this is "nightly business report." with tyler mathisen and sue herera. funded in part by -- >> all it takes is a spark. one idea to take flights. the courage to seek the unknown. to innovate, disrupt, to move us all forward. to explore a different perspective. at nasdaq we connect the world. its ideas, its capital, its businesses. the people that drive global economy. the future isn't tomorrow. it's right now. all it takes is a spark. nasdaq. >> rally ho. stocks power ahead to new records on the back of earnings and the shoulders of walmart. so how healthy really are consumers and retailers?

>> growth threat. nonbank lenders have grabbed a huge share of business but it may be at risk. >> and back to the future. as online tools grow, we'll show why you the hottest new organizational app might just be the pen and paper. all that for tuesday, february 21st. >> good evening. welcome. >> investors kicked off the holiday weekend style with all three major indices finishing in record territory. you a three are up more than 10% cynic the election. today the dow, 118 points up to 20,743. the nasdaq add 27. the s&p 500 tackled, look at this. ended up 14 points. energy shares higher thanks to a 1% gain in oil. >> and walmart was one of the key drivers in the day and one of the stocks in generalful earnings at the world's largest

retailer fell in the holiday quarter but so what? they beat the all more wall street estimates. on the other hand, sales came in a little below forecast. even though they were a whopping $131 billion. same store sales in the u.s. rose at the fastest clip since 2012. and that is what sent the stock up 3%. >> the world's largest retailer had a get quarter. it grew at the strongest rate in more than four years. ecommerce is up a bigger share of the sales. they saw traffic in stores and even though food prices continued to fall, grocery sales were positive. which is important because groceries are more than half the sales and is a big traffic driver. sales have been slower than

expected to start the year. >> i'm that's on i have to walmart right now. i've said they're doing all the right things. unfortunately, they're competing with a really, really tough business, amazon. >> investing in ecommerce spends fwols catch up to amazon online. walmart said it is free two-day shipping on orders of $35 or more has led to a nice uptick in commerce. interestingly over the weekend, amazon quietly dropped its free shipping threshold back down to $35. i spoke to the officer. he asked about a potential border adjustment tax, he said we are pro tax reform for anything will help with jobs and help consumers. he we believe on to say we do have concerns. but it has the probability of increasing prices.

he added the devil is in the detail so it is too difficult on speculate on any potential impact. >> the fellow dow component home depot blew past wall street expectations as the housing market remains strong frlg it also thikd dividend to 89 cents a share. home depot said it is buying back $15 billion worth of shares. put that all together and you have shares up 2% to an all time high. >> and now to macy's, and a different kind of retail result. the company's profits fell more than 10% and the same store sales slumped. telling them to brace for another year of the same. earlier this month the reports surface that had hudson bay had approached place business a possible takeover. but despite the results, macy's

ceo is betting on the consumer and said his company has to be ready. >> consumers have money. they're spending in it different places than in stores like ours. but they're spending it with us online. at the end of the day, the consumer has the money, once they've spent it on these various categories. when they do, we have to be ready. >> the macy's shares flat on the day. >> on friday we told you one of the biggest deals ever was close. now call it a deal undone. kraft heinz dropped its bid for rival consumer bids giant unilever. it was clear, unilever was not interested in a tie-up. kraft shares lost about 2% on the day. >> and another deal we told but last week that it might happen actually did. burger king's parent restaurant brand will guy chicken chain popeyes for nearly $2 billion.

that's a lot of wings. popeyes sprinting higher by nearly 20%. >> consumer staple companies, particularly food companies are having a hard time growing. so they're on ways to do it. here's a look at some innovative approaches. >> big food has a big growth problem. that's why companies from general lions conagra are rolling out new innovations for long time brands to meet consumer tastes. like oreo maker mondelez. >> consumers want indull jenls. there is a expense everybody is moving over to well being. on our more indull gentle brands, we have oreo tlhins.

there are all sorts of ways to neat consumers' needs. at the end of the day, it is a trend everywhere in the world. and as the world's largest snacking company. >> the health trend evolving. >> what is working right now? what are some insights? >> people want protein in different ways. certainly meat protein has been in the past, soy protein has been around so i think vegetable protein will be the next trend where consumers want in it their pasta, their rice, their crackers. and we are working to formulate that. >> behind falling behind on big food trends, company have grappled with slower growth. both abroad and here in the u.s. and they have yet to see any meaningful boost in spending despite the strong jump in consumer confidence after the

election. >> in the second quarter of the year, it is usually a difficult time for us. the holiday period, based on our portfolio, is a huge, huge thing. we're not seeing it play through but certainly confidence is building and it helps the food business. and overall, of course, people are going to be focused more on brands. they're more confident. >> company are also departmenting to any potential policy changes from washington on trade, taxes and regulation. for the meat industry, for example, china and mexico are big buyers of u.s. poultry, beef, and pork. so executives are watching nervously bracing for any heated rhetoric and a slowdown in trade. despite the growth problems, overall food stocks have been great investments. they're considered safe. they pay big dividends and they've a hot space for deal making. >> so what do all of these

results from retailers deal news and so forth tell us about the state of the consumer? and retail today? jan knows, the ceo of the retail research firm. and he is with us now to discuss it. let's start with walmart. not exactly a big market participant until today. >> how did they get their mojo back? >> they've worked really hard on it. they have better in stocks, fixed supply chain, they've made the stores more shopable. they've done what they've been needing to do for a long time of get back to the fundamentals. making the consumer happier. the other thing they've done is a really good job of getting online. and they've done it without costing themselves bottom line. the biggest problem was as they transferred more and more

online, that it would cost them bottom line. but they had really strong good sales numbers ask they didn't wreck their earnings to get there. this looks like walmart has turned the corner. and i think they were up 29% online. it was a really big number. that tells what you their own business is doing for them. that's what they have to do to be competitive. >> and they are really giving amazon a run for their money. there was news about amazon now dumping back some of its cost on those items. what you have to pay on amazon in order to get free shipping if you're not a prime member. so amazon looking at walmart with a skeptical eye. but amazon is not only seeing a big jump. it saw in same store sales. what kind of experience do you see? >> well, they have up traffic. i think it was like 1.4%.

boy, that's hard to get in the current environment. not only did they get store to store comps. they had more people coming to the store. and most stores are not seeing that. and they've done that because they've made the store a better place to buy. they have a better assortment of products. they have much better business in the grocery than they've in the past. they're loading in it your car in more than 500 stores so they've made themselves much more attractive to the customer. and the customer finally has started responding. which is what they've been waiting to see. >> so my sense is that the consumer is pretty healthy. unemployment is low, when we were talking right after the holidays, we all universally agreed, and here you have home depot and walmart. broaden it out a little bit.

are others doing as well? macy's sure isn't. >> they're not exactly the same space. >> amazon game biggest apparel seller. apparel really got hurt. and it continues to flake. where we've seen a slowdown in food deflation and home depot is in another category all by itself. clearly best in class of what it does. but it is also selling a product where everybody is doing things to their home. they're seeing how it does really well. with you people are nesting too. they want to do more for the house they're currently in. and they would rather do that and order dominos than go out and shop and that's hurting everybody else. >> by the way, home depot is doing. that experience to the shoppers, too. they're offering the kids workshops. they offer how to program for people who come in. and you top that off with the

branding and the knowledge and you're making loyal customers out of the people who might just vent you are in to see what's there. >> and experiential is where we are. if you can get customer to want to come to your store to do something, they may buy something while they're there. >> well, have fun in las vegas, jan. >> it's always fun. >> we mentioned home depot's massive stock buyback. while it helps to lift earnings, he tells us they're not necessarily a cure-all. >> home depot had great earnings but they announced they were liking the dividends and buying back $15 billion in stock. nearly 9% of the shares outstanding. home depot was already what i call a buy back monster. they've cut their shares outstanding in half from 2.36 billion. and they're not alone.

a the love company have drastically cut. since 1997 ibm has cut its shares outstanding in half. exxon has cut by 42%. big tech names like intel and sysco by about 30%. ibm has woefully portland because they've been beset by growth issues. revenues from the old line businesses were shrinking and wasn't revenues from newer businesses like artificial intelligence replacing it. the lesson here is no amount of financial engineering like buying back shares can replace management' inability to grow the businesses. ibm has trouble growing business, the stock has trouble. buy baghd buybacks are not a panacea. >> coming up, why the president's agenda could be

troublesome for the companies that have the most mortgages. ceos of more than a dozen company have called on lawmakers to overhaul the corporate tax code. the chief executives argued a so-called border adjustment tax will make the u.s. products more competitive overseas. this come from last week's meeting at the white house who stay opposite. they say this type of tax would raise their costs and likely prices for consumers. >> canada's prime minister says any renegotiating of nafta would

be between canada, the and u.s. mexico, and not negotiated individually. and it's all been talk so far. >> president trump's 100-day plan renegotiating nafta as a top priority but it could be months before official talks with canada and mexico begin. by law pass in the 2015 interesting white house must notify in writing the house ways and means senate finance committee of a negotiation that lasts 90 days. the two branches have that time to set their agenda before the u.s. approaches canada and mexico. both confirmed no such letter has been sent as of this week's recess. meanwhile, mexico has begun its renegotiation clock. the president and his team have met more casually with the relevant parties earlier this month but a senior administration official says it

will pursue the appropriate channels to renegotiate once a u.s. trade recommendive is installed. no hearing for that nominee. in the meantime, nafta remain as key pillar of trump's economic talking points. >> we'll have tremendous trade deals all over the world. but they'll be bilateral or one-on-one. none of these deals when we get called in quick sand, where we get mired in and we can't do anything about it. by the way, nafta and so many others. >> canada's foreign minister on tuesday struck down the notion that a new nafta could actually be two deals. one with each country. saying any negotiations would involve all three. for "nightly business report." washington. >> lumber liquidatorliquidators. the result easily beat analysts' expectations.

they said a rise in same store sales help overall revenue. they said the company remains committed to returning to profitability. the shares popped 17% to $17.98. the railroad company csx said it would cut a1,000 management positions for what it called an involuntary separation program. they are expected to be concentrated in the head quarter operations and the company said the ceo and president are expected to retire at the end of may. csx shares up 37%. shares of community health systems cook off today following the hospital operators' better than expect earnings and revenue report that came out yesterday. the community health said it divested more than 20 hospitals in the latest quarter and will continue to focus its efforts on reducing the debt load. shares soared more than 33% to 923. >> mobile eye has inked another

deal with an auto make. he last week we told you the company signed an agreement with volkswagen. today bmw said that the data generation technology will be available in bmw's 2018 models. the shares were at 1% to 46.12. >> verizon confirmed would it buy yahoo!'s core assets in a discount. the two companies were in talks on revise the takeover price following yahoo!'s two data breaches. now they said they will pay about $350 million less than its official offer. verizon shares were up a fraction to 49.43. and boeing has received an order for five of its jets. boeing shares rose more than

1.5% to $175.56. >> wells fargo has fired four of its senior managers as part of the fraudulent accounts scandal that has rocked the banks. none of the executive there's get a bone us and they will forfeit all of their unvested equity awards and outstanding options. it is part of company's independent investigation into the bank sales practices. wells fargo was fined in september. nearly $200 million for creating 200 million fraudulent accounts. federal regulation on the banks led to the rise of a group of whole new companies like quicken and home depot to grab a huge chunk of the mortgage market. but as they told us, if president trump is able to roll back the regulations, the nonbank lenders will feel the pinch.

>> at a recent interview -- >> everything that we're doing today will change. >> he said it was talking technology but he could have said the same for regulation and the mortgage market. they will roll back. those rules in addition to billions in losses and fines caused big banks to pull back on big bank lending opening the door for nonbank lenders. >> we really don't want any changes. it just makes life more difficult. there has been a staggering take over by nonbank lenders. especially fha lending. they went from 10% original nations in 2010 to half the market today. but if the trump administration

loosens the rules, the big banks could move back in and the nonbanks could face stiffer competition. the control of of caliber home loans who used to run city mortgage. >> they do expect the regional bank cosmetic step up. they're demanding a lot more. the u.s. consumer is very strong. home buying is very strong. and everybody has to show growth for their shareholders and investors. >> whether banks large or local move back in or not, one thing is certain. higher mortgage lebld letters shrink for all home loans. especially refinancing. that means they will be competing for an ever smaller business. >> why the good old-fashioned day planner is back. sort of.

on the housing front, sales in january are expected to kick higher. one of the darlings, tesla, is expected to release quarterly results and the market are pick apart the minutes of the federal reserve meeting. that's what to watch for tomorrow. >> at a time when serving seemingly done onlining, millennials are starting to use an old school way work a notebook. in fact, traditional journals and notebooks have taken off in the last year. what's old is new again. >> this is this week. >> molly craven is a 30 something margareting professional who has discovered the hottest new app for her life is a notebook. >> i wanted to get more

religious and ritualistic about my planning. >> everything old is new again as millennials are taking pen to paper. they call it bullet journaling. hundreds of thousands of images have been posted on instagram from simple to elaborate. there's even a how to video. >> we keep track of things. >> that's the axe designer in brooklyn who has led the bullet journal movement. he said apps like google calendar are great but limited. >> what i really like, it all goes into one place. it is one tool. >> but it is so easy now to schedule your life, go to the dentist put down your goals. if you failed to do something, you can cut and paste it to the next week or delete all evidence of failure. physically writing something down makes it permanent. it takes more time and perhaps lead to better results. at least that's the idea. >> it does give me time to sit

down and think about what's coming up and plan more effectively. however, i don't think i've been doing it long enough to really see the improvement. >> even so, sales by publicly traded notebook maker mole skin rose 12% in the u.s. last year. the writer is selling a journal, a 100-year-old german company started back when people used to write. emthere's one other benefit. >> the bullet journal by its nature of analog forces to you disconnect. it forces you not to be online and that's a really powerful thing. >> however, digital apps have one advantage. lose your device and your info is stored in the cloud. lose your notebook and it's gone forever. for "nightly business report." los angeles. >> next up, manual tiypewriters. >> that's "nightly business report." >> thanks for watching. have a great evening.

we'll see you tomorrow. >> "nightly business report" has been fund in the part by -- >> all it takes is a spark. one idea to take flight. the courage to seek the unknown, to innovate, disrupt, to move us all forward. to explore a different perspective. at nasdaq we connect the world, its ideas, its capital, its businesses, the people that drive global economies. the future isn't tomorrow. it's right now. all it takes is a spark. nasdaq.

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