this is "nightly business report." with tyler mathisen and sue here off the table? stocks rise as fed chair janet yellen walks back talk of a possible rate hike. just about one week before the next central bank meeting. economic unease. why some of the most influential economists in business blame the presidential race for an economic slowdown. at what price? the big question hanging over some of the most promising cancer therapies ever to hit the market. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for good evening and welcome. timing, as they say, is everyt. especially with respect to when the federal reserve might increase interest rates for just the second time in about a decade. in a speech today, federal

reserve chair janet yellen did not say when a hike could come. backing off comments she made just a few weeks ago. last month she said rates would move up again in the "coming months." today she dropped that reference. she also said she and her colleagues will wrestle with last week's weak job data when they meet next week. investors liked the sound of that because it suggested that a rate hike is now off the table. dow jones industrial average up 113 points to 17,920. nasdaq added 26. the s&p 500 rose 10 to its highest level of the year. steve liesman has more now on the fed chair's workout. >> reporter: fed chair janet yellen said in a major speech the fed remains on track to raise interest rates. but reacting to friday's dismal jobs report declined to say when that rate hike might come. >> if incoming data are consistent with labor market conditions strengthen and

inflation making progress toward our 2% objective, as i expect, further gradual increases in the federal funds rate are likely to be appropriate and most conducive to meeting and maintaining those objectives. >> two weeks ago, yellen said a rate hike could be appropriate "in coming months," a phrase she pointedly omitted this time. she called the friday jobs report disappointing and said the recent jobs slowdown "bears close watching." she noted strong payroll gains over the past several years and said she expects the economy to pick up from a weak first quarter. yellen sunday she expects inflation to move towards the fed's 2% target as the effects of the strong dollar and low oil prices wane. yellen said the economic outlook is highly uncertain. according to four key areas of concern including resilience of domestic demand, whether or not consumers are spending. foreign economic weakness, with particular concern about repercussions of the uk leaving the european union, brexit.

or productivity growth, yellen saying she was cautiously optimistic about that. as well as inflation. she offered a pretty upbeat outlook for each area of concern. overall yellen confirmed a june rate hike is unlikely, probably july as well, barring a strong bounceback in jobs. it was career before the fed hikes again the fed chair wants more certainty that her forecast for a rebound is the right forecast. for "nightly business report," i'm steve former treasury secretary larry summers says electing donald trump as president would plunge the u.s. and the world into recession. in an op ed in today's "washington post," summers says trump's unpredictability when it comes to everything from nato to the national debt could easily create instability and that would ripple through the global economy. summers also cites trump's positions on things like global trade agreements and his potential to set off what summers called the worst trade war since the great depression. summers is a democrat and he served as an economic adviser to

president obama from the years 2009 through 2010. in their latest quarterly survey, members of the national association for business economics say they e pessimistic in their outlook for u.s. economic growth. and that uncertainty over the upcoming presidential election has been damaging. economists polled expect now the gross domestic product to grow 1.8% this year. that's down from forecasts just three months ago. nearly 4 of 10 economists view the rise of "nationalist views" around the world as an important factor likely to constrain economic growth over the next two years. lisa mattingly, president of the national association for business economics, joins us now. ms. mattingly, welcome. it is that phrase "nationalist tendencies" around the globe that caught everyone'ser attentn today. do you have anyone in particu >> oh, i think we can see many of these nationalist,

protectionist policies coming through in many different countries. we have the brexit vote coming this month in the uk. we have nationalist n protectionist policies being touted by various organizations across the globe. and the panel from may believes that this was going to be one of the biggest behind rahindra to l growth the next two years. >> given that do you think some of that sentiment was reflected in the abysmal jobs report we got friday? >> i thinkhe jobs report on friday probably is a outlier in terms of the data. and we will continue to monitor that. i think the panel believes that job growth is going to re-accelerate into the rest of this year. >> when i hear ihe phrase nationalist in an economic context, and i have to say that i can't imagine that you're not

speaking here referring domestically to mr. trump's positions and perhaps to a lesser degree mr. sanders' positions. but when i hear it, i hear a fear of protectionism and tariff and trade wars. is that -- because that's the transmission mechanism. >> yes, yes. remember, this is a survey of professional forecasters, business economists, within the united states and also globally. and e-con 101 is that protectionism is a minute drans to growth. i think the panel believes if countries start to walk away from free trade that it will be one of the biggest hindrances to global growth over the next couple of years. >> do you get the sense from the panel that after the election is over and there's more certainty, it's the uncertainty creating the problem here for many of the

members, that perhaps they might be a little bit more on the mystic, depending on who winds up in the whit >> right. we did ask the panelists about the u.s. electoral process and whether uncertainty around that was a headwind to u.s. growth. and nearly, as you mentioned, nearly 60% of the panelists believed that it was a headwind. i would just put it in the terms of all else equal, if i'm a business person who's making decisions about hiring and investing, if i have uncertainty about what the tax code is going to be how i'm going to be treated as an employer, et cetera, i may be holding off maybe some of those decisions. and so on net it is a minute drans to growth. >> the overall forecast for 2016 growth is 1.8% down, from 2.3% three months ago? >> that's correct, yes. >> further that you expect the

fed to raise rates twice this year? that's what your panelists believe, correct? >> right. >> all right. >> so the survey was done in may and the panelists believe that the fed will hike rates twi in the second half of this year and then four times next year. >> okay. >> of course, they hadn't gotten the employment report we all got on friday. >> right. >> so likely the number came down quite a bit. >> less sa ems bow mattingly, thank you. a high-stakes meeting between the world's first and second largest economies is under way. officials from the u.s. and china are trying to work through a number of economic issues where the two countries disagree. eunice youn reports from shanghai. >> reporter: u.s. treasury secretary jack lew is in beijing for the strategic and economic dialogue. his main concern is china's excess capacity and what he describes as its potentially corrosive impact on the

country's growth as well as is global market. china has excess capacity in several industries including steel. it's become a major trade issue with many of beijing's partners, including the u.s. they believe china is dumping products in the world market, distorting prices, and hurting their own industries. in response, chinese officials like finance minister wei said the issue of overcapacity is being hyped up. he said china is pressing ahead to make production cuts. also jack lew's chinese counterpart wang pointed his finger at the u.s. saying fed policy is also creating uncertainty in the emerging marks. >> the united states and china account for one-third -- >> on the other hand, lew has been downplaying what's become a standard complaint of washington, the value. being critical of beijing if it allows the yuan to fluctuate.

the u.s. is urging china to cooperate with the white house's efforts to cult off north korea from the global financial system to pressure it on its nuclear program. 99 china's cooperation is seen as critical for these efforts. secretary of state john kerry, also in china for this visit, said that the two sides have made progress on this issue. the high-level discussions continue into tuesday. for "nightly business report," i'm eunice youn in shanghai. vice president biden calls for a public database to help in the fight against cancer. biden said the database would help tailor new treatments for patients. >> shares of data behind breakthroughs so the field as a whole can move forward faster and avoid unnecessary redundancy. >> and at that meeting, the focus was on one type of cancer medicine in particular. meg terrell reports from the american society of clinical

oncology's annual meeting. >> reporter: the first in a new class of drugs that harness the immune system to fight cancer was approved at the end of 2014. now there are three medicines of this kind on the market and they continue to dominate the conversation at the world's largest cancer research conference. called immune know therapies, they're made by merck, bristol-myers, and roche which just got its drug fda approved last month. merck's medicine was used to treat jimmy carter's stage 4 melanoma. carter announced recently he was cancer free. >> it releases the brakes on the immune system andne permits the immune system to seek out and destroy tumors. it's exactly what was observed in the case of jimmy carter. what's remarkable and what we're seeing here at this meeting is that it seems to be active across a very, very broad range of tumors. nearly all. we're seeing that in a whole variety of different settings, very exciting. >> reporter: competition among

pharmaceutical companies is only intensifying. with astrazeneca, pfizer, and others bringing their own version through clinical trials. >> a key question as many of these therapies enter the market is their price. as carry finds a way of escaping one drug, many see combinations of medicine as the future of treatment. with many medicines costing more than $1,000 a month, how do we pay for that? >> this is a really important topic, something we take really seriously, how do we make sure we have access to life-saving, life-sustaining medicines for patients? >> reporter: options include outcome-based pricing or paying based on how well a drug works. or in companies that own both drug in the combination, they can offer a different price for both drugs together than on their own. as the market for cancer drugs is projected did reach $150 billion worldwide by 2020, the price of medicines is sure to continue to be a focus in cancer care. for "nightly business report," meg terrell in chicago. tomorrow meg will tell us about the quest to develop blood

tests that could diagnose cancer earlier, when it can be easier to treat. still ahead, from texts to health care. new trends helping reshape america's biggest co the multi-billion dollar hotel industry, a brm tear of the company, people traveling for busine or pleasure usually a good sign that the nation's economic engine is running smoothly. new lodging industry data have some concerned right now. >> reporter: the lodging industry biggest investment conference, nyu hospitality, overshadowed by renewed concerns the industry may be slowing from its record rates of recovery.

data suggesting developers are finally in their stride now opening up the supply of new hotel rooms faster than demand cab actually grow, leading to a slight down tick in rates of room occupancy across the whole industry. >> occupancy this year was down, first time in five years. primarily as a result of supply going up 1.5% while demand only went up 1%. >> reporter: lodging stopped after winter lows. but it's not been a great 12 months as slowing data continues to worry investors. >> we've been hearing from cos for over a year that we're at the bottom. i look at my research, i don't see clear evidence of that yet. >> reporter: for the industry's two biggest ceos, a slackening of pricing power now would be particularly bad news as each is seeking to drive through its own transformative deal. marriott ceo looking to close his $13 billion purchase of starwood, a behemoth that would

employ 500,000 people. hilton's ceo moving more asset-liteith a tax-free spinoff of its time share business and a $10 billion proposal containing 69 properties to be called park hotels and resorts. >> what's the issue in driving the lodging cycle is the broader economic cycle. so if you're confident that the business cycle, while it tab more tepid growth than we would like, if you're confident you're going to see broader growth continue, you're going to continue to see the cycle for lodging be quite positive. you're going to continue to see pricing. >> if gdp declines it's going to show up in our business. if gdp grows more hot modestly, that will show up in our business too with less robust growth. >> reporter: the silver lining may be that while marriott and hilton are bellwethers for the industry, some analysts believe each of their deals is so transformative that both of them could ultimately outperform.

for "nightly business report," i'm simon hobbs in new york. hertz is splitting into two publicly traded companies. that is where we begin "market focus." the company's board of directors has okayed the planned separation of hertz car rental and equipment rental businesses. the chain is expected to take effect on july 1. >> it will operate under herck holdings. the car rental will remain hertz global holdings. shares rose 7% to 10.77. groupon has sold its indonesia business to a malaysian-based business k-fit. the groupon philippines will become a shareder and subsidiary. of k-fit. devon energy will sell some of its oil and gas assets for nearly $1 billion. the company plans to divest properties in oklahoma as well

as an overriding royalty in the northern midland basin. shares rose more than 4.5% to 37.56. shares of adamus pharmaceuticals were cut in half. the food and drug administration denied the drugmaker approval for medication intended to treat anaphylaxis, citing limited studies. it will conduct additional testing and resubmit results by the end of the year. shares cratered today big-time, nearly 54%, to 4.09. another pharmaceuticals company that saw its shares tank today was ocular therapeutics. during a late-stage clinical trial the company's drug for treating pink eye failed to reach its primary goal. shares plummeted 42.5% to 6.81. quarterly profit fell at united natural foods but good enough to top estimates. the organic food distributor saw an uptick in sales though shy of

targets. the company lifted its full year guidance. shares spiked in extended trading following the news and during the regular session up a fraction to 38.83. and fed ex will raise its quarterly dividend to 40 cents a share up from 25. the yield on the stock is just under 1%. that news sent shares of fed ex up slightly in after-hours trade. shares ended the regular session down a tick at 163.57. fortune 500, "fortune" magazine is out with its annual list of the largest 500 companies in the u.s. by revenue. the top five are all pretty familiar names. walmart tops the list with revenue of more than $480 billion. followed by exxonmobil, apple, berkshire hathaway, and mckesson. this year big shif. susie garre from "fortune" joins us now. good to see you, welcome back. >> thank you. this year's list is a story

about winners and losers. and some big shifts. specifically in tech and health care. >> yes, tech. amazing, we're continuing to see a rise in tech companies so apple is now number three. up from number five. amazon is in the top 20 for the first time ever. netflix, one of the fastest-growing, up 95 slots. usually a company goes up or down one or two, netflix up 95 slots. >> a lot of the ones that fell out as we might have intuited along the way were energy companies. >> yes. no surprise. we've been covering that story all along. but these are dramatic drops. phillips 66, which is a company that warren buffett is heavily invested in, out of the top ten. it's number 30. chevron, used to be number three, is out of the top ten. and interesting companies like exxon. always was neck and neck with walmart in revenues. and now it's half the revenues of walmart. a company like black stone group, an investment firm, off

the 500 altogether because it got hit from its energy investments. >> they also talked to ceos out there and some of the biggest challenges, how do they feel about the economy and what challenges? >> the number one challenge as you can guess, because of what we said about tech, is that tech is changing so fast. they can't keep up with all of the changes. government regulation is another big worry. on the economy, relatively positive. they think it's going to be about the same. some of them say they will be hiring over the next two years. they have strong views about the presidential election as well. >> always interesting to learn how female ceos are in there. how many this year, who's in and out, up and down? >> 21 female ceos, down from 24 last year. another way of looking at it, only 4% off fortune 500 ceos ar women. so it's small. off the list, ellen coleman of dupont because of that activist

battle. xerox ceo will be off next year, she's retiring. two new faces. mary lassinger. women to watch. >> thank you as always. coming up, he was the champ. but muhammad ali's net worth may not be as great as you think. think twice before co-signing a loan. a new study from creditcards.com says 4 of 10 co-signers had to pay off some or all of the loan. another 28% saw their credit scores drop because the

borrower, the co-borrower, made late payments or skipped them altogether. only half the people who co-sign loans are parents on behalf of their children. muhammad ali who passed away over the weekend was more than just a very successful boxer. his name is a brand known pretty much worldwide. and as jayne wells reports, with all that fame came fortune. >> i am the king of the world! >> reporter: he may have been the greatest, but he was not the richest. >> i will be the youngest heavyweight champion in history. >> reporter: muhammad ali hit the scene at a time when boxers made their money in the ring. he became a polarizing figure, the kind madison avenue onavoid. and he missed out on prime earning years when he was shut out of boxing for fighting the draft. still, ali's wife and children will not be poor. "forbes" estimates he had a net worth between $50 million and $80 million. his most lucrative fight was $8 million, fighting and losing to larry holmes in 1980.

he earned $6 million in his final fight against joe frazier in 1935. the thrilla in may hill that was the first pay per view fight and ali won. ali and foreman were each paid $5 million for the rumble in the jungle in 1974, in what was then zaire. ali won that fight too. but foreman ended up wealthier. foreman was reportedly paid $137 million for the rights to his name for that grill. but in later years, muhammad ali had what he called collaborations. >> i have the prettiest footwork, the prettiest face -- >> reporter: his voice and image used for companies like under armour and toyota. >> i'm going to show you how great i am! >> reporter: still, imagine what muhammad ali might be worth if he hit the scene today. floyd mayweather, estimated set worth between $400 and $600 million. manny pacquiao is worth half that. those two made more money fighting each other in one bout

than the total net worth of the greatest fighter of all-time. for "nightly business report," jayne wells, los angeles. before we go, here's a second look at the day on wall street that saw fed chair janet yellen hedge on the timing of an interest rate hike. the dow up 134 points to 17,920. nasdaq added 26. s&p 500 rose 10 to its highest level of the year. and that is it for "nightly business report." i'm sue herera. thanks for watching. this is the time of year your public television stations seek your support. >> and i'm tyler mathisen. we thank you for your support. have a great evening, see you back here tomorrow. -♪ we never did too much talkin' anyway ♪

-next on "great performances..." -♪ don't think twice, it's all right ♪ -this has really been a trip so far. it'll be wonderful tonight. -for nearly 60 years, joan baez has been a music legend. so when it was time for her 75th birthday bash, some of her all-star friends joined the celebration. david crosby, emmylou harris, jackson browne, mavis staples, judy collins, paul simon, and many more. -♪ after changes, we are more or less the same ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ sing lie-la-lie -join the party for one of folk music's icons next... -♪ forever young -...with the joan baez 75th birthday celebration. -♪ forever young