the december jobs report shows that the economy is still adding jobs, just not all that dramatically. in our cover story, a huge construction firm is on the cusp of getting even bigger. it's time to start planning your spring break. we'll give you some low-priced options. why some of america's largest corporations are particularly pleased with the fiscal cliff deal. and, is apple turning into just another tech company? first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. it's monday, january 7th. i'm bill moller in for angela miles this morning. here's a first look at the world of business and investing. with our tech-driven lifestyles, ces, the annual consumer electronics show, is getting as big as the oscars. it begins

tomorrow in las vegas, and the biggest, best, newest and coolest stuff in electronics will be on display. google gets a break from the federal trade commission - but not so fast in europe. the european union is also investigating whether google hurt rivals by manipulating internet searches. the e.u. says its probe continues. if found guilty, the search giant could be fined billions of dollars. and it's an etf free-for-all. exchange traded funds are becoming the investor's choice over mutual funds. data for the first 11 months of last year show 10's of billions of dollars more were poured into the lower-fee funds. nearly $120 billion was taken out of stock funds, while etfs' total amount climbed to $154 billion. it was a banner week for the first week of the year. is dan haugh of pti securities cashing in and heading to hawaii? > > well, it seems that way. we certainly had a good week. the iwm, the russell 2000, went up 5 3/4% in a four day week. so

that is a pretty good week last week. > were you a little surprised at the gains, particularly after the thursday softness in the markets? > > really when you had the activity in washington finally being somewhat resolved, even though the majority of it, most of the negative things are to- be-continued, you knew that there was going to be a relief rally of some sort. but realistically, this has gone a little bit further than i would have expected, especially the movement in the bonds. the bonds, this was a major movement in bonds. a move like this would normally have taken months to complete, but it was 1.69 in the 10-year yield and now it's 1.92. that is a major move. and that money coming out of the bonds obviously went into the stocks last week. > dan, can you give me any interpretation here? what is the mood? > > the mood is that we passed a major hurdle and nothing bad happened. doing the game, the fed is still pumping. realistically, the minutes of

the fed meeting came out this week and said that they might actually curtail the qe-infinity mid-year or end of the year, and that put a little bit of a damper, but only for a few minutes. because realistically, the fed may be saying that in the minutes, but they are not acting that way. if you look at the money supply growth, it grew 8.5% last year. it grew almost 12% in the fourth quarter, so it is accelerating. and if you look at the weekly figures in the money supply, the last four weeks of the year, it grew at a 20% annual clip. so the fed is actually continuing to pump at an accelerating rate. so they may say they're cutting back, but they are not yet. > very briefly, monday morning, where are you positioning yourself today? > > you've got to assume that we are going to actually have a little bit of a follow-through. but, i am going to be relatively neutral at this point, because it would be very difficult to keep this pace up for too long. so i am going to actually- we're not going to be selling anything, but we are probably going to be selling quite a few calls today or the next day if the situation presents itself, because i think

that the quickness of the move has to be over with. we've got to be looking forward to the end of february, and those talks are going to be a lot more difficult than last week's. > have a good week. dan haugh of pti securities. > > thank you. the move of st. louis construction firm clayco to its new headquarters in chicago over the next two years may boost the midwest's economy in more ways than one. construction has a history of bringing along manufacturing, professional and business services, wholesale and retail as well as transportation and finance. in our cover story, a look at the latest plum to land in the windy city. in moving to chicago from st. louis, clayco, a huge construction company on the cusp of expansion, gets a bigger airport with more flights for clients and employees, a bigger talent pool and more opportunity to partner with chicago's mayor, rahm emanuel, who's eager to recruit private enterprise for public infrastructure. "i want to emphasize absolutely that this is a growth strategy. there's no intention to lay

anybody off. there aren't going to be layoffs in st. louis." clayco is a privately-held company. its annual revenue of $820 million comes from building some of the largest facilities for corporate giants. caterpillar, dow chemical and chevron are just a few of them. clayco also oversaw the building of the new busch stadium in st. louis. right now, clayco has a thousand employees - nearly 300 in chicago - a number there that's about to double. in a joint statement, clayco's ceo said "we see chicago as an integeral part of our expansion strategy as we add talent and build clayco into the nation's leading full-service real estate development, architecture, engineering and construction firm." but privatization does have its critics. "how does a citizen hold a private firm accountable for a

good that they once received from a government entity?" however, employment search firms were ecstatic. rosemary haefner, human resources vice president at career builder, said, "clayco could have a ripple effect far beyond construction. we see improvement in the sales sector and other ancillary jobs go hand-in-hand with this." manpower called the move "very positive. it reinforces our forecast for an improvement in construction, followed by manufacturing." illinois' state board of elections lists clayco as a $50,000 donor to rahm emanuel's campaign for mayor in 2010. also, clayco reports giving more than a half-million dollars to local charities and has agreed to help train college students for careers in building design. general motors is recalling more than 69,000 trucks because they might roll away after being put in park. on the list, several 2013 models, including the popular escalade and tahoe suvs. the vehicles may have been built with either a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column. 55,000 of the vehicles are in the u.s. most are believed to still be on dealer lots. additionally, only 1 in 1,000 of the recalled vehicles are believed to have the defect.

in happier news for general motors, sales of its volt model tripled in 2012. more than 23,000 of the electrically- powered volts were sold last year, and that leaves its nearest competitor, the nissan leaf, in the dust. the buzz behind the volt is coming from california, where more than half of all volts are sold. california drivers were lured in by aggressive leasing incentives that put the $40,000 car in reach of the masses at payments under $300 a month. analysts note that plug-in car sales are still minimal when compared to traditional model sales. it's highly classified, but the cyber security arm of the u.s. government appears to be moving forward with a controversial program to protect the nation's power grid. half the documents about this that were recently released by the national security agency were redacted to hide classified details. but there's enough there to show that the government will be

probing for vulnurabilities in the system that connects the computer networks of utility companies. the concern - how closely the government will be looking at the digital data in those private networks. the fiscal cliff deal means tax hikes for middle-class americans but tax breaks for corporations. according to the huffington post, there were more than a dozen loopholes in the 11th hour deal that will benefit wall street financial firms such as goldman sachs, as well as several of america's largest corporations including ford motor company and general electric. all told, the breaks mean a bill to taxpayers for billions of dollars. a senior analyst at the u.s. public interest research group says the breaks show lobbyists are able to get what they want. so al gore sells the hardly- watched current tv channel to al jazeera. so is al jazeera going to do any better in finding viewers? at the moment, not likely. time warner cable dropped the channel, costing al jazeera, according to one analyst, 76% of its u.s. cash flow. what's worse, other pay tv providers across the u.s. could do the same. so to get cable companies to carry it, al jazeera may have to give its programming away, free. visiting the vatican? bring

cash. museums and shops there are not accepting credit or debit cards due to money- laundering suspicions. the bank of italy stopped deutsche bank from providing services in the vatican due to concerns about financial oversight in the city and state. services from other banks with outposts in italy will also be frozen. tickets can still be bought online with cards, but the service will be suspended january 15. samsung's on a roll. in 2013, it could very well widen its marketshare lead over apple. that's what some analysts predict. with its larger multi- tier product lineup, samsung expects to sell 290 million smartphones this year, 75 million more than last year. apple? it hopes to sell 180 million smartphones in 2013. samsun's edge in the market is 33% over apple's 21%. microsoft's windows 8 has not been winning fans, but the u.s. department of defense is on board. the d.o.d. signed a three-year licensing agreement with a microsoft reseller to bring windows 8 and other

products to 75% of its staff. the deal is worth about $617 million, and saves the army about $70 million in i.t. costs. the department of defense is already a microsoft customer. well that didn't take long. no sooner did northeast republicans excoriate their brethern in congress for not passing a sandy storm relief bill than the house turned around and passed the bill. the near $10-billion measure was quickly passed in the house on friday and cleared the senate by unanimous consent. the 67 who voted no were all republicans. they had insisted that the aid be paid for by cuts in other federal programs. this was the first and least controversal part of a larger aid package to be considered in a couple of weeks. the fda is setting forth new rules that put the onus for food safety on food producers. about 3,000 americans die each year due to food-borne illnesses, and the new rules aim to make food processors and farms more accountable for reducing that number. companies will have to

establish specific plans for preventing contamination as well as keep records that show they are doing so. the new rules are a result of the food safety and modernization act that was signed into law in 2011. still to come, more people are finding jobs. is it time to book a vacation? we'll give you some value destinations to consider. first though, what those december employment numbers mean. we'll break it down by sector, after this.

i'm going to pass chemistry, and i'll take it from there. i'm going to do what makes me happy. i'm going to work hard. be independent. live large. make the most of every opportunity. i knew i wanted to go to college. but figuring out how to pay for it? i didn't have a clue. the u.s. department of education has over $100 billion. and that's a lot of money. to help students pay for college. and the free application? you mean the fafsa. i did it online. it was easy. i'm never giving up on my goals. i will make a difference. i'm going to find out how to pay for college.

i'm going to college.gov. every month the labor department comes out with its numbers, sort of a measure of the health of the u.s. economy in terms of jobs being created. and yes, they are still being created in this slow recovery. it's not all that spectacular though. market strategist from bmo global asset management brent schutte is here. you always have some good read on these numbers. give us a breakdown for the data that came out for december. > > sure. expectations had risen a little bit after last thursday's adp report, which showed 215,000 employees added. but all in all, 155,000 that were added last month on the non-farm payrolls report was about in line with the original consensus expectations. manufacturing was pretty strong, adding about 25,000 jobs. and surprisingly construction added about 30,000, which may be some of the impacts of sandy rebuilding starting to filter into these numbers. > healthcare, food services up, even while we have government

jobs, those numbers are going down still. > > sure. for the year government jobs actually contracted. earlier on in the recovery, or before the recovery actually, private jobs were actually contracting faster and government jobs weren't doing much. now you are starting to see the opposite occur, where private sector jobs are coming back and government jobs have kind of slowed and actually contracted quite a bit. > what is your read? what is your take on this? we still have 7.8% as the official unemployment rate. so, is it just trickling along as before? > > sure. i think one of the hardest things that we have to do now in my profession is figure out what policymakers and politicians are going to do. unfortunately, the fiscal cliff came and went, but nothing really was solved, and we're going to have another one of those coming up in february, which is probably going to keep a lid on hiring for a while. all in all, 2012 and 2011, about 153,000 employees were added per month. the unemployment rate ticked down 8/10 of 1% in 2011, and 7/10 of 1% in 2012. i don't see any reason right now that that is going to expand dramatically or change dramatically in 2013. > interesting how it is up to

the politicians again. we at a fellow in from surepayroll last week talking about small business owners are very uncertain, they are not going to be hiring because of the concern about the debt ceiling, sequestration, and some of these other things. > > absolutely. and small business owners are the ones taking the tax hike, the tax increase. and they right now are probably the ones that have the most uncertainty with what happens with the new healthcare bill and what happens with taxation. i don't think that is going away, because right now i think the debt ceiling debate we are going to be having coming up in february is going to be even more rancorous than the one that we just that. republicans think they gave away taxation- > they are digging in their heels. > > and now they are going to get spending cuts, whereas the democrats are saying, "if you are going to get more spending cuts, you've got to give me more tax increases." so i think the end of february could be very interesting and very ugly for the markets. > the fiscal cliff of all mothers of fiscal cliff, or however you want to put it, it could be a lot worse. brent schutte from bmo harris. thanks so much. > > thank you. still ahead, the new year's top vacation destinations and deals. dominican republic, anyone?

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all right, the economy, it's recovering. people have put up with an awful lot over the past few years, and maybe you're thinking, "you know, i'm entitled to a little fun. but where to go? i want to take a trip." well, lucky for us, we have jeanine tornatore with us. she is with orbitz travel and is in the know about such things. where are the best deals? you have your travel forecast for 2013 out. give me some good value destinations. > > i am going to start with

atlantic city, because that is where i am today, and i want to touch on that. orbitz named atlantic city as a comeback kid for 2013. i am here actually at revel, which is the hottest new resort and casino destination here in atlantic city, and it is a hotel that's kind of propelling atlantic city to a new level, bringing it from just a gaming destination to everything from dining, nightlife, spas... so, it really is kind of stepping the game up here for atlantic city. when we get into value destinations, we named three destinations as great values in 2013: phoenix is the first. with average hotel rates in the new year coming in at around $100 a night, and with nearby destinations like tucson, which averages $96 a night, it is a great value for people looking for an outdoor getaway. orlando is also one of our value destinations. they just opened the new fantasy land at walt disney world, and here there is such a large hotel inventory that there is something for every budget in this market. finally, everyone in chicago and the area are going to be looking to head to the caribbean this winter. the dominican republic is the island you should look at. not only have

they added some flights into some of the more remote areas, but they also are continuing to add new all-inclusive properties, which are a really great value for travelers. > how is social media being incorporated into the travel experience? it is changing year-by-year i know. > > it does, it continues to evolve, and travel companies continue to put more time and more money into evolving their brands on social media outlets. really at the end of the day, it is a win for the customer, because this is where customers are going to find some of the best deals out there, some of those great last-minute travel deals. > i see the steam coming off the water in the pool. that must be an outdoor pool. it looks wonderful. now, is atlantic city a good family destination? > > it is still a gaming destination. with what a hotel like rebel brings, it does bring a bit of a different experience. there is a spa, there's nightlife. but i think it is still certainly geared

more toward the adult set. > jeanine tornatore with orbitz. thanks so much. > > thanks bill. how the mighty have fallen and what has befallen apple. a former apple champion joins us in chart talk, next. good morning! wow.

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time for chart talk. let's talk to andrew keene. he's with keeneonthemarket. andrew, let's start with the a's and stay with the a's - alcoa and apple, beginning with apple. now you have been so bullish on that over the years. how have you been playing it since it's been dropping, what? down 15 points on friday. > > actually bill, you haven't been on the show with me for awhile. i have actually changed my tune, and now i have been playing it to the short side. i just don't see apple going forward in 2013. all their products have been cannibalized. the ipad mini is now going to be replacing the ipad. one out of every four people that buy and ipad mini won't be buying an ipad. they have a lot of increased competition from samsung and

google. next year we are talking about an iwatch, where you can tweet through your watch. it doesn't make much sense. then they are talking about and iphone 6, in different colors. it's just not really perking my interest. competition is starting to get to them. > is this the post-steve jobs era that we are now into, where apple just becomes another tech company? > > i think so. unless we get huge news on an apple tv, and that is not going to come out until the end of next year, i think apple is going to head one way, and that is south. as we have seen, the market has been very, very strong last week. apple sold off. it's gone down another $15 on friday. they report earnings january 23rd. i think they could have another huge miss. apple has now been missing on earnings. we have a supply chain issue. we have a lot of issues going forward. they have a lot of cash. go acquire something. buy a twitter for $15 billion, $14 billion. get stockholders interested again. until then, i'm playing it to the short side. > i guess you'll be taking that apple tattoo off your shoulder. let me ask you about alcoa. earnings season about to launch this week. how are you looking at that one?

> > it is trading strong. in lot of these stocks have been trading strong. it is trading above the 50-, 150-, and 200- day moving averages. it is trading around $9.22. i am going to play this very simple: today is monday. i am going to look at how it is today and tomorrow. if it gets up to that $9.70, $9.80 level, which has been previous resistance, then i will look to get short it. if it pulls back to this $8.75, $8.80 level, i will look to get long it. it is always the first dow component to report. it is the least important of the dow components, but it also gives us a global growth story, it gives us chinese demand on aluminum. it has sold off the last two times on earnings. so very, very simple, if i get a pullback to those moving averages, i will look to get long. if it continues to rally, i think it is overbought, and i will look to short it. > andrew keene, you have a good day out there today. > > thank you. that's all the time we have for today on first business. from all of us here, have a wonderful monday!