they are down sharply. why? there are new real recession fears. now, follow this. on tuesday president trump backtracked on his promise to raise tariffs on china. he delayed some of these tariffs until after the christmas season. the president acknowledged for the first time the tariffs do have an impact on american consumers. and the news this morning is there was an inversion in the yield curve. so sit tight, we'll tell you what that means and why now you're hearing people talkabout the possibility of a recession and what the political impact might be. so stick around for that. >> you're going to explain the inversion in the yield curve. >> i am. >> i mean, does he get sexier? okay, so joining us now to discuss all of this john avalon, cnn political analyst. dana bash, cnn chief political correspondent, and alex burns national correspondent for "the new york times" and political analyst. >> talk about guns first.