still on market you know 19 times earnings, in environment where still have interest rates inflation to deal with, and not sure going to happen to u.s. earnings but overseas things have been cheap starting to get footing i think more than anything what is driving shift away from some u.s. to he cheaper markets as opposed to just kind of holding on staying with what we've been doing. maria: we leave it there great stuff thanks very much great info from you sean o'hara joining us this morning. pacer etf distributors moveng mover pfizer premarket down almost 3%, after forecasting

weaker sales for covid-19 inventory, pills this year pfizer expects covid van sales 13.5 billion dollars, 8 billion in its ients viral pill for 2023, both missed expectations stock down 15% year-to-date, of course, most analysts were expecting the covid vaccine revenue to decline this year. versus last two years still came in weaker-than-expected, inflation impacting jobs market former president of walmart, president and ceo bill simon will join us, stay with us. ♪ you say -- ♪ either was a moment of weakness ♪ ♪ you said yeah, you sheriff said no, you should have he

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to be -- muddling along a slow dance in recession not unusual, that was the case, in -- but, we are -- we are moving into a recession but just highly debated people are too focused on '08 in 2020, this is more like 43, 42, '20 and '21. >> slow dance into recession from piper sandler chief global commitment nancy lazar joined me yesterday on this program with predictions on recession in the back half of 2023, personal spending slipped 2/10 of a percent december personal income rose 2/10 of a percent joining me with thoughts former u.s. president ceo of walmart, wsventure holds president bill simon with us welcome back to the program. >> good morning.

we've been looking at metsaving rate 3 1/4 percent how would you assess the consumer today? >> a maria, i think consumer had been remarkably resilient, through you know, covid adventure and recovery. i think we're now into second year of pretty substantial inflation, primarily in food, and for them, gas prices, and that is starting to wear on i think maybe starting to bump her down a little bit as you see from savings rate increase, you know we will we will see what happens here, i really think that most important thing, if fed needs to focus on is just getting this inflation under control. maria: well, you make such a great point in terms of what we've seen, from the impact of inflation 37 do you agree with what you heard from nancy lazar second half of this year will likely be a reaction, and muddle along until that second

half? >> i think a lot depends, you know we've never really had a full employment recession in this country, really got to start seeing jobs shed for me to think there is going to be a recession beyond may be a modest dip i think we're sort of in this loop where inflation, food primarily food and fuel inflation, is really putting pressure on wages now you see kwaij increases wam mart nouvend 17% increase in starting rate he delta pilots up 25% rail workers got 25% increase. so all this wage is a response to the inflationary pressures causes you know more demand and increased -- on inflation, so there is counter balancing points i think going to be interesting to see what happens how strong the consumer remains as both good and bad thing for at economy into first half of the year. >> well, i find it really

stunning that seafood has been resiliently high in price we're seeing alleviation when it comes to energy we are seeing some alleviation, elsewhere in services. but when you look at actual rent and when you look at food, like, you know, the a dozen eggs up 60% in price year-over-year. why have you seen such you know inflation, persisting when it comes to food and rent you've got new data from aarp, fineding rising prices are causing many older americans to delay retirement with threat of layoffs looming looking to gig works to make ends meet bill i know wall rt mart announced raising rages for u.s. salaried workers to at least 14 dollars an hour next month that is not enough for many dealing with this persistent food inflation, what do you think is behind it? >> as to well, i know it is crazy. if you look on two year stack basis 20, 22% things consumers

need the thing american people really focus on are food prices, lodging rent prices, fuel prices those three thingsr really hammering them, largely the component parts of it, you know. the food business supply chain related, through supply chain issues we struggled through last two years a, and then wage component of it we started this to 15 dollars an hour, as you said, now 15 is not enough we need 20. and that puts upward pressure on prices so we're in a spiral, that has to be interrupted at some point. maria: you see so much, are that crosses your desk bill, in terms of growth stories within retail where is the growth in retail today? >> well, you know the good retailers those who are strong financially, from a strategic positioning are strong getting stronger those who are weak are getting weaker you see

struggles of bed bath & beyond, walmart because of food businesses amazon because every frequency big guys strong, they are bike and strong the ones struggling before, they may not make it. maria: when you say, some are stronger, do you -- is there a category that you see continued growth and strength versus stagnation? can you break down the categories? i think you got to look at food right now. you know. i think the difference between walmart and target is food business if you look at that i think a little bit of what amazon is muddling through to try to figure out how to get track velocity from food, food retailers right now provided can supply food have supply chain so ared out or one of the areas i think very interesting, i think thank you know you are seeing a lot of

struggles in discretionary areas like some apparel, some you know, the really well branded ones, highly branded ones are doing well. more transactional apparel businesses have been difficult. >> let me get your take on impact of higher rates, the first fed meeting of the year kicking off today, the two-day meeting is expected to end with another rate hike, bill, do you buy into in market expectation that it you will be a quarter point? and what kind of a lag effect are you expecting from these this string of rate hikes? >> well, you know i think we're seeing inflation you know the articles say really the rate of growth is slowed but it is still too high. so you know, i think the fed speculating will probably will probably go to quarter point. but it probably, probably need to really keep their eye on it, and continue on, until we get inflation headed the right

direction. down to the levels that we you know that we needed to be at, really, if you look -- if you really got to get the -- interest rate above rate of inflation for things to calm down i think we are getting close to that. say a quarter of a point here, keep an eye on it for the next time. maria: quick bill we are getting the fourth quarter employment cost index breaking, right now hitting tape ploipt cost index up 1%, versus estimate 1.1%, we've been watching tight labor market eci one of the most important measures of the cost of employment what is your take on the labor market and tightness do you think things are getting better with this employment cost index coming in a little lower than estimated? >> doesn't seem to be maria. i think in certain places it is in certain segments, tech starting to see layoffs but services industry, retail

restaurants, still pretty tight, and,really, not a whole lot of not a whole lot of bright, brightness on the horizon. i think as wages go up, there is this -- you know transactional cost that you know, the guy down street paying a little bit more so they leave, that -- that employment friction is adding to tightness, so you need wage rates to stabilize and workers to stay put before you can really gauge it. >> we leave it there bill great to see you. thanks very much bill simon joining us we are watching markets, trade volatilely market was higher a moment ago up 8 points on dow industrials employment cost index up 1% versus estimate 1.1%. we'll be right back with voters calling out president biden's document drama classified did you mean to say we will talk with it with "new york post" columnist fox news

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>>. >> . maria: welcome back columnist from "new york post" miranda devine, out with new piece showing the majority of voters including democrats believe that president biden's mishandling of classified documents is a scandal. miranda cites rasmussen poll shored exclusived found 27% considered story a scandal including 55% democrats, 60% all voters believe likely information from classified documents quote was used by hunter biden in his foreign business deals, influence peddling, joining me "new york

post" columnist fox news contributor miranda devine to talk about it miranda thanks very much for being here. there are so many stunning parts to this you have written about all i want your take there are emails from biden laptop you have identified, really, to me are incredibly outrageous one is email to devon archer this is email where hunter describes the story happening and unfolding in ukraine a, an gives advice, to he and his colleagues to pretty much make money on what is going on, ted cruz talked about that when i spoke with him sunday on "sunday morning futures" here is what the texas senator said to me watch. >> email is unusual there is a level of sharp erudition that if it magically appeared somehow doesn't appear in other email he is sending the obvious question what was he cutting and patrioting from.

i believe critical for fbi to search hunter biden homes, home and office residences to make sure there are no classified documents there. the. maria: your thoughts on this email to devon archer 2014. >> well, i think it is -- the best indication we have so far, that that classified information joe biden so, stored 5 different locations at his house in garage, his office university of pennsylvania, that that may have gotten into the hands of his son hunter biden. and that hunter biden was using it to make get make himself money with his overseas clients. and that included china, of course, ukraine, russia. and this particularly piece of information as ted cruz said

was unusual stood out, and who knows where he could have got that information. but it was just a week before his father flew to ukraine. and k have i father would be getting briefings beforehand it just -- just begs the question. and i'm sure that the special counsel looking at biden's alleged mishandling of documents will be cross matching material from laptop with classified material that was found in joe biden's residences, so, that is bad for joe biden. very bad. but it is good for the republicans investigating that we can see the public now is onboard, you know with those statistics you just read out. quite opposite of what rest of the mediaed on democrats are

saying that thinks smoem frivolous attack on hunter biden. it has nothing to do with hunter biden. it is joe biden. >> this is -- this is also, as stunning, thinks documented dated back to 2011 on christian famous laptop from help you wrote about shows hunter biden offering to sell intelligence on russian oligarchs, to -- the aluminum company alcoa for 55,000 dollars incredible. he says he also offered the company a list of sem rank in russia map of networks based on frequency of interactions with selected elites and countries writes to alcoa he actually wants to be paid for inside information about this russian oligarch. >> yes, where would he dw either that in recognition of?

i mean that detailed analysis, frequency of meetings. that is something that really looks very much like a classified intelligence document. and so, again, more questions. and look. the fact is hunter biden -- his father his life was chaotic making phone calls out of joe biden's house, and he was desperate for money, he was drug addict, he was a -- committed crack addict, so, he needed money desperately, and it is pretty clear that if you need money desperately you will do anything you will betray anybody. so it iss at this point, i think the american people demand special counsel and republican house get to the bottom of it if those secrets

were hold to highest bidder overseas that is a real -- you know who knows what the cost is to america's national security? we are just at tip of the ice burgh look suspicious who knows what special counsel others will be able to find with their -- extraordinary powers. maria: but miranda what about the fact dni is telling the senate intelligence committee to pound sand? i mean look. you know it, they are he stonewalling the republicans so sure the republicans have all subcommittees going to get to the bottom of the, federal ejections get documents answers, testimony and white house, and all of their agencies are saying no, we're not giving you anything. how should republicans be responding to this stonewall? >> clearly the administration

is panicking but just not right i think eventually, doj shadow a little bit of buckling the democrats on intelligence committee are getting irate about being kept in the dark. that is matter of national security not a political issue anymore. this is really, unfortunate to america there maybe nothing there if nothing there what are they hiding but there probably is a lot there, it is very damaging to joe biden. maria: kwoo yeah where does this leave joe biden we've got video from earlier this morning, it shows dozens of migrants outside the watson hotel in manhattan these migrants are refusing to leave they say they want to sleep on the street, rather than relocating to a shelter at brooklyn cruise terminal mayor adams trying to get them to do

policy wide-open border, whether influence peddling, dealing, with our number one adversary china. from hunter biden, or this wide-open border allowing this invasion to take place. your thoughts where all of this leaves joe biden. >> well, i mean it is a disaster for the country. and you know. joe biden's created this entitlement mentality among the people whose first act was to break our laws, by crossing the southern border. and it is just going to get worse. they are going to make more demands, for joe biden, while he has half media running protection for him, i guess the -- the electoral consequences have not quite made their -- semmes felt yet. but they will as more of these

problems keep emerging in different cities. >> we will see if that means anything, in terms of his presidency. because i think the republicans are afraid of number two, as well. by the way,. >> kamala harris i don't think there is anything to be afraid of i think their popularity level is down at about 3%. maria: a which is where it was whether she had to get booted off the stage in primaries, miranda great to talk with you always, we so appreciate your time your reporting, thank you so much. >> thanks so much, maria. >> miranda devine "new york post." we'll be right back. .

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maria: welcome back china influence over the world is now dominating the shipping ports and raising security concerns beyond just united states. chinese companies own or operate terminals in 96 ports, 53 countries according to research, the isak carden wendy, joining me right now is the port of long beach executive director, mario cordero mario great to see you thanks very much for being here, there are a lot of concerns about the ccp dominating our ports, do you see dangers to national security? what actions can be taken?

>> well first of all, thank you, maria for having me. i think the whole question about foreign ownership of terminals, that has been a ongoing question for many years here in the port industry. now with regard to security issues as you know, one marriage term terminal there were concern here port of long beach, we are very to our security firewall i don't see too much encroach mnt the fact a lot of foreign upper in terminal interests here overall -- >>. maria: overall for sure, but, you know, the ccp has been applying up ports now for a decade. and it has become a national security issue, beyond just what we saw during covid, right during covid people were worried not going to get their goods in tim, this was an

obvious, as you have been on with us during that time that backlog i want to get your take where we are today, because 2022 was second busiest year on record, for the port of long beach, it moved total of 9.13 million container unities backlog completely gone today no ships queuing since what? november what can you tell us, about business today i know you announced a proposal for fast inside the port would create floating offshore wind turbines tell us about that first assess the situation in terms of potential backlogs. >> as you indicate we are in much better situation this year in fact there is no backlog has not been a backlog since november 2022 the a year ago you rail, we had a backlog 109, the complex, i think fair to say we're back to

normality. >> a corporate ceos saying we don't want in a situation where we were two years ago gone from when they said just in time inventory to just in case inventory what can you tell us in terms of what kind of things the companies have put in place to make sure they've got product they need when they need it. >> well like you've indicated there is a high amount of inventory because of the scenario that was experience had two years ago, limited supplies on shelves. we are far better than that on the other hand the inventory that was created, did create some capacity issues at warehouses the supply chain trying to get some normality across the nation but in terms of west coast i think, again, fair to say a lot of cargoes moving i this i again, we are getting back to some semblance of nochlization. >> quick before you go in

terms of that cargo that does cargo tell you about potential of a slowdown in the economy? because that is one very important indicator that we can see as so many people expect a recession happening in u.s. second half of the year. >> certainly from what we see here in the first quarter of this year, you are going to see significant slowdown, on the on the other hand as we go into second quarter i think we are going to have uptick with regard to the volume get to norm numbers right now because some issues, that many factors first quarter will be problematic but looking good second quarter. >> thanks very much for walking us through it. >> thank you so much carh mario cordero joining us "the big buzz" right after this break. . .

♪ maria: welcome back. time for the big buzz of the morning. the empire state building walking back its decision to light up green and white on sunday to celebrate the philadelphia eagles' nfc championship win. officials now decided to light it up in red and gold to also honor the kansas city chiefs who will face the eagles on superbowl sunday. new yorkers went nuts over coys. lee -- over the choice.

>> gotta tell you, new york versus philadelphia, it is a real, real problem that we have with each other. i give all props to the empire state building's marketing team. this was really, really smart. their goal is not to attract the new yorkers, it's to attract out of town visitors. and, you know, there are so many more options on how to get up high and get better views. they're doing a great job in getting attention here. look at all the competition that's out there. we're talking about the empire sate building and not other folks, and i thought they were kind of clever to say, look, it hurt us more than it hurt you to have to do this. [laughter] maria: well, we are talking about it, mark. >> in their defense, they've been eager to try out the green and white lights, but they got sick and tired of waiting for the jets -- sorry, jets fans, my cleveland browns are just as bad. maria: have a great day, everybody. we'll see you tomorrow. "varney & company" picks it up from the here. stuart: good morning, maria, and