this is "nightly business report." with tyler mathisen and sue herera. huge beat. amazon crushes earnings estimates, reporting its fourth straight profitable quarter as its heavy investments start to pay off. he's out. influential investor carl icahn exits his entire position in apple. sending shares and the broader market lower. picasso. renoir. polak. warhol. bacon. chaga chagall. on great collections of modern art few have seen before, until now. hidden in the heart of iran. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursd good evening, everyone, and

welcome. a blow-out quarter from amazon that few curve predicted. the online retailing powerhouse continued to drive along to get people the items they want at their doorstep when they want them. and its efforts are paying off. more customers joined its prime loyalty program and revenue jumped in its cloud services businesses. look at the numbers. amazon reported earnings of $1.07 a share, estimates were almost half that fay cents a share. sales of $29 billion were 28% higher than a year ago surpassing not only wall street estimates but amazon's own forecasts and as for shares, they took off. initially in after-hours trading, there is a chart of them. josh lipton has more on amazon's strong results. >> reporter: $1.1 billion. that was a big number in amazon's earnings release. it refers to the operating income that amazon reported for the first quarter, and it was way above analyst estimates.

aaron kessler of raymond james says that number proves two points. one, amazon candle straight leverage when it wants to. also, the company is bouncing its significant investments in everything from fulfillment centers to prime video with margin expansion. their worry with amazon, at least among investors, whether there was enough margin in the model. this report, kessler says, would suggest margins can be much more mean term. for "nightly business report," i'm josh lipto >> but it was not a good day for another well-known tech name. after an influential investor said he was out of apple. carl icahn sold his entire position in the stock. and that caused shares to tumble and pressured the broader market. it's an about-face for icahn who about a year ago said the company could be worth more than $1 trillion. in an interview on cnbc he said the world's most valuable company has an uncertain future in china and he's concerned.

>> we don't want to have a position in apple. to start, i think tim cook did a freight job, i have a great relation with him. i called him this morning to tell him that and he was a little sorry, obviously. but i told him i think it's a great company. >> after those comments the damage was done. the dow jones industrial average dropped 210 points to 17,830 apple the worst performer off 3%. the nasdaq fell 57 points. the s&p 500 was off 19. >> it wasn't just apple that weighed on stocks today. a big disappointment out of the bank of japan overnight sent some global markets lower. many expected japan's central bank to take further steps to stimulate that country's tepid economy. in the end it did nothing. as bob pisani reports, the market is still vulnerable to central bank movements. >> reporter: bank of japan declined to introduce new stimulus measures overnight, sending the nikkei index down

3.6%. it's been a rough year for the japanese market with the nikkei down 12% year to date as bank of japan's stimulus measures have had only limited success. >> auto companies like toyota and honda, for example, down 3% to 4%. the weak innocence japan initially spilled over into europe, but the markets there turned around and most of the major exchanges there ended in the green. same in the u.s. with the broad market sound at the open, it quickly turned around at positive news from facebook helped tech and social media. oil turned positive. by midday energy stocks were in the green. then it all fell apart a little after 2:00 p.m. after carl icahn made his comments about exiting apple's stake. for "nightly business report," bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. joe durand joins us to talk more about what's going on in this market and what you should do about it. he is ceo and founding partner of united capital financial advisers. good to see you, joe, welcome back. >> nice to be back.

>> you say one of the issues is there's no growth anywhere in the world, even here in the u.s.? . >> i think we're in a growth recession worldwide. what you're seeing is i think a healthy tortoise but we're a tortoise and it's very slow, steady, boring growth. not enough top-line growth in our gdp that's causing a lot of struggles for companies to generate top-line revenue growth. and they're being punished if they don't, like apple, or rewarded handsomely, like amazon, if they are. that's translating across the globe. there's a lot of concern the central banks have done everything they can and they're not able to create real gdp growth which can translate into revenue growth for corporations. >> so we had a guest on earlier today by the name of icahn who said he thought, to address your question of the central banks having done what they can do, he thought big stimulus was called for. do you think that?

>> i think it is but it won't happen. i think when you look at the balance sheets of all of these countries around the world, they just don't have the appetite or ability. so what they're doing instead is continuing to drive down their currencies, keep interest rates artificially low. what we're seeing is it's not imimpacting the economy and we're out of bullets. i think an understanding we're going to have very low interest rates for very long and really volatile markets with not as high a rate of return for the foreseeable future. that's something that people need to adjust their thinking for that they're going to have to need to work longer, they're going to need to save more, they should expect more volatile returns on their portfolios because without growth, the range of outcomes become a lot higher. we are quite fully valued today. so you need to be careful. >> did you do have a longer-term time horizon, how do you put money to work in this market? what are the best strategies for someon >> first you must own u.s. stocks. because they are the safest.

while not as rewarding as in the past, the best place to invest. you want to earn big companies, because they're the most flexibility on balance sheets. right now interest rates going up some, they have the ability to take advantage of that. they can borrow cheaply. small companies have less latitude. you want companies that are global because growth is coming from emerging markets more than the u.s. they can take advantage of that. so we are still -- prefer larger companies, dividend payers so that you get paid while you wait, and expect that it's going to be more volatile. so adjust your portfolio to get ready for higher levels of volatility and to 15% declines once a year at least. >> all right, on that note, joe, thank you very much. joe durand with united capital financial advisers. a trio of health care deals today wasn't enough to lift the market overall. the largest medical device maker abbott labs' purchase of st. jude medical for $25 billion, the largest deal of the day.

buying a cancer drug startup and sanofi making an offer for the biotech company medevation. meg terrell has the details and why there may be more deals to come. >> reporter: not bad for a thursday. three deals or potential deals totally more than $40 billion were announced in the health care space. some wonder if it spells a turnaround for the sector's recent woes. >> if you've looked at biotech values they're down 35% off the top in the last six to eight months on political rhetoric. asset prices have come down and become a lot more attractive. >> reporter: the biggest health care deal of the day, abbott laboratories' $25 billion fur of st. st. jude medical. abbott cardiovascular service and st. jude together will of that revenue of more than $8.5 billion. the company says it's expanding in the area as 40% of american adults are projected to have some form of card vascular disease by 2030. more dailies could be in the offing.

>> i think this is going to trigger a lot more consolidation in med tech space as companies try to compete with j&j, which has long been the dean of the immediately, and medtronic now is a very broad portfolio. i think some of the high-quality mid-sized companies are going to be looking for opportunities. >> reporter: abbott labs' stock fell thursday in part over concerns st. jude has been losing market share to medtronic. abbott wasn't the only company buying. its spinout advee announced a deal for cancer startup stemc t stemcentrics. investors in the biotech are eligible to receive additional if certain milestones are met. french giant sanofi offered an unsolicited offer for san francisco's medevation who makes a prostate cancer drug which drew nearly $2 billion in 2015 revenue.

medevation stuck traded above the offer price signaling investors think a higher bid may materialize. according to credit sweet, anna fee may not be the only one interested. cellgene, roche, and astrazeneca could all take a look. all the deal affidavit gave a boost to biotech valuations across the board. nor "nightly business report," i'm meg terrell. dreamworks and comcast made it official. last night we told you two companies were close to a deal. today they confirmed they are getting together in an acquisition worth $3.8 billion. comcast is the parent company of cnbc, which produces this program, and it says it expects to receive regulatory approval and the purchase will help comcast grow its film, television, and theme park products. shares of dreamworks up more than 24%. comcast slipped. and there was one more, oracle agreed to buy cloud service provider texttura for

over $660 million. the deal expands oracle's offerings for the construction and engineering industries by helping contractors manage large projects. shares of textura soared over 30%, oracle down 1.25%. new data on the economy which grew at its slowest pace in two years during the first three months of 2016. the economy recorded growth of .5%, a bit less than expected. consumer spending slow, exports fell, business investment declined. but many experts believe the economy will bounce back in the current quarter. the number of americans filing for new unemployment benefits rose last week but to levels still considered historically low. initial claims for jobless benefits, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 9,000. that basically matched expectations. the report is indicative of a healthy labor market. a major vulnerability in the global financial system may have been exposed. as we reported, hackers were able to steal hundreds of

millions of dollars from the bangladesh government account held at the federal reserve bank of new york. and now we're hearing from a new york fed executive. emoney javers spoke to him exclusively and he joins us this evening. >> reporter: the new york ted official told steve liesman and me that the fed is taking this issue very seriously and cyber security at banks arountsed world that the fed transacts with is "critical to the stability of the global financial system." in february crooks got into the computer systems at the bank of bangladesh and requested 35 transfers of nearly $1 billion out of the bank's account at the new york fed. in new york, systems blocked some of those transfers. but ended up releasing $81 million to accounts in the philippines and sri lanka. some of that money was sent on to casinos in the philippines and converted to chips on the gaming tables there. authorities still don't have any idea who stole all that money.

despite that blazen heist, the fed official told us that the fed has no control over cyber security at the global banks it does business with and that means there's potentially an enormous amount of money at risk, as many as 250 central banks and entities around the world have accounts at the new york ted. that totals about $3 trillion in assets. roughly $80 billion is wired into and out of those accounts every day, officials say, and that staggering pool of money represents a rich and tempting target for cyber thieves. but if those cyber thieves do strike, the new york fed says it does not have to tell anybody about it. the official said there's no law or regulation that requires the fed to reveal that heists have occurred. steve liesman and i asked if there have been other cyber thefts like the bank of bangladesh heist and the official replied that there have not been in a central bank context. but the official and the fed spokesperson declined to respond to several questions about

whether accounts that private banks hold at the new york fed have ever been victimized. still some open questions here. >> this reads like a spy novel. it's amazing. but don't they have to report cyber theft from the fed? or not? >> that's what we thought going into this. steve and i were both surprised when we asked this fed official and he said no, there's no rule or regulation that requires them to report it to anybody if there's a cyber theft out of an account at the new york fed. with $3 trillion sitting in those international accounts, that's a lot of money. as we know, bank robbers go where the money is. >> is there no central bank authority anywhere in the world, or why can't the fed of new york tell banks whose security they don't trust, you've got to tighten up or you can't do business with sinus. >> reporter: ultimately there is none. that's part of the fact that this is a global disbursed system. these are independent central banks around the world that have banking relationships with the new york fed. the fed sends them guidance and

requirements for cyber security but in their own boiler plate they also say that each of these central banks around the world have to use its own judgment for what it considers to be good cyber security. so ultimately no, there's no way for the fed to force these other banks to adopt different cyber security standards than what they've got going. when you're dealing with 250 different countries around the world, that's a lot of different places where hackers can potentially get in. >> very scary stuff, emoney, thank you very much. 8 money javers in washington. there's more to read about cyber security and the fed, nbr.com. in smog-ridden china, drivers are shifting gears to electric cars. >> china is getting plugged in behind the wheel. i'm phil lebeau in shenzhen, china, with a profile of the largest electric vehiclemaker in this country and what the future looks like for the electric vehicle in china. that story coming up.

an adid you want resignation at price line. the online travel company ceo darren houston left the company after an internal investigation found he had an improper relationship with an employee. the investigation concluded that houston broke the company's code of conduct. the company says his resignation is not related to his operational or financial performance. ford reported record profits easily beating wall street

estimates. net income more than doubled because of strong demand for trucks and suvs as well as low gas prices. the automaker had its most profitable quarter in europe since 2008. ford's ceo says demand is healthy worldwide. when we look at the markets around the world, here in the u.s. for example, the macro economic fundamentals point to a very healthy market and a very healthy industry that we have right now that we could see for the next couple of years, barring any kind of fiscal or policy shock. >> ford shares today up more than 3% in a down market. the largest maker of electric vehicles in china is pushing to triple sales this year. it's one more sign that the world's second-largest economy is becoming the stra of the global race to get more people behind the wheel of an all-electric car. our phil lebeau has our story from shenzhen, china. >> reporter: han just bought his first car ever. an electric crossover complete

with a $15,000 rebate from the chinese government. >> translator: i think it's pretty exciting because you don't need to worry about gas price anymore. and the electricity price is always stable. >> reporter: incentives for buyers have helped china become the world's largest market for electric vehicles. easily outpacing the u.s. with many of china's electric vehicles built in shenzhen by the company byd. it's easy to see why chinese consumers who want an electric car would buy a byd. byd is the largest electric vehiclemaker in this country with designs on becoming much larger. >> by 2020, there will be 5 million electrical vehicles running in china. so that particular year, 2020, there will be 10% of the new sales cars will be electrical. >> reporter: occasionally you see teslas in china but not many. because they're imported and

have hefty tariffs. but for as much as china's government wants to cut pollution levels by having more people drive electric cars, there are challenges. including finding places to recharge electric cars in congested cities. >> chinese consumers generally live in large apartment complexes. not in standalone homes where they can more easily have a charging solution. so one of the conundrums for a potential liar of an ev is, where do you charge it? >> reporter: not a concern for han, who is part of china's charge to lead the world in electric vehicles. phil lebeau, "nightly business report." >> to read about the push for electric cars in china, head to nbr.c >> v executives despite being embroiled in the emissions cheating scandal are optimistic and believe the automaker is ready to turn the corner. the german company predicts strong financial results despite

setting aside $18 billion to fund the recall of millions of dollars and to take care of those legal claims. aetna tops expectations. that's where we begin tonight's "market focus." rising premiums and better than expected enrollment in the health insurer's public exchanges helped lift results. even with the strong growth the company only expects to break even on its affordable care act business. ceo mark bertolini said changes still need to be made. >> we need a broader population to join so we need younger people to join. we need more of the uninsured to join. we need a different set of products, more ratings flexibility, a broader range of rates for people to buy from, and more markets that we have strong lower cost control to offer products on an affordable base. >> shares up a fraction to 114.63. strong sales at cardinal health pharmaceutical and medical helped the company beat revenue and earnings estimates despite the decent results the

company narrowed its earnings forecast for the year as cardinal works to expand its portfolio of medical products. that sent shares down 9% to 78.51. gnc's ceo called his company's results unacceptable. the health and wellness retailer reported a drop in revenue and lowered its financial outlook for the rest of the year. the company says gnc's turnaround plan is taking longer than expected. shares fell nearly 29% to 25.32. news on two big pharmaceutical companies is showing payouts to shareholders. johnson & johnson raised its quarterly dividend in nickel to 80 cents per share. pfizer declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents. it is the 310th consecutive pay by pfizer. shares were down slightly. u.p.s. saw a 10% rise in quarterly income while also seeing revenue gains. the company reaffirmed full-year guidance with the company ceo highlighting one segment in

particular. >> what really is driving u.p.s. right now is e-commerce and the features of service that we've added over the last years to enable e-commerce to be more efficient. in fact, if you look at our results, our cost per piece is coming down. and we're really creating great economics for e-commerce today. >> on the day, u.p.s. fell about 1.5% to 104.91. commodity prices continue to weigh on conoco phillips, issuing another quarterly loss. the results still manage to top wall street estimates. cuts in deep-water exploration activity prompted cot to cut its 2016 capital spending by 11%. shares down about 1% today at 47.67. linkedin reported a 35% increase in revenue aided by strong demand for the company's hiring services. as a result the professional networking company beat both earnings and sales forecasts. shares initially popped in

extended hours trading following the news they finished the regular session up 3.5% at 123.01. coming up, behind closed doors. a rare look at a modern art collection hidden in an unlikely place. iran. an update on the strike at verizon. one of the largest u.s. strikes in years. the company says it presented a final contract proposal for the unions representing the 40,000 striking workers. verizon offering a wage increase of 7.5%. it had offered 6.5% over the term of the contract. workers walked off the job on

april 13th. we all know that iran has a lot of oil. but it also has a lot of art. very expensive art hidden away from public view -- until now. michelle ka roos sa cabrera is in tehran with the story of how it got there. >> reporter: the tehran museum of contemporary art sits on a busy street. on the walls inside hang works by famous iranian artists. the spiral inside might remind you of the guggenheim in new york. it leads to the museum's basement which holds a secret treasure. behind this door, one of the greatest collections of modern art in the entire world. picasso. renoir. polak. warhol. bacon. chagall. just to name a few. rows and rows hidden away. the pieces were collected in the late '70s by queen sarah pelavi, wife of the shah of iran. when revolution swept the

country in 1979, she and the shah escaped -- the great works of art stayed behind. the collection has been kept in the basement since 1979. it's not clear why. believed to be the most valuable in the collection, this polak, estimated to be worth $400 million. the cnbc team was allowed in but only permitted to take photos with our phones. nbc bureau chief and correspondent ollie rusy shot a story here eight years ago. we believe it may be some of the only video that exists. the manager says there are between 1,500 and skaun hundred pieces in the collection. there is no public catalog. the museum displays one at a time. currently it's this maggritte. you can buy postcards for most of the works you cannot >> fascinating story. before we go, another look at the day, a down day on wall street.

the dow dropped 210 points. apple the worst performer after carl icahn said he exited his position in the stock. the nasdaq off 57. the s&p 500 down 19. that's it for "nightly business report" tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us. >> i'm tyler mathisen. thanks for me as well. have a great evening, everybody. we'll see you back here, thank goodness, it will be friday.

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