this is "nightly business report" funded if part by . 43rd record. that's the time the s&p 500 closed at a new high this year. tonight we'll hear from the chief second largest pension fund how he is investing in this market. key vote for keystone. the senate in a test of political power and progresstives fail to pass the controversial pipeline. but the debate for business and environmental interests is sure to rage on. we'll sort it out for you.

home wheat home. why some say the future is right for home depot, despite mounting costs from the data breach. we have that and more tonight on the "nightly business report" for tuesday, november 18th. >> good evening, everyone, thanks for joining us. baby, it is cold out there across much of the country. not on wall street the market is still smoking hot as the dow and s&p rose to fresh all time highs again today. the health care sector got a lot healthier. home building confidence grew after policy makers in japan and europe signalled they're ready to stimulate as needed. here's how things looked at the closing bell t. dow is 40 points off the highs of the session, but if you have to notch the index's 26th record close of the year. >> that, in fact, was up 31 points, it is now less than 350 points away from it's all time high from the year of 2000, march of that year to be precise. the s&p 500 after five

consecutive days moving one-tenth of 1% broej out for its 43rd record close of the year. more now on wall street's optimism over japan. prime minister abe announced game changing decisions aimed at lifting his nation's economy dipped into a recession last quarter. we have more from tokyo. >> reporter: japanese prime minister shinzo abe announced he is raising the consumption tax from 5 to 8%. that decision was originally scheduled to take place in october of next year, the prime minister saying he has delayed that plan another 18 months. so april of 2017, given the recent weak economic data. gdp out earlier this week shows japan is technically in session. the prime minister says the economy is not strong fluff to weather another consum slun tax hike. at the same time, the prime minister announced that he will be dissolving parliament later

this week on the 21st, which means the election will be held sometime next month. most analysts believe that date will be december 14th. now, tech nextally, the prime minister can postpone a decision on the tax hike and not call for snap elections. that's why many of the political analysts have said that this decision was an attempt by the prime minister to solidify power within his own lbt party, some of whom may be opposed to the structural forum he has tried to embark on over the last two years and tried to roll out the economics phase. so this election was expected on december 14th. the opposition is not a viable threat at this point. but some political watchers say it is possible that the ruling lbt might lose a super majority in the parliament that holds on to majorities that it holds in japan. that's the latest from japan. back to you. >> thank you. tyler. while japan battles to get

out of recession, a warning today the euro zone may be headed into one. it's third since 2008. that's from the chief economic standard & poors who said they are in danger of a triple digit dip unless the central bank buys up sovereign bonds like our federal reserve did here in the u.s. yesterday as we reported right here on nbr, europe's prime banker mario draghi said he was ready for conventional tactics. there are some good investment opportunities in japan. the chief investment officer for the california state teacher's retirement system. chris, it's nice to have you with us. let's start talking about japan. i understand you recently upped your investments in japan by quite a lot. tell us why you see opportunity there and should individual investors put some of their money in japan stocks? >> we think japan will be

interesting in the region. it has really stagnated and as you just reported, the economy is in very soft shape. but we think it has an opportunity to advance going forward, better than the u.s. does. but i would caution people they really need to hedge back to the u.s. dollar and hedge the yen exposure. >> what about europe, are you taking any nibbles there, yes, sir? >> you know, timer, we are taking nibbles from the distressed and bank loans. so areas that the average investor can invest in, they're more private transactions. i wouldn't be very aggressive yet in some of the broad index funds across europe. >> it's interesting that you said that you are, you know, investing in japan, because we have more opportunities there than in the u.s. we just reported that more records in the stockmarket, the s&p, the 43rd records of this year, what is your thinking about the outlook for u.s. stocks? >> well, what you have to understand, susie, in our portfolio, we have a very large exposure already to the united

states, over $70 become. so we're going to hold that as our baseline exposure and when we're allocating taking the cash that we have from the start of our fiscal year and investing it, that's when we are looking for opportunities. we think the u.s. market still has some legs behind it. the tame winds behind the market are slowing down. obviously, the fed stimulus is coming off, corporate earnings are a little tougher. stock buy backs, we think the marks still have some advance. there aren't any head winds yet. we think the u.s. is a good pla is to invest. >> as a percentage of your total funds assets, what does that 70 billion represent? is it 70%, 60%? what? >> tyler, the u.s. to get complicated, it is 70% of our global equity portfolio, which is about 55% of our portfolio, but in big terms, the u.s. really represents about two-thirds of our portfolio on investment, only about one-third. >> how much of that u.s. equity portion is index funds and would

you recommend a similar approach for individual investors, in other words, if you are 80% index, should the average investor similarly be 80% in there? >> yeah, absolutely. our portfolio in the u.s. is 70% index. we followed the rusz el 3,000 index. we very strongly encouraged that for the average investor. there have been numerous studies recently worked out of m.i.t. and harvard that show that active managers will beat the market but net of fees and net of transaction costs, they actually trail the market. so the average active manager has a real tough time in this time period. we think investors should take advantage of getting market and safe returns. >> you said 70% in the russell 3,000. what about the remaining three third? >> the remaining tlirld is active. it mirrors the russell 3,000. we use active management when it comes to small cap management. we think that can add value and has shown over time and then we do invest with a few activists

investors that are trying to go if and clang the corporate governance of companies and improve them over the long term. >> anyone in particular? >> we have invested with nelson peltz and relational. we do not invest with some of the people who have tended to grab headlines. we want to do it from a more constructive way to try and help companies improve rather than go to battle against companies. >> fascinating conversation. thank you so much. >> a milestone vote in the senate. a bill that would resume construction of the long delayed keystone xl pipeline bringing crew from the oilsands of canada through the u.s. refineries along the gulf coast has failed. not only would it test the president's political power but one that will put a spotlight on which branch of government has the green light the project. the issue is far, far, far from over. john harwood joins us from washington. john, the senate has just voted down the measure.

it fell one vote shy, apparently, of what is needed. what happened? and what happens next? >> what happened was mary landrieu was scouring her colleagues, trying to get that 60th vote. all 45 republicans voted in favor, 14 democrats, including mary landrieu were in favor as well. that got to 59 and she went over, went after people like angus king, the independent from maine. chris kunitz from delaware. tom harkins from iowa. dick durbin, the senate, leadership from illinois. all the potential prospects but they gradually have been coming in and saying, no, i'm not going there, jay rockefeller, the outgoing senator from west virginia as well and what happens next is republicans are going to bring it back up early next year. mitch mcconnell says that right after the vote. i expect they will have 60 votes then. >> so what happens to this

pipeline? is the government eventually going to okay it? >> i believe so, sue susie. i think first of all they will have the votes in the new congress. then the presidential, if he has not finished the administration review, he could veto the bill and look to republicans to make some sort of a deal when the review is taking place or make a deal with him at that time. republicans have been pushing the keystones for a couple of years. the presidential isn't really against it. but he's on the fence about it, not particularly in favor of it, either. so he may try to make some sort of bar begin with them for infrastructure money or some other concession. we'll see if they can strike a deal. >> was this all a surprise, john? >> it wasn't a surprise. after the momentum the republicans had in the mid-term election. the fact that harry reid scheduled this vote to try to give mary landrieu who is trying to save her seat from a runoff in a couple weeks, made you think perhaps the votes were there to give mary landrieu what

she is after. now she's empty handed. she was unable to push this across the line. her republican aponte bill cassidy from louisiana sponsored the house bill which passed, so he is already out with a statement saying, i delivered, she could not. >> all right, john harwood, thanks very much, john reporting from washington. we turn to news about the economy. inflation picked him up a little in october. at least at the wholesale level. producer prices rose .2 of 1% newscast month, mostly because of autos, form suit cals and food. the government report on consumer prices is due out on thursday. more now on that rally on the home builder inf. the national association of home builders reports that expectations for future sales and buyer traffic, both improved last month. those two measures improved the sentiment index close to a nine-year high. one company that benefit from a strong housing market is home depot. the home improvement retailer

found profits an sales rise. but investors are still concerned that the chain can't yet account for all the possible losses from a recent massive credit card data breach. home depot shares were the deepest decline in the dow today falling 2%. courtney reagan has more on home depot other than e earnings and what is next for the retailer. >> reporter: the toward's largest home improvement retailer turning amix third quarter. analysts aren't worried. they missed expectations by a penny as the retailer try is to determine the total cost of the recent data breach. revenues matched estimates. sales at u.s. stores opened a year grew by nearly 6%. >> i'd say there aren't many retailers right now putting up a combination of growth in store traffic, growth in all lines, growth margin advantage and these are all factors were featured in home depot's report. we think that's good news. >> reporter: while the housing

market certainly has some level of recovery, there is data to suggest it may be slowing. home depot's new ceo craig mennier says the company sees improvement in the u.s. home price and home turnovers as drivers of growth. home depot accounted for $28 million in expenses related to the data breach, hackers stole details from 56 million payment cards and 53 million e-mail addresses. however the ultimate costs will likely be millions more t. pay for individuals working around the clock on fixing this problem hasn't yet been captured and the company disclosed 44 lawsuits filed as a result of the breach. fortunately for home depot, the shoppers appear to be less scarred tan shoppers at target after the discounter announced a breach late last year. in fact, home depot is pleased with results so far this month. >> the company remarked that they saw impressive results in

november to date and that suggested or at least over the last two weeks, consumers have been out feeling confidence spending. i think that probably bodes well for the holidays. >> reporter: the largest seller of christmas trees in the world says it's ready for the season, stocked with gift seasons and holiday decor. for "nightly business report," i'm courtney reagan. money has been pouring into the consumer staples segment. not all groups are equal. find out which munn ones or more equal than the other. unn ones o equal than the other. nn ones or equal than the other. ones or m ones or the sudden burst of wiptry weather is creating problems for

drivers and cities on the streets. on the heels of last year's long and snow which winter, municipalities are facing a one-two punch of road salt shortage and much higher prices for the road salt they can find. >> road salts aren't the only things going up. so are household staples, kitchens hit an all time high today. which companies have moved up the most and what is next for some selected sectors and some stocks in it? >> reporter: they may not be the sexiest stocks, be you the staples are stable. after lacking a broader market all year the sector is 3% higher this month. the top gainer in the s&p 500. the biggest winners, whole foods, archer daniels mid-lands and morning lease and wal-mart all boosted solid earnings. >> i think it will be improving, particularly related to those factors. >> reporter: experts note these

are more expensive stocks with decent dividends. >> that have made them more attractive relative to bond himself. now the sector now looks expensive. investors would do well to take stocks individually. analysts expect a vonn and estee lauder to surge and chocolate maker hershey might sweeten the portfolio. >> for the kind of growth next year and increase in earnings, i could see it happening. i think it represents a value for what is a high return business. >> reporter: companies favoring millennials, monster beverage and whole foods all of which have been outperforming more established players like coca-cola, and safeway. all of these consumer companies do face head winds, particularly from a stronger u.s. dollar. from wal-mart to costco to kelloggs, many are already negatively impacted by currency. still, experts aren't too worried just yet.

after all, as long as there are kitchen sinks, that es companies will have products underneath them. for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan. sun edison is adding some wind, fuel poeer to its business. the company and its subsidiary terra form power, rather, are buying tightly held first winds for almost $2.5 million. they develop and operate wind chimes across the u.s. sun edison evolve power plants. shares surged today. some up 29%. terra form rose almost 27%. med tronnic posted revenues that match estimates. the medical device maker says it's full year revenue will come in at the upper end of its forecast. separately the company says it plans to buy island based rival covidian in a deal to cut the u.s. tax bill. tjs company, this is a

parent of tj maxx, marshalls and home gods, it missed expectations and lowered its full year outlook. it blamed unusually warm weather for the sales. still shares rose 10 cents to 61.64. dick's says it rows in the quarter because of hunting gear. it met wall street estimates. same store saelz rose less than expected and sent shares down a fraction. astrazeneca updated investors, the drug maker is betting on new cancer drug to help drive long-term revenue growth that expects to bring six drug to the market in 2020. >> that is up, la-z boy, my favorite chairs posted better than expected second quarter. >> that sent shares initially higher. the furniture company hiked its quarterly dividend by 33% to 8 cents a share.

the stocks spiked right after that announcement. politicos shares declined. a ruling today about which federal agency regulates the use of drones. this half-more than a million of them have been sold world wide in the past two years. the national transportation safety board ruled that unmanned remote control drones as well as model planes are types of aircraft. so they fall under the jurisdiction of the federal aviation administration. >> those drones may have a lot of company in the skies. a standoff in contract talks at the port of los angeles and long beach has turned into a boone for the air charter business. >> reporter: the situation at the nation's largest sports complex is going from bad to worse. >> it's the whole economy. not only would i, the customer, for the deliverers, for everybody. >> reporter: bargaining between

the people who run the shipping companies and the people who move their goods has been going on for months, leading to long delays at the most important time of the year for retailers. >> of the $22 billion in annual retail sales, half of those occur within the fourth quarter. in fact, 45% of toy sales happen in the five weeks leading up to christmas. >> adding to the congestion, truckers are causing strikes. one city's pain is another gain. retailers are shipping some goods by air for about ten times the costs. air cargo rates have already been on the rise due to higher demand. the toy association says shipping a container by sea can cost $6,000 by air $60,000. atlas air, which has the largest fleet of freight 747s had seen double digit growth before the slow down. >> we seen the market increase

25 or 30% on very short notice. >> reporter: it seems increasingly unlikely santa will arrive in the form of a mediator to settle the court dispute and unclog the backlog in time for the holidays, making it a very merry christmas for those with airborne sleighs. coming up, want to know the best places in the world to launch a start-up? the answer may surprise you as global entrepreneurs week starts in full swing. safety regulators are calling on auto makers to issue a nation wide recall of those

takata airbags. it's based on new information surrounding an incident in north carolina and expands the original recall that had been regional t. head of the national highway traffic administration says if takata and car makers fail to work with the agencies, it will make them do so. the chief of quality is scheduled to appear in front of a senate panel thursday. here's a report that might infuriate a lot of taxpayers. seven of the largest corporations in the u.s. paid more money to their ceo, over $17 million on average than they paid uncle sam in federal taxes last year. all of that is according to a new study by two think tanks. they say the seven companies took in more than $74 billion in combined pre-tax profits, actually came out ahead on their taxles by nearly $2 billion. the companies are falling, ford, chevron, citigroup, verizon, general motors, which has

already disputed the report. global entrepreneurship. it is a world wide campaign designed to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. it comes at a time when many companies are looking for innovative ways to jump start growth and jobs. the initiative is taking place in countries and coincides two a relief of an index that measures global start-up activity. kate rogers is here with the index, why it is grabbing people's attention. kate the bottom line question here, where is the best place to do a start-up? >> of course, it's us here in the u.s. no surprise t. u.s. took the top spot followed by canada, australia and the united kingdom. the regions seeing the fastest growth are what caught my eye in the survey. it's the middle east and north africa, despite the political turmoil they face and the country with the most start-up growth year over year is iran. >> so no go china. >> not on the list. >> not in the top spots at all. >> what about who is starting the companies? are they men, women, older

adults? are they millennials? >> being a young woman, i was happy to hear it is will and millennials, which is interesting. you look at a place like iran, youth unemployment is 24%. the year that millennials are leading the goal, global revolution i think is a positive sign. >> so, the u.s., despite all the things we hear about how it's so hard, there are so many regulatory hurdles, the tax structure isn't, we're still in the lead? >> we are still number one, it's good to hear. we absolutely are. >> how are attitudes changing globally for entrepreneurship, if countries like iran are state controlled and are hot beds, that would suggest a big clang? >> the index was certainly more positive than it has been in recent years. the measured activity in 130 countries. attitudes are certainly warming. more people are excited and inspired to be their own bosses, which is fantastic.

globally, with reonly at 52 pshs of our entrepreneurial capacity. meaning we still have about 50% left to go. it's exciting to see what will happen next year. >> thank you. >> a lot more innovation. finally tonight, a new ranking of the most generous countries in the world. a group walled u called the world giving index, looked at donation amount, time spent volunteering and whether people were willing to help strangers. here's what they found, in 5th place, new zealand, 4th ireland, number three, canada. tied for the top spot of the most generous country in the world, well, the u.s., believe it or not, myanmar. apparently, tyler, that country has a history of charitable giving, which is part of their buddhist tradition. >> americans i think are the most giving people in the world, really, we help whenever there is a crisis around the world, we jump in big time. >> absolutely. well, that's the "nightly business report" for tonight.

thanks for joining us. >> have a great evening, everybody. wayne will expect to see you right back here tomorrow night. . >> the nightly business report has been funded in part by. you can learn more at the street.com/nbr. [ music playing ]

the following kqed production was produced in high definition. this time on "spark" -- first, the women of "kitka" preserve and celebrate the rich vocal traditions of eastern europe. next, the mixed-media work of santa cruz artist victoria may is inspired by the intricate process of custom dressmaking. then, a look at how local artists are surviving the recession, and what we might be able learn from the historic wpa programs of the '30s. next on "spark." major support for "spark" is provided by --