ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: whatever you do, we hope you make it a safe celebration. i'm susie gharib, from all of us here at "nightly business report," happy new year. we'll see you right back here tomorrow night. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> join us anytime at nbr.com. there, you'll find full episodes of the program, complete show transcripts and all the market stats. also follows us on our facebook page at bizrpt. and on twitter @bizrpt. ♪) (♪ theme music ) matt elmore: (♪) welcome to imagemakers a weekly showcase featuring the best short films from around the world. stay tuned and enjoy the filmmakers of tomorrow today on imagemakers. imagemakers is made possible in part by a grant from: celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. and by the: (♪ upbeat music ) (♪)

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: whatever you do, we hope you make it a safe celebration. i'm susie gharib, from all of us here at "nightly business report," happy new year. we'll see you right back here tomorrow night. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> join us anytime at nbr.com. there, you'll find full episodes of the program, complete show transcripts and all the market stats. also follows us on our facebook page at bizrpt. and on twitter @bizrpt.

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: whatever you do, we hope you make it a safe celebration. i'm susie gharib, from all of us here at "nightly business report," happy new year. we'll see you right back here tomorrow night. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> join us anytime at nbr.com. there, you'll find full episodes of the program complete show transcripts and all the market stats. also follows us on our facebook page at bizrpt. and on twitter @bizrpt.

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: something new today for goldman sachs. the firm's asset management unit started disclosing "daily" values for its prime money funds. before today, they were calculated on a "monthly" basis. the move comes as regulators are considering banning the use of a constant $1 share price. j.p. morgan says it will also offer daily values for its money funds, starting next week. >> susie: tom, more green than red here on wall street, a nice break from the losing sessions we've had over the last couple of days. and it's all about earnings. investors are feeling a little more optmistic that the earnings that will be coming up. we have wells fargo on friday and they're feeling that the numbers won't be so bad. >> tom: after all of the big volatility last week, we saw very narrow trading ranges over the past several sessions. not a lot of volatility, digesting the big gains from last week. let's look at tonight's "market focus." the small gains did return to the market after two days. the s&p 500 had another day of a narrow trading range

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. ordered all boeing 787 dreamliners grounded until further safety checks. the decision comes after another emergency landing for a boeing 787 dreamliner. tom, this one way all nippon ai airways. they detected a burning smell, and they decided to ground all their 787s. this centur is the second fire problem involving the boeing's 787 lith thian batteries. they were counting on the success of the dreamliner to being a real boost to business, but since its launch, it has had all of these problems. investors have been bailing out of the stock. it lost another 3% today. it closed at $74. it was down $2.60. it has been really a bumpy ride, nightmarish for boeing. >> tom: lots of delays in getting this plane to market. lots of trouble showing up when it is in the market. and the f.a.a. issuing the warning, affecting u.s. planes for the dreamliner until they can demonstrate that the batteries are safe. we'll have more on boeing's share price coming up in a moment. let's get started with tonigh

as ruben ramirez reports, lampert's priorities may take sears in a different direction. >> reporter: the revolving door in the c-suite at sears continues. sears chairman eddie lampert will be the new c.e.o. of the company his hedge fund took over in 2005. appel associates president michael appel says whoever ends up running the company will need to have retail in their blood. >> at the end of the day, retail businesses are in the business of selling merchandise, and the merchandise thrust and vision for those businesses usually comes from that merchant c.e.o. >> reporter: appel says that's not lampert's strong suit. sears' sales have declined for five consecutive years as it has struggled against competitors like home depot, target and wal- mart. the downturn in the housing market hasn't helped. about 40% of sears' sales come from its tools and appliance businesses. 2012 was a roller coaster ride for sears investors. the shares shot up in the first part of the year and are now hovering in the $40 range. >> it's more a bet on the financial engineering skills of eddie lampert. and what

as ruben ramirez reports, lampert's priorities may take sears in a different direction. >> reporter: the revolving door in the c-suite at sears coe tinues. sears chairman eddie lampert will be the new c.e.o. of the company his hedge fund took over in 2005. appel associates president michael appel says whoever ends up running the company will need to have retail in their blood. >> at the end of the day, retail businesses are in the business of selling merchandise, and the merchandise thrust and vision for those businesses usually comes from that merchant c.e.o. >> reporter: appel says that's not lampert's strong suit. sears' sales have declined for five consecutive years as it has struggled against competitors like home depot, target and wal- mart. the downturn in the housing market hasn't helped. about 40% of sears' sales come from its tools and appliance businesses. 2012 was a roller coaster ride for sears investors. the shares shot up in the first part of the year and are now hovering in the $40 range. >> it's more a bet on the financial engineering skills of eddie lampert. and wha

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. ordered all boeing 787 dreamliners grounded until further safety checks. the decision comes after another emergency landing for a boeing 787 dreamliner. tom, this one way all nippon ai airways. they detected a burning smell, and they decided to ground all their 787s. thiscentur is the second fire problem involving the boeing's 787 lith thian batteries. they were counting on the success of the dreamliner to being a real boost to business, but since its launch, it has had all of these problems. investors have been bailing out of the stock. it lost another 3% today. it closed at $74. it was down $2.60. it has been really a bumpy ride, nightmarish for boeing. >> tom: lots of delays in getting this plane to market. lots of trouble showing up when it is in the market. and the f.a.a. issuing the warning, affecting u.s. planes for the dreamliner until they can demonstrate that the batteries are safe. we'll have more on boeing's share price coming up in a moment. let's get started with tonight

but, as ruben ramirez reports, microsoft may be gearing up for a makeover. >> reporter: microsoft may be best known for it's windows operating system but word that it could sink about $3 billion into dell may give investors a clue about what it sees in its future. >> similar to dell, microsoft really is a company that is strapped for growth right now so access to a potentially new growth avenue could be beneficial for microsoft. >> reporter: one growth area is the consumer space. microsoft launched the surface tablet this past fall-- it's first foray into the hardware space. >> people like to do everything on something that is light and portable and fast and they want to do more and more and more. >> reporter: analysts say the surface has been slow to gain traction with consumers, partly because of its higher price point, but come february its expected to launch a business version of the surface, pushing deeper into the enterprise space as everyone from consumers to business users say goodbye to the desktop computer. >> for the first time in 11 years the p.c. market declined in 2012 a

ruben ramirez has details. >> reporter: the political wrangling was contentious over federal funds to aid home and business owners flooded by superstorm sandy. the final vote in the house: 354 to 67 with all 67 of the no votes coming from republicans. the money will go toward the national flood insurance program which is set to run out of money this monday. it will help the agency pay about 115,000 pending claims. a big complaint: the amount of time it took congress to act. it took just 12 days after hurricane ike and only ten days after hurricane katrina hit for federal aid to be approved. the remaining $51 billion states have requested will likely come up for a vote on january 15. here in new york more than 250,000 businesses were affected by the storm. some of those are here in the financial district on manhattan's southern tip, at least a dozen office towers are still closed and thousands of workers still displaced. ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: entitlement reform is the popular phrase in washington. many lawmakers are calling for spending cuts in entitlements like

ruben ramirez has details. >> reporter: the political wrangling was contentious over federal funds to aid home and business owners flooded by superstorm sandy. the final vote in the house: 354 to 67 with all 67 of the no votes coming from republicans. the money will go toward the national flood insurance program which is set to run out of money this monday. it will help the agency pay about 115,000 pending claims. a big complaint: the amount of time it took congress to act. it took just 12 days after hurricane ike and only ten days after hurricane katrina hit for federal aid to be approved. the remaining $51 billion states have requested will likely come up for a vote on january 15. here in new york more than 250,000 businesses were affected by the storm. some of those are here in the financial district on manhattan's southern tip, at least a dozen office towers are still closed and thousands of workers still displaced. ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york.th >> susie: entitlement reform is the popular phrase in washington. many lawmakers are calling for spending cuts in entitlements lik

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: while pickup truck sales are expected to dominate the u.s. vehicle market this year, there's another category getting a lot of attention in detroit this week: luxury cars. and tomorrow, from a sleek new corvette to bentley's $300,000 convertible, we get the latest on the market for high-end wheels. >> tom: as ruben mentioned, one of the reasons automakers are optimistic this year is the pickup in pickup truck sales. that's just another indication the housing market continues to rebuild. another sign came from the nation's third biggest home- builder. in the fourth quarter last year, lennar earned more than three times what it earned a year earlier, easily beating wall street estimates. according to the builder, it saw "solid profitability in all our business segments." richard dekaser is housing economist at wells fargo. he joins us from our washington, d.c. bureau. richard, very optmistic outlook when it comes to housing. can it continue this pace through recovery this year? >> i think so. if you look at the availability of houses on the ma

ruben ramirez has details. >> reporter: the political wrangling was contentious over federal funds to aid home and business owners flooded by superstorm sandy. the final vote in the house: 354 to 67 with all 67 of the no votes coming from republicans. the money will go toward the national flood insurance program which is set to run out of money this monday. it will help the agency pay about 115,000 pending claims. a big complaint: the amount of time it took congress to act. it took just 12 days after hurricane ike and only ten days after hurricane katrina hit for federal aid to be approved. the remaining $51 billion states have requested will likely come up for a vote on january 15. here in new york more than 250,000 businesses were affected by the storm. some of those are here in the financial district on manhattan's southern tip, at least a dozen office towers are still closed and thousands of workers still displaced. ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: entitlement reform is the popular phrase in washington. many lawmakers are calling for spending cuts in entitlements like

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. > tom: stocks eased lower toda fothe second sessi in a row. it wasn't a dramatic move with the s&p 500 trading in a ten- point range with trader focus falling on quarterly earnings and forecasts. the index pared back earlier losses to end lower by just 0.3%. trading volume was 691 million shares on the big board and 1.75 billion on the nasdaq. the telecommunications sector saw the heaviest selling, falling 2.7%. the industrial sector was down 0.8%. now, it was the big phone stocks weghing the tecom stor with both a.t.&t. and verizon falling with heavier than usual volume. verizon dropped 2.4%. the c.e.o. acknowledged that the company could buy out its verizon wireless partner, vodaphone. a.t.&t. fell 1.7%. it sold more than ten million smartphones in the fourth quarter. that's a new record. boeing weighed on the market, pushing shares lower over worries with boeing's new dreamliner 787 plane. first, national transportation safety board officials are investigating an onboard fire on a dreamler yesterday at logan airpt in bosn. thafire h carrier

ruben ramirez, nbr, new york >> susie: that's "nightly business report" for friday, january 11. have a great weekend everyone and you, too, tom. >> tom: goodnight, susie. we'll see you online at nbr.com and back here next week. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: an about-face for j.c. penney and its stock. shares of the struggling retailer jumped more than 9% on word that it now plans to roll out more sales. just a year ago this month, c.e.o. ron johnson took the wraps off his turnaround plan for penneys, forgoing sales in favor of everyday value pricing. he also broke the department store model by setting up boutique-style stores within a store from brands like levi's and izod. well, many analysts and investors are now questioning how long penney's board will stick by c.e.o. ron johnson. he was brought in after rolling out apple's successful store concept. >> i think it's too early to tell whether or not ron johnson is no longer going to be at j.c. penney. i believe that it is a positive move that they're going to bring back some of this couponing and sale activity. and, you know, j.c. penney hired ron johnson because of his legacy and because of some of the things he was able to do at apple, and i don't think they're going to give up on him just yet. i think time will tell. >> susie:

but, as ruben ramirez reports, microsoft may be gearing up for a makeover. >> reporter: microsoft may be best known for it's windows operating system but word that it could sink about $3 billion into dell may give investors a clue about what it sees in its future. >> similar to dell, microsoft really is a company that is strapped for growth right now so access to a potentially new growth avenue could be beneficial for microsoft. >> reporter: one growth area is the consumer space. microsoft launched the surface tablet this past fall-- it's first foray into the hardware space. >> people like to do everything on something that is light and portable and fast and they want to do more and more and more. >> reporter: analysts say the surface has been slow to gain traction with consumers, partly because of its higher price point, but come february its expected to launch a business version of the surface, pushing deeper into the enterprise space as everyone from consumers to business users say goodbye to the desktop computer. >> for the first time in 11 years the p.c. market declined in 2012 a

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: while pickup truck sales are expected to dominate the u.s. vehicle market this year, there's another category getting a lot of attention in detroit this week: luxury cars. and tomorrow, from a sleek new corvette to bentley's $300,000 convertible, we get the latest on the market for high-end wheels. >> tom: as ruben mentioned, one of the reasons automakers are optimistic this year is the pickup in pickup truck sales. that's just another indication the housing market continues to rebuild. other sign came fm the nation third biggest home- builder. in the fourth quarter last year, lennar earned more than three times what it earned a year earlier, easily beating wall street estimates. according to the builder, it saw "solid profitability in all our business segments." richard dekaser is housing economist at wells fargo. he joins us from our washington, d.c. bureau. richard, very optmistic outlook when it comes to housing. can it continue this pace through recovery this year? >> i think so. if you look at the availability of houses on the market t

ruben ramirez, nbr, new york >> susie: that's "nightly business report" for friday, january 11. have a great weekend everyone and you, too, tom. >> tom: goodnight, susie. we'll see you online at nbr.com and back here next week. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> right now for the next four years, we're talking about a balanced budget, we're talking about living within our means. this is -- this is new. this is a breakthrough. >> governor jerry brown in the spotlight this week unveiling a new state budget projecting a surplus for the first time in five years. he's also making a dramatic call for federal officials to end their oversight of the california state prison system. >>> the obama administration is pushing for a national gun control legislation. meanwhile, a wave of new regulations has already made its way to the california legislature. including assembly member nancy skinner's bullet bill targeting ammunition sales. >>> and a massive oil tanker sideswipes the bay bridge, alarming environmentalists and prompting a feder

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: worries about the fiscal cliff weren't enough to keep buyers out of car dealerships last month. people were buying a lot of cars and trucks. >> there gets to be that certain point where buying that used car or even leasing a new a new one or even just outright buying a new one, it's really not that much more to buy a new vehicle and you can get that joy of that new car smell. >> reporter: helping auto sales last year is that the average age of cars on the road is now around 11 years old. superstorm sandy specifically helped boost december's numbers, credit suisse estimates the storm may have added about 50,000 sales in the northeast last month. general motor sales rose nearly 5%. ford sales were up more than 1.5%. its relaunched lincoln brand is struggling to gain traction. >> sales for lincoln will continue to look week for a few more months at least and if we don't start to see them turnaround at the midpoint of 2013 then there will be more cause for concern. >> reporter: chrysler sales surged 10% in december, much of that strength came from a bi

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: the review stands are up. the porta potties are ready. the fencing has been erected. the presidential inauguration is washington's biggest event. but, unlike 2009's inauguration which drew nearly two million people to washington, this year's festivities are expected to draw just half that. >> this time around i think we are going to get a lot of people that did not come in 2009 simply because they were concerned about the fact that we had a record number of people in the city. >> reporter: it's not just the swearing in ceremony. there will also be 40 inaugural balls around the city and, hotels, like the george are ready. >> we have cufflinks, we have steamers and people who can service that. we even have bowties and a concierge that knows how to tie a bow tie. >> reporter: the george is sold out. but hotels and restaurants aren't the only ones that will see a spike in business. >> limo services and laundry services because all the table clothes, all the linens that have to be laundered so those businesses get a huge boost this time of yea

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: something new today for goldman sachs. the firm's asset management unit started disclosing "daily" values for its prime money funds. before today, they were calculated on a "monthly" basis. the move comes as regulators are considering banning the use of a constant $1 share price. j.p. morgan says it will also offer daily values for its monea >> susie: tom, more green than red here on wall street, a nice break from the losing sessions we've had over the last couple of days. and it's all about earnings. investors are feeling a little more optmistic that the earnings that will be coming up. we have wells fargo on friday and they're feeling that the numbers won't be so bad. >> tom: after all of the big volatility last week, we saw very narrow trading ranges over the past several sessions. not a lot of volatility, digesting the big gains from last week. let's look at tonight's "market focus." the small gains did return to the market after two days. the s&p 500 had another day of a narrow trading range, just 7.5 points. the inde

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: watson pharmaceuticals has a new name and a new logo. the world's third-largest generic drug maker changed its name to actavis, a company watson bought last fall. c.e.o. paul bisaro says its no stranger to growth through acquisitions. >> in the short-term we'll be looking for add-on acquisitions whether it's in the branded space where we continue to be very aggressive in the areas of women's health and urology trying to find new therapies we can bring to market. i think a bigger transaction for us would probably await 2014, or 2015. >> reporter: with acquisitions come redundancies, actavis is cutting jobs and moving operations out of its original corona, california facility. >> most of the products that are manufactured in that facility will be moving to our florida facility or our elizabeth, n.j. facility, so there will be some additional increases in people in those facilities. we'll also be moving to some overseas locations. >> reporter: investors have seen a nice run-up in the shares this year, though they've been hovering between $8

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: something new today for goldman sachs. the firm's asset management unit started disclosing "daily" values for its prime money funds. before today, they were calculated on a "monthly" basis. the move comes as regulators are considering banning the use of a constant $1 share price. j.p. morgan says it will also offer daily values for its money funds starting next week. >> susie: tom more green than red here on wall street, a nice break from the losing sessions we've had over the last couple of days. and it's all about earnings. investors are feeling a little more optmistic that the earnings that will be coming up. we have wells fargo on friday and they're feeling that the numbers won't be so bad. >> tom: after all of the big volatility last week we saw very narrow trading ranges over the past several sessions. not a lot of volatility, digesting the big gains from last week. let's look at tonight's "market focus." the small gains did return to the market after two days. the s&p 500 had another day of a narrow trading range, j

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: tomorrow on "n.b.r." health care reform is one of the biggest issues facing u.s. lawmakers, tomorrow we'll talk with two people who have been on the front lines of rising health care costs, donna shalala, former health and human services secretary, and former senator tom daschle. also tomorrow, a look at super bowl ads, ahead of the big game this weekend. ever wonder what goes into making the perfect super bowl ad? our partners at harvard business school. say when it comes to making an effective commercial, there's such thingbe airt"tte entertaining." to find out why, visit, nbr.com and look for the "nbr-u" tab. >> tom: the door business could be a window into the job market. as the economy has swung from recession to slow growth, specialty companies attached to the real estate market have seen business opportunities open again. dash door and closer service is one of those. the company has been around for 58 years working on automatic doors. it's clients are commercial builders and building managers. for

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: watson pharmaceuticals has a new name and a new logo. the world's third-largest generic drug maker changed its name to actavis, a company watson bought last fall. c.e.o. paul bisaro says its no stranger to growth through acquisitions. >> in the short-term we'll be looking for add-on acquisitions whether it's in the branded space where we continue to be very aggressive in the areas of women's health and urology trying to find new therapies we can bring to market. i think a bigger transaction for us would probably await 2014, or 2015. >> reporter: with acquisitions come redundancies, actavis is cutting jobs and moving operations out of its original corona, california facility. >> most of the products that are manufactured in that facility will be moving to our florida facility or our elizabeth n.j. facility, so there will be some additional increases in people in those facilities. we'll also be moving to some overseas locations. >> reporter: investors have seen a nice run-up in the shares this year, though they've been hovering between $80

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new rk. susie: while piup truck sales a expected to donat the u.s. vehicle market this year, there's another category getting a lot of attention in detroit this week: luxury cars. and tomorrow, from a sleek new corvette to bentley's $300,000 convertible, we get the latest on the market for high-end wheels. >> tom: as ruben mentioned, one of the reasons automakers are optimistic this year is the pickup in pickup truck sales. that's just another indication the housing market continues to rebuild. another sign came from the nation's third biggest home- builder. in the fourth quarter last year, lennar earned more than tee mes what it earned a year earlier, easily beating wall street estimates. according to the builder, it saw "solid profitability in all our business segments." richard dekaser is housing economist at wells fargo. he joins us from our washington, d.c. bureau. richard, very optmistic outlook when it comes to housing. can it continue this pace through recovery this year? >> i think so. if you look at the availability of houses on the market

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. if hiring is to pick up, private companies will be the ones creating most of those new jobs. in a new survey out finds those firms plan on adding workers in the year ahead. 56% of privately held companies say they will be payrolls their over the next year. that is according to a survey by business service its firm price waterhouse coopers. ken ash is a partner at pwc. he joins us tonight from the naz. ken, how robust are these private companies planning on hiring, lots of new jobs or just filling in here and there? >> well, they are definitely hiring additional workers and we're very happy to hear that. you know t is a substantial increase over the last year or so that we have been keeping the data in this report. but we are talking about an average head count increase of about 2.8%. and that's up from 1.6 in prior periods. >> tom: all right so, pretty good there. it sounds like we may see some of those numbers turn out in those monthly unemployment figures. what about the types of in

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: an about-face for j.c. penney and its stock. shares of the struggling retailer jumped more than 9% on word that it now plans to roll out more sales. just a year ago this month, c.e.o. ron johnson took the wraps off his turnaround plan for penneys, forgoing sales in favor of everyday value pricing. he also broke the department store model by setting up boutique-style stores within a store from brands like levi's and izod. well, many analysts and investors are now questioning how long penney's board will stick by c.e.o. ron johnson. he was brought in after rolling out apple's successful store concept. >> i think it's too early to tell whether or not ron johnson is no longer going to be at j.c. penney. i believe that it is a positive move that they're going to bring back some of this couponing and sale activity. and, you know, j.c. penney hired ron johnson because of his legacy and because of some of the things he was able to do at apple, and i don't think they're going to give up on him just yet. i think time will tell. >> susie: