Nightly Business Report (PBS) - 2006-11-30

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] ers.

[0:04] >> A grim snapshot of the holiday shopping

[0:06] picture for Walmart. The retail giant

[0:08] [music] confirmed same store sales fell

[0:10] in November for the first time in a

[0:12] decade. But while Walmart is slumping,

[0:14] other stores are soaring.

[0:16] >> It looks [music] like one of General

[0:17] Motors biggest investors may no longer

[0:19] own any shares in the automaker. We'll

[0:22] tell you why. A huge [music] block trade

[0:23] of 28 million GM shares late today has

[0:26] Wall Street wondering tonight.

[0:29] This man will take the helm of the House

[0:30] Financial Services [music] Committee in

[0:32] January and he says his top priority

[0:34] will be making sure the nation has

[0:36] affordable [music] housing. We sit down

[0:38] with Congressman Barney Frank.

[0:40] >> Also, saving power while producing Pon

[0:43] Noir [music] as we wrap up our series

[0:45] Power Struggle. We'll show you how

[0:47] California is working to [music] find

[0:48] new sources of renewable energy.

[0:51] >> I'm Paul Can

[0:52] >> and I'm Susie [music] Gar. This is

[0:53] Nightly Business Report for Thursday,

[0:55] November 30th.

[0:58] Nightly Business Report is made [music]

[1:00] possible by Franklin Templeton

[1:03] Investments. Providing [music] a unique

[1:05] perspective through the specialized

[1:07] investment expertise of Franklin

[1:09] Templeton Mutual Series and Fiduciary

[1:11] Trust. Franklin [music] Templeton

[1:13] Investments gain from our perspective

[1:16] >> and by AG Edwards.

[1:20] This program [music] was made possible

[1:22] by contributions to your PBS station

[1:25] from viewers like you. Thank you.

[1:31] [music]

[1:36] Good evening everyone. Looks like the

[1:38] holiday season got off to a not so jolly

[1:40] start for many retailers. Today they

[1:42] posted weaker than expected sales for

[1:44] November. And the big loser was Walmart.

[1:47] The world's largest retailer reported a

[1:49] drop in November sales and warned

[1:51] December sales will likely be weak as

[1:54] well. But as Erica Miller reports, some

[1:56] analysts are still optimistic about the

[1:58] holiday shopping season.

[2:01] >> Walmart issued a grim outlook for

[2:02] holiday spending and that's raising

[2:04] concerns about the outlook for the

[2:06] season as a whole.

[2:07] >> I think that the weakness in Walmart

[2:09] does in fact represent some weakness in

[2:11] the overall economy. Consumer confidence

[2:14] recently is starting to soften a little

[2:15] bit, again, indicative of a trend

[2:18] towards slower economic growth.

[2:19] >> The discount giant warned today that

[2:21] December same store sales will likely be

[2:23] up 1% at most. That's on top of news

[2:25] that sales fell a tenth of a percent in

[2:27] November, their first drop in 10 years.

[2:30] Analyst Bob Buchanan, whose company has

[2:32] done business with Walmart over the past

[2:34] year, blames the weak [music] sales

[2:36] figures on a poor merchandise mix, among

[2:38] other things. I think you have to draw a

[2:40] line between Walmart and the industry

[2:43] and uh for the first time in a long time

[2:46] um you know Walmart steadily has been

[2:48] losing market share and uh I can assure

[2:51] you that this company uh is all about

[2:53] gaining market share.

[2:55] >> What's clear is that many chains

[2:56] struggled during the month including the

[2:58] gap where sales fell 8%. What's worse

[3:01] the gap expects pressure on profit

[3:03] margins to continue through December.

[3:05] Analyst Dorothy Lochner, who owns shares

[3:07] of the Gap, blames bad fashion bets.

[3:09] >> I think they're realizing that the

[3:11] product didn't have enough color for

[3:12] holiday. It's a very neutral color

[3:14] palette. Um, people want colors around

[3:17] the holiday season.

[3:18] >> But there has been one bright spot in

[3:20] retailing, luxury retailers like Sachs,

[3:23] where sales rose more than 7%. Experts

[3:26] say that's because shoppers at those

[3:27] stores are generally less sensitive to

[3:29] higher oil prices and rising interest

[3:31] rates. November marks the kickoff of the

[3:34] holiday shopping season, but December is

[3:36] far more important to retailers. In the

[3:38] past two years, roughly 80% of holiday

[3:41] spending has occurred during December.

[3:44] Erica Miller, Nightly Business Report,

[3:45] New York.

[3:47] >> Those soggy retail sales put a damper on

[3:49] stocks this morning, as did a lower

[3:51] dollar and higher oil prices. At noon,

[3:53] the Dow was off 55 points, while the

[3:55] Nasdaq posted a six-point loss. The

[3:57] market turned choppy this afternoon on

[4:00] end of month uh end of month window

[4:01] dressing activities. The major indices

[4:04] traded briefly in positive ground but

[4:06] then ended narrowly mixed. The Dow

[4:08] industrial average lost 4.80 at

[4:10] 12,221.93.

[4:12] The Nasdaq composite was up46 ending at

[4:15] 2431.77.

[4:17] Standard and pores 500 index gained 1.17

[4:21] to400.65.

[4:23] In the bond market, the 10-year note

[4:25] rose 1632s to 101 and 1032s, putting the

[4:28] yield all the way down to 4.46%.

[4:39] [music]

[4:47] Corporate America is at a competitive

[4:49] disadvantage compared to global rivals.

[4:52] That's the conclusion of a panel of

[4:54] leading academics and businessmen. The

[4:56] committee on capital markets regulation

[4:58] released a report today saying the US

[5:00] needs to reduce regulation so the

[5:02] nation's capital markets can remain

[5:04] competitive. But the group stopped short

[5:07] of advocating changes to the Sarbain

[5:09] Oxley Act which American businesses

[5:11] complain is too expensive and timeconum

[5:14] consuming to comply with. Other

[5:16] recommendations, reducing corporate

[5:18] exposure to class action lawsuits and

[5:20] enhancing shareholder rights.

[5:24] >> If Wall Street wants some kind of

[5:25] legislative relief, it will have to work

[5:28] with Congressman Barney Frank, the

[5:30] incoming chairman of the House Financial

[5:31] Services Committee. Washington Bureau

[5:34] Chief Darren Gersh sat down with Frank

[5:36] today and began by asking, "What needs

[5:38] to be done to keep US financial markets

[5:41] competitive?"

[5:42] >> I accept the fact that there was a

[5:44] problem. there's a bit of a dimmonution

[5:45] in the percentage of deals that are done

[5:47] here and the companies that list here

[5:49] etc. So I think the thing for us to do

[5:50] is to have comprehensive hearings about

[5:52] it and to see what the uh what the

[5:54] reasons are. Now one thing I have agreed

[5:56] to for some time which is to encourage

[6:00] the SEC and the public company

[6:02] accounting oversight board to reduce the

[6:05] amount of information that has to be

[6:06] processed through section 404 of Sarbain

[6:09] Oxley. I do think, look, it was a new

[6:11] law that was passed and uh not

[6:14] surprisingly it needs adjustments. I

[6:16] don't think it needs statutory

[6:17] adjustments. I don't think anybody who's

[6:18] now covered could be exempted entirely,

[6:21] but I believe that under the existing

[6:22] rules, the SEC and the PCAOB can make it

[6:26] less burdensome. One one thing they did

[6:28] talk about is CEO pay and and they say,

[6:31] look, you know, wait until we see what

[6:33] the new disclosures are that the SEC is

[6:35] going to require. They're going to have

[6:37] this total figure. For the first time,

[6:39] we'll see the total compensation figure

[6:40] disclosed in the coming year. Don't take

[6:43] action on CEO pay until we see what

[6:45] those numbers are. CEO pay is an issue

[6:48] for you. Is this something you want to

[6:49] wait until you see what these numbers

[6:50] are, or do you think you want to act

[6:52] quickly on it?

[6:53] >> No, I don't think we should wait. First

[6:54] of all, if we listen to the people who

[6:55] said don't do anything, we wouldn't have

[6:57] the numbers. Beyond that, what I think

[6:59] we should do, um, it really I don't need

[7:01] to wait to see what the numbers are. I

[7:03] don't want to set the numbers. I don't

[7:04] think the government should be telling

[7:06] people what to pay. I do think the

[7:07] shareholders should. The point I would

[7:09] make is this. With regard to CEO pay in

[7:11] particular, I do not think the boards of

[7:14] directors work as effective independent

[7:16] checks. They are not the fox guarding

[7:19] the hen house. They are the they are the

[7:21] hens guarding the rooster. And I think

[7:24] the time has come to say um we need the

[7:26] shareholders to do this. What we're

[7:28] proposing is not one sizefits-all, one

[7:31] uniform rule. We're saying let the

[7:33] people who own those companies vote for

[7:34] it. Uh, it seems to me a distinctly

[7:36] non-radical idea.

[7:38] >> Well, you have you're going to have

[7:39] jurisdiction over many industries in the

[7:42] financial services sector. Insurance,

[7:44] banking, housing. Um, what's your top

[7:48] priority?

[7:49] >> Affordable housing is the single biggest

[7:51] one. We have a terrible housing crisis

[7:53] in this country. And I think we now

[7:54] understand that housing is not simply a

[7:56] social good, but it's an economic

[7:58] factor. The biggest difference people

[7:59] will see when we take over from the

[8:01] Republicans is we will reverse their

[8:03] policy of uh basically letting any

[8:06] affordable housing stock dwindle and not

[8:08] building any new stock. Uh a related

[8:11] issue there is the question of predatory

[8:13] lending. We now have data from the home

[8:15] mortgage disclosure act that my former

[8:17] colleague Joe Kennedy worked so hard to

[8:18] enact and it now is pretty clear. If you

[8:21] are African-American or Hispanic, you

[8:23] have less chance of getting a mortgage.

[8:25] And if you get one, you have a high

[8:27] chance of paying more, even with other

[8:29] factors being equal. That's some race. I

[8:32] think that's got to be a very high

[8:33] priority.

[8:35] If you can, I know you've talked about a

[8:37] a grand bargain that needs to be struck

[8:40] uh in our economy going forward. Can you

[8:42] boil that down for our audience and

[8:44] explain to them what you mean uh when

[8:46] you say a grand bargain? What you've got

[8:49] is a kind of a double veto now. The

[8:51] business community, which has been in

[8:52] control politically for a long time with

[8:54] its allies, has blocked our efforts to

[8:56] do anything about equity. They've

[8:58] frustrated the National Labor Relations

[9:00] Act. You can't join a union these days.

[9:02] Healthc care is dwindling. People's

[9:03] pensions aren't what they used to be.

[9:05] Real wages have actually slipped some.

[9:08] The minimum wage hasn't been brought up.

[9:10] Uh on the other hand, the people who

[9:12] care about equity have been able to

[9:14] block foreign trade, foreign direct

[9:16] investment, etc. I want to say to the

[9:17] business community, look, help us get

[9:20] healthcare out of the workplace and have

[9:22] a good universal health care system. Let

[9:25] people join unions without being

[9:26] harassed and and the obstacles. Raise

[9:28] the minimum wage. Help more people get

[9:31] higher education, partly through public

[9:32] spending. And in return, let's go do

[9:35] trade agreements, although with some

[9:37] environmental and labor protections.

[9:39] Let's allow foreign direct investment

[9:41] without restriction. That's what I want

[9:42] to do. I want to get the people who've

[9:45] been concerned about equity to support

[9:46] growth policies and the people who've

[9:48] been chafing that we aren't doing enough

[9:50] for growth to support policies that

[9:52] provide equity.

[9:53] >> Congressman Frank, thank you for your

[9:54] time.

[9:54] >> You're welcome.

[9:58] [music]

[10:02] [music]

[10:07] [music]

[10:21] The state of California wants to be a

[10:23] leader in renewable energy. So, it's

[10:26] launched ambitious plans to boost energy

[10:28] efficiency, increase sources of

[10:30] renewable energy, and cap carbon dioxide

[10:32] emissions. But as Stephanie Dub reports

[10:35] in the conclusion of our series, Power

[10:37] Struggle, just how to meet those goals

[10:39] is a struggle itself.

[10:42] Home builder Lenar is constructing these

[10:44] houses

[10:47] with solar roofs. The move is in

[10:49] anticipation of a solar initiative by

[10:52] California

[10:55] that requires new homes have solar

[10:57] roofing as an option by 2011. Manar

[11:00] Sherman Hagerty says state and federal

[11:02] incentives help make solar an attractive

[11:05] sales point. Now

[11:06] >> I believe as people get more comfortable

[11:09] with how to manage their electric and

[11:11] understand that they are a power

[11:12] producer as well as a power user,

[11:15] they'll be able to have a very

[11:16] significant impact on their energy bill.

[11:21] >> Some businesses are already seeing a

[11:23] significant impact on their energy

[11:25] bills. Domain Coneris Winery

[11:30] made the decision to buy a solar system

[11:33] for its pino noir facility three years

[11:35] ago. Using the solar system saves the

[11:38] winery $90,000 a year. At that rate, and

[11:41] with state and federal incentives, the

[11:43] system should pay for itself in 5 years.

[11:49] Eileen Crane is the CEO and chief wine

[11:51] maker at Domain Coneris. she has become

[11:54] a point person for solar in Napa Valley.

[11:56] >> When it started to be known that we had

[11:58] put in this system and start so so to

[12:00] speak lit it up um the there was an

[12:03] overwhelming press for information on

[12:06] our collection system. Um and we saw

[12:09] within a matter of a few months people

[12:11] putting in systems as big or even

[12:14] bigger.

[12:17] The push for solar is part of an

[12:19] ambitious program in California to boost

[12:21] energy efficiency, increase renewables,

[12:24] and cap greenhouse gases. We're um both

[12:28] hopeful and pretty confident that what

[12:31] it means is it's going to lay the path

[12:32] to a sustainable future that's not just

[12:36] good for the environment, but also good

[12:38] for the economy.

[12:40] >> But not everyone agrees. Manufacturers

[12:42] support the solar initiative, but worry

[12:44] the cap on greenhouse gases could push

[12:47] up energy prices. Past policy mistakes

[12:50] have contributed to California's high

[12:52] electricity prices, which are 45% above

[12:55] the national average.

[12:57] >> So, the companies that are surviving and

[12:59] doing well in California have already

[13:01] adopted very aggressive energy

[13:03] efficiency measures. So, we're talking

[13:05] about gold standard companies that are

[13:07] doing all they can do and stay

[13:09] profitable. um in terms of energy use.

[13:12] When you're adding even more cost

[13:15] burden, you're you're putting them

[13:18] really outside the ballpark of being

[13:19] able to survive.

[13:23] And some businesses fault politicians

[13:25] and policy makers for not doing enough

[13:30] to address a key source of California's

[13:32] greenhouse gas emissions, cars. Tesla

[13:35] Motors has designed and is marketing an

[13:37] allect electric car.

[13:40] The $100,000 Tesla Roadster will hit the

[13:43] roads next year. And in two years, the

[13:46] company plans to roll out a sedan in the

[13:48] $50,000 range.

[13:50] >> You can put a million solar panels on

[13:52] our roofs, and it will reduce

[13:53] California's oil consumption by not one

[13:55] drop unless we have electric cars

[13:57] because we don't use oil today to make

[13:58] electricity.

[14:01] California wants to be a driving force

[14:03] behind a new energy future with less

[14:06] dependence on fossil fuels and abundant

[14:08] supplies of renewable energy. But it

[14:11] like the rest of the nation is facing a

[14:13] power struggle balancing the energy

[14:15] needs of a growing economy with the

[14:17] impact on the environment. Stephanie D

[14:19] nightly business report San Francisco.

[14:22] >> Now let's take a look at some stocks in

[14:24] the news tonight.

[14:29] Once again, big board volume leader

[14:30] today on 42.6 million shares. Lucent

[14:33] Technologies down 2 cents. Alcatel

[14:35] completed its merger with Lucent today.

[14:37] So tomorrow, the new company will trade

[14:39] as Alcatel Lucent and the trading symbol

[14:41] will be ALU.

[14:43] Then came General Motors, very active

[14:45] and down 27 cents. Now GM's biggest

[14:48] shareholder may soon own no GM shares.

[14:51] Billionaire investor Kirk Aoran Strinda

[14:53] Corporation told the Wall Street Journal

[14:55] late today that it plans to divest its

[14:57] entire stake in GM. That works out to

[14:59] about 28 million shares or almost a 5%

[15:02] stake of the company. Tracinda has

[15:04] already sold 28 million GM shares this

[15:06] week and there was a late day sale of 28

[15:08] million shares which are believed to be

[15:10] Trescendas. Then came Fizer up 42 cents.

[15:14] The company boosted its 2006 earnings

[15:16] estimate by a nickel to $25 a share.

[15:18] Nordell Networks, no change there. Quest

[15:21] Communications down 14 cents, fifth in

[15:23] volume. Exon Mobile up 78 cents. Time

[15:26] Warner dropped 19. EMC at 23 gain. AT&T

[15:29] moved up 41 cents. And then Alcatel a

[15:33] 3cent gain, 10th in volume. Standard

[15:35] Pacific up $2.40. Now, first of all,

[15:38] Bank of America upgraded the home

[15:39] building group from underweight to

[15:41] neutral. And specifically, this company,

[15:44] Standard Pacific, got an upgrade from

[15:46] sell to a buy. And there were upgrades

[15:48] on four other home builders. And the

[15:50] upgrades were all the same from Bank of

[15:52] America from Cell to Neutral, Maritage,

[15:54] NVR, PY Homes, and Ryland. All very nice

[15:57] gains. JC Penney, one of the weak

[15:59] retailers, off $226. November same store

[16:02] sales were only 1.4% ahead of last year.

[16:05] The street was expecting a 4% rise. Then

[16:09] came Christopher and Banks, the women's

[16:11] apparel retailer, down $154. November,

[16:14] same store sales there dropped 8%. and

[16:17] the street were looking for a drop of

[16:18] only 1.6%.

[16:20] DSW Incorporated did very well. The

[16:22] footwear retailer came in with third

[16:25] quarter earnings of 36 cents. That's 9

[16:27] cents above the street estimate, well

[16:28] above the 25 cents last year. Then we

[16:32] see Cardinal Health moving up $2.79. The

[16:34] company will divest its ailing

[16:36] pharmaceutical technologies unit and

[16:38] Deutsche Bank Securities upgraded the

[16:40] stock from hold to a buy. And then

[16:42] Gerber Scientific moving up 13 cents,

[16:44] traded as high as $14.99. Had a second

[16:47] quarter turnaround earnings of 16 versus

[16:49] a penny loss last year. Most active

[16:52] NASDAQ, Apple Computer down 14, followed

[16:55] by Google with a 16cent gain. Research

[16:57] in motion up $4.68 starting tomorrow. Uh

[17:01] Singular Wireless will start selling

[17:03] RIM's company's Blackberry Pearl device.

[17:06] Microsoft 21 drop. Cisco fell 17 cents,

[17:10] fifth in dollar volume. Intel 16-cent

[17:12] gain. IA Interactive was up 47 cents. It

[17:16] will replace Lucent in the standard and

[17:18] pores 500 as of tonight. Amjen down a

[17:20] $138, a 6-cent loss in Qualcomm 10th in

[17:23] volume. Broadcom fell a nickel. Digital

[17:26] insight up $5.15. Intuitit will acquire

[17:29] this company for $39 a share in cash.

[17:31] And over on the American exchange,

[17:33] Zenonics Holdings involved in

[17:35] highintensity lighting expects to report

[17:37] significant rise in fourth quarter

[17:39] revenues and profits in mid December.

[17:42] Those are the stocks in the news

[17:43] tonight. Susie

[17:45] >> Paul, Microsoft formally released its

[17:47] Windows Vista and Office 2007 products

[17:49] to big business customers at the NASDAQ

[17:52] market center in New York today. That's

[17:54] where the software makers CEO Steve

[17:56] Balmer talked with New York bureau chief

[17:58] Scott Gervy. Scott began by asking

[18:00] Balmer how he felt about getting these

[18:02] long awaited products finally up and

[18:04] running.

[18:06] >> A day of excitement and enthusiasm, I

[18:08] would say. I mean, to have, you know,

[18:10] the two most significant products at

[18:12] Microsoft have this unprecedented wave

[18:14] of innovation and accompanying products.

[18:17] We got over 30 other products besides

[18:19] Windows and Office we're shipping today.

[18:20] It's exciting.

[18:21] >> And we've talked to a lot of people

[18:22] who've done extensive testing already

[18:24] and the reviews are very good. I mean,

[18:26] they're uniformly good. Do you think

[18:28] that the roll out will be faster than in

[18:30] some of the previous versions for

[18:31] Windows and Office?

[18:32] >> I I do as a percentage of the installed

[18:34] base. Of course, the installed base

[18:35] continues to grow every year. So, I

[18:36] think it'll be faster as a percentage of

[18:38] the installed base. And I think that

[18:39] means, you know, uh very very good

[18:42] things. Uh but uh at the end of the day,

[18:44] we got to continue to get out there and

[18:45] help our customers drive the value.

[18:47] >> And so, it'll be a quarter or two before

[18:49] you begin seeing these things on the

[18:50] bottom line.

[18:51] >> Well, everybody's got to have their own

[18:53] financial model of how we benefit. You

[18:55] know, in some senses, we've been

[18:56] shipping PCs with Windows, and we're

[18:58] going to continue to ship PCs with

[19:00] Windows. And yet, there's a whole bunch

[19:01] more value around this that should drive

[19:03] revenue and earnings growth.

[19:05] >> Something has been made, of course, of

[19:06] the long development time. It it took 5

[19:08] years since the last iteration of of

[19:10] Windows, Windows XP, and a lot of that

[19:12] had to do with building the stability

[19:13] and and the security into the system. Do

[19:16] you see the next version coming faster?

[19:18] I mean, I I almost hate to ask you that

[19:19] so quickly, but

[19:21] >> uh I certainly think you should

[19:22] anticipate a much shorter cycle between

[19:24] this version and the and the next one.

[19:27] Uh that doesn't mean 6 months. Our

[19:29] customers don't really want Windows

[19:30] releases that that quickly, but it won't

[19:32] be 5 years either.

[19:33] >> And do you see it uh significantly

[19:35] different? I mean there are people who

[19:36] are wondering whether you'll adopt some

[19:38] new kind of of pricing strategies the

[19:41] idea of uh wind services on the network

[19:44] you know where some of these

[19:45] applications or some of the

[19:46] functionality will come from the network

[19:47] rather than from in the box. Do you do

[19:49] you see something that significant

[19:50] coming?

[19:50] >> There's a lot of interesting things that

[19:52] will come. There's a lot of new

[19:53] hardware. There's a lot of new user

[19:54] experience. This notion of software as a

[19:57] service is very important both to

[19:59] Windows and Office and you'll see us uh

[20:01] make innovations in all of those areas.

[20:03] This is a worldwide roll roll out and

[20:05] and the language different language

[20:06] versions everything's available right

[20:08] away.

[20:08] >> Uh yes, everything is essentially I say

[20:11] everything and I'll we'll be able to

[20:13] find obscure less popular languages that

[20:15] are not available but essentially

[20:17] worldwide immediately.

[20:18] >> Is there a special version that had to

[20:20] be made to satisfy the requirements of

[20:21] the EU? uh we have a special set of

[20:24] things that we have to do based upon the

[20:26] EU decree around media players but other

[20:28] than that no we designed a product that

[20:31] we could roll out essentially globally

[20:33] uh based upon our reading of European

[20:36] law and the help we got from the

[20:37] commission to interpret it.

[20:38] >> So you've worked with them and you you

[20:40] don't anticipate problems like that.

[20:41] >> That's correct.

[20:42] >> You know let's talk just a little bit

[20:44] about the rest of the company because

[20:45] while this is such a big part of it

[20:47] still and and such a big announcement

[20:49] we've got so many other new things out

[20:50] there. We've got Zooms, we've got

[20:53] Xboxes. What's going on in the consumer

[20:55] side? And and you know, how do you

[20:57] maintain the focus as this organization

[20:59] gets bigger and gets more diverse.

[21:01] >> Being bigger actually helps you maintain

[21:03] a focus on multiple things. Not

[21:05] everybody's got to know about everything

[21:07] going on. We got people driving on

[21:09] Windows and Office. We've got [snorts]

[21:11] people who are building out a business,

[21:13] an enterprise business. We've got guys

[21:15] who live, breathe, and sleep data

[21:17] centers and online operations and

[21:20] advertising. And we have a bunch of guys

[21:22] who just sit there and say, "How do we

[21:23] entertain people? Where's that going?

[21:25] What do we need to do with the Zooms and

[21:26] the Xboxes and the media center PCs of

[21:29] the world?" And in some senses, I think

[21:31] we have, I call them our four muscles.

[21:33] We want to have four strong muscles and

[21:35] be able to serve our customers in a

[21:37] broad set of ways.

[21:38] >> Stock's been up a little bit in the last

[21:39] couple of quarters. I think in

[21:40] anticipation of some of this, I know

[21:42] you're not going to go ahead and predict

[21:43] stock prices, but have you got you've

[21:45] got space to expand the the uh the

[21:47] multiples at least as you look forward?

[21:49] >> Well, how the multiple goes is always up

[21:50] to the market. I focus in on the

[21:52] innovation, the revenue, and the growth.

[21:54] Uh you know, we've uh about doubled our

[21:56] earnings over the course of the last 5

[21:58] years or so. Uh we're one of the most

[22:00] profitable companies in the world, top

[22:02] couple three companies in the world.

[22:04] We've got our [snorts] heads down

[22:05] innovating and trying to drive revenue

[22:07] and earnings growth and the rest of it

[22:08] will take care of itself.

[22:10] >> Very good. I thank you.

[22:11] >> Thank you very much.

[22:13] Tomorrow, our Friday Market [music]

[22:14] Monitor guest is John Murphy, chief

[22:16] technical analyst of stockcharts.com.

[22:28] [music]

[22:43] >> [music]

[22:49] >> Heat. Heat. [music]

[22:58] >> [music]

[23:07] [music]

[23:12] >> Heat. Heat.

[23:26] >> [music]

[23:36] >> Heat. Heat.

[23:38] [music]

[23:43] Here's

[23:53] [music]

[23:58] a look now at what's happening tomorrow.

[24:00] Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernani

[24:02] speaks in Washington DC. Also tomorrow,

[24:04] November auto sales, the November

[24:06] manufacturing index, and October

[24:08] construction spending.

[24:10] And finally tonight, t the season for

[24:13] holiday gifts, and when co-workers

[24:15] exchange gifts, some could be in for a

[24:17] surprise. A new survey asked executives

[24:20] to describe the most off-the-wall gifts

[24:22] they have seen. Among the responses, a

[24:25] life jacket, frozen potatoes, and a

[24:27] stuffed rattlesnake. Also on the

[24:30] mustmiss list, a goat, a pot holder, and

[24:33] a life-sized poster of John Wayne. But

[24:36] sometimes workplace gifts can be great,

[24:38] like the new car given by a CEO to his

[24:40] assistant. Paul, the research firm that

[24:43] did the survey, the creative group, says

[24:44] when shopping for co-workers, think

[24:47] small and think practical. But you

[24:49] really don't want another tie from me.

[24:51] Don't you want that goat?

[24:53] >> I had my heart set on the stuffed

[24:54] rattlesnake. [laughter]

[24:57] >> That's Nightly Business Report for

[24:59] Thursday, November 30th. I'm Susie

[25:01] [music] Garb. Good night, everyone. Good

[25:02] night to you, Paul.

[25:03] >> Good night, Susie. I'm Paul Kangas.

[25:04] Wishing all of you the best of goodbyes.

[25:08] Nightly Business Report is made possible

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[25:43] >> Franklin Templeton Investments. [music]

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[26:27] >> For more information about investing,

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