. this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. >> record setter, one stock today set an all-time record for the highest price ever. we'll tell you which one it is and whether it's still a buy. >> pennies from heaven, j.c. penney gave investors a big surprise late today and shares soared. can the gains stick? >> and the golden years, many retiring boomers want to have fun, and all they are spending is having a big impact on the travel industry. the final series, ageing in america tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, august 14th. good evening, everyone and welcome, the markets end the day just modestly higher but at the highs of the day, but it was a record-setting day of another kind because one stock has gone

where no other stock has ever been before. it is a company you know run by an investor whose become a household name. it's berkshire ha the tthaway c the $200,000 barrier and popped at 202,850, up 241 today alone. the next highest is seaboard goes for around $3,000. today's gains give it the third highest market value, bigger than wells fargo, bigger than johnson & johnson, and a whole lot more. it means one share of berkshier could buy a six bedroom, four bathroom in omaha or four years of tuition at an average private school. how about a ticket aboard the passenger spaceship, when it

finally takes off or trade that one share for a brand-new 2015 bently continental gt with just enough left over to fill up the gas tank. it's probably not a car buffet would catch himself in. buffet likes it that way. >> does it make sense to buy brekshire stock or take profits? the chief officer at wedge wood officers. david, nice to have you with us. you know, looking at the performance of berkshire shares are up 13%, much more than the s&p and dow. as an investor, should you take your profits now and let it go at that? >> i don't think so. i think there is still room for the stock to run for the rest of the year? >> how much better could it get? >> i'm not expecting a repeat of the first half but there is at least another 6, 7, 8% left in

the stock. >> i think but for the presence of warren buffet at the helm of berks berkshire, any other ceo would they convince the ceo the parts need to be broken up? should berkshire be broken up and should it be after buffet retires? >> that's one of the under appreciated aspects, is that the avenue gauge rage or good busin better. buffet has a unique source of capital that helps him grow and acquire companies. the only division i think that could be spun out in the years ahead is the energy division, which is renamed berkshier energy. this is an odd ball collection but it makes sense and let's let the master continue to paint.

>> you say it's a unique company and unique in a sense, just listen to this, class a shares $200,000 a share, most companies like to keep their share price at 1,000 or less and that's where we have the stocks. buffet doesn't believe in stocks, he doesn't believe in dividends. do you think there will be a day where investors or somebody will force them into doing this? >> i think the dividend question is far, far in the future. i think well after buffet and monger left the scene, they have plenty of opportunity to invest in the railroad business, particularly the energy business, he'll put the cash to work. >> do you own the a shares, b shares or do you own both or would you buy both at $220,000 a share? >> we own the b shares and it's the largest holding and we think the best bargain we can find as we enter the sixth year. >> best bargain, that's really something. okay, thanks a lot, david. thanks for coming on the

program. >> thank you. now, as for the rest of wall street, stocks ended higher despite a sharp spike in first-time jobless claims and a mixed bag of earnings before the opening bell but soothing words from russia's vladimir putin about ending the bloodshed in ukraine seemed to give investors a boost. major averages closed the at the highs of the day, the dow up 61, nasdaq 19 points higher and s&p and nasdaq now on track for their biggest weekly gains since june. as stocks gained, bond yields fell with the yield on the ten-year bond hitting a 14-month low just above 2.40%. some encouraging earnings from j.c. penney. they appear to be staging a solid come backe with shoppers and investors. they lost 75 cents a share but much less than the 93 cents that were forecast. revenues rose more than

expected, up 5% from a year ago on a boost in same store sales. investors bought up shares on word that the retailer said it expects current quarter sales to increase in the middle single digits. in after hours trading, jcp shares popped as much as 10% on the news and then pulled back. >> also, reporting after the bell, the upscale department store chain nordstrom and more good news there with nordstrom taking in 95 credibilients a sh. revenue was in line with the forecast, same store sales up 3.3%. shares higher in late trading after the bell but then the stock reversed course as you see on that graphic. >> some disappointing earnings news from the biggest retailer of them all, walmart. it said u.s. sales were flat and it cut the earnings guidance for the year blaming weak consumer spending and higher cost. but as courtney regan tells us, the company is focussing on initiatives to jump start

sluggish sales and profits. >> it could have been worse, walmart post another quarter of sluggish u.s. sales but better than anticipated. they are struggling to get shoppers into stores posting the seventh straight quarter of falling u.s. traffic. profit was in line with expectations for the quarter, for the world's largest retailer lowered the full-year guidance saying higher than expected health care costs for employees and increased commerce investment will weigh on results. >> the sales number is better than i think people were expecting and better than we were expecting and the costs are pretty much explicable by health care and e commerce investment and a bit by the overall economy. >> reporter: walmart sees despite continued economic challenges, the company is optimistic about the second half of the year, seeing bright spots in the smaller neighborhood stores which the company plans to open more of. walmart's online sales are a

bright spot for the company, though the retailer scaled back growth expectations from 30% to 25% for the full year and as the retail earnings spree continues, kohl's reported earnings that beat expectations but disappointed on same store sales hanging on to hope that fresh inventory for back to school will attract the ever so cautious consumer. for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan. and home foreclosures are on the rise again, foreclosure activity across the u.s. up 2% in july according to reality track, that is the first increase in four months but still way below the year ago level. mortgage rates ticked a bit lower. the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan was 4.12%, down from 4.14%. lending rates may move up and down, but the overall cost of homeownership is once again on the rise. it's not just the purchase price

or those mortgage rates. something else could be pushing your monthly payment higher. diana olick explains. >> reporter: if your home sits by the ocean, a top a fire prone canyon or even in a not so nice neighborhood, you probably know you're paying more for homeowners insurance but something closer to home may be driving your monthly payments higher, your personal credit score. >> insurance companies use credit scores because they found a statistical relationship between a consumer's credit score and the amount of claims and the severity of claims they file. >> reporter: homeowners with poor credit pay 91% more for homeowners insurance than people with excellent credit. homeowners with medium credit pay 29% more. one of the biggest insurers state farm do factor fico scores into the rate. there is an undeniable correlation between credit

information and insurance risk. she could not say how much in dollar terms, though, a poor credit scores could raise insurance. >> consumers need to understand not every insurance company is going to factor credit the same way. so while one insurer may factor it very heavily, another may not. >> reporter: the rate changes vary state to state. poor credit can boost your insurance by 185% in ohio, but three states, california, massachusetts, and maryland prohibit insurers from using credit scores to determine rates. credit scores and the added costs they can insure have been blamed for the still weak housing recovery, but some argue it's not credit holding housing back, it's cold hard cash. >> the reason why housing is so soft is because people don't make enough money. this economic recovery benefitted those with assets and the upper income level. real medium incomes have not recovered. >> reporter: until they do, credit will not recover fully,

either. for "nightly business report", i'm diana olick in washington. >> to read more how your credit can affect the price of your homeowners insurance, head to nbr.com. >> just ahead, we'll tell you where one sector of the u.s. work force freelancers are finding a healthy market for skills and experience. that's coming up. many states aren't collecting as much tax revenue as they used to. a study from the rockefeller institute found this spring revenues in 3 6 states out of 50 fell with a drop of 1% each, the

first quarterly drop in four years. most of the second quarter losses were due to a sizable drop in personal income taxes. how would you like flexible work hours and more control on who you work with? while millions of americans are doing just that and are part of the so-called freelance economy, it's big growing and popular with businesses trying to keep labor costs low. julia boorstin has more. >> reporter: new technology platforms are connecting americans with freelance work fueling an economy that accounts for $1.2 trillion of annual income. freelance startups tch every part of the economy. uber pay car owners to drive and top attorneys at lower rates and a home joyce screens house cleaners and anyone that can go to the grocery store can work for grocery service instacard. >> in a freelance capacity,

often times your time is spent trying to find jobs and less doing them. scripted make it easy to find a number of jobs in one spot and so you can get to actually writing. >> reporter: companies ranging from trip add vvisors to small businesses pay 50 to $1,000 to blog post. >> they can come to scripted and have the work flow taken care of in one central place, track the work, provide, request edits to the writer and they are guarantee the quality of the writing they get back. >> reporter: it's predicted this year 35% of non-government workers will be full or part time freelance projecting that number will go to 44% by the year 2020. the downside, freelance workers can suffer from the lack of benefits hilike health care. for people who need work and companies that need flexflexibi,

freelancing can be a win, win. >> they move to a project economy where they are interested in giving work out not as necessarily a position but project. >> reporter: without flexibility, companies can save money on overhead. instead of outsourcing overseas. for "nightly business report", i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. ups and fedex get the okay to expand in china and that's where we begin tonight's market focus. they received licenses that will get them extend their express package services to new cities in china. they have been waiting for this permission since 2009 because postal laws in china restricted foreign firms from delivering packages from aboard. shares of ups up slightly to 96.07 and fedex up to $149.64. general electric looking to shed another unit. the company is considering once again the sale of the appliance

division as part of the effort to stream line and focus on saling more of the more profitable industrial equipment. electro lux is a party interested in snatching up the unit. if it does, your ge washer will speak swedish. shares up at the close there. securities and exchange commission looking into the joint bid and activists investor bill ackman for allergan. regular lay tomorrows a-- investors are investigating. shares up to $155.60 and shares of amgen hit a record despite a bach of mixed news. the bio tech company released ki disappointing treatments and recalled a drug from the middle east but positive findings from another study are trumping the failure and according to a new

file, that helped push shares up 3.5% to $131.86. meanwhile, mirk got the okay for a new type of sleeping pill. the drug is designed to help people with insomnia to stay asleep. so if you're a k-cup lover get ready to pay more. green mountain is raising prices by 9% for the portion packs of coffee. it blamed the price hike on expensive coffee bean prices and rising cost for energy, packaging and transportation. shares rose slightly. coke and monster beverage are teaming up. coke took a 17% stake in monster worth more than $2 billion. the beverage giant will transfer the energy drink as part of the deal and monster will give coke the non-energy beverages. shares shot up by as much as 26% in after hours trading. during the regular session, the stock rose slightly to $71.65.

and it turns out burger king's satisfries didn't satisfy. they are scrapping the lower calorie, lower fat french fries. shares were unchanged at $26.42. the baseball world is waiting on the next commissioner, major league owners will decide between tom warner, the owner of the red sox and man fred who is the chief operating officer of mlb. whoever gets the top job has challenges of plenty awaiting him in this $8 billion-ish business. joining us to talk about it is bob bollen at new york university. welcome. good to have you with us. the votes are apparently going on today in baltimore. what are the prime challenges whoever wins this race face? >> three-fold. baseball has grown in revenue from approximately a $4 billion entity a year to almost a $9 billion entity this year but the fans have gotten older and it

faces increasing competition. whoever moves the sport forward will move it forward effectively, get it more popular with younger people and keep labor peace moving forward in the same direction so it remains the national past time. >> those are two really important issues. who do you think would be the better person to accomplish that? >> well, if i were thinking about the revenue, the three finalists are the chief of business operations might be the one who fits this prescription best. he has the lowest level of support and in many cases he and warner are tied together as almost a package to stop the favorite rob man ford the labor lawyer. >> baseball's television ratings have not kept up with other sports. in the middle of the world cup, the world cup was smacking baseball regularly. how big a challenge is that? how is the audience -- how do you build back the audience? >> baseball has a problem

because it has a unique product. 81 home games, all on television, so you really kind of testidive divide it. you bring back the post-season and fans can see it most effectively and that may not be on television. we're looking at a big change how we consume sports products. >> so look ahead, let's say ten years from now, how is this whole business of baseball and the sport of watching baseball going to change under the leadership of one of these guys? >> well, that's a really great question. i don't think we can necessarily tell. manford is running on peace and some on future ris m, the idea they understand the entertainment business, they understand how to make this game relevant to the next generation and with an all-star game average age at 53, baseball is

at a time to get it younger. >> how do you make the baseball stadiums a place where guys want to take girls out on dates, if they can afford to go? >> the last one is make sure there are prices we can get to so the sport doesn't go corporate and play games faster and provide more entertainment in the experience and keep your teams relevant and games relevant and that is a challenge all the way around. >> thank you very much. coming up, retiring baby boomers, they are watching baseball -- no, they are not. they are having fun and reshaping economics of the travel industry. the final series of ageing in america, right after this.

all this week in the ageing in america series, we told you about the impact an older work force and rapidly growing number of retirees is having on companies, the health care system and overall economy. in tonight's fourth and final segment, we take a look at the fun part of retirement and how many retirees are not exactly sitting still. robert frank has our story. >> ralph and karen jones are retired and enjoying every minute of it. the former new york teachers are like many boomers, more time on their hands and taking to the road, skies and sea. boomers spend over $150 billion a year on travel, which they rank as their top leisure activity. they take an average of four trips a year, but not just

looking for a lounge at the beach. around the world cruises, say fairies and cultural tours of remote islands top the list for today's retirees that wanted a venture and enlightenment in their globe trotting. >> what we've seen over the last 20 years is this huge shift in priorities from the accumulation of stuff to life experiences, and so it's quite frankly a lot of people are focussing on life experiences and travel as being one of the key, if not the key conduit for that. >> reporter: with prices coming down, you don't have to be rich. ralph and karen jones have spanned the globe. >> being able to set aside the money and say we're going to go on a cruise, we're going to go on a motor coach tour, we're going to go see different places, and being able to really go about the world. >> these are places that you read about or places that you might have seen on tv on the travel channel, and to actually have the opportunity to go there and experience that for yourself

is really a nice luxury to have. >> reporter: adults over 50 now account for up to 80% of luxury travel spending in america, so hotels, cruise lines, airlines and online travel sites are quickly adapting. boomers like multi generational travel with kids and grand kids, they like to volunteer when they are traveling and love the to bring home great stories. >> when we're on these trips, we usually run into people who are in our age group, mostly retired. you talk with some of them and they enjoy the traveling. a lot of times, they will talk to you about their friends who don't ever go anyplace and they are always sitting at home or they are still working and we just sort of have a little fun and say well, too bad for them. >> reporter: with the rising middle class and emerging markets, the luxury travel business around the world is likely to keep on booming. for "nightly business report", i'm robert frank. >> i'd like to go to any of

those places. >> i was going to ask what is on top of your list? >> i went to italy. >> you've not gone to china. >> i've not. >> you've got to get that. >> not on leisure travel. that's "nightly business report" for us, i'm susie gharib. this is a time of year your public television station seeks your support. >> i'm tyler mathisen, on behalf of your public television station, thank you for your support and we hope to see you back here tomorrow night.

captioning by vitac, underwritten by fireman's fund announcer: the following kqed production was produced in hi-definition. ♪ >> yes, "check, please!" people. >> it's all about licking your plate. >> the food is just fabulous. >> i should be in psychoanalysis for the amount of money i spend in restaurants. >> i had a horrible experience. >> i don't even think we were at the same restaurant. >> and everybody, i'm sure, saved room for those desserts.