Oprah's Political Future, Evan Spiegel's Snap Snafu
Hive editor Jon Kelly, Kristen Scholer, and the VF Hive Panel take us through the five biggest stories of the day in politics, business, and technology. Emily Jane Fox kicks things off with a report on Ivanka Trump's tweet in support of Oprah Winfrey. Ivanka called Oprah's speech inspiring and empowering. The panel discusses the irony of the tweet considering Donald Trump's track record and whether it may have exposed her political instincts.
Maya Kosoff weighs in to discuss the latest woes for Evan Spiegel. She talks about the unpopular update that Snap rolled out this week and the fact that the company's stock is trading at about 50 percent of its IPO value.
T.A. Frank and Tina Nguyen join the discussion to weigh in on a potential Mitt Romney run for Orrin Hatch's Senate seat in Utah. The panel debates a possible presidential run for Romney in 2020.
Frank and Nguyen also report on Steve Bannon's ouster from Breitbart. They discuss the rift between Rebekah and Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon, as well as reports that the Mercers actually soured on Bannon months ago.
Emily Frank returns to round out the Hive Five to talk about Donald Trump and how his trip to Davos will be perceived by his base. T.A. Frank and Tina Nguyen also join in to discuss how Trump's America First agenda may not be so popular overseas.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.
