>> susie: intel and the federal trade commission play "let's make a deal." the chip giant agrees to put the past behind it, and move forward with more competitive business practices. >> jeff: we look at what the settlement means for intel, the tech landscape and you. you're watching "nightly business report" for wednesday, august 4. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. stifling competition and strong- arm tactics are no more for intel. jeff, the chip giant inked a deal with the federal trade commission to end those practices today.

>> jeff: suzanne, the settlement comes eight months after the agency sued intel. it alleged the company used its massive size to elbow out the competition and pressure chip customers for over a decade. intel says it settled to get out from under the cloud of litigation. scott gurvey reports. >> reporter: intel had been accused of using anticompetitive practices to take business away from competitors. not only in the category of microprocessors, where it is by far the world leader, but also in the markets for graphics and other support chips. federal trade commission chairman jon leibowitz says the proposed settlement helps consumers by encouraging other companies to develop innovative products to compete with intel. it gives certainty to the industry, including intel, and clarifies the rules of the road. most important, because the relief begins right now, we believe we will begin to see a more competitive landscape very soon. and of course, the f.t.c.

remains the cop on the beat; if intel violates this order we will be there to enforce it. >> reporter: the settlement blocks intel from paying customers to use its chips exclusively, from punishing customers who use rivals chip, and from purposely designing its chips and software to make it difficult or impossible to use them with a competitor's parts. in agreeing to the settlement, intel does not admit wrongdoing. its general counsel, doug melamed, says intel is happy to put the matter behind it. >> we would not accept a settlement that would interfere with our ability to innovate, to continue to provide good products, excellent products to our customers, to continue to compete aggressively and offer competitive prices, and this settlement will not interfere with that, so we get to continue with our business and avoid the litigation. >> reporter: clyde montevirgen of standard and poor's says for investors, the settlement removes another big unknown hanging over the price of intel shares. >> intel has the right manufacturing and technology to

continue to make superior chips moving forward. so, essentially intel's chips are differentiated to the point where they could essentially sell themselves. this is regardless of the sales tactics. because of that, we have a buy recommendation on the stock. we think they will continue to make great chips and take market share. >> reporter: as he concluded his remarks, the f.t.c. chairman called intel a great american success story and said he is expects the settlement will let both intel and the marketplace move forward. scott gurvey, "nightly business report," new york. >> jeff: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: stocks moved higher on a better- than-expected report on private payrolls, which we'll detail next. the dow rose 44 points, the nasdaq added 20 and the s&p 500 was up six. trading volume retreated slightly on the big board, while nasdaq volume picked up. those private payroll numbers from a.d.p. showed companies added 42,000 positions last month. economists had expected about

3,000 less, and they're hopeful july's employment report will be better than expected. we'll see that friday. so much for recess, the house of representatives heads back to washington early next week to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. house democrats hope to pass billions of dollars in new aid to state and local school districts, designed to prevent teacher layoffs. the senate cleared the way for a vote on a $26 billion aid package tomorrow, a day ahead of its summer recess. still ahead, it's known for eye- catching consumer electronics, but some experts think apple's board of directors has some core issues. a look as we wrap up our series, "rules of the board." >> suzanne: b.p.'s runaway oil well in the gulf of mexico has finally met its match. the oil giant says the static kill operation appears to be working at plugging the macando well. that busted well has pumped an estimated five million barrels of oil into the gulf of mexico over the last three months, and

as stephanie dhue reports, a new study shows 75% of that spilled oil is now gone. >> reporter: president obama paused in a speech to union supporters to welcome a breakthrough in the gulf. >> the long battle to finally stop the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end. >> reporter: a report by government scientists says that 75% of the oil released into the gulf is now gone. a quarter of it has been burned, skimmed or directly recovered from the wellhead. another quarter naturally evaporated or dissolved, and another quarter was dispersed either by nature or with chemicals. the rest, the report says, is either on the surface or has already washed ashore. the progress in the gulf had white house spokesman robert gibbs saying the president is willing to consider lifting the moratorium on new deepwater drilling. >> the president wants to be assured there's a containment structure, and a plan in place that matches directly... what is being undertaken.

the size, the scope of the well, the depth at which it's being done at, and what equipment needs to be on hand. >> reporter: analysts don't expect the administration to lift the temporary ban before october, when the bipartisan oil spill commission finishes a series of hearings. energy analyst thomas pritchard says rig operators will also need certainty on their cost of doing business before new drilling resumes. >> if i was running an oil and gas company, i'd want to know if i'm going to devote x number of dollars in a capital expenditure program in the gulf of mexico, that i would want to have some assurances that i have a good picture of what the admin... governmental oversight is going to be on that. >> reporter: as part of the energy bill on hold in the senate, lawmakers are considering whether to cap legal liability, add new safety regulations for drilling and requiring companies to have a

spill response in place. stephanie dhue, "nightly business report," washington. >> suzanne: hey, jeff, investors a teensy bit happier about the economic data on the employment situation. >> jeff: just a little bit, in a trader-driven market, you'll have the back and forth before the

big employment numbers come out on friday. so let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." >> jeff: investors will take any good news they can find. today, it was a report that private-sector employment rose for a sixth consecutive month, with an additional 42,000 jobs. not great, but good enough to push the markets higher. here are some of the highlights. priceline.com. william shatner strikes again as the company and its pitchman make a big deal out of priceline's latest profit report. analysts were impressed by last night's second-quarter earnings beat. that, and an improved picture for bookings, prompted some on wall street to lift their target on priceline shares to $320. here's a quick look at today's spike that sent shares to a near 10-year high. priceline wasn't the only consumer stock donning decent profits.

take a look at polo ralph lauren. this morning, the trendsetting powerhouse showcasing a 25% jump in sales at its club monaco chain. that helped first-quarter profits clear street estimates by a wide margin, making for a fashionable excuse to move forward with expansion plans. the stock working its way to a two-month high reclaiming half of what it lost from the april highs. and las-vegas-sands. luck might be a lady tonight, and every night, for the company and its casinos in macau and singapore. the company's asia casinos are starting to turn profitable. macau's casino regulator said islandwide gaming revenues rose 70% in july compared to year-ago levels. and look at the stock-- its highest price in nearly two years, and a big run from the $2 lows in march of last year. shares in express jet holdings took flight. it's being acquired by skywest in a deal worth $133 million. skywest, the nation's largest regional air carrier, wants express jet to help strengthen

its alliances with continental and delta. expressjet stock doubled on the $6.75-a-share offer from skywest. the deal already has the blessing of both companies' boards. a government investigation of career colleges dented some of the bigger names in that sector. take a look at corinthian colleges, apollo group, and washington post and its kaplan higher education division. the government accounting office sent undercover applicants to 15 for-profit colleges. four schools encouraged fraudulent practices; all 15 made deceptive statements about costs, post-graduation salaries and the like. and as you heard, with the static kill-shot appearing successful in the gulf of mexico-- some of the names attached to deepwater drilling getting a lift. shares of transocean, anadarko, nearly every exploration or drilling service provider moving higher-- except b-p, which was

down 1.5%. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> jeff: we've heard the terms "weak economy" and "double-dip recession" a lot lately, but the stock market is still holding its own this year, with the dow up 9% from the july lows. so, what's going on? to try and answer that question, we turn to tonight's "street critique" guest, michael farr. he's president of the money management firm farr, miller and washington, and author of "a million is not enough." michael, welcome back to n.b.r. michael, welcome back to n.b.r. >> thank you, jeff, great to be here. >> jeff: why are we seeing the market move higher here?

>> earnings season has been pretty good. earnings have come in high, but they were expected to come in strong, given weaker comps in 2009. that's been good. but now with this talk of double dips, sort of a recession. and even perhaps deflation out of the fed governor, people are thinking that the government is going to start to put more cash in the market. quantitative easing out of the federal reserve, and wall street is giddy over the news they might see more government cash. >> jeff: and what about politics? there is a question about what will happen to the control of the house. the democrats versus republicans, and you've got the debate over extension of the bush era tax cuts. >> right. i mean, the election certainly is bearing hard down on all of us, and on wall street's minds. i think that grit lock is generally seen as being good by investors. i think, too, we're going to tell something from this fed. if the fed goes ahead and adds to quantitative

easing in front of an election, it is going to tell us they think the situation is serious because the fed tries to stay a.political around election times. >> jeff: the big question for everybody at home: do i stay in this market? does this rally we've been seeing -- can it continue for some decent length of time? >> i think it can continue gradually. but certain pockets offer more than others. blue chip stocks have been left out of a lot of the value. great value. fabulous balance sheets, good dividend yields. they haven't gone up. give them sometime. our average hold on the stock is four years. i think if you're at buy and hold, you can make some money. >> jeff: michael, i'll bring up your list of 10 picks for 2010. right now they're down 3.5% for the year so far. you stay with those sorts of things? >> i think that you do. the multi-nationals, again, great balance sheets, and good, strong

cash flow. and dividend yields are high. beibm had a yield at 1%, and shares are higher if you own the common. i think owning the common shares of these very well-managed companies is a sound investing policy. >> jeff: you can see all of michael's picks on the "street critique" section of our website. do you own any of the stocks? >> i own them all. my family owns them and we own them in the touchstone capital appreciation fund, which we're the sole manager. >> suzanne: apple's success is the envy of many companies. it's had three straight monster product launches, and its stock price has gone through the roof since launching the ipod nearly a decade ago. but, as we wrap up our series, "rules of the board," tom hudson explains that experts say apple comes up short in the boardroom. >> tom: apple is celebrated as a model of innovation, technology and design, but it's also criticized for bad behavior inside the board room.

it's hard to argue with the performance of apple. from figuring out a very profitable business model for digital content with itunes, ipods and ipads, to reinventing the mobile device with iphones, apple has been on the forefront of consumer computing for 25 years. shareholders can't argue with the stock's performance. since steve jobs returned as c.e.o. in 1997, apple shares have soared more than 4,000%. but that doesn't silence critics like ralph ward of the "boardroom insider." >> apple, for example, is a company by most measures of conventional... what's good and what isn't good in the board room, has a really poor board. >> tom: apple's board room doesn't have to be too big. there are only six members, including c.e.o. steve jobs. four others are current or former chairmen themselves. bill campbell used to run turbo tax owner intuit. millard drexler heads up retailer j-crew. andrea jung is the boss at avon. and arthur levinson is the chairman at biotech firm genetech.

and rounding out the board is former vice president al gore. this group heads up a company worth $240 billion, making it the biggest publicly traded technology company in the u.s. nell minow is co-founder of the corporate governance research firm the corporate library and she doesn't like what she sees. >> i'd say apple is absolutely catastrophically a bad board. you couldn't have a worse board than apple. i mean, as a consumer, love them, but as a shareholder they're a terrible board. >> why do corporate governance experts think apple's board is rotten? they point to several reasons: the stock options backdating scandal in 2006. apple admits steve jobs knew options given to him and others were backdated. still, apple said jobs did not financially benefit. the securities and exchange commission did not bring action against the company, citing apple's swift and extraordinary cooperation with the agency. jobs' health. in 2004, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

in 2009 he suffered from a hormone imbalance, which forced him to take a six-month leave of absence. later that year he had a liver transplant. jeffrey sonnenfeld, from the yale school of management: >> their objective of keeping steve jobs' creativity alive and well is great. having someone with the title of c.e.o. who goes off to the mountaintop and is gone for six months is a worrisome model. >> tom: critics also say the apple board hasn't said enough about the company after jobs. >> that's a company with a huge risk management problem. they have got their biggest asset is a human being who is in ill health, and how are they handling that? >> tom: apple was contacted in regard to these criticisms, but had no comment. the case of apple shows clearly, just because some think a company board has shown poor management, its actions may not hurt shareholders. tom hudson, "nightly business report," miami. >> jeff: here's what we're watching for tomorrow. quarterly results from hyatt hotels, kraft foods and viacom, along with weekly jobless claims

and july chain store sales. speaking of retailers, it's time for back to school shopping. during this busy spending time, we'll take a crash course in what college students are buying and what they're doing without this year. >> suzanne: help is on the way for 50,000 unemployed homeowners in five states. the treasury today approved mortgage assistance proposals in north carolina, ohio, oregon, rhode island and south carolina. combined, they'll get $600 million from a federal fund aimed at heading off foreclosures. the money is being redirected from the obama administration's existing $75 billion mortgage assistance program. >> jeff: ford motor is on pace to bring back nearly 2,000 parts-making jobs at its factories. those union jobs had been outsourced to suppliers in the u.s. and abroad. that's about 25% more positions than ford agreed to in contract negotiations with the united autoworkers union. ford says the move will save it

money and time. >> suzanne: in the "money file" tonight: how much do you know about your sweetie's spending habits? here's manisha thakor, co-author

of "on my own two feet, the modern girl's guide to personal finance." >> time and again, money is cited as one of the top causes for fights in relationships-- and divorce. one way to prevent wallet wars is to engage in financial foreplay, the process of getting to know your sweetie's most intimate feelings about money. why is this so important? because academic studies show we are hardwired to be attracted to our financial opposites. there is something literally intoxicating about "financial otherness" in the early stages of a relationship. say you, like me, are a saver. being with a spender, someone who thinks nothing of buying a coke and popcorn at the movies, can seem wildly exciting. or if you are a spender, being with a frugalista like me, who insists on refilling the same water bottle for months on end to save $3, can feel safe and grounded. alas, that novelty eventually wears off and the desire to bop each other on the head kicks in.

to add insult to injury, as a society we don't encourage each other to think about financial compatibility as an aspect of our relationships that deserves t.l.c. so tonight, i issue you a challenge to call out money for what it is, the pink elephant in bedrooms all across america. if you are willing to take your clothes off with each other one way, you should be willing to get financially naked together as well. so join me in taking the plunge and start talking about money with your honey. i'm manisha thakor. >> suzanne: and finally tonight, oracle's larry ellison is on board, so is movie director george lucas. while they're not heading to some fabulous retreat or movie opening, they are joining a pretty exclusive club. they're answering a call by warren buffett and bill and melinda gates to pledge the majority of their fortunes to charity. so far, 40 billionaires have taken "the giving pledge." ellison's fortune is estimated at $28 billion.

he was already giving millions to charity privately. i bet a lot of people would like to make that same pledge. >> jeff: t.boon pickin's said i like making money more, but giving it away is a close second. that's "nightly business report" for wednesday, august 4th. this is the time of year your public television station seeks your support. >> support that makes programs like "nightly business report" possible. >> jeff: thank you for joining us, and don't forget to support your public television station. good night, everyone, good night, suzanne. >> suzanne: good night, jeff. i'm suzanne pratt, and we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> more information about investing is available in "nightly business report's" video "how wall street works". to order this dvd, call 1-800- play-pbs or visit online at shoppbs.org.