>> announcer: 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 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 and its capitals, its businesses, the people that drive the global which he. the future isn't tomorrow, it's right now. all it takes is a spark. nasdaq. >> crude cracks the energy market faces its next big test as the price of crude drops sharply and suddenly. >> report card. engineers give america's roads

and bridges a fear failing grade and a big bill to fix them. >> flip or flop while that movin ready dream house can quickly turn into a nightmare. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, march 9th. >> good evening, everyone and welcome. the price of oil is plummeting. crude lost 7% of its value in just two days, the tumble was quick, was steep and it's seemingly came out of nowhere. prices settled below $50 a barrel for the first time this year. prior to the decline, prices had held relatively steady in the mid-$50 rank as a result of opec's decision to cut production but as jackie deangelis reports that strategy is being put to the test. >> reporter: the selloff was sudden and sharp. domestic crude has been stable for months remaining around that mid-50 rank but no more. the straw that broke the camelback a wait and see approach from opec regarding extending his production cut

that cut supporting the market since it was announced. also activities here as home. >> the market finally reacted to swelling oil inventory here in the u.s. they're at a record level. they continue to grow and get higher and higher. finally the market couldn't bear up under that any more. >> reporter: it's a delayed reaction. supplies had been steadily increasing in the united states, recounts are up, companies are raising spending plans all to take advantage of higher prices. the big question, will american shell producers ramp up output and undo what opec tried to do when it curbed production. >> it has risen steadily now over the past several weeks. we are back over 9 million barrels per day they are in the process of undoing in its entirety the very cuts opec and some other non-opec countries particularly russia were trying to engage in. this is helping to reflood the market with oil and it's a real threat to the price stability that we had experienced over the past couple months.

>> reporter: don't underestimate opec with the ramco, saudi arabia state run oil company looking toward an ipo. there's a strong incentive to keep prices on the high side. if opec and the saudis were to extend the production cut, prices could head back higher. for "nightly business report," i'm jackie deangelis. >> on wall street today trading was choppy as the move in oil prices starts to ripple through the broader market. investors were also in wait and see mode ahead of the monthly job reports due out tomorrow. today the dow jones industrial average rows just two points to 20,858. that's wait and see folks. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 were both up a point and change. >> as tim mentioned small moves in the market today but that wasn't the case eight years ago. we were in the depths of the financial crisis and if you were like many investors, you were probably holding your head nervous about the future. if only you knew then what you know now. that was the bottom.

the worse of it and since then stocks have climbed making this the second longest bull run in market history. morgan brennan tasz a look back and ahead. >> reporter: happy birthday to the bulls. bull market that is. 8 years ago the market hit its bottom after free falling in the worse financial crisis to sweep the globe since the great depression. so much has changed since then. the end of the recession a tidal wave of global stimulus, two presidential elections a commodity price collapse and a record string of record market highs. >> everybody's down here talking happily about eight years ago when the market bottom and they seemed to have forgotten eight and a half years ago when paulson and ber knacky actually discussing the possibility of invoking or declaring martial law in the united states. that's how close we came to the wheels coming off the loc

motive. >> reporter: the s&p 500 has surged almost 250%. the dow jones industrial average has more than tripled and the nasdaq has outdone both, up more than 350%. what's led the rally? consumer discretionary stocks like beauty product retailer ulta beauty which has surged more than 6,000%. also biotech site which had gained more than 6,003,000% respectively and apple up over 1,000% has been by far the biggest stand out which it only joined in 2015. the biggest losers like southwestern energy and transocean which have plunged alongside oiling prices. even exxonmobil has been the worse performer in the dow. this bull market is the second oldest in history behind the 13 year streak that ended in 2,000. but on this birthday investors are beginning to ask, will this bull market continue to charge forward? for "nightly business report"

i'm morgan brennan. >> the insurance company aig has come a long way since that financial crisis but today its ceo said he's stepping down. peter hancock appointed less than three years ago will remain as chief executive until a replacement is found. aig posted a quarterly loss of $3 billion worse performance since that financial crisis. the 2008 was in near collapse and required a $180 billion bailout. >> america's infrastructure gets a near failing grade. the american society of civil engineers assigned our nation's roads, bridges, levies and other infrastructures a grade of d plus. that's the same grade as four years ago when the last report was released and it suggests that only minor progress, if any, has been made. and the price tag to fix it is steep. aditi roy reports from sacramento. >> reporter: the sacramento river like so many other bodies of water in america is lined

with levies. levies in desperate need of repair. >> there's an estimated up to 100,000 miles levies nationwide and they're in a pretty sad state of repair. by the number of leavies in the army core rehabilitation program 1.8% of levy miles are rated acceptable the highest grade. >> reporter: leavies got a d grade in the newly issued report card. released every four years by the american society of civil engineers. that's still a step up from the 2013 grade of d minus but far from where experts like uc davis professor thinks it should be. >> over 30,000 people living here just a few feet away from the sacramento river. >> they depended this year on the existence of this structure, this levy and it performing as it was designed to to keep the river out of there. >> reporter: it's not just levies which are causing infrastructure experts to worry.

the ascii rart report a near failing grade of d plus. and america's transit a d minus, down from a d in the last report. how much money would it take to improve the countries infrastructure? an estimated $4.6 trillion by 2025 according to the report at current spending levels we'll be about $2 trillion short. >> former president couldn't get out of the congress what he wanted on transportation or other infrastructure water and other projects. >> reporter: in sacramento, california, the need for improvement is especially critical. rick johnson is the executive director of the city's flood control agency. >> much of the levy and flood system that we live behind here was completed in early 1900s. we have not invested in this and like a lot of our infrastructure in the country and now we're finding that it needs upgrading

to make it safe and usable. >> reporter: there are 106 miles of levies like the one i'm walking on here in the sacramento area. 50 of those miles have particular been refurbished bringing them up to flood protection standards for the state but experts and neighbors agree more work needs to be done. nearly 2 and a half billion dollars worth of it. >> there's a cost to fix this levy but there's also potential cost not to fix it and that is a very real possibility to calculate a percent chance that you'll have a great big flood and if you don't make that investment, the cost, those people, all these tens of thousands of people on this side is very, very tangible. >> reporter: costs that experts say will continue to rise as more levies fall into disrepair. for "nightly business report," i'm aditi roy, sacramento, california. two key house committees have approved the republican

backed approved to rework the affordable care act but even as it appears to be moving through the process swiftly there's still a lot of questions and a lot of opposition. john harwood is in washington for us tonight. john, welcome. house weighs and means committee voted, the energy committee 27 hours are things moving fast here? >> reporter: they are moving fast. those committees acted of course without a cbo score which democrats and some republican senators have said they want to see. in 2009 and 2010 it took over a year for the affordable care act to move through with support from president obama and democratic congress. republicans are talking about doing this completing it in both chambers get it on president trump's desk by easter time. that's an extremely fast time table. >> you mentioned the markup there, john. are there still questions about what this is going to cost? >> reporter: yes, for sure. until the joint tax committee

scores the effect of the revenue provisions, until the congressional budget office says how many people would lose or gain coverage and what the other implications for the budget are we're not going to have a definitive sense of exactly what the effects of this bill are. some things you can conclude in broad outline but big questions and of course there will be further questions if republicans have to amend this bill along the way to try to get more votes. it's a broad level of opposition right now. >> and to that point, the opposition is coming not just from democrats but also from republicans most particularly i suppose in the senate where different rules apply. how big of an obstacle is this opposition? >> reporter: very big. you've got senators from states like ohio, rob portman, west virginia, arkansas, places where there are a lot of the blue collar white voters who backed donald trump put him in the white house. they are concerned about cuts in medicaid.

they're also concerned about how fast this process is going so there are a lot of hurdles to get over. you also got conservatives who from the other perspective are complaining that this creates a new entitlement to replace the old obamacare one. a lot of work to be done by the president and republican leaders. >> thanks again. and still ahead, what federal reserve policy makers will likely be watching closely bright and early tomorrow morning. are you feeling richer? new numbers "today" show that household wealth climbed tie record $93 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year.

year end surge in the stock market and a rise in home prices added more than 2 trillion to household balance sheets. the federal reserves quarterly report provides no information on the distribution of wealth among households. >> treasury secretary sent a letter to congress warning them about the debt ceiling. steve mnuchin is earning lawmakers to raise it and the country is set to reach its legal borrowing limit next thursday. if congress does not act in time, the treasury department will start taking extraordinary measures to help the country from defaulting on its obligations. >> following yesterday's strong private payroll number, tomorrow's report could seal the deal for just a third interest rate hike in the past decade. hampton pearson takes a look at what to expect. >> reporter: when the labor department releases the february jobs report tomorrow the consensus forecast calls for

197,000 new jobs with the unemployment rate dipping slightly to 4.7%. but a blockbuster report earlier this week says private sector jobs surged by 298,000 last month. >> the bottom line is, the economy is fundamentally strong. it was fundamentally strong before the election. it's fundamentally after the election. >> reporter: brand new data from the labor department shows a slight increase last week in first time claims for unploechlt benefits up 20,000 to 4 not enough to slow the momentum because overall claims are 6 prosecution lower than this time last year and there's additional data from a global placement firm showing planned layoffs are down 19% from january. wall street economists expect another strong jobs report building on the january surprise of 227,000 jobs. and if there are also signs of wage growth, the fed will have a

green light for another rate hike next week. >> they've made tremendous headway on the dual mandate objectives in terms of getting the labor market towards maximum employment and also just very close to hitting their inflation target for the first time in almost five years. >> reporter: tomorrow's jobs report covers the first full month of the trump administration with a solid job market serving as the foundation for growing the economy. for "nightly business report," i'm hampton pearson, in washington. >> while the probability of an interest rate hike is increasing, the head of the european central bank is holding interest rates at 0. at a meeting today, said the central bank plans to continue with its generous asset buying program until the end of the year at least. >> there is surrounding growth outlook have become less pronounced but remain tilted to

the downside predominantly -- >> he also said underlying inflation pressures remain subdued in the european union. >> sears reports a big loss. the retailer posted it's sixth straight quarterly loss. demand fell for appliances and clothing but the results weren't as bad as analysts had expected thanks to cost cuts. shares rows nearly 7% to $8 and a penny. meantime jc pennies wants to get more customers into its stores by offering more services. including bathroom remodeling, start home technology installations and heating and cooling systems. it's what customers want said the ceo. >> i think it's a recognition that the customer's desires are part of our strategy, so specifically. we're trying to do a couple things. we're trying to find ways to

grow. two, try to find ways to de-emphasize our dpts on apparel and also to finds ways to serve our customers in a different way. >> shares were up 6 cents to $6 and 30i 30 cents. investors had their first chance to respond to tailored brands wider than expected quarter loss and it wasn't pretty. the parent company of men's warehouse said weak traffic and a challenging environment caused sales to fall and miss estimates. shares down 32% on the day to $15.84. >> staples swung to a loss and plans to close an additional 70 stores. the office supplies retailer saw revenue sink in north america as customers move away from brick and mortar supply stores. shares were off 5% to $8.49. dutch pacemaker turned down a $22 billion unsolicit the takeover bill from ppg industries saying that offer

substantially undervalued the country following the rejection said it would review the potential selloff of its chemical business. slarz shares of ppg industries fell. and the 3d printer maker saw sales rise above expectations while profit also topped estimates. the company issued guidance for the year that was well blow street expectations and that sent shares lower by 9%. and significant net jewel rizz is reviewing its workplace related technologies. they're trying to stem the damage from sexual harassment allegations made against executives. the a story we told you about. reported better than reported. shares rose 8% to 70.02. >> coming up for those picture perfect flipped out homes really just masked money pits.

>> radio shack files for bankruptcy again. this is its second filing in two years the electronics retailer plans to close about 200 of its 1,500 remaining stores immediately. radio shack ceo said chapter 11 was the best path forward because it let's the company restructure while remaining in business. radio shack once had more than 5,000 stores in the u.s. >> the ride hailing company lift is expanding faster than it expected. the uber rival has already reached its year end goal. that's nine months ahead of schedule. with the expansion lift will compete with uber in even more markets and continue to put pressure on prices, something

uber ceo recently complained about in a leaked video. uber is also currently dealing with accusations of gender bias and says it will stop using software to dodge regulators. >> lego today reported its highest revenue ever in its 85 year history. the toy maker says the demand for the colored plastic bricks and other pieces is grown globally. the company says it sees strong potential in china and is encouraged by results in europe. sales in the u.s. were flat about 75 million lego pieces, most of them in couch cushions, were sold last year in more than 140 countries. mortgage rates may be at a high for the year but that's not stopping people from buying homes, fixing them with the intention of selling them quickly at a profit. in fact, a growing number of flippers are now seeing record returns but buyers beware, the more flippers, the greater the possibility you could get stuck with a costly lemon.

diana olick explains. >> reporter: this historic d.c. row house looks like a renovated gem outside and in. and that's exactly what empty nesters cameron mcguire and his wife wanted. >> it was so see ducktive with all of the high end appliances and those pieces we thought it was going to be a dream and it really turns out to be a nightmare. >> reporter: the three bedroom three bath home had been ren voited with high end appliances fixtures and finishings. it looked picture perfect. >> i am looking in this gorgeous kitchen and i'm saying it all looks good, what's wrong? >> so when you look at it, things you wouldn't even realize. receptacles are not permitted the way that they're installed here. >> reporter: the list goes on and on. inproper light canster, a bathtub installed incorrectly, the emergency shutoff to the charming gas fireplace is behind the fire. and the new heating system had a

25 degrees difference between the two floors. >> it turns out there's not even a certificate of course pansy for this property. there is two large a space. >> reporter: they only found out because the d.c. called investigating complaints from other homeowners who bought from the same flipper and then came the killer code violation. >> we purchased a three bedroom, three bath unit and then found out that this bump out that holds two of the bedrooms and two of the bathrooms. >> reporter: this addition. >> this addition is illegal and the city has the authority to make us tear it down. >> reporter: the mcguires are now working with the city to bring the home up to code but it will likely cost more than $100,000 and that's on top of the 630,000 they originally paid. unfortunately, stories like this are becoming more and more common as more flippers are get into the business. >> a lot of times we'll see where there's termite damage or water damage and it just gets

slapstick right over top of it. so it's literally doing lipstick on a pig. >> reporter: steven carpenter works only with buyers and helps them see what is behind the walls. >> flippers the bad ones won't pull permits and at that point you've got a huge issue because no one's looked at this. >> reporter: he recommends flip buyers pull all the permits on the renovation. check that inspections were completed. ask for all disclosures on up grades including receipts and warranty. have a professional mold and termite inspection and make sure the property as a certificate of course pansy and don't be fooled by fancy appliances and finishings. >> all of those things were part of the appeal for us. >> reporter: because they might be masking a mess. for "nightly business report" i'm diana olick in washington. >> and that's it for tonight. we want to remind you this is the time of year your public television station seeks your report. >> thank you for your report and we'll see you tomorrow. >> announcer: "nightly business

report" has been funded in part by -- >> all it takes say 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 capitals, its businesses, the people that drive global economy. the future isn't tomorrow, it's right now. all it takes is a spark. nasdaq.

for several centuries, scotland was ruled from london. parliament hadn't met here since 1707. recently, the scots voted to bring their parliament home, and london didn't object. in the year 2000, edinburgh resumed its position as home of scotland's parliament. scotland's strikingly modern parliament building opened in 2004. the catalan architect enric miralles mixed bold windows, wild angles, and organic themes into a startling complex that would, as he envisioned, "surge from out of the rock and into the city."