captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: apple reports delicious quarterly numbers. at the core of apple's record revenue: strong sales of its iphone. >> tom: amid the success come rumors of a new iphone in the works. how this one may be different, and how it faces bigger competition. you're watching "nightly business" report for wednesday, april 20. 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. >> tom: good evening, and thanks for joining us. another amazing quarter for apple. susie, once again the company blew past wall street's expectations. >> susie: tom, its quarterly profit jumped 95%! apple earned a record $6 billion, or $6.40 a share. wall street was looking for $5.37. the company sold 18 million iphones. that's more than double than a year ago, thanks to verizon wireless unveiling its version of the popular smartphone in february. >> these rules came out the same day reuters reported a new iphone could hit the market in four months. while not commenting on tonight's conference call with

analysts, apple's chief operating officer tim cooked called iphone success much larger than we thought we could do. the manager editor of the internet magazine joins us tonight from the nasdaq. if all the reports are accurate that we heard before the earnings call today on apple that a new iphone could hit the market in september, why in the fall? >> it's interesting, usually apple chooses their june event, it a developer event, to launch the new iphone, they have in years past. this year there are rumors that we'll wait until the fall. there's a few things we can guess, maybe they're waiting to put the op ed two processor into the next iphone. there's also some rumors that sony may provide their next camera chip, instead of omn omnivision. they could be trying to get a longer runway to see how that works out for them. >> tom: would be big news for sony no doubt. what about any updates we could expect in terms of the guts of the phone, anything in regards to that?

>> possibly a new processor, as i mentioned, and possibly a new antenna drive, they caught a lot of flak for that in the last design, so they probably won't go public with it, but my guess is they'll retool that. >> tom: it is facing more competition these days compared to previous iphone releases. android now has a larger market share than apple in terms of smart phone. of course blackberry and research in motion is in big kid on the block. but how has apple been responding to this? >> it's been interesting, android has been coming on strong, google announced 350,000 android devices were being activated every day. so apple is trying to innovate on the software end, consumers know they have options now. the support for android is growing in leaps and bounds, so it's important for appear tomorrow nail this iphone release because basically they've only do one a year, and a new an dry comes out ever couple weeks.

>> tom: i gotta ask you finally about the supply chain when it comes to apple, because it notoriously secretive, but how franl it is it through disruptions like in japan for instance? >> there's no question it's going to impact it in some way. samsung supplies a ton of materials for its phone, and obviously they and anyone else doing business in japan is definitely having problems. the only up side is that apple does a great job of not sole sourcing, they have a lot of suppliers, so i'm guessing they have a lot of people in the background trying to find things from other places. >> tom: those people would be on iphones, right. >> yeah. >> tom: thank you. >> susie: here are the stories in tonight's "n.b.r. newswheel": stocks closed higher on strong earnings in the tech sector. the dow rose 187 points, the nasdaq added 57, and the s&p up 17. big board volume settled under

one billion shares. nasdaq volume topped two billion. closing arguments have begun in the insider trading case against raj rajaratnam, founder of the galleon group hedge fund. in six weeks of testimony, prosecutors played dozens of secretly recorded phone conversations. jury deliberations could begin tomorrow. and sales of previously-owned homes rose last month as buyers were lured by a growing number of distressed properties. sales increased nearly 4% to an annual rate of more than five million. about two of every five of them were foreclosures and short sales. >> reporter: i'm diane eastabrook in morgan city, louisiana. still ahead, oil rig workers train for the deep waters of the gulf of mexico. >> susie: mixed quarterly results from wells fargo today. revenues came in lower than expected, but the giant bank reported a 48% jump in first quarter profits as more people opened accounts.

the bank earned $3.7 billion, or 67 cents a share, after paying dividends. that was a penny better than analyst estimates. one way financial firms are raising revenues is by imposing new fees for services that used to be free. erika miller reports. >> reporter: chances are you receive bank and credit card statements like these every month. but unless you examine them closely, you may miss some startling fees. like a 30% interest rate if you don't make a minimum credit card payment on time. or a $30 penalty for bouncing a check, which is the national average nowadays. j.p. morgan chase is even testing $5 a.t.m. charges in some markets. consumer advocate ed mierzwinski says the biggest change nationwide is that checking is going from "free" to "fee." >> what they've done is, they've divided checking up into an a la carte kind of a product. you pay extra for your a.t.m. card, you pay extra to use your a.t.m. card, get your checks

mailed back, get your images mailed back, get your statements mailed back. it adds up to billions of dollars. >> reporter: once upon a time, fees were a way for banks to discourage bad behavior. now they are a huge money maker. last year, fees generated about half of all income for banks, slightly less for credit card companies. banks have been raising fees as they struggle to replace billions of dollars in lost revenue due to regulatory changes. since last summer, banks have not been allowed to put through automatic overdrafts on a.t.m. withdrawals or debit-card purchases, which were a major source of revenue. now consumers must opt-in for overdraft protection. as credit.com's adam levin points out, that's one of many recent laws hurting bank profits. >> because of the passage of the card act and many of the reforms that came in dodd-frank, banks are seeing greater expenses and they are seeing less wiggle room

in their ability to raise rates and fees. jamie dimon from chase had a great line. he said if you run a restaurant and you can't charge for the soda, the burgers are going to get a lot more expensive. >> reporter: but there are some strategies for consumers who want to keep their banking charges low. first, understand all the penalties and how they are imposed. it can help to bank with a smaller firm or online, where fees are often lower. if you are not interested in switching banks, consider getting direct deposit for your paycheck. it will often qualify you for free checking. finally, you may not want to bank at a bank anymore. >> credit unions have lower fees, lower balances to avoid fees, and much better deals on loans than banks do. >> reporter: there is some hope for consumers that things will get better. the new consumer financial protection bureau will open july 21, and one of its duties will be to monitor banks in the interest of the public. erika miller, "nightly business report," new york.

>> tom: one year ago today, the deepwater horizon oil rig in the gulf of mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and sending five million barrels of crude gushing into the water. bh has sued the make e of the device that failed to stop the spill. bp wants cameron international to help pay billions incured by that deadly explosion that killed 11 workers and sent 5 million garl barrels of crude gushing into the water.

after a six-month ban, deep drilling in the gulf is back on. the government tightened regulations last fall, and since then it has approved six new projects. in part three of "revitalizing the gulf," diane eastabrook takes us to morgan city, louisiana, where workers are training for the lucrative but dangerous jobs those projects will bring. >> got it. >> reporter: these aren't traditional firefighters. >> okay, nice and easy, once you get to the top, step get down on your hands and knees. >> reporter: they're new oil rig recruits getting certified in fire safety at south central louisiana technical college. anyone working at sea, from captain to crew, needs this training, says instructor carl moore. >> they are 911. they are the fire department. they are the ambulance if they work offshore. >> reporter: the explosion on the deep water horizon rig spewed oil into the gulf of mexico, halting deep water drilling there for six months last year. the drilling ban also sidelined thousands of rig workers. now that the government is green-lighting deep water projects again, workers are scrambling for lucrative jobs and training.

south central louisiana technical college is one of the few schools that trains and certifies rig workers. regional director gregory garrett says people are coming from everywhere. >> they'll come from anywhere in the united states. we've had them from other countries, we've had them from canada. >> reporter: 19-year-old justin fuller hails from mississippi. he recently got an entry level seaman's job with drill ship operator transocean. give me an idea what you're going to be making? >> oh, about 50 a year, 50k a year. i was making $7.25 an hour my last job. now, i'm making $10 dollars an hour more. >> reporter: 31-year-old richard adams is from kalamazoo, michigan. he started training last fall for a new career in underwater welding after losing work back home as a welder in an auto plant. he thinks he can make more money at sea than on land. >> the deeper you go, the more money you make. eventually, if you go into saturation diving, it can be $600 a day.

>> oil rig workers retrain throughout their careers. they have to get recertified for fire safety about every five years. but they have to get recertified for water survival every two to three years. >> ditchy, ditchy, ditchy... >> reporter: the water survival exercise is perhaps the toughest test for veteran workers and new ones. it simulates what could happen if a helicopter carrying workers to or from a rig ditches in the water. instructor moore says this test really separates the men from the boys. >> we've had it hit the water, and they see it and they just get up and leave. they've gone through all-day training and they just see this hit the water with nobody in, and we've had three people just get up and leave, just walk away. they say it's not for them. >> reporter: the deep water horizon accident magnified the inherent dangers of oil drilling in deep seas. it also magnified the impact drilling has on communities and residents throughout the gulf coast in good times and bad.

diane eastabrook, "nightly business report," morgan city, louisiana. >> tom: the major stock indices have now regained all of what they lost during monday's sell- off. meantime, metal prices continue setting new records. let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." before we get to the earnings action in stocks, we have to roll out gold and silver, starting with gold. the yellow metal pierced the $1,500 level before closing just below it. and silver continues on its historic tear. silver has run up more than 50% since february, closing over $44 today for the first time in a generation.

technology helped spark the rally today, with intel leading the way for the dow industrials. volume tripled as intel jumped almost 8%. this is the past 180 sessions. shares had been in a downtrend since february, but they popped up on the strong quarterly results and better than expected guidance. several other semiconductor makers followed intel's lead. micron was up more than 8%, advanced micro devices gained 4.4%, and n-vidia added 3%. intel said it will spend more on equipment. that helped chip equipment manufacturers k.l.a. tencor, applied materials and novellus. all rallied. investment firm stifel nicolaus thinks the intel optimism will lead to a pick-up in business sooner than expected. wireless chip company qualcomm released these quarterly results after the closing bell, coming six cents in better than expected. chips for smartphones helped. the company also raised its full year outlook. shares were strong coming into

tonight's report, closing at its highest price since march. after-hours, the stock added another 4.5%. salesforce.com was the best performing s&p 500 stock, gaining almost 9%. that takes it back to the top of this trend since last december. analysts say i.b.m.'s comments last night that japan's disasters won't have a big impact on its sales helped salesforce today. other tech high fliers today: data storage firm e.m.c. up 4.6% on heavy volume. that's a new high for e.m.c. computer network firm f-5 popped 7%. after the close, it reported better than expected earnings and jumped another 8% on top of the closing price on the screen. while tech was topping the market sectors, banks were at

the bottom. we mentioned the wells fargo earnings earlier. here's how the stock responded, losing more than 4%. volume surged to almost five times normal. this is wells fargo lowest close since early december. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> susie: the new york international auto show opens this weekend in manhattan, and one automaker getting a lot of buzz is hyundai. sales for the south korean automaker are racing ahead of its american and japanese competitors. in march, it posted the best month ever, with sales surging 32%.

earlier today, john kravcik, c.e.o. of hyundai u.s.a., told me about the company's strategy to build on that momentum. >> what's different about hyundai is we've got four cars now that get 40 miles per gallon standard, without any extra costs. >> susie: there's no question with with fast at $4 consumers are concerned about that. but are consumers coming into your showrooms or are they staying a way from buying all tomorrow? >> honestly, there is some confusion, and concern among car buyers right now. part of it is which car should i buy, you know. so a lot of them are looking for a solution that says i want great fuel economy, i would like still a roomy car, and we've got things like that in our lineup right now. so we are capturing those folks who are still looking, many of them, a big percentage of them are coming to our hyundai show rooms. so for us so far this industry seems very strong. >> susie: you've come out with

this new hybrid, is this the first of more, and what about electric vehicles, what's your strategy there? >> the sonata hybrid is our first one and we're proud of the way it doing and we will add other hybrids in the future, but our focus is enhancing and improving and op timizing the internal combustion engine, we think that's a more cost effective way for society as a whole to reduce co 2 emotions associated with the industry. >> susie: you have one plant in alabama. given all the growth that hyundai has seen, do you have plans to build another one? >> that alabama plant practicess about half of the cars that we sell. we've also got production coming out of another plant in georgia, and frankly we're pretty close to maximum production right now. the demand for our cars is growing. we haven't made a final decision on what we might do in terms of capacity, probably

something we'll push off for a while. because our primary focus is quality, and we don't want to grow too fast, we're being very thoughtful in our growth strategy going forward. >> susie: many auto makers have been struggling with parts shortages coming out of japan. but not hyundai. how are you able to avoid that? >> so far so goo good for us. we have had some issues with the paint supply, some of the chemicals come from japan. and we first heard about it we were all over it, working with alternative supplies for that component of our pace to get things fixed and into the production system as quickly as possible. >> susie: considering that other auto makers are not in the same position as you are, are you picking up new business because of the problems in japan? >> we really can't, because we already were and already have been basically selling at our capacity. so for us there's going to be no increment al benefit from

this. >> susie: let's talk about the insurance program, it was pop with consumers because they could return their hyundai if they lost their job. you ended it. why is that? >> in today's economic climate job loss isn't the primary issue any more. what we've done is replaced it now, which we've announced today at the new york auto show with something we call the hyundai assurance trade-in guarantee. when you come and buy a hyundai, we'll tell you what your car is going to be worth in year two, three or four, then when you reach that time of ownership you can come to your dealer and we'll give you that guaranteed trade-in value. kind of takes that uncertainty away. >> susie: john, great talking with you, thank you so much. >> thanks for having us. >> tom: here's what we're watching for tomorrow. mark leibovit is back as our "market monitor" guest. he's chief market strategist at vrtrader.com. we'll see quarterly earnings from general electric, verizon and southwest airlines. speaking of southwest, we'll

talk to c.e.o. gary kelly about higher oil prices, its 737 planes, and the airline's outlook for the rest of the year. >> susie: more and more americans are hanging up on landline phones and relying solely on cells. a new study shows one out of every four households now exclusively uses cell phones. that trend is growing fastest in states where incomes are low: arkansas and mississippi. there, one in three adults use cell phones because they don't have traditional wired ones. the numbers also show younger americans and renters are more likely to ditch landlines for cells. >> tom: so you paid the airline 25 bucks to check your bag, and it was lost. now what? starting this summer, you'll get that money back. the transportation department has rolled out new rules for the nation's airlines. they also double the amount of money you get if you're bumped from a flight, require carriers to notify passengers of delays, and ban fare hikes after you've bought the ticket.

>> susie: president obama held a town hall meeting at facebook headquarters today. it's a first-of-its-kind event, where the president answered questions about the economy and the deficit. the president's choice of facebook is significant because it shows the growing importance of social media sites.

political candidates are using facebook to announce election campaigns and talk directly to voters. so how influential is social media in business today? anna olson takes a look. >> reporter: a 45-minute line for lunch at a food truck in washington, d.c. what business wouldn't want this kind of response? red hook lobster pound d.c. co- owner leland morris attributes his success to two words: social media. >> twitter, facebook, our web site, is totally responsible for this line everyday. that, and word of mouth. >> reporter: these days, people are using social media to talk about everything from grabbing a bite to starting a revolution. in the middle east, twitter and facebook were tools that helped launch uprisings against the government. in japan, family members of earthquake victims turned to social media sites to find loved ones, and the use of social media sites is probably more widespread than you think. >> social media is totally reshaping the way we communicate

in politics and in business. >> reporter: that's media expert zach clayton. he says while the last phase of the internet was about information, this one is all about relationships. >> in two years, you could easily see 25% to 50% of the web being closed, walled-off social networks. >> reporter: that's why the knight foundation's john bracken says it should come as no surprise that businesses are using it to talk to customers. >> increasingly, particularly in the u.s. and the developing world, it's hard to imagine a robust media presence or brand you care about that's not thinking about engaging in social media. >> reporter: like dell. it has a site where consumers brainstorm products they'd like the company to develop. starbucks' fans also talk and critique ideas online. so far, that's meant 25,000 suggestions for coffee drinks alone. and it's not just big business taking advantage of social media. threadless.com is a t-shirt company that gets all its designs online from customers.

>> it is... is a community of people they've built and engaged in their business that designs t-shirts, votes on the t-shirts, then promotes and talks about them online. >> reporter: zach clayton says, be it business, politics or everyday life, if you don't join the chatter, you'll be left behind. >> it's hard to imagine people who say "i don't do phone" today. and if you don't do social media today, you're missing out on a big piece of the national conversation. >> reporter: and speaking of that neverending conversation, i want to bring you into it! log on to the n.b.r. facebook page and tell us what social media means to your life or your business. anna olson, "nightly business report," washington and facebook.com. >> tom: look for us at "biz report" on facebook. you can friend us and be a part of our daily conversation. and that's "nightly business report" for wednesday, april 20. i'm tom hudson.

good night, everyone. and good night to you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "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