indexes sunch to record as talks of tax reform moves the market higher. the. the big six what the president wants to do to make flying in america better. those stories and more on "nightly business report" for thursday february 9th. good evening i'm sue herera. tyler mathisen is off today. a record day on wall street with the all hitting records. will have more on that in a moment. we begin tonight with a major legal ruling. a u.s. appeals court unanimously upheld a temporary suspension of president trump's immigration order which ban travellers from seven predominantly muslim nations it's something the tech industry and businesses across the country have been watching very closely. john harwood comes to us tonight from washington. this was a unanimous decision against the government, what is likely to happen next? >> reporter: well, there are two choices facing the trump administration. one is that they can go to the

supreme court and try to fight this and win this battle there. the other is they can pull back the executive order and make changes in it to try to make it conform with what the courts have ruled so far. the fact that we have four judges so far, two republicans, the initial washington state judge appointed by republican president and then on this three judge panel, two appointed by democratic president, one by president jrj w. bush indicates that the road ahead for this executive order may be difficult. so we've got to see what the legal team at the white house decides, also have to wait and see how the president decides to respond because the way that he is talked about the judiciary has raised concerns on capitol hill in both parties and will see whether or not he goes off on this judge ruling or with withholds comment and let's his legal team speak for him. >> as far as the supreme court goes, sean spicer, the press secretary has said in the past

is something they would consider. there is a vacancy on the court. would there be any chance if his nominee if confirmed would be sitting on the court if indeed this case came to the court. >> reporter: i don't think think so. this is ripening on a much faster time table. and i think given the contours of the court and the fact that the republican appointed judges have ruled against the president so far, the prospects for him winning at the court, i think aren't especially promising at this moment. if you had a split between the four on the left of the court and the four on the right, that would leave the ninth circuit ruling to stand, but it's also possible that some of the conservative wing of the court might side with the liberals because that's what happened with those two republican appointed judges on the west

coast. >> john harwood, thank you as always. john came to us tonight from washington. a bit later in our program we'll take a look at which sectors might be impacted by this ruling. wall street may have been covered by snow today but stocks were hot. it was a record close for the three major indexes, upbeat earnings help lift stocks immediately but the rally picked up steam after president trump uttered one word, taxes. >> we're going to be announcing something i would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax. >> stocks have generally risen over the past three months as investors bet the new administration will cut taxes and that's all investors needed to hear. the dow jones industrial average rose 128 points to 20,172, the nasdaq added 32 and the s&p 500

gained 13. >> we've got the trump train versus the trump tantrum. if anything had tax reform talk that moved the markets. the s&p 500 moved almost 8 points in the hour after president trump said he would have more on tax reform in a couple of weeks. bank stocks particularly moved because bund yield rows. small caps rose because small companies would be among the biggest beneficiaries of a tax cut. never mind that congressman paul ryan indicated that obamacare would be the priority and that tax reform wouldn't come until the spring at the earliest. never mind all that. the president said we will have more on tax reform and we'll have it very soon and the markets believed him and the markets moved. so what does this tell you? it confirms that tax reform is what moves the market. it also confirms that the path of least resistance for the stock market right now is higher. why is that? because the markets move up

whenever the president talks about tax reform or infrastructure spending. when the stuff the market doesn't like is in the spotlight, like obamacare or immigration or trade wars, the market either moves sideways are drifts slidely lower. simply put, good news moves the markets up, but bad moves only makes the markets kind of drift around. that tells me the path of least resistance for now is certainly higher. now, we have the trump trade on good days for the market and we have the trump tantrum on bad days. for "nightly business report" at the new york stock exchange. >> infrastructure spending was also one of the topics the president discussed today with airline and shipping companies at the white house. president trump told the executives that it's time to fix america's airports and upgrade how america's fly. that helped airline stocks take off. report from the white house. >> reporter: president trump sat

down with more than a dozen of the top executives who run airlines and airports to hammer a familiar theme, flying in america needs to get better. >> our airports used to be the best, now they're at the bottom of the rung. >> reporter: most travellers likely agree with the president. many of americas airports are too crowded and too outdated and need to be frichld. president trump wants to ease regulations to help airlines while increasing spending to improve the industry's infrastructure. among the top priorities, upgrading the air traffic control system so there's less congestion and fewer delays at the biggest airports. after the white house meeting the ceo southwest airlines said the president was told why the current system needs to be fixed. >> there's about $25 billion of waste annually with the system that's currently being used, so that's where our focus is, that's where the airlines for

america focus is. >> reporter: just as important an improved air traffic control system could possibly lead to lower fares. >> so that inefficiency in air traffic system really creates bottle necks that they turn into operating costs and consumer fares. that's the biggest thing to move the needle. >> reporter: with the number of people flying in the u.s. at an all time high the need to handle for travellers, still america may be a long ways from seeing all new terminals and airports being built. that's because the biggest airport construction projects often take years to get going let alone completed. president trump told the industry, he wants to get them the billions of dollars that will be needed. phil lebeau, "nightly business report" washington, d.c. >> some states are vying to be part of what could be a very large infrastructure spending spree. what does states want to see now

from the white house? >> reporter: 49 states have sent a wish list of their top priorities for infrastructure spending to the white house and to the white house's national trade council. now this list includes more than 400 projects and some of them states are asking for things like new energy plants, they're asking for things like earthquake emergency response and warning systems. they're also asking for money for new roads and new bridges. some of the states total more than $100 billion california most notably has a list that's longer than 50 projects. >> now, what about congress? where does congress stand on infrastructure plan? >> house speaker paul ryan had initially been luke warm to this idea. he felt that congress had already addressed infrastructure spending in a previous highway spending bill. he seems to be coming around to the idea but it could take congress a while to actually get to infrastructure spending. he said it's going to be spring

at the earliest before lawmakers can take this up in addition to taking up tax reform. so capitol hill really has a lot on its plate going forward. >> generally speaking, what tends to be the economic impact of infrastructure spending? >> there was an interesting report by the economic policy institute that found that $250 billion worth of infrastructure spending could create 3 million jobs in just one year alone so there could be a really big impact in terms of the number of people who could go back to work. however, there's a big cost involved in that as well. right now president trump is taking office with the get to gdp ratio with its highest level since 1945. there's a lot of republicans and a lot of budget hawks who are starting to warn that the debt level is simply getting out of control. >> which begs the question how does washington plan to pay for it all if it indeeds it does go through? >> that's right. president trump's challenge is going to make all of these

numbers add up. he's touted as much as a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending but at the same time he's also saying that he's going to do phenomenal things when it comes to tax reform. all of those things are going to cost a lot of money and you've got republicans such as mick mulvaney saying that's a lot of money and i don't know if the congress can really afford to continue to approve those types of proing jects. >> thank you so much. well just one day after making a big job announcement from the oval office, intel is warning of lower profit margins in one of its businesses. at an investor meeting it's data center profit margins will be lower than usual. that unit has been a key contributor to intel's growth. that push shares lower by about 2.5%. coke's earnings fizzle the world's largest beverage company saw profits fall 55%. revenues also dropped from a year ago making it the seventh

straight quarter of declining sales. it's a widely held stocks and today's news sent it lower by 2%. >> the world's biggest beverage company is in transition mode results today painted a picture of better growth in north america but weakness around the world. add in a stronger u.s. dollar that chipped away at coke's overseas sales a complicating refranchising to become a leaner company, and a new ceo, james quincy who takes over in may. >> we focused the portfolio on more categories, we upped the marketing investment, we improves the execution, and i think the whole team has pulled that together and now they've had two really strong years capped off with a great fourth quarter. the north american business is humming. lots to do in 2017 with the biggest year of refranchising but we're confident the team is confident. >> reporter: the big picture,

soda consumption is flowing as people opt for healthier choices like bottled water and juices and teas. this will be coincidence kw's main challenge along with adjusting to a new administration. koike's has opposed president trump's executive order. >> we're in 200 countries around the world. we have always stood for that. we are always going to stand for that we think that that's part of our core values and that what our statement was all about. it doesn't effect a lot of our employees but we wanted to be clear about what our brand stands for. >> reporter: another big question will be global trade. coke's international exposure means if we do see more policy like border taxes or tariffs it could be a head wind for business. for now management is focused on building a smaller more focused country selling smaller cans of cokes which are doing better to keep up with changing consumer tastes. for "nightly business report" i'm sara eisen.

>> anthem's bid to buy rival cigna has been blocked. the takeover would reduce competition and harm consumers. following the decision shares of both companies were higher. >> reporter: a federal judge ruled against anthem's $54 billion merger with cigna saying in her decision that the deal would leave large national employers with less choice. judge amy jackson rejected anthem's argument that the combined firm could reduce cost and pass on $2 billion in savings because she says cigna's testimony in court contradicted anthem's claim. the hostility was so pronounced the judge called it, quote, the elephant in the courtroom. >> cigna and anthem and their conflict and she rightly so challenges the ability for the two companies to realize those efficiencies. >> reporter: anthem says it will move quickly to appeal the

ruling. that if not overturned the consequences of the decision will hurt american consumers. and i trust attorneys give anthem low odds of winning the appeal. analyst says the move will help anthem in its next legal battle with cigna over their hefty breakup fee. >> they do have merger agreement through april that buys them time to think about the strategy, to challenge this breakup fee of $1.85 billion. and i think that they will challenge it legally. >> reporter: so what happens next for the health insurers. analysts think that even with the uncertainty over health reform in washington we could see a whole new round of deals. cigna has hinted to investors that he has the cash to make a sizable acquisition even without a breakup fee. now that the court has also blocked aetna and humana's

$34 billion deal, analysts say cordonny may try again. humana and aetna's merger agreement expires next week and they will update investors on whether they'll be breaking up or staying together just after valentine's day. "nightly business report." >> still ahead the president likes to tweet, a lot but it's not enough to make the social media company great again.

no retweets for twitter, monthly user growth in the company's latest quarter was disappointing and revenue growth was the slowest since going public that along with a weak outlook pressure the shares. julia boorstin takes a look at why twitter is tumbling. >> reporter: not only did twitter's revenue in the fourth quarter fall short of expectations the company's earnings forecast for the first quarter of this year was about half of what analysts projected and twitter added only 2 million monthly active users just half of the prior quarter. >> the real negative to point out and what they were very upfront about they're seeing much more competitive pressure for video ad dollars. that problem is probably going to intensify. >> reporter: but all the changes to twitter's products are working with the third consecutive quarter of double digits percentage growth. he's confident the company will be able to keep up that user

growth. dorsey says this year the company will focus on turning around its revenue and while president trump makes headlines for his use of twitter that's not having an impact on usage or revenue yet. but dorsey says he's more confident than ever that twitter is growing in its influence. >> the whole world is watching twitter. we may not be meeting everyone's growth expectations there's something that continues to grow, twitter's influence and impact. >> dorsey dual ceo roles at twitter and square drew criticism from former microsoft steve obamaer. >> he started two amazing companies. who can do that? that's very tough, both twitter and square and i give him credit for that. now's the time for him to focus now from my perspective on the stock i own. >> when asked on the earnings call if he can continue running twitter and square he said he has the management team in place to continue running both companies. for "nightly business report"

i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. >> these that's where we begin tonight's market focus. the home builder saw siel -- new home deliveries and $3 billion pretax charge led to the poor results. revenue for the quarter was flat. visa shares were off nearly 5 and a half percent to $13.26. viacom posted revenue above expectations thanks in part to higher theatrical sales and he can sleng in the media giant. profit fell but still above estimates. anesthesia part of a long awaited restructuring plan viacom will focus on what it calls flagship brands. investors seem to like the news sending viacom up 4% to 43.89. duncan brands returned to profitability in its latest quarter benefiting from higher franchise fees and royal income. the company also reported better than expected revenue and hiked its dividend by more than 7% to

$0.23 a share but duncan ceo says there's more work to be done. >> we've looked at our menu and we feel it's too complex. we're doing a fairly extensive test. certain things will happen. we'll change them back again so it's a test but we want to streamline our menu, the results of that should be employees have an easier job which is obviously speed up transactions. >> dunkin' rose 4%. young brand topped estimates at its kfc and taco bell fast food chain. the company did note that it's pizza hut brand didn't perform as well and said improvement needed to be made. >> we're going to transform our assets, our technology, we've got to get better at operation anesthetize communications. there's a lot of things to do. i think what we're doing now is working with the franchisee. obviously our franchisee had the

same success with the kfc and taco bell in the u.s. >> shares of yum were up better than a percent to 67.39 and cap and gear maker reported a quarterly loss the company also cut its guidance for 2017 and investors pulled up stakes. shares were off more than 18% to 20.95. a legal challenge has been filed to stall the construction of the dakota access pipeline. the native american tribe which had been protesting its completion filed the lawsuit in an attempt to protect its water supply. meantime the company behind the nearly $4 billion project says the pipeline should be completed and operational within about three months. up next what tonight's court ruling on the president's travel ban means for some stocks.

>> economic storm clouds are forming once again over greece. the country needs it creditors to release cash so it can repay debt due later this month and there's disagreement over how do that. germany says budgets are needed for a decade. the imf is calling for more debt relief. greece says aus territory is not needed but more debt relief is. ross gerber and he joins us now.

nice to see you, welcome. >> nice to see you too. >> what do you think the immediate reaction will be on wall street tomorrow to this court ruling? >> i mean it's super positive. for so many companies in america from the high end talent in the h1b 1 visas aside like tech companies, et cetera to the low end workers in the agricultural fields of california for example, you know, what this does is it allows an increase in z-ild and unskilled labor into the country and we need that. so immigrants are the life blood of this country and any denial of its economic benefit is clearly somebody who missed econ. it's a very good thing. >> what about the fact that the administration most likely will come out with a statement, we don't know what they plan to do. there are several avenues that they have one of which includes an appeal to the supreme court. does that --

>> that's what they're going to do. so trump's already tweeted just now i'll see you in court. so we're going to go to the supreme court. he's going to lose. it's an unconstitutional executive order. the judiciary does supercede the executive branch in this area and he's going to lose and i think it's a great thing for the american brand to approve that trump can't just do what he wants. >> my question which is more germane perhaps to our viewers is does that, the discussion and the back and forth and the appeals to different courts, does that have the potential for volatility specifically as it relates to some of the tech stocks where the ceos have been vocal? >> no. i think that we all now that we've got the ninth circuit decision we all know that this will stand and this is going to be a benefit to stocks and the american brand which is a benefit to stocks. so this is a very big positive. there's no other spin. >> what about the fact that we have had the marktd run now we had record highs in the market

today in the industries are you still bullish on stocks? we're looking a little extended. >> that's where we're at too. we've made so much money in the last three or four months and that's just uncharacteristic -- >> all right. we apologize. we had some technical difficulties with ross, ross gerber is with -- as i mentioned we had record highs so let's take a look at how things shaped up. the dow jones industrial average finishing up 118 points and change to 20172.40 the nasdaq come positivity gained 32 to 571558 and the s&p 500 finished up 13 points to 2307.87 and on that note that does it for "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us have a great evening everybody and we'll see you right here

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