this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue here the race is set. clinton clinches. trump tries to quell his critics. investor attention turns to politics and its impact on your money. breaking new ground. a promise of a new test to detect cancer that is less painful and less expensive. bucking the trend. is corporate america rethinking a long-held tradition of the workplac the annual pay raise. those stories and more tonight on nig"nightly business report"r tuesday, june 7th. good evening and welcome. the dow touches 18,000 and the s&p 500 flirts with record levels. but we begin tonight with the race for the white house and the

race wall street was expecting looks to be set. hillary clinton has clinched the democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major party. much of the focus today was on the presumptive republican nominee, donald trump. the two highest-ranking republican members of congress, paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, have come out against trump's attacks on a hispanic judge presiding over the trump university case, calling him pilesed because he's of mexican descent. >> i disavow those comments, i regret those comments he made. claiming a person can't do the job because of their race is the textbook definition of a racist comment. i think that should be absolutely disavowed, it's absolutely unacceptable. >> senator mcconnell expressed frustration saying "it is time to quit attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country and get on message." late today in a statement, trump

said his comments about the judge had been miscontrued. john harwood is with us in studio. john, it's always good to have you here. how damaging is this particular stint to mr. trump, if at all? >> i think it's very damaging to mr. trump and you see that in the strength of that statement that paul ryan made today. even after donald trump issued his statement late in the day saying he'd been misconstrued, jeb bush put out a statement saying donald trump should not defend that statement because some people interpreted his same as doing that. he should retract it. you had mark kirk, republican senator from a blue state of illinois, running for re-election, one of the people who seats republicans need to keep a hold of, disavowed his endorsement saying he'd concluded donald trump is not fit to be commander in chief. that is not a good day for the republican party in general or donald trump as republican nominee. >> kelly ayotte, susan colins, lindsey graham, all coming out strongly against what mr. trump has been saying. and saying repeatedly with

respect to judge curiel. how did we get to the point in this campaign where on this day where hillary clinton is clinching to become the first female to lead a major party ticket, that she's not the top political story of the day? >> tyler, it is an indication of how different donald trump is from what we've seen in politics before that he galvanizes our attention even on this day. last night, of course, the ap having counted up superdelegate votes put hillary clinton over the top. she didn't want to claim it, she wants to have that happen tonight after california, new jersey, and four other states vote. and she will have the requisite number of delegates. she's going to claim that nomination tonight. soon thereafter, president obama will endorse. even so, donald trump sort of blocks out the sun. now from a democratic perspective, it's not a bad way to block out the sun because it helps hillary clinton make her argument that donald trump should not be president. >> wow. john, thank you so much. it's great to have you with us in studio. >> love being here. on wall street a rally in

the price of crude oil to above $50 a barrel sent energy shares higher. that in turn pushed the s&p 500 to a ten-month high. the dow jones industrial average, which had briefly crossed 18,000 earlier in the day, rose 17 points to 17,938. nasdaq lost about 7 points. the s&p 500 added 2. verizon reportedly plans to submit a second-round bid of about $3 billion for yahoo!'s internet business. according to the "wall street journal" the telecom company is seen as a leading contend tore buy the assets. a third round of bidding is also expected in the months-long confidential auction process. shares of yahoo! fell while verizon shares rose. general motors ceo says the automaker will continue to focus on the profitability of each vehicle even if it comes at the cost of market share. at a meeting of shareholders today, chief executive mary barra said this year's profit will improve from last year's

record and that she believes the stock price will fol >> we will also work to continue to deliver superior results. we're growing margins. having record e-bit margins improving across the board. we're going to continue to do what we say we're going to do, and we believe over time that will be reflected in the share price. >> shares of general motors down 13% over the past year amid record profits and they sit just below the ipo price of a few years ago. rough day for ralph lauren. the iconic upscale apparel company is forecasting a plunge in its sales this year. the stock fell 2% today. but it's down more than 30% over the past year. but the retailer says it has a plan to revive sales growth at the luxury fashion brand. and as courtney reagan reports it making taking page from the old navy playbook. >> reporter: it's a new era for ralph lauren. ceo stefan larsen led the

company's first-ever investor day announcing major changes to reinvigorate the 50-year-old global brand. larsen left old navy to take over eight months ago as the namesake founder moved to executive chairman and creative director. ralph lauren sales, profit and stock price have slumped in recent quarters. some external factors like weak shopper foot traffic and the strong dollar have dented performance. other issues have been self-inflicted. larsen's plan with focus on reining in expenses. brands and stores amounting to a $400 million restructuring of the company this year. >> all the initiatives we are driving are simple, straightforward ways of strengthening the brand, drive profitable sales growth. what we mean with profitable sales growth is drive sustainable sales, expand the margin, to ultimately drive to a strong shareholder return. >> reporter: ralph lauren will focus on three main brands. ralph lauren, polo, and lauren.

the company will close 10% of its mainly high-end stores, strip out three layers of management which means cutting 1,000 jobs or 8% of full-time staff. ralph lauren is reducing the amount of inventory it shifts to department stores and other wholesale retailers which is 45% of revenue and hopes falling back on discounts and selling more merchandise at full price. leaping on his strengths from old navy larsen will shorten merchandise production times from 15 months to nine months and start an eight-week product test pipeline to be more reactive to customer preferences. larsen aims to strengthen its e-commerce business recruiting an executive from ebay. with the right team in place many analysts believe under ralph lauren's leadership will strengthen. >> it's important they are trying to regain some of their brand positioning. and get rid of maybe some of the more-tier positioning and some of the discounting. but they also have a very big opportunity internationally. they're underpenetrated internationally. so i think those are the real

big opportunities for them. this was good news overall to hear that this brand is kind of taking the necessarily steps now to make sure that they'll be around for many, many years to come as that strong iconic american brand. >> all these changes in addition to expectation forth continued weak shopper foot traffic does result in a sales guidance cut. while changes will inflict some near-term pain analysts seem to agree it's necessary for long-term still ahead, it is simple. it's not invasive. and it could one day be the super piece of the next frontier in the battle against canc

new treatments for cancer weren't the only topics of conversation at the world's largest cancer research confers w w researchers were also focused on new, less-invasive ways of testing for that disease. meg te >> reporter: enter the liquid biopsy or a blood test for cancer. a featured study at the conference showed one such test yielded similar results to more invasive tissue biopsies. >> the concept of the liquid pie yoms is to get all that same information through a simple blood draw. you would totally change the paradigm of how we monitor, detect and treat cancer. >> reporter: the ceo of garden's health, the maker of that test, it works by detecting bits of dna shed by cancer cells that circulate in the blood. >> cancer cells, as they grow rapidly, they start dying rapidly. they shed their unique dna into the blood stream. take a tube of blood from the

patient, there will be small traces of dna that are coming from the cancer cells. >> garden is one of comes working to develop new blood tests for cancer. a market estimated to reach $10 billion eventually. the doctors caution it's early days. >> there's a lot of hope and some hype in precision medicine. >> the hope is that one day blood tests could be used to diagnose cancer, replacing traditional tissue biopsies which are more invasive and can be more expensive. dr. michael thompson of the aurora carry center in milwaukee says right now tissue biopsies are still the gold standard. but blood tests for cancer have their place in helping monitor patients after diagnosis and guiding treatment decisions. and foundation medicine, another competitor in the space, says 10% to 20% of cancer patients are ineligible for tradition alibi yopss. >> instead of just letting these patients go and saying there's no ability to understand your tumor, we now have the ability in certain cases to use a

blood-based test to assess it. it's just another piece in the puzzle, it's another tool in the tool box to help us understand a patient's cancer. >> work in the area is accelerating. genetic sequencing giant illumina formed a new company to develop a blood test to eventually diagnose cancer earlier, potentially replacing the tradition alibi yops. experts say it's years away. illumina name the company grail. valiant slashes its full-year outlook again. that is where we begin "market focus." the pharmaceuticals company delayed first-quarter results came in worse than expected and that led valiant to cut its forecast for the second time since december. the appointed ceo joseph papa attributed the mist to the "impact of significant disruption from recent investigations into the company." the company officially filed its so-called 10q form, meaning colt will avoid default on its debt.

valiant shares today down more than 14.5% to 24.64. last august, the stock was more than ten times higher at a 52-week high of nearly 264. pullty green says elliot management has bought a large stake in the home builder saying elliot's position is greater than 4% but less than 5% that would require an s.e.c. filing. shares of pullti finished at 19.37. the online real estate company zillow agreed to pay the move, incorporated, owned by news corps, $130 million to settle claims it allegedly stole trade secrets from that company after it hired two of that company's former employees. move had been looking for about $2 billion in damages. shares of zillow up more than 5% at 32.40. newspaper publisher gwinnett

isn't ready to give up on its proposed takeover of tribune publishing. a day after a regulatory filing revealed lackluster support for tribune's board among its shafrlders, ginette said its unsolicited offer still stands. shares up a fraction to 15.38. shares of tribune up 1% to 13.16. medical device maker zimmer biomet will buy ldr holding for about $1 billion. that merger is expected to increase zimmer's presence in the spinal device market. zimmer shares were down nearly 2% to 119.43. ldr shot up 63% to 36.99. the food and drug ad is seeking more data from a study conducted for treatment on duchesne muscular dystrophy. they're expected to submit the information in the coming weeks and will await fda approval decision. shares surged more than 22% to

19.67. hertz global saw shares pop after a regulatory filing showed activist investor carl icahn r rental company.ition i icahn's recent investment brings his total number of shares above 60 million. shares up 6% to 11.40. it is not a good time for hedge funds, basically. many dealing with poor returns and often they're the target of tough talk on the campaign trail. now the industry is faced with a third dilemma. lack of talent. kate kelly explains what's being done to attract the next generation of star traders. >> reporter: in the '80s and '90s, working in finance was a dream job. today hedge funds, one of the most lucrative parts of the industry, can't find enough qualified workers. the talent according to one of the best-known figures in the business just isn't there. >> frankly, i'm blown away by the -- you know, the lack of

talent. it's not easy to find great people. >> reporter: a bunch of things have led to this point. a change in business models at the bank who used to train up future hedge fund workers but don't do that type of trading anymore thanks to regulations. a stodgy culture that makes hedge funds tough to penetrate. the siren call of silicon valley, the industry of choice for research and data mavens who want to disrupt the world and make money doing it. >> i think there's a substantial increase in competition for the best talent. so today, for young people, you could go to silicon valley, you can go to private equity firms. it's not just you go to the investment bank then go to the hedge fund. >> reporter: the chicago-based hedge fund firm citadel is taking a page out of the silicon valley playbook. l.j. brock, the chief people officer there, describes it. >> we focus on understanding what's important to their skills, their passions, their experiences? and then we look to build a job

around that. >> reporter: and cohen has a novel approach too. he brings in fresh talent at an earlier stage with a new trading school called the academy. late last month a bunch of college sophomores gathered to hear more. for jennifer young, a university of michigan student, the day was intriguing. >> i think .72 is really making effort to teach younger people that hedge funds are a place that we can excel at because they'll teach us many skills that we can learn and can reprogram. >> reporter: now young is looking to .72 as a future prospect and isn't concerned about its legal back story which included the indictment of a forerunner firm for insider trading charges it settled. for "nightly business report," kate kelly in new york. from hedge funds to law firms. associates at a new york law firm will get their first pay raise in nearly a decade. crevasse, swain and moore says first-year associates will make

$20,000 more effective july 1. since the great recession law firms have scaled back significantly. traditionally when one leading law firm raises pay others tend to follow. general electric is leading the way and rethinking the way it compensates employees. the company is considering replacing its longstanding, much-imitated five-point employee rating system and annual pay raises and replacing them with other forms of compensation. but will others in corporate america follow? at compensation expert at the research firm institute for corporate productivity, what is ge looking at and what would replace the annual raise? what kinds of alternative forms of compensation? >> actually, it's disconnecting the annual performance review from the annual pay review and the merit increases is becoming increasingly common. employees have been disenchanted with the employee performance appraisal process for a number of years across corporate

america. and as companies like ge take a fresh look at this, i think we're going to see a lot of innovation in this space. >> it also goes to corporate culture, does it not? ge has been trying to change its corporate culture. but also with workforce that's skewing a little bit younger, they want different things. the money is not as important as perhaps flex time and other things like that. >> yes, that's a very good assessment. there's a much larger and comprehensive total basket of rewards that employees today and top talent are really looking for. everything from paid time off to extended leaves to consea yes or no-type benefits at the corporate campus. so it's not just about corporate -- or just about salaries anymore and pay increases once a year. >> i want to go back to how you began and get you to explain or elaborate a little bit more. if you separate the employee -- how would it work when you separate the employee evaluation from the employee compensation?

are you separating pay from performance? and i thought the evaluation was supposed to be directly tied to what you'd make so that the best performers got the best raises. >> yeah, good question. my read is that companies are certainly not moving away from a pay for performance strategy. i think this is more about the process of how it gets done and the experience that employees have had in the past historically of just having one conversation with a manager as something of a check the box part of the process for getting a salary increase. i think pay for performance is clearly alive and well. this is more about changing the process and the experience about corporate america has for many years not been innovative in this space. and i believe the ge is beginning to set a standard that others will follow. >> mark, thank you very much. interesting developments there. the institute for corporate productivity. coming up, the big question

that's hanging over some startups that are trying to change business as we know the chair of the house financial services committee is outlining a proposal that would dismantle parts of the 2010 wall street reform bill known as dodd frank. >> we need economic growth for all and bank bailouts for none. so we are unveiling a new plan because dodd-frank has not worked. they said that it would lift the economy, it hasn't lifted the economy. we're still limping along at 2% economic growth. we had a nonexistent jobs report. wages are stagnant. savings have failed. they said that it would fix too

big to fail, instead it enshrined too big to fail. >> the congressman says the financial choice act would repeal the rule which bans banks from making speculative bet ford their own account. it would prevent a body of regulators from designated nonbanks as being systemically important. and it would give banks the option of holding high levels of capital. though it has little chance of passing congress this year, it could influence the presidential debate. looking for the next company that will disrupt the status quo? cnbc is out with the list of the world's most innovative private companies changing the economy and overall business landscape. some of the names you probably know. but others you may not. so here are the top five. number five, 23 and me. a genetic testing company. number four, palanteer technolo a secretive company that mines data and

works cyber security. third, ez tap, a mobile payment startup for emerging markets. number two, home rental company airbnb. top is the list, the ride-sharing app -- ride-hailing app uber. >> that was probably an easy call, uber number one. >> i think so. there's money to be made in companies that want to turn industry on their heads. startups and venture capitalists are facing challenges lately. >> reporter: square was the last silicon valley epo and that was in november. the stock trading below its opening day close. the ipo drought since then, the lowest number of ipos since the recession, is posing challenges to startups. driving a slowdown in venture capital funding plus big questions about sky-high valuations. kliner perkins backed disrupters such as uber and bloom energy says these challenges to taking companies public puts bigger pressure on finding truly disruptive companies.

>> what that does for us is really make us double down and get stronger conviction on long-term strategy. again, we're not investing for a 12-month rise or a 24-month horizon. we're thinking about how entrepreneurs and technologies and companies can be disruptive to the world for the next 10, 20, 100 years. >> reporter: though the ipo drought has raised concerns about venture funding drying up, it's making established disrupters such as airbnb and spotify more appealing, allowing a number of startups to grow funding over the past year. jerry chen of graylock, which has backed a number of successful startups including air w and b and dropbox, says there's more potential now than ever. >> now your car, your watch, your phone, your house, now has technology in it. when technology's everywhere, every industry should be a software business. every industry is a technology business. everything from health care to

government to cars are all vulnerable to disruption now. >> reporter: two well-known disrupters, square and pure storage, did go public. while investors a wait for the ipo market to open up, they're hoping staying private longer will translate into an even bigger payoff. for "nightly business report," i'm julia boorstin in san francisco. that does it for "nightly business report" tonight. thanks for watching. this is the time of year your public television station seeks your support. >> i'm tyler mathisen. thank you for your support. have a great evening, everybody. we'll hope to see you right back here tomorrow night.

♪ man: it is extremely rare to have a planet where there is soil. as this living crust that is smeared over the surface of our planet. most of the planet is not living. it's mineral. it's never known life, it's just this rock. and yet soil starts forming on it and creates this crust, this very thin layer where life is possible. ♪ [footsteps crackling on ice]