this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera funded in part by hss. our value principles are patient first, and we want to deliver the highest quality care. >> the goal of creating and sustaining value is all about putting the patient at the center of the equation. >> the purpose of this organization is to help people get back to what they need and love to do. >> meet with bush. the trip towards dow 20,000 stalled, and the question now, will the santa claus rally

continue? feeling good. consumers feeling the best about the economy in more than a decade. and new year's picks. where our market monitor thinks you should put your money in 2017. all that and more for tuesday, december 27th. good evening, everyone, i'm contessa brewer in for sue herera. >> i'm tyler mathisen. twas was the day after christmas. if only we could hit 20,000 it would be complete. alas it did not happen. many an investor was looking for a santa claus rally to come in and save the day. you get the idea, folks. despite small gains, the dow could not claw its way above the 20,000 mark but the nasdaq did hit an all-time high. here's how the dust settled. the dow climbed 11 points to

19,9 19,945. nasdaq rose 24 and the s&p 500 rose 5. bob tazani, he won't rhyme but he will take a look at today in the market. >> we got close but not quite. the dow finished the day 50 points away from the 20,000 mark. very light volume. entering the final stretch trading in 2016. this is ten trading days where we've gone up to the threshold but we haven't walked through it. traders have been anticipating the dow would break 20,000 before the end of the year because of the momentum from the elections but mostly because the markets tend to rise in the last two weeks of the year. the dow is up a little bit more than 1% typically and that's more enough to get us over dow 20,000. since the middle of the month the momentum has essentially stopped. market leaders like the banks and industrials have stopped going up. there really hasn't been any consistent leadership to take their place.

so what's wrong? really nothing's wrong. the markets have had a big move up. the s&p 500 is up more than 6% since the election and it's perfectly natural for markets to pause, consolidate their gains after such a big move. the problem is the markets have paused with the dow just shy of its big round number and it's the last little bit of suspense for the year. one key point, don't expect big gains in your portfolio this quarter if you have a balance waiting in stocks and bonds. the s&p 500 is up a little less than 5% this quarter but the overall bond market is down a little less than 5%. so if you have half your assets in stocks and half in bonds, you're basically flat for the quarter. think about that. for "nightly business report" i'm bob tasani at the new york stock exchange. >> we welcome gina bolvin. she thinks stocks have run pretty far since the election

and wouldn't be surprised if they take a break soon which is basically what bob pasani just said. we've come a long way since november 8th. a lot of momentum and a lot of anticipation about what a trump administration could or might not mean about business. what do you think about the next few months? >> well, i think that most investors in the stock market should be long term. we have seen the dow risen almost -- about 9% since the election and we really have to stop and think, you know, how much gas do we have in the tank at this point? >> so what are you thinking now, gina? if we hit 20,000 that there might not be gas to go to 22,000 or 23,000? >> well, i think it's really important to take a look at where we are right now and we've seen a tremendous run up in the market. i think investors are betting a lot on a trump administration and it will be good to stop. and i don't think there's a lot

of room for error. we think 2017 may be similar to 2016 and there might be some volatility. we have interest rates raising and we have elections overseas in europe and there could be some volatility along the way. >> let's talk about that point that bob made or concluded with, and that is the idea that if you have a diversified portfolio whether it's 50% stocks and 50% bonds or 60/40 as is a more classic mix, the bonds have not done very well this quarter. how should i feel about that? and should i make a move to lighten up on bonds and move more to stocks or what? >> well, we would be very cautious to chase the run up in the market, and it may be a good time to do the opposite of that and rebalance your portfolio and take some profits off your stock positions or your stock mutual funds and add a little bit of

money into the bond market that has had a correction here. >> so, gina, since we're all on this watch for the dow to hit 20,000, i mean, i don't know, personally i'm planning a ticker take parade. what does it really mean for the market? >> you know, i think it's a very short-term milestone and it certainly is exciting, but i don't in any way think it's very important or any type of indication of what's going to happen in 2017. >> give me a sector, gina, quickly that you think might outperform the overall market in 2017. do you have one in mind? >> well, we do like technology. one of the reasons why we like technology is because over the past couple of years the nasdaq has not done as well as s&p and dow-like stocks and we like financial services. we think they'll do well under a trump administration as there's less regulation and the reason

we like technology is because financial services spent a lot of money on technology. >> gina, thanks very much. gina boldin, thank you very much. >> happy new year to you. thanks for having me. >> you bet. prices hit a new high in october according to a widely watched market index. the s&p national home price index rose more than 5.5% from the previous year. its biggest gain since july 2014 but the song raises concerns over affordability and sustainability. >> with home prices rising americans might be feeling a little wealthier. consumer confidence rose climbing to the highest level since 2001. the monthly conference number shows americans were up beat. the most up beat about the economy in 13 years. a rise in post election optimism over jobs and income prospects.

millions of gifts were open this holiday weekend and now it's time for the returns. the flood of returns has become a fast-growing business fueling some of the biggest transportation deals of the last few years. they're hoping to use returns as a way to get more people back into the stores. morgan brennan takes a look at the rise of the returns. >> the rise of online shopping has led to what shipping firms now call the second part of peak season. the return season. >> most of our shopping this year was done online but we came into new york today, just walked around a little bit and returned some items but also maybe buy some additional items. >> i'm back here to return a coat i bought last friday and hoping to pick up another coat that she likes this time. >> retailers and shippers have their work cut out for them. it makes up for 1/3 of online sales. companies must find ways to handle those shipments. it's made the process sought

after. the reason fedex bought another company. ups alone expects to ship 6 million packages back to retailers next week. it's still a small fraction of the overall peak season volume which hit record levels but it's growing at a double digit rate compared to last year. with four full shopping days left in 2016 and consumer confidence at 15 year highs, retailers are also ramping up efforts to get people through their doors with after christmas sales. since consumers tend to spend more once they're there. master card says total holiday spending excluding autos and gas is up 4% from november 1st to december 24th. the high end of many forecasts. total holiday ecommerce surged 19%. >> most important thing is to appreciate everybody spends across the board. there wasn't one sector of people that didn't spend, it

really was everybody feeling confident and actually spending a bit more than they were spending last year. >> but it's all about getting post holiday shoppers into stores this week and returns will be especially important. if retailers can get consumers to do that in person, it will drive foot traffic and set the stage for more profitable exchange and quite possibly more sales. for "nightly business report" i'm morgan brennan in new york city. coming up, why our next guest thinks betting on the consumer might be a win for you in 2017.

several of president-elect trump pick's for cabinet post may have a problem getting through the election process. john harwood joins us from washington. john, welcome. if republicans control the senate and democrats can't really filibuster cabinet nominees, what's the big hangup? >> well, that's a good question, tyler, because it used to be with -- it would require 60 votes to stop another president from the other party from nominating someone. now it only takes 51 votes to cap somebody which with the vice president tending to break the tie, republicans could do it with 50. now the challenge is because donald trump is an unconventional candidate, because he's relatively unpopular, if democrats hold together they only need to pick off a couple of republicans, three, in fact, to sink a cabinet nominee. so the challenge for democrats is going to be who is the weakest among "the herd" of

nominees and pick off one or two and stop them with republican moderate votes. >> we've heard senators lindsey graham and john mccain. which of his cabinet nominees appear most vulnerable? >> contessa, i would say first of all rex tillerson will face major scrutiny because of his status as chief executive of exxon mobil and his ties to russia. secondly, steve mnuchin, i think he will be confirmed in the end, but he's going to get a lot of tough questioning about the fact that he's a financial executive, former goldman executive and at a time when donald trump ran saying he was going to stand up to wall street and i think the most vulnerable of all the republican nominees is tom price, the nominee for health and human services secretary. he has favored structural changes to medicare that would be very controversial. donald trump said in the

campaign he wasn't going to touch medicare. tom price is going to get grilled on what exactly his intentions are and the administration's intentions on that issue. >> how much, quickly, john, could these confirmation battles slow down the trump a again at that -- agenda? >> it's a distraction. it could slow down some things and gum up the works. however, because donald trump has a cooperative republican congress, his efforts to repeal obamacare and cut taxes. abbott labs gets antitrust approval for its proposed takeover of saint jude medical. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. the federal trade commission said it cleared the $25 billion deal on the condition the combined company would sell two of its medical device businesses in an effort to eegs competition concerns. shares of abbott laboratories rose fractionally to 38.60 while

shares of saint jude were up 32 cents. the food & drug administration halted an experimental cancer treatment. they said four patients died during trial testing. all four deaths were a result of liver testing. something they're investigating to see if it was caused by the treatment. shares plunged 15% to $52.36. and medical technology for aortic disorders is placing a temporary hold on shipments of one of its devices as it investigates a manufacturing issue. the device was responsible for more than 60% of the company's approximate shares for the year. shares were punished following the news falling as much as 26% to 527. over the weekend biotech companies said they received fda approval for their spinal

muscular atrophy drug. this marks the nation's first ever approved treatment for the rare and even fatal genetic disorder. biogen shares rose. the shares of ionis rose finishing $55.12. amazon says it had its best holiday season yet. it shipped more than a billion items worldwide in the holiday period. 900 million of them came to my house with the voice assistant echo devices towering results. more people signed up for its prime membership service than ever before. shares rose a percent today. they finished at $771.40. a u.s. agent at th-- agency opep a safety investigation into the brakes of a fusion and mercury milan models have brakes that

may fail in certain road conditions. so far there have been three reported crashes associated with this issue. ford shares were off a fraction today, finished at $12.35. speaking of automakers, tesla and panasonic will work together to develop cells for solar panels. panasonic is expected to invest more than $250 million into a new york production facility that is owned by tesla. tesla shares rose nearly 3% to $219.53. rebuilding the nation's aging roads and bridges will be part of the new strategy. not only have infrastructure stocks benefitted but so have tech stocks. we have the story on why smart infrastructure could be an area to watch. >> reporter: it's no secret that the big building and construction stocks have been

rising on the back of trump's promise to rebuild aging roads and bridges, but perhaps less known are infrastructure tech companies that make things like smart power grids and intelligent water systems. they also stand to benefit if we see a big building boom in the u.s. now these stocks make up an index of so-called smart grid companies tracked, a tool that hedge funds use to analyze market data. the basket has risen 9% since trump won the election beating the broader markets and the major spider technology. daktronics has surged more than 25% since the election. the water products does advanced water meters and is worth 2.2 billion in market cap. it's climbed more than 20% since november 8th. tesla is part of this index, too. the thinking is that the

electric car company pushing into self-driving car technology could develop infrastructure systems. its shares have gained nearly 10%. of the 24 stocks in kensho's smart grid basket only four have traded lower and only two of those less than 2%. if you think trump will make rebuilding the nation's infrastructure a priority during his presidency, these could be interesting picks for your new year's portfolio. on the other hand, if you think trump may not follow through on his promise, they could be getting ready for a pull back. for nightly business report, i'm deed dre boza. wonder what stocks should be in your portfolio in the new year? every night we'll feature a special market monitor to talk about stock picks for 2017. we'll begin with hank smith. hank, nice to have you back. i like your pick. let's begin with anheuser-busch.

what's not to like there? >> well, look, it's a fabulous high quality company with great management. the stock is down 25% over the last two months on some temporary head winds in our opinion. the stronger dollar hasn't helped, brazil being in a recession hasn't helped and then this trump trade out of yield and consumer staples, all these factors are temporary and to us create a great buying opportunity with anheuser-busch. >> you like nike. they've had a difficult year. what do you like about it? >> it's the worst performing dow stock this year and, you know, they've had competition with adidas and under armour for sure. there have been some bankruptcies in some of the retailers that have affected them temporarily, but this is a really well-managed company with

a huge spend in r&d and marketing. they outspend all of their competition and so the valuation has coming down to a market mogul. >> a couple of retail analysts and they, like you, love your third pick and that's t.j. max. why is it so hot? >> well, look, this is a retailer for all seasons. i say that figuratively and literally, fall, winter, spring, summer, but also for all parts of the business cycle whether we're in an expansion or whether we're in a recession, shoppers love t.j. max. they love the treasure hunt. it appeals to the dna of all shop e shoppers and they have great product. you really have to come there often. >> if you were just judging by the traffic, hank, you walk into those stores, you see so much traffic compared to especially

the big department stores, the malls for sure. and you know what i loved about it most, you go toy shopping in there, and those toys are at a discount 50% off what you could see them for on amazon. >> my wife's favorite store, hank, i think is home goods. >> yeah. >> that's part of the tjx family, right. >> yes. they're doing very well. and, you know, they're not -- they're not being amazoned as many retailers are. >> hank, thanks very much. appreciate it. have a happy new year. >> yes, thanks to you. >> may all your stock picks come true. >> we appreciate it. this was supposed to be the year virtual reality went mainstream, but it didn't happen, so will virtual reality ever get real? that's next

. well, hollywood has lost another of its well-known faces. actress carrie fisher who's very famous for playing princess leigh died today. she suffered a heart attack on a flight from london to los angeles and she has been in a hospital ever since. she was 60 years old. the latest film in the "star wars" saga that fisher helped launch pulled in $96 million over the weekend easily taking the top spot. "rogue one" topped "sing." it broke the $11 billion mark and is now on pace to top last year's record of 11.1 billion. snap chat has reportedly bought an israeli maker of augmented reality software.

the startup allows businesses or consumers to visualize what items might look like in a different environment. you want to know how that looks in your living room. so far snap chat has yet to comment. 2016 was supposed to be the year that virtual reality broke into the mainstream but it did not quite work out that way. now as julia bores sten tells us, the companies that invested heavily in the new technology, they're hoping the turn around year ahead. >> we're here to make virtual reality the next major computing platform. >> this year's oculus and htr live is looking to bring vr to the map stream. now super data research has slashed its vr estimates from over $5 billion to just 2.7 billion as headset makers struggle with supply constraints. the fact that many people have computers required like facebook's oculus and the challenge of convincing

consumers it's worth investing in an entirely new device. >> the real challenge was getting headsets into the hands of consumers and giving them a chance to experience it because it's almost impossible to understand what virtual reality is without actually being part of it and having that experience. >> sony's play station dr was considered well placed because of the 50 million plus dr play station con soles at home. super data cut its sales from 2.3 million to less than 750,000. sony has taken a cautious approach to marketing and production. one reason sony and others have moved slowly is that there hasn't been an explosion of content or must-have apps for consumers. it's worth investing in the very early days of a new industry. >> able to attract content providers and content creators

and they need to do that by showing them that the consumer is actually interested but it's sort of a chicken and the egg sort of situation because you need content to drive consumption but you need consumers to drive content. >> while a critical mass of consumer content builds up, there's been an explosion of business vr applications from industrial manufacturing to architecture and design, sports training to medical stimulation. consumer vr to continue its rise next year especially if it gets a boost from google's day dream. it costs $80 but includes a controller. google is expected to make a big push for it as more android phones that work in the day dream enter the market. i'm julia borsten from san francisco. >> i'm contessa brewer. >> i'm tyler mathisen. we'll see you right back here

tomorrow night. "nightly business report" has been funded in part by hss. ♪ ♪ our value principles are patient first, and we want to deliver the highest quality care. >> the goal of creating and sustaining value is all about putting the patient at the center of the equation. >> the purpose of this organization is to help people get back to what they need and love to do. is brought to you by...

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