this is "nightly business re" with tyler mathid food fight. it's true. prices are falling, and while that may be good for consumers, it's putting a lot of pressure on grocers. >> from none to one. an arizona county will not go down as the first region to have zero obamacare plan, but that's not easing the concerns of one family. wrab drain. as baby boomers retire, some companies are trying hard to hold on to their older workers longer. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, september good evening, everyone and welcome. food prices are falling, and while you may not be feeling it just yet, your portfolio may be, and supermarket stocks are

definitely being strained. the latest is super value. that grocer cut its profit outlook for the year in large part because of food price deflation but also because of increased competition. and that sent shares of super value down 9.5% in trading today. it's not just super value. yesterday we reported that sprouts farmer's market cut its guidance because of significant ongoing deflation. california-based smart and final stores cut its outlook in july for the same reason, and dollar general also mentioned deflation as a threat on its earnings call last month. tomorrow kroger, the country's largest supermarket chain, and a barometer for the industry reports earnings, and many are expecting to hear much of the same. susan lee takes a look at the expiring fortunes of the grocery industry. >> carton of eggs, 40% cheaper, whole milk that costs 11% left, beef, pork and chicken at a discount from 2015.

fruit prices have been falling for nine straight months, according to the bureau of labor statistics and on track for the longest stretch of declines in 50 years. >> dairy prices have come down because the price of dairy has gone down because of so much supply, and as a result it's great for the consumer, not as good for the supermarkets. >> repor super value and sprouts are among a number of food sellers that have blamed fo as a threat to their bottom line, but it's not just falling prices that's pressuring earnings. there's also a grocery price war under way as grocers are cutting prices to gain market share and big-end trends entering into the grocery game like retail giants walmart. >> one of the largest steps in the retail food industry happened a lot of years ago when the conventionals and big boxes started to pay attention to natural and organic and good-for-you type of items. more recently sharpening of those items, whether it's walmart or, you know, some of

these thate deep discount oriented. >> reporter: many analysts say cheaper protein prices should continue into next year and such a competitive environment that there will be winners and losers. >> it really hurts a lot of the regional grocers. their margins or the profit line is very thin for a grocer to make some money, and as a result there's a lot of pressure if you're not a very good executor or have scaled the way a kroger or walmart does. >> reporter: at the end of the day there's a clear winner as a result of falling food prices, the american household. they can spend less on their grocery bills each and every week. for "nightly business report, i'm susan lee. let's bring in joe feldman whom you just saw in that report to continue our discussion on falling food prices and the impact it is having on some of the nation's grocers. joe, i know what the numbers say. it doesn't maybe feel that way at the supermarket when you go in. >> right. >> you mentioned just in that piece how thin the margins are for grocery stores. how thin are they, and what can

they do? >> well, let's put it this way. for every dollar of sales that, you know, the grocer makes, they generate around 2.50 to 3 cents of profit on the bottom line so it's really thin. most of that is going to pay for the cost of the food, to pay for the labor, to run the operation. it's a very capital-intensive, you know, industry that actually requires a lot of those labor items and, you know, people in the stores. >> where do you think we are in the deflationary cycle, joe, closer to the beginning or closer to the end? >> i feel like we're more middle to the second half. look. nine months straight, as you mentioned in the segment, is the longest period we've had really in 50 years. you know, our view is sometime late this year, maybe early next year, you get back to kind of knew travel. we have seen, you know, puts and takes there. for example, produce was hoyly deflationary earlier this year,

and now it's kind of come back, and it's a little bit back in a positive territory, so i think once the supply/demand balance comes into shape we'll be okay so it feels like we're more middle to second half right now. >> when you have prices doing, joe, what they seem to be doing now, it would put a premium, it would seem to me, on the companies that can really execute terrifically well. which companies in your view are the ones that can do that and thus might be the better stocks to look at today? >> well, kroger is right at the top of the list. i think by far they are the best at execution. they have got a terrific management team. they execute really well. they are forward thinking. they have got great data analytics to help with pricing, and they do it better than anybody. you've got to think about a walmart. they are very good executors, and they have got scale and they are the largest grocer in the nation. that's going to help. those two guys are going to be big winners i think within this space. i think that's the smaller regionals, the mom and pops.

that's where there's pressure. you know there's definitely good ones like wegman's and heb does a good job in the southeast, publix, but some of those regional players, it makes it very difficult. like we heard from super value. really challenging results both, you know, in their own food business and save a lot business which is like the deep discount company, so there's definitely pressures in the grocery world right now. >> very quickly. what about whole foods because it seems to take away some of the market share from like the sprouts of the world and things like that? >> yeah. well, it's funny because i think for a while sprouts has probably taken some share from them. i think that some. mass grocers like the krogers, the walmarts and all the reg nalz that i just mentioned are actually taking share from sprouts and from whole foods because they are going after organic and natural. it's a hot growing p business, and now you can get it at your one-stop shop when you

go into kroger. >> all right. >> so there's pressure on i think whole foods and sprouts and that's not really going to led up in the near term. >> joe feldman. always helpful and clear. with the kelsey advisory group. stocks came under pressure despite a rise in oil prices and investors also paying closer attention to the european central bank which surprised the markets by not extending its stimulus program. more on that in just a couple minutes. here are the closing numbers for you. the dow jones industrial averag fell 46 points to 18,479. the nasdaq was off 24, pulling back from its record, and the s&p 500 dropped 4. >> the number of americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week. initial jobles dropped by 4,000 to remain near historically low levels. reports suggest that the job market remains tight and that firms are reluctant to lay off workers. consumer spending is an important part of the economy since it accounts for about 70% of economic activity.

in an interview today on cnbc, the ceo of bank of america said he's optimistic about americans' ability to spend and borrow. >> the year-to-date consumers on debit and credit cards are spending 4.7% more than last year and the space accelerating. consumer is very good shape, credit quality wyche spending-wise, and if you thought slow them down, confidence in the markets. those seem to be in good shape. confidence in the economy, not growing as fast as we want them to grow. unemployment levels, will i have a job and get paid more? seeing wage growth, again, not what people would like to see, in the mid-2s. unemployment saying low, so the consumer is very constructive. >> moynihan also said his bank, which is the nation's second largest lender by assets, is prepared for any move in interest rates. european economy has been a concern for global investors, and today the head of the european central bank surprised the market by doing nothing. the ecb failed to extend the deadline for its trillion euro

stimulus program leaving many investors disappointed. we have a report tonight from >> reporter: mario draghi is sitting on his hands when it comes to expanding or enlarging the quantitative easing program that european central bank has in place, and that comes despite really sluggish inflation. we had inflation at very low levels for the month of august. the economy is not doing greatly, but they are still signature on their hands saying they want to wait until they see the effects of other tools actually reaching the market. there is no need to act, he was saying today, but he was also saying that they are working on further measures. they have topped the relative committees in their word meaning

they are talking about either expanding the purchase program into other asset classes. wouldn't exclude buying stocks but, of course, would not say, yes, that's a good plan and also another alternative is that in the future they might even buy bondsbury yield less than the deposit rates which currently sits at minus 4.4%. in essence what we can still do here is to wait and see. probably in october or december, we'll get more monetary easing from the european central bank. for "nightly business report, i'm annette wispra in frankfurt. coming up from no health exchange options to one. now one family is figuring out how long it can afford the

the hangin shipping bankruptcy is expected to cause disruptions for port operations to two to three months. the department of agriculture report, meantime, says the company's failure will also delay the processing of agricultural products. according to the "wall street journa" the bankruptcy of the container carrier has left as much as $14 billion worth of cargo stranded at sea. democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton held a news conference today, her first one since early december, and she used it to go after her rival donald trump. >> bizarrely once again he praised russia's strong man, vladimir putin, even taking the astonishing step of suggesting that he prefers the russian president to our american president. now, that is not just

unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country as well as to our commander in chief. it is scary. >> her news conference follows a televised forum last night where the two candidates talked about national security. john harwood joins us now from washington. so john, why did she hold this rather rare news conference this morning? >> reporter: well, sue, she had been edging towards that by having reporters fly on the same plane with her beginning this week, but she also had reason to want a reset after that forum last night. she drew the short straw. she had to go first. she got pressed very hard on e-mail and didn't have a chance to rebut some of those statements that donald trump made last night, both praising vladimir putin and also saying that u.s. generals had been reduced to rubble under president obama. >> two questions here, john. why has it taken miss clinton so long to meet the press, number one, and how did trump respond to her comments today? >> reporter: hillary clinton has a longstanding, tyler,

skepticism about the value of interaction with the press. this has built up over many, many years. we all remember the special prosecutor resulting from whitewater that turned into a long-term disaster for bill and hillary clinton, so she has her guard up. that wasn't so much the case at the state department, but it is now, and it's come back in this campaign, so that's where hillary clinton's coming from while she's been reluctant. in terms of donald trump, he was very pleased with the results of last night's event, and he shifted from defending a little bit his claim that he had opposed the iraq war. there's still no proof of that, but he went on offense and says she doesn't know how to create jobs and i do. >> speaking of mr. trump, what do the numbers look like at this point, especially after the forum last night? is there evidence that he's making progress in catching up to miss clinton or not? >> reporter: he does have some encouraging news, sue. we have four new swing state

polls out from quinnipiac today. they showed that in the states of north carolina and also pennsylvania he's running behind but not too far behind, and he's dead even in the states of ohio and florida. that suggests that general tightening in the race since the peaks that occurred after the democratic convention when hillary clinton was on a high, donald trump was making mistakes. the edge has come off that lead. we're looking at a much, much closer race right now. >> all right. john, thank you so much. john harwood in washington for us. senator elizabeth warren, bernie sanders and others want answers now from aetna in a letter the lawmakers questioning the company's decision to pull out a large portion of its affordable care act business. the lawmakers want to know if the move was motivated by the justice department's decision to challenge aetna's proposed merger with rival humana. in response aetna says it's pulling back due to an increasingly unstable marketplace and that reforms are

needed. residents of one arizona county will now have at least one option when shopping for health insurance on the exchanges. this after arizona's blue cross reversed its decision and will now offer a plan as part of the affordable care act, but what happens in pinal county is making one family very nervous. boomgs reports tonight from florence, arizona. >> reporter: for colin and yvette, having an affordable care act plan has meant more time to spend with their kids while growing their small business south of phoenix, arizona. >> hi, it's annie with tactical pest control. >> reporte this summer blue cross of arizona said it was dropping aca plans in pinnal county where the couple live and then aetna dropped out suddenly leaving 10,000 residents in this community with no aca options for 2017. >> we've talked about my wife having to go back to work to get insurance through her job as a

teacher which would be -- she would be going to work just to pay for insurance and child care. >> repor late yesterd blue cross reversed its decision because it didn't want to leave pinnal residents in the lurch despite facing big losses, nearly 200 million on aca plans in the last year and up to $50 million more this year. the senior vice president says that's why the company's strategy was to cut coverage in the state's two biggest counties, here in pinnal and in neighboring maricopa which covers phoenix. they won't go back to maricopa as long as cigna stays on exchange there. it's a pattern happening across the country. nine states will now have just one aca insurer for 2017. many nonprofit blue cross plans. >> no health insurance company, even a mission-driven nonprofit can lose large sums of money year after year after year. you don't have to be a ceo or an economist to understand that

that math will not work over the long term. >> reporter: many are raising premiums. blue cross of arizona is asking for a 50% increase. aca subsidies should soften the blow for most enrollees. not for the becks, already paying $900 a month. >> we don't get any subsidies. it's pretty much making an extra mortgage payment every month just to have insurance that's s unsustainable for these entrepreneurs. i'm concerned for my children, concerned for the business, concerned for our family. >> rep bertha coombs, "nightly business florence, arizona. >> barnes & noble says the presidential election will cause sales to fall, and that's where we begin tonight's market focus. the book store chain posted lower than expected same-store sales and cut that metric guidance for the year. the company blamed its soft outlook on customers staying indoors to follow election coverage. shares fell 4% to $11.85. nata star saw its sales save as

the engine and truck-maker saw its net loss widen. in addition, the company said its defense unit received a subpoena from the department of defense regarding a recent government transaction, and the stock nevertheless, up fractionally, up to $19.12. clovis oncology said the food and drug admini will forgo holding a panel discussion regarding the biotech's new drug for ovarian cancer. the regulatory agency recently granted the treatment priority review. shares are up today, 15%, to 28 307b9 1. twitter is hosting its board meeting today, and sources who spoke to cnbc said the topic of cost cuts will be driving the conversation there. the social media company's management is expected to discuss ways to save money which could include possible layoffs or spinning off company assets. shares dropped more than 5.5% to $18.70. restoration hardware beat profit and sales expectations prompting

that company to reaffirm its guidance for the year. the home furnishing retailer said the better than expected results were due to shipments going out earlier than anticipated. shares popped 7% in initial extended hours trading after ending the regular session up 1% to 35.27. the 79 million baby boomers in the u.s. comprise still the largest generation in u.s. history and over the next two decades an estimated 10,000 boomers will retire each day. that poses a challenge for companies who will see some of their very valued, very knowledgeable employees leave the workforce. sharon epperson tells us now what some businesses are doing to avoid a brain drain. >> reporter: 63-year-old randall still enjoys coming to the office every day. >> there are a lot of interesting, bright people here. they are fun to be with. >> reporter: but after nearly 30 years of work, the last 11 spent with the furniture designer herman miller, he says he's

ready for a change. >> i'm part of a baby boomer generation, and we get to remake everything, right, so for me i use the word retirement sort of reluctantly. >> baby boomers are knowredefining life at every turn, and retirement is no different. the generation is active, engaged and interested in continuing to work in some capacity as they age. >> i see it as a transition from, you know, the work that i'm doing now to some other kind of work. >> reporter: more than 46 million americans are already 65 or older, and that age group is growing fast. about 10,000 baby boomers retire and leave the work force every day. it's a shift that's starting to have an effect on companies big and small. >> there's going to be a need for employers to hang on to these older workers, these experienced workers because they don't wa that brain drain. as you look down the road of the pipeline, there's not as many younger workers coming on.

>> reporter: some companies like herman miller are being preactive trying to avoid this boomer brain drain. >> we realize very quickly of all those people at ounce or even half decided to least business, it would be detrimental for us. >> reporter: in response the company began what it called a flex retirement program, open to employees like broxma who are 60 and older allowing the workers to slowly transition into retirement for up to two years while at the same time training someone to take their place. >> capturing what that person does and how they do it, what the nuances are, the things that aren't written down in a job description, s vitally important that you put something into place to catch this before it goes because once they are gone they are gone. >> four years into the program it's been a success for the furniture manufacturer and its workers. >> i'm ear less, but that also gives me a chance then to look at personal finances and see can we make it work? >> reporter: for "nightly

business r" i'm sharon epperson. coming up, the most powerful women in business includes one of the country's most controvers well fargo has been fined $1185 million of secretly opening up authorized deposit and credit card accounts. it's a story we first told you about last year. regulators now allege that more than 2 million accounts were opened, and money in customers' acco were transferred to these new accounts without authorization. in a to th fine, the bank will also pay restitution to thecustomers. >> mastercard is facing damages

of about -- damages claims of about $18 billion. that claim was filed on behalf of uk customers who say they were charged higher prices because of mastercard's high swipe fees. this is only the second claim to be filed under the consumer rights act of 2015, and it is the biggest in uk legal history. the most powerful women in business, "fortune" magazine published its eagerly awaited top 50 women and topping that list is general motors ceo mary barra followed by the ceo of pepsico. rounding out top three is lockheed martin's chief executive marilyn huson. with us now is a familiar face and friend to all of us, suzy gash, senior special correspondent at "fortune." welcome. >> good to be here. >> miss barra on top of the list for a second year in a row. why the in. >> she gets a lot of credit for this incredible job that she did

in turning around general motors. you remember when she took over as ceo she got hit right at the beginning. >> bad timing. >> that ignition switch thing, but, you know, she was honest and direct and acted decisively, and she led the company to this comeback. >> you know, the person on the cover is hillary clinton. >> right. >> she's not on the list. >> i thought you were going to ask that. >> right. this is alition of corporate power players, sue. if she wins the election, she will be the most powerful woman in the world, right, let alone business, but the story is about is hillary good for business? >> i see. >> controversial choice coming in at number 23, and that is the ceo of mylan pharmaceuticals. >> heather bresch, down one slot this year. was the list ximd before all the controversy about the epipen? >> they change. it's very fluid. you know how it is in the news business but some people will say why wasn't she even lower?

obviously not the most popular ceo these days given the way she handled epipen and the price increase this isn't a popularity contest. i mean, she is a powerful woman in business. i mean, just looking at her stature, she's the only woman who runs a major pharma company, $9 billion company, and she has a good track record. revenues are up and substantially since she took over, and the stock has outperformed the s&p so there's a reason she's on the list. >> yeah. new people on the list, nine new women. give us a couple. >> yeah. the first one, the big one is trisha griffith who is the head of progressive, the ads for the auto insurer. >> not flo? >> flo didn't make it. >> she's number 18 on the list. she started -- just became ceo in july. she started out in 1988 as a claims rep and worked her way up, and now she's the ceo. >> and beyonce at 51. >> she's the super bonus, tyler.

i knew you would get excited about it, number 51. >> right. >> she's more than just a rock star and superstar. she has a business, apparel business, and -- and, you know, she's -- she has a lot of business savvy so she's on the list and she's the youngest woman on the police >> is that true, youngest as well. 35. >> great as always. thanks for coming out. senior special correspondent over at "fortune." >> hand that does it for "nightly business " for joining us. i'm sue i'm tyler mathisen. have a great evening, ever

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