this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> no time in wasting our time seeking reduction cuts. they will not happen. >> with those words from one of the most powerful players in the oil industry, prices fell taking stocks down along with them. back in the game, first time home buyers are starting to enter the housing market but some have to jump through hoops to get there. revving up. are you driving one of the best cars on the market? the results of the one of the most anticipated studies. tonight on sh"nightly business report" for tuesday, february 3 23rd. it took a few words to send oil prices lower today.

saudi arabia shattered all hopes that could bolster prices when he said point blank they're just not going to happen. oil prices had risen recently but they reverse course today settling down about 4.5%. the downward pool on oil pushed down stocks. the dow jones industrial average fell to 16,431. the nasdaq dropped 67 and the s&p 500 was off 24. bryan sullivan has more on the comments from the man who runs saudi arabia's oil business. >> reporter: the good news, don't anticipate gasoline prices to move higher any time soon. that's because oil is likely to stay allowlower for longer. a crowd was told today in houston that a coordinated production cut was not likely.

>> not many countries are going to deliver even if they say they will cut production. they will not deliver. there's no sense in wasting our time seeking production cuts. they will not happen. >> reporter: that comment made hed moved the market as disappointed traders sent oil prices lower. oil prices had moved up a bit on the talk that opec might make a coordinated production cut. so far that's all it's been, just talk. though the saudis and a few countries did agree to a freeze in production meaning keep level where is they are but not add to global production. keep in mind that freeze is a global record high. the saudi oil minister addressed the idea that his country was trying to put the shale oil boom out of business. >> let me say for the record again, we have not declared war on shale or on production from any given country or company.

>> a few heads in the audience did nod in agreement with the comment, a few others may likely disagree. they want the price of oil and oil stocks go down and the threat of more bankruptcies go up. for nightly business record in houston texas, i'm bryan sullivan. the ceo of jpmorgan said loans could cost the bank $3 billion. he said the bank has added 500 million to its reserves against possible loan losses. . that brings the total amount to cover potential energy losses to $1.3 billion. he added if crude prices stay at $25 for 18 months it may add an additional 1.5 billion to its reserve balance. they fell more than 4% in trading today. the fall in oil prices was part of the reason for the cent

stock market turbulence and that weighed on consumer confidence. a closely watched index dropped to a seven-month low in february. the conference board says consumers assessment of the labor market and business conditions declined earlier this month. consumers are feeling good about their homes as they continue to spend on home improvement projects. that helped home depot report better than expected earnings and sales. shares rose more than 1% making it one of the only dough components to see gains today. morgan has more on the company's strong quarter. >> reporter: home depot wrapping up a big year with a better than expected holiday quarter. they posted a nearly 10% rise in sales as americans continue to buy more products for home improvement products. the unseasonably warm weather helped with warm weather heading into christmas. they completed more out door

projects with pressure washers, mowers and decking. analysts note it was strong overall and would have been even if the weather had not been so mild. >> the consumer remains engaged due in part to the strength of housing but also to the strength of the economy, the labor market. it's also a reflection of what home depot is doing. >> reporter: the company was able to raise dividend by 17% and initiate a stock buy back program. many retailers have succomb to deep discounting. as consumer spend less on items like apparel and electronics. one of the few areas where the wind fall of low gas prices have translated to more consumer spending. that's helped home depot as well as competitors like lowes. >> they are gaining share at the expense of other players like the special league champion.

we think there's room for both home depot and lowes to do well within this category. the success is not mutually exclusi exclusive. manag expect benefit from u.s. economic growth. the ongoing housing market recove recovery, the retailer forecast home prices will rise 3.5% this year with strong housing turnover and household for medicati formation guiding the growth. i'm morgan brennan. toll brothers rang in a strong quarter. they reported better than expected revenue. the company said buyer traffic increased in the first part of february and that it expects higher demand in the key spring selling season. home price growth picked up at the end of last year. the latest data from the s&p

home price index shows prices rose about 5.5% in the 12 months and december.e h markets were o west coast with portland prices increasing more than 11% and san francisco and denver gaining more than 10%. sales of existing homes rose to a six-month high in january lifted in part by a rise in first time home buyers after being sidelined for much of the housing recovery so far, millenials are starting to enter the market and an improving employment picture. anna has more. >> reporter: they're still unpacking boxes but alex and melissa say they are already committed to their new atlanta home long term. >> to me, once we got married i just wanted our own place and something to call our own. you know, something where we could grow and have our own family. >> reporter: they've been married barely six months but the two attorneys began looking

for a home a year ago knowing that finding the right home and qualifying for a mortgage would both be tough. >> i think we knew that it would be a little bit difficult. i had no idea how intense the underwriting process is and how much they dig into everything in your life. >> reporter: obtaining a mortgage is the number one financial priority for millenials according to a new report, higher than retirement and health care. they may be getting married and starting families later than previous generations but the majority still want to be homeowners at some point. that meansqualifying for a mortgage. >> everyone is faced with the same hurdle. a lot of it is establishing credit. >> reporter: they helped alex and melissa to qualify for their 30-year fix. they're putting down 20% on the home, melissa had student loans. they had to take her off the mortgage. >> she still has ownership

possession in the house. he's not obligated on the note of mortgage. >> reporter: student loan debt and weekend growth are contributed to the low homeowner among millenials. they are finding that mortgages are available. the afford about and lack for sale that's both standing in their way. >> we saw this house at 8:00 that night. there were two offers in that day. >> reporter: they got the right house in the right location with the right schools but. >> we're the youngest people in the neighborhood. >> reporter: >> ralph talks about the housing market. >> good to see you. >> tell me where you think housing is now. we pointed out the shiller index

that points to significant increase in price mostly on the west coast. that doesn't seem to be a representative picture of where housing is now. >> we think the housing market is solid, actually. the flurry of today's report suggest while the housing market is solid in most dimensions, there are signs that consumers may be apprehensive about buying a home. it's great news for the real estate industry. they're making deals and lender who is are originating mortgages. prices are also up. good news, mostly good news for sellers which means they will be getting higher asking price for their home. not so great for buyers. the little bit of pessimistic news out of today's report is from the consumer confidence index. part of that index asks whether

or not americans will buy a home in the next six months. we saw a sharp drop in that number from 7.5% down to about 3.5%. we think that's a reflection of two things. one, jitters over the global economic outlook as well as decline in the u.s. stock market. second short inventory. it's tough to be optimistic about buying a home if there aren't a lot of homes to buy. >> which leads me immediately to my question. why is inventory so persistant l low. >> a larger share of homes are under water even though we are far removed. those existing owners are likely to put their home on the market. we think there may be a bit of

spreading going on. existing homeowner may want to put their home on the market but trade up homes they might buy are more expensive or out of their price range. we think it's why inventory is low. >> is it a good sign that millenials might be starting to get into the market? >> absolutely it's a good sign. they represent the largest share of potential home buyers in the country. half of new loan originations are for new home buyers. great news. that hasn't changed. the mortgage index is up a bit. >> on that note, that i think. en update on a story we reported yesterday. united technology says a merger with honeywell is not going to

happen. david favor said they held company talks. today favor spoke to the ceo. he confirmed an offer was made by honeywell but also explained why a deal won't get done. >> the bottom line said it will be irresponsible for us to pursue the merger because of the potential destruction in value, the distraction from what we're trying to do. we're in the process of invigorating utc. we have 7,000 orders. we're in the middle of a big rampb up in production. we'll be building a thousands of these engines in a couple of years. the thought of trying to distract everyone with a merger just doesn't make sense. especially a merger that's unlikely to occur. >> he said it's unlikely to occur because of antitrust scrutiny. honeywell says we don't see it

as a material obstacle to the transaction. the two cars that are way ahead of the competition, coming up. demonstrations in support of apple in its battle with the fbi are scheduled to take place across the country. earlier today one of the most n influential figures took part. >> reporter: the cyber privacy debate ricochetted around the world tuesday roping in the richest man in the world, the former head of nsa and even an infamous whistle blower. not all of them said what you'd expect.

the head of the nsa said he had a surprising change of heart on the balance between cyber privacy and cyber security. >> the world is changing. nsa has always had an offensive and defensive mission. we've always been challenged with balancing. my argument is the american political process needs to make a smart decision. the smart decision is not compelling these companies to have universal -- >> reporter: billionaire bill gates weighed into the debate over whether apple should be forced to create new software to allow the fbi access to the iphone of san bernardino terrorist. in a series of print and television interview, he appeared to part ways with some of the other tech ceos who have strongly backed am. with the right safeguards in place, he said the government shouldn't have to be completely blind to terrorists threats. >> the courts are going to rule and it will be gooded to have

that precedent. i think the people want the government to act on their behalf. >> reporter: that didn't impress nsa leaker edward snowden hiding from u.s. law enforcement in russia who tweeted breaking, rich man favors central authority. would they support compelling doctors to harm a patient. >> reporter: apple has until friday to respond to the court's order. they expect to fight back in a battle this could go to the supreme court. now to the race for second place. donald trump widely expected to win the nevada republican caucuses today. a question many are focused on is who will be the runner up. john harwood is following the story. how significant will trump's win be? >> it will be a significant win for donald trump. he will have won three of the first four states.

losing narrowly in iowa and you go to new hampshire, south carolina and nevada. all of that just sets up super tuesday, march 1st. somebody's got to knock him off. >> what about the second place race? that seems to be taking on increasing importance. >> i'm not sure about that, sue. there was a time early in the race when you shape and winnow the field of candidates but this is a point in the race where people, if they intend to defeat him need to stop running for second place and run for first. you can't finish in second place and go second all the way to the nomination. that's going to lead the first place guy lead of you. he's building lead in delegates. if he sustains that lead on march 1st in the super tuesday states, then when we go to march 1 15th, that means he'll get the

delegat delegates. >> let's talk about super tuesday. it's largely state in the south, not exclusively, but the big one is texas. does mr. cruz have to win texas to be viable? >> yes he does. just as john kasich could have to win ohio and marco rubio would have to win florida. ted cruz has to win his home state to be the viable alternative to donald trump. that's a big challenge. donald trump has so much national reach. he lead a lot in florida over rubio. leads a little over kasich in ohio. we haven't had a lot of good polling out of texas but ted cruz had got to make progress in headquarter a hurry. >> thank much. exciting times. . cold weather helps macy's fourth quarter reports. that where we begin. a chilly january grows strong

demand for boots and jackets to help lift sales. overall, profit and revenue fell for the year. something macy's ceo called disappointing. he said the company is exploring options for its real estate portfolio. >> there is value here. where i had stores in the past that i wasn't sure who might want them, i'm learning turn that over to experts and they will figure that out. people who do this for a living. i'm quite excited about the possibilities that we have to use our real estate to capture the value, but at the same time we're going to stay investment gray. we're not going to do anything crazy or short term here. >> shares gained 3% to 4231. viacom said it has been approached interested in buying a minority stake in paramount

pictures. computer storage company western digital said its lost a nearly $4 billion investment to a chinese company amid security concerns raised by the u.s. government. they would need to cut the offer price. shares of western digital fell more than 7% to 4277. shares of ptc therapeutics received a refuse to file letter. the fda says the application for the drug was not sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. shares lost more than 61%. they fell to $10.84. time incorporated reporting a deal to purchase a core business of yahoo. it comes after yahoo announced

they were putting core internet businesses up for sale. shares of time down 10%. yahoo lost more than 1.5%. consumer reports annual ranking of the best and worst auto brands shows the hottest models may not be so hot at least in the eyes of those who have tested dozens of cars, trucks and suvs. as phil reports, there's two auto brands that stood out as being way ahead of the competition. >> reporter: with americans buying a record number of new cars, trucks and suvs, consumer reports says testing of those new models shows a clear split between the best and worst brand. top picks this year include audi, subaru, lexus and bmw with consumer reports recommendsing 100% of the audi and subaru models it tested.

>> when you drive a subaru, they drive extremely well. they ride well. they handle well. they're reliable. they do have a lot of features including a lot of advanced safety features that really normally you only see in much higher priced cars. >> reporter: one reason some get high marks is whether or not they have collision avoidance systems which consumer reports recommend. the lowest rated autos are fiat, jeep and mitsubishi. consumer reports is blunt in talking about jeep. >> the reliability isn't very good. there are better vehicles out there. certainly there's the image, the styling. i admit the styling is very good. if you're looking for something deeper than that, it's not there. >> fiat says it respects consumer reports opinion but says it's working on improving

its model and fiat chrysler own internal reviews show the models are getting better. "nightly business report," chicago. coming up, premium pricing. why similar products for men and women can have very different price tags. same product, different price. according to a recent study women may more, a lot more over the course of the a lifetime than men will for similar items. dina takes a closer look at the so-called pink tax. >> reporter: most women love to shop, but did you know that female shoppers get charged more at the register than men. new york city's department of consumer affairs did a study that revealed across all the

industries that were surveyed, women paid more, 42% of the time for identical or similar products for those marketed to men. >> we looked at products that women would buy from the youngest age up to seniors. what this can mean is lit raler thousands of dollars. >> reporter: we decided to see for ourselves. going to pharmacies and searching the internet. yes, men's products seem to cost less. >> same product. same weight, same size. price. >> reporter: this study showed that for general toys, women paid 11% more. check out these boys versus girls shark helmets. they look almost the same. the one for girls cost 27.99 versus 14.99. these t-shirts look almost identical except in price.

girls pay a dollar more. well, at least these bladder guards are priced the same. there's a catch. look closely and you'll see the men comes with 53 pads but the women with only 39. >> these are issues of national concern. these are not concerns indigenous to only new york city. many of the products were national chains. we know this problem is existing in cities across the country. >> it cost for more a woman? >> uh-huh. >> that's terrible especially when women don't make as much. >> argue as the register. >> you're going to argue at the register. what are you going to say? >> don't charge me more because i'm a woman. >> as a woman we're used to that stuff. what can you do? >> in some cases this could be a positive for the brand to really come out and take a step forward and say we recognize that there's an issue. it's kind of an issue that frankly, has not been significant in the past.

we've taken a leadership role to ensure we respect our customers. it comes down to respecting your customers. >> we sent letters to the ceos oc of the 800 products we sampled. >> did they respond? >> no, they have not. >> not even one ceo, no one? >> they did not. >> it's all your fault. >> amazing. >> that's "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for watching. >> i'm tyler mathisen. we'll settle this later. have great evening, everybody. see you to.

>> rob on the road, chp, hoorah! >> coming up, the california state highway patrol cadet training academy opens its highly guarded gates for an intimate behind the scenes look at one of the most prestigious law enforcement training facilities in america. from firing range training... >> fire [sound of gunshot] >> to emergency vehicle operations. >> [sound of tires skidding] >> across this 457 acre west sacramento campus, the only one for all of california. >> march. >> and a poignant weekly ceremony to honor fallen chp officers. and they put me to the test. can i pass muster as a california highway patrol cadet? sorry, sorry, sorry... >> there's no sorry here, just do it. >> [sound of tires skidding] >> aww, gosh, you didn't tell me that [laughter]. >> if i had told you, you wouldn't want me to do it.