this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. brought to you in part by -- >> thestreet.com. featuring stephanie link who shares her investment strategies, stock picks and market insights with action plu. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr. help wanted. hiring was surprisingly strong in february. more jobs were created than expected. does this signal the economy's not only growing but perhaps accelerating? skilled workers. one aviation firm needs them and has a unique plan to train them to ensure it can meet the dement of the fast-growing industry. and market monitor. our guest tonight explains why buying defensive stocks may be your best offense now. and he's got some names to invest in. all that and more tonight on

"nightly business report" for friday, march 7th. and good evening, everybody. i'm tyler mathisen. >> and i'm sue herera filling in tonight for susie gharib. with the wicked winter weather still hanging in there we got a surprisingly strong report on the jobs picture from the labor department today. the economy added 175,000 jobs last month, and previous months were revised higher. but the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7% from 6.6% as more people started to look for work. the report offers a little more clarity about winter's effect on work, wages and the economy. here's hampton pearson. >> reporter: despite the harsh winter weather nation-wide, that kept more than 7 million workers at home for at least part of the month, employers stepped up hiring. job gains beat forecasts by 46,000, renewing hopes that jobs and growth could accelerate this year. >> obviously we were somewhat upset by the polar vortex.

but i think that this reaffirms that grow pattern, that in fact not only is the economy growing but it's accelerating. >> reporter: for those with jobs, average hourly pay was up 9 cents to just over $24 an hour. it's the biggest monthly gain in eight months. with hourly wages up 2.2% in the last 12 months, ahead of the inflation rate. but labor secretary tom perez says we can do better. >> real wages are up slightly. but way too many people are still working hard and falling behind. we've seen productivity since 1980 or so has gone up over 90%, real wages have gone up something like 3%. >> reporter: even the increase in the unemployment rate to 6.7% was a good thing. it went up because more people began looking for work. carmax, the nation's largest used car dealer, is expanding and hiring.

1200 new jobs nation-wide, including 140 employees at this brand-new facility in frederick, maryland. >> we're excited the fact that we're doing that type of growth, 10 to 15 stores in the next two fiscal years each year. that's a lot of excitement, the fact that we're hiring 1200 positions right now as a company to get ready for the busy spring and summer car-buying seasons as well. >> reporter: for alice fisher it's a fresh start. she's been hired and is getting training as a sales consultant. she's been out of work for more than 2 1/2 years. during that time, ms. fisher came face-to-face with what it means to be a mature professional in today's job market. >> i've been on numerous interviews and have even had some expressions of oh, my goodness because they didn't expect me to be of a certain age. and so i continue to pursue employment very actively and did everything that i could to get a

job. everything that i could possibly do. >> reporter: not everyone is as fortunate as ms. fisher. last month, long-term unemployment increased by more than 200,000. so now, nearly 4 million people have been out of work for six months or longer. for "nightly business report," i'm hampton pearson in washington. >> but even with so many people looking desperately for jobs, companies keep complaining that they just can't find the right workers for their open positions. in our latest installment on the series "where the jobs are" mary thompson takes us to timco aviation in greensboro, north carolina to look at the multipronged approach that company is taking to fill its skilled jobs gap. >> reporter: business is booming at timco aviation. the greensboro, north carolina firm provides faa required maintenance to commercial cargo and military planes. it's benefitting from the strong growth in the aviation industry, growth threatened by a lack of skilled workers. >> we are at capacity.

and so again if we were to expand it could be an issue of getting enough workforce in here to actually work those aircraft. >> reporter: kip blakely is timco president of industry and government relations. he says to replace nearly 40% of its workforce nearing retirement they need to hire 350 worker assee for the next three. replacing them isn't easy. the workers who take apart, inspect, prepare and then put planes like this 737 back together again need to be faa certified. that's a process that takes two years. to ensure steady stream of workers for present and future years, timco's partnered with greensboro's gillford community college to get the word out about jobs in the industry. starting with talks that are aimed at kids as young as fourth and fifth grade. >> we try to spark that interest early when people are open to anything and haven't been routed in other directions. >> reporter: audrey floyd chairs the aviation program at gillford, along with the elementary school outreach

gillford and timco support a four-year aviation program at a local high school. one student, junior bruno cacasi, interned there last year and is shadowing this year. it's helped cement his decision to become an aviation engineer. >> it's more interesting now that i've seen in depth and been in the okcockpits of airplanes. >> reporter: a third way they funnel workers to timco, a two-year program providing them the faa certification they need to work on the planes. >> i've changed oil filters, cleaned and lubed cables, removed and replaced parts. a little bit of everything here. >> reporter: for timco getting more people who can do everything is the one thing it needs to keep growing. in greensboro, north carolina, i'm mary thompson for "nightly business report." the unexpected growth in overall job creation last month didn't do much for the stock market today, but for the week all three indexes are up.

the benchmark dow jones industrial average gained 30 points. the nasdaq fell 15 but the s&p 500 managed to eek out a new high by rising one point. bowe the dow and s & p have finished higher for two consecutive weeks. the nasdaq's been up for five weeks in a row. joining us now with his analysis on the jobs data and markets, john manly, chief equity strategist at wells fargo funds management. good to have you back. >> thank you, tyler. >> john, the jobs number was much better than most people expected. why wasn't the response on behalf of stock investors much better than most people expected? >> we're a fickle bunch. some of this may have been anticipated although it was technically a surprise. other things to worry about. the market's at a high for all intents and purposes. there are concerns about what's happening in the ukraine. and what have you done for me lately? i think it was still a very very good number and you just can't base any decision on what happens on a given day. >> john, does it change the way that the fed looks at the economy? i mean, maybe we're getting a

little bit stronger, but as hampton pearson pointed out in his serious earlier, there is still an awful lot of people out of work. >> i don't think it really changes the way the fed approaches things. this is actually what the fed wanted. the story you just ran must be music to dr. bernanke's ears. this is what the fed tried to do. get the economy started. the economy has a natural tendency to grow. america's full of a lot of people who want to work and want to do things and make money. they've just got to clear the way. it looks like they have. now, the fed is still going to be very, very slow to raise interest rates. very slow to tighten. so i think you have a little bit of an arbitrage. you have awhile here where the economy can grow, help earnings, help employment, and the fed isn't going to do anything because they want to err on the side of the angels. >> do you think the market can move higher from here over the next nine months? >> yes. i think it could move decisively higher. i don't know how much. our target is 2,000 for the s & p at the end of 2014. that's just a number. the basic forces that were in place, the fundamental forces, the fed, the earnings, the valuations that were in place a

year ago are still in place. it's still a pretty positive scenario. >> so where would you be deploying cash if you're a longer term investor? do you stick domestically or do you look overseas as europe continues its recovery and maybe some of the emerging markets are steadying out a little bit? >> yes, yes and yes. i think they're all pretty attractive. i'm an american. i think the u.s. is attractive. i think on a nine-month basis europe may be even more attractive. it was cheaper, cheap for a reason. that reason was the recession. that reason is going away. i think that's a wonderful reason to buy stocks. emerging markets is more of a -- people are so concerned, so nervous right now about that area that i think there are probably really good opportunities. you have to be selective. that's not my specialty. but i think there's a lot of potential. it's perfectly good to start nibbling right now. >> what about bonds? >> i'm glad i'm a stock strategist. bonds will be okay. inflation is low. fed's going to try to keep rates low. it was a great -- let's put it

this way, tyler. i was 27 years old when the bond market rally started. how much do you want? >> it's been a nice what 30 years, right, john? >> you're very kind. >> didn't mean to date you there. john manly, thank you very much. i got you by a couple of years, anyway. anyhow, john is with wells fargo asset management. it is five-year anniversary of the bull market. not all stocks have participated in the run up. so are these dead money investments finally ready to turn? china's financial markets are experiencing western-style growing pains now. in an update to a story we told you about earlier this week, china's onshore corporate bond market has been hit now with its

first default, a solar cell maker did not pay the full interest on its bond which suggests the chinese government will no longer routinely back stock companies that have bad debt. the solar company says it is trying to sell overseas plants to repay that obligation. well, back here on wall street, the bull market turns five and the s&p 500 has nearly tripled since then. but the run up has not treated all stocks equally. in fact, you could say the bulls just ran over some of them and then kept going. dominic chu takes a closer look at companies left behind. >> reporter: if you boughtan in dex mutual fund or etf you'd have done pretty well. but if you picked the wrong strong investments it would be a very different story. >> one of the wonderful things about this stock market for the last five years, basically all financial assets have appreciated. and the very few that have been left behind usually are left behind for a good reason. >> reporter: there are lots of reasons why some stocks grossly

underperformed the market. and each story is a little different than the next. take personal computer giant hewlett-packard, for instance. consumers are shifting more towards using tablet computers and smart phones, hp is trying to become less reliant on pcs and printers. that's one reason why hp stock is up just 13% since the march 2009 lows. then there's best buy. the retailer specializes in selling not just computers and printers but televisions and appliances as well. but there's stiff competition from online competitors like amazon.com. that stock is up just 4% in the last five years. and then there's the for profit education stocks like apollo education. it owns the university of phoenix. there's been a lot of controversy about the types of educational programs offered and what the affordability is to students who attend. shares of apollo have lost half their value since march of 2009. but just because a stock is down doesn't necessarily mean you

should count it out. >> you need the right management teams in place. they need to have the right capital structure. and they have to have the right products and services. and when all three of those things come together, there can oftentimes be a turn around that takes place. >> reporter: of course, the trick is figuring out if those or other traits really signal a buying opportunity. for "nightly business report," i'm dominic chu. >> big lot shares rally big after an earnings beat. and that is where we begin tonight's market focus. the retailer's revenue topped expectations as it continues to focus on its domestic business. the company also says the loss from winding down its canadian operations was lower than expected, stocks surging 23% today to -- foot locker also reporting better than expected earnings. revenues were strong as vendors such as nike and adidas develop products popular with customers. same store sales also increased, continuing a growth trend that has lasted now for a few years. shares sprinted almost 9% today

to $46.49. >> bed, bath and beyond is lowering its earnings guidance. that retailer is blaming the harsh winter weather which forced some of its stores to close. the company reports final fourth quarter results in early april. the shares finished the regular session up 1% to $69.16. and late today, boeing said it will inspect the wings of its dream liners for cracks. the company says that the planes to be inspected have not yet been delivered to customers and that inspection will not impact the deliveries scheduled for 2014. shares of boeing initially dropped on the news but they finished the regular session at 128.54. >> a recall from the generic drugmaker rambaxi laboratories, it has to do with a potential dosage mixup. we are recalling more than 64,000 bottles of generic lipitor with 10 milligram tablets distributed in the u.s. the company says the bottles could contain a tablet that's

twice as strong. >> our market monitor this evening says concerns about the economy and the market has him sticking with high quality defensive stocks. he is michael farr, president of farr, miller and washington. good to see you again, michael. welcome back. >> thank you, sue. great to be here. >> so you're a little worried. what is it primarily that has you worried? we just got a good jobs number or a relatively good jobs number. >> sue, i manage other people's money, so i'm always worried. we've known each other for a long time. i'm a guy who worries. >> right. >> i think that stock prices are fully valued. i think they're rather high. margins are very high. meaning that there are about 50% higher than their average mean level for profit margins for the s & p. so i think stocks are kind of expensive. most of the run up that we've seen came from multiple expansion not so much from earnings growth. so while i think the economy is recovering, i am encouraged by all of the positive things i'm

seeing, i'm just cautious out there with my money. and i prefer more solid balance sheets, more experienced management, and international exposure in the stocks that we're buying. >> michael, if i'm lucky i'm going to get a tax return here, refund here in the next few weeks. tell me where to put that money. give me a couple of names here. i know you like defensives. >> well, i like defensive. and i'm not recommending to buy or sell. these are names that i do hold. i like johnson & johnson. i've liked it for years. the company as at 16 times earnings. they for the last ten years have increased earnings at a compounded rate of 10%. with a 2.9% dividend, i think that this is a great solid holding with an aaa balance sheet. the united states doesn't have one. >> that's a very good point. abbott labs is also -- >> a sad point. >> very true, michael.

abbott labs. >> abbott labs is a diversified, again health care company. so two in health care and health care is doing well. 40% exposure to emerging markets. they've got a neat nutritional business. it's a little more expensive. about 18 times next year's earnings. again not cheap. 2.2% dividend. i think we could see earnings growth here of about 10%. you add the dividend i've got a 12% return. i think again from a very strong company with diagnostics and devices, too. >> and my favorite company name to pronounce is slumberge. >> how do you do it so well? you can laugh in french now, you know. 16 times earnings -- i'll stop. i think that earnings here have been underpriced. they're really poised now to do very well. they'll have great exposure to all oil and gas exploration. so 16 times earnings, i think earnings could end up almost well into the mid-teens here.

i think we could get 14, 15% in terms of return from slumberge. but to health care and an energy company if you want to play it a little safe with that tax return money, ty, i would like these three stocks. >> how important is the management team at companies that you vest invest in? i know you want a solid balance sheet, a fair amount of cash. you look at the dividend yield. but at the end of the day management still has to be able to execute. >> has to be able to execute, sue. and you want to take a look not only at the -- we take a look at ten trailing years of earnings and profit and loss and income statements. and we track all the numbers. but we also track what management has said about what they're going to do and how going to do it. you look at a company like corning. years ago when they were making dishes and pots, that was a company that was a great company that had great assets, but pretty much it was old hat. to turn that company into a

fiberoptic cable producer and wire and line and technology company took fabulous management. it was in place for awhile. we like strong management. strong management can help a great company through tough times. >> and i know, michael, you mentioned this before but you own the stocks that you recommended earlier? >> i own all of the stocks that i recommended. my family owns them. and our clients own them. we might be selling at any time just as a disclaimer but i don't like to sell very much. our turnover last year was somewhere around 15%. so we really do hold stocks for a long time. i'm an old school kind of investor. >> all right. michael, good to see you as always. >> nice to see you both. thanks for having me. >> michael farr, president of farr, miller and washington. >> and a clarification on a story we told you about yesterday on darden. the company is cancelling its analyst and investor meeting, not its annual shareholder meeting. coming up, meet two guys who saw the future of television, left their jobs and risked it all to be a part of that future and eventually turn a profit.

our bright ideas series continues next. finally tonight, we introduce you to two guys with vision, television, video entertainment delivered where you want whenever you want by the internet. we're already beginning to take it for granted. that's why these two guys got the bright idea to quit working for a hollywood studio and start their own. >> we stand at the forefront of history. >> reporter: developed in part by basketball star lebron james, the lebrons are a kind of modern day fat albert. except they're seen not on tv but online. season one drew more than 50 million views on youtube. >> each and every last episode has a message behind it. >> reporter: that page view count is a number dan goodman

and bill masterson would never have believed when they started believe entertainment group in 2010. their primary focus, producing video distributed on the internet. >> people aren't watching tv like it has been in the past. >> reporter: they met in 2007 while working at media rights capital, the independent studio in los angeles that produces "house of cards." goodman and masterson were long gone before mrc made a deal to run the show on netflix. but while they were there, they helped demonstrate that online video could attract advertising dollars. >> seven years ago when we started this ride, tv vets would have said you're crazy. general advertising markets would have said i don't know what you're talk about. >> reporter: now they know. in 2013, advertisers spent almost $2.5 billion on digital video. by 2017, that number may top 9 billion. but seeing the future is one thing. starting your own company and being the future can be

downright scary. >> it was absolutely a risk. you ready to go put down hundreds of thousands of dollars of your own money and raise millions of dollars of somebody else's money and place a bet on it today? >> reporter: they bet on a trend. u.s. online ad spending including video is now bigger than every other category except tv. >> it's an enormous evolution. >> reporter: randall rothenberg runs the interactive advertising bureau that noted in a poll last summer that three quarters of u.s. execs plan to spend more on digital video ads and less on tv. >> are you really paying attention to whether you're watching a broadcast network or a cable network or an ip-delivered piece of content like "house of card "on netflix? not really. >> reporter: rothen berg believes advertisers will reach a point where they don't care, either. >> the medium is global from the get-go so if you're a

professional creator of contents that's very tantalizing. >> reporter: tantalizing and stienlsn sometimes nerve-wracking. >> millions of dollars invested in those shows and coming out of the show. >> reporter: their formula, big stars with lots of social media followers. it's worked for projects with lebron, jennifer lopez, and the internationally acclaimed dj guesto. their new show comedian jay mohr "money where your mouth is." a good reason for goodman and masterson to believe. >> if it's a profitable business where does it go from here? how does the business that we're creating turn into a more mature business that yields more volume? >> wise up. >> wise up indeed. those characters in the lebrons came from a series of nike commercials. that show had a single sponsor, nike, which is like the early

days days of profit television. we want to remind you this is the time of year your public television station seeks your support to make programs like this one possible. >> and i'm tyler mathisen on behalf of your public tv station. thank you for your support. have a good weekend, everybody. we hope to see you back here monday. "nightly business report" has been brought to you in part by -- >> thestreet.com. founded by jim cramer, thestreet.com is an independent source for stock market analysis. cramer's action alerts plus is home to his multimillion dollar portfolio. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr.

steves: throughout the ages,

people mined once-glorious buildings as quarries. imagine. they were stacked with precut stones free for the taking. block by block, they carted away most of this temple and then incorporated what was still standing, like these columns, into a modern building. thankfully, no one cannibalized the magnificent pantheon, the best-preserved temple from ancient rome. the portico, with its stately pediment, has symbolized roman greatness ever since antiquity. like the obelisks, its massive one-piece granite columns were shipped from egypt. they're huge. it takes four tourists to hug one. [ laughs ] step inside to enjoy the finest look anywhere at the splendor of ancient rome. its dimensions are classic, based on a perfect circle as wide as it is tall -- 140 feet. the oculus is the only source of light. the pantheon survived so well because it's been in continuous use for over 2,000 years.

it went almost directly from being a pagan temple to being a christian church. the beauty of the pantheon and the brilliance of its construction has inspired architects through the ages. the dome is made of poured concrete, which gets thinner and lighter with height. the highest part is made with pumice, an airy volcanic stone. "pantheon" means "all the gods." it was a spiritual menagerie where the many gods of the empire were worshipped.

gwen: what started as an internal upheaval in ukraine is now a superpower standoff. plus a taste of politics 2016 style. tonight on "washington week." >> in 2014 we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders. gwen: the standoff between crimea and kiev, between europe and russia, between barack obama and vladimir putin. grows more tense. >> i don't mean to sound in any way pollyannaish about this moment in history. this is a moment that could turn south in a hurry and could escalate in a hurry. gwen: russia denies bad intent but threats on all sides are only escalating. >> the united states will not grant visas to those who threaten the sovereignty or