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 with ideas, with capital. with businesses, for people that drive global economies. the future isn't tomorrow. it's right now. all it takes is a spark. nasdaq. >> big vote postponed. the house will not vote on the health care overhaul today. as tensions on capitol hill run high. >> blind spot. ford surprises investors with a

profit warning. just as the automaker tries to transform its business. >> boycott spreads. why some of the world's biggest advertisers are pulling their money from google's youtube. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, march 23rd. good evening and welcome. the vote on health care delayed. it will not last minute negotiations to convince more lawmakers to vote in favor of the republican health care bill failed. the postponement left the first major legislative effort by the president and the house speaker rain ha ryan hanging in the balance. as a result, the broader market turned negative as investors trieded to figure out what this delay might mean for the timing of tax reform legislation. john harwood has been following the drama on capitol hill all day. so, john, what was really the biggest obstacle here? >> well, the core problem, sue, is that you have a health bill

which is going to inevitably be less generous than obamacare in terms of subsidies for people to buy insurance. that's why obamacare was to difficult to pass. you have two groups of people. one the freedom caucus that wants it to be much more stripped down than it is. they think the house bill is obamacare lite. you've got another group of people, 23 house republicans in districts won by hillary clinton in november, who thinks it needs to be more generous. that needs to be closer to what obamacare was. it's hard to square that circle and they ultimately with only be able to lose 21 member, they were not able to make a deal and it's not clear they can make one tomo so, what does happen next? they've been talking about maybe a vote tomorrow. is that likely? what's next. >> it is possible, but remember, in congress, you typically don't put something on the floor unless you know you have the votes. and i had a, an exchange by text message with a house freedom caucus source this evening who

said when i asked could they bill past tomorrow, if you negotiate all night and the answer was nope, no way. so, the distance between the two factions and this speaker who's trying to bring them together is very, very difficult to do. not clear that anything ambitious in terms of rolling back obamacare as opposed to just fixing it, is going to be able to pass this congress. >> and i'm sure part of the discussion tonight will be the congressional budget office, which put out a new estimate on the bill's cost. what did it show? >> well, a couple of things. one, it showed it was more expensive, so there's le reduct. initially, they estimated 330 billion over ten years. that was a selling point for members who care about the debt. now, that can he have sis down o 150 billion because the house initrevised the bill to make it more generous. g to the cbo in the ythi number of people who would lose health insurance.

cbo says by 2026, there will be 24 million fewer americans with insurance than under obamacare, that's very difficult and polls out today show this bill as the public is perceiving it, is not popular right now. >> we'll wait and see. i know you'll be on the case for us. harwood in washington. >> on wall street, the health care vote is viewed as a tense of the trump administration's broader agenda, which includes tax cuts. the major indexes were higher early in the day, but then turned lower once reports surfaced that the vote would not happen tonight and the dow jones industrial average was off four points, the nasdaq down by nearly four and the s&p 500 dipped two. >> our next guest tonight says growing concerns about what will get done in washington may cause problems for the market in the weeks ahead. joining us is chris, the research policy analyst at fbr capital markets. nice to have you here, as

always. so, the it a case of if they can't get this health care bill done, they probably won't be able to get or at least get to it as quickly the other aspects of the president's agenda? >> there are three potential paths forward in our view. either they pass the bill, the health care bill in the house and senate in which case, tax reform becomes much more likely. if they pass it out of the house sometime on friday or monday, but they can't get it out of the n to where it ent is for tax reform. if they fail to get this out of the house and do nothing on health reform, that does negatively impact the future options related to tax reform and we think it makes it a much, much heavier lift. >> how can you do tax reform if you don't know the price of health care reform to the federal government? >> largely speaking, at least with health care discussions they're e chang they' making to health care to be budget neutral. so they would look at from a tax perspective, trying to get tax

reform itself to be budget neutral related to a whole different set of items and they'll probably use dynamic scoring, which is assuming some type of economic growth, more positive than the current status quo. to look at ways to try to reduce the deficit and make those numbers add up. >> so, chris, handicap what you think all of this will mean given the three different paths. for the market. i would assume we may see more volatility. >> yeah, no question. we think that over the next six weeks, you have a lot of specific items related to policy. that could negatively influence the market one way or the other. so the health care bill in the next couple of days. if they get health care gone out of the house, this continues the discussion in the senate about health care. sup nomie in two weeks we anticipate a contentious confirmation vote, then at the end of april, the government funding expire, so you face a

government shutdown if they aren't able to reach a compromise. there's a lot of volatility potentially over the nex more on tax reform, does tax reform necessarily mean reform of both the corporate tax code apart and do tax code or could the one most important to business, going to a terror tor rall system, bringing back foreign health profits and so forth? >> politically se lly speak lg, did i feel. when you do tax reform, you want to give something to every day americans. the president's approval rating is below 40%. congress' is about half that. right now. they're going to be looking to do something to show that every day average americans benefit from republicans controlling the white house and co at least at this moment, corporate tax reform has to be tied to individual tax

reform going forward. >> chris, thank you as always. with fbr capital markets. president trump's pick to lead the securities and exchange plans to dismantle the rules that govern wall street, but jay clayton said the law should be examined. >> i do believe that dodd frank should be look eed at in particular rules that have been in place as to whether they are achieving their objectives effectively. but i have no specific plans for attacking a particular provision of dodd frank. >> democrats raised concerns that mr. clayton's work as an attorney on behalf of wall street firms would be a conflict of interest. mr. clayton said his past experience would be a strength. >> meantime, president trump's choice to lead the department of agriculture was pressed about the proposed cuts to the agency.

at sunny purdue's confirmation hearing, he told lawmakers he had concerns about the bluepr t blueprint, but was committed to the well being of the nation's i get a -- didn't like as well. i didn't like it. and we managed to it. >> and mr. purdue added it is possible to do more with less. >> ford is warning shareholders that profits in the first quarter will fall sharply and come in well below what wall street was expect iing and that sent shares lower in trading says rising costs are hurting its bottom line at a time when the company is trying to make big changes. phil lebeau has the details. >> ford is trying -- strong, but feel iing pressure while

investments in future costs. ford's first quarter earnings will be b lower than what wall street was expecting. one factor was the growing investment mark fields is making in the silicon valley, where ford is doubling the size of its staff. the company has spen a billi dollars on tech firms that will help ford vehicles steer their way through traffic. as autonomous drive vehicles become more common. but it may be years before we see that technology in the cars and trucks we're driving. in the meantime, it's what ford sees in showrooms right now that worries wall street. customers are still buying, but increasingly, they can drive better deals. in part because there's a glut of used vehicles for sale. so as their prices drop, there's a concern that could eventually weigh on ford's new vehicle profits. for now, ford says industry sales this year in the united states should still reach close to a record high. one reason why the company is still maintaining its yea

earnings guidance. phil lebeau, "nightly business report," chicago. >> still ahead, will truckers keep on trucking? >> and morgan brennan in new jersey. more than 200 moves by truck. this is an industry with a direct take on the economy. truckers are sounding off about how president trump could improve business. that story coming up on "nightly business report." helalth care was on the agenda today at the white house when the president met with a

group of trucking executives. he praised their work, but after a tough 2016, are things looking up for the sector, especially under an administration that wants to roll back regulations? morgan brennan reports from richfield, new jersey. >> big rigs rolled into the white house today as trucking executives met with president trump to talk health care regulation and infrastructure. the trucking industry is the top employer in 29 states. including three and a half million drivers who haul ten and a half billion tons of freight each year. a highly regulated industry. many ensure drivers are at their best on the road. companies are in favor of those safety standards, but there are other regulations the industry would like to see scaled back. company transportation chief david parker says one example is the epa rule. >> our engines have had epa mandates since 200 tha time, my truck prices have doubled.

and so the industry has been a very tough u position for the last few years. from a profabl profitability is fact because our costs have been rising much faster than what our pricing has been able to rise. >> he and others would like to see the age requirement lowered from 21. they argue that would help ease the driver shortage the stindusy suffered for years. ceo of -- trucking says infrastructure is also crucial. >> we need infrastructure bill and we're willing to do our part. let's increase the gas tax. we'll pay part of it. if you want to have tax changes, tax reform for part of it, that's fine, too. >> his fleet would benefit from better roads, but also the demand for trans portding all those building supplies. t aln fornow, but if new policies do deliver more growth, that will drive demand for more trucking. >> there's going to be some ecstatic times in the trucking industry. the economy is is going to go very strong for the next few

years. i think it will see many quarters of three to 4% gdp growth. >> with trucks hauling 27% of america's freight, that would be good news after the rough ride aas i'm mor brennan in richfield, new jersey. strong demand for memory chips helped micron's earnings. that's where we begin tonight's focus. the maker said demand along with a price raise helped results, revenue up 58%, year over year. and shares initially spiked after hours following report adding to a more than 1% gain during the regular session. they closed that session at $26.47. the packaged foods maker con agra said fewer discounts helped, but the maker of chef boy ar dee pasta and ready whip, they don't go well together,

said overall profit and sales slipped due to foreign exchange rates and the company stop ipin the sale of some of its less profitable items. it's moving to more premium. con agra off at 40.35. penn national gaming raised its first quarter guidance thanks to strong, broad-based property performance. also, last night, the casino and racetrack operator said it will be a to the s&p's index on monday. penn national gaming rose nearly 12% today to $17.18. and shares of pvh continued to rise following yesterday's after the bell earnings. the owner of calvin klein and tommy brands she tried to say also increased by another $750 million. pvh rose about 8.5% to 98.55. johnson & johnson is the latest company to suspend its digital advertising on google's

youtube. the concern is that the ads may have appeared next to offensive videos. as we reported yesterday, at&t and verizon also pulled their business. google has committed to better police its website, but that didn't help shares of the parent company, alphabet, which fell by . jewulia boorstin has more on th youtube ad problem. >> johnson & johnson and at&t among the biggest advertisers in the world are dealing a blow to google's youtube, pulling their ad spin globally. at&t, which spends over $1 billion on ads last year, saying quote, we are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside youtube content promoting terrorism and hate. they're joining verizon and enterprise here in the u.s. following a uk boycott of more than 250 companies. this wave of boycotts after the times of london flagged antisemitic videos google failed to quickly remove and volkswagen

ads playing on the youtube channel of a proterrorism extremist. >> timing was a broader realization across the advertising community that's not all digital advertising is the same. >> these brands are not just concerned about optic, but about financially supporting offensive creators. youtube pays creators with revenue from ads. google saying quote, we've done an extensive review. if it means a public commitment to put in place changes that gi brands more control. we're also raising the bar to further safeguard our advertiser's brands, but this problem could be much harder to fix at youtube than the rest of google. >> hard for these platforms to keep up with the content and categorize it. i do think once new technology comes about where you can have facial recognition and contact

recognition technologies that can analyze images and see the type of content it is, maybe then they'll catch it, but it doesn't exist yet. >> bank of america cautions it could takes levels to return to normal, $12 billion in gross revenue this year, but warns that google must nip this issue in the bud to avoid broader reprecussion of the brand. the degree of damage to google hinges on how quickly it guarantees this will never happen again. i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. turn no r frankel to talk many about what the ad problems may mean. he's a brand extrav gist at rob frank frankel.com. how big a deal is this for google and youtube? if they're starting to see big dpaens le at&t, verizon and johnson & johnson and others

melt away, that's serious. or is it? >> from a pr standpoint, i'm sure you're correct. but one of the worst secrets in all of advertising is nobody really knows how well that works. so, if they decide that you know, for the public, they want to try to remedy the situation, for them, how much are boycotts really going hurt and how long these guys are going to stay out of the game, i don't think so is going to be that much. >> do do you think then that they're using this content adjacentsy issue as a cover potentially for the idea that the ads just aren't working and if the ads were working better, they'd stick. >> well, yeah, i think that's a very astute observation. face it, the business of business is dollars over the trans m and if nobody is is going to be that quick to pull something on a political agenda if they know that it's bringing

in the dollars. clearly, and this is always been a problem with online advertising, nobody knows what l they really sell are -- you don't know where their ads appear. this really shows you. the ad agency says hey, it's going to work at this content, but they clearly can't target content. that's a bigger issue. >> i think one of the issues and correct me if i'm wrong, is that oftentimes a brand like johnson & johnson or at&t or verizon doesn't know where the ad is going to be placed because it's basically done by a computer. and therefore, their ad could be placed next to questionable content and they may not know it until people complain. >> that is true, but most digital advertising, some is associated, but believe it or not, most of the ad sales business is still based on 30, 40, 50-year-old eyeball

technology, which means how many u eyeballs are looking at it. they really don't care who's looking at it. they just want to be able, based on a cost per million basis, to get that billing and that's where the deals are. , rob b?hy did this happen t did somebody wake up and go, oink, some of our ads are showing up next to hateful content. it's not like this was new. what happened? >> this is a really, this story has such deeper roots than anybody would imagine. the same thing happened here that happened with brexit, that happened with the pop list movement, the rise of everything. what's really happening isn't so much in the ad sale, it's no the content creation. these people who are meaning entire movements. and these, and now, more than ever before, there are well fundfund ed movements just throwing content out there like never before, they're getting the eyeballs and that's pulling in the ads.

>> interesting point. rob frankel. thanks very much. >> coming up u, a man with a plan. can macy's new ceo turn around the iconic department store? a changing of the guard at macy's. the chain has a new chief ex executive. retailer.ver at a difficult courtney reagan tells us who he is and what his plans are for the deep root ed american company! today on his 65th birthday, terry lundgren's tenure comes to a close. as 55-year-old jeff gannett

moves into the suite. gannett has been with macy's his entire career starting in the executive training program in 1983. he was elevated to president and heir apparent three years ago. while most say he is ready and right for the job, e he inherits the store at a difficult time. macy's shares have lost half their value in the last two years as comparable sales have fallen for eight straight quarters and the retailer is also closing 100 stores as traffic falls at many of its locations and in malls. >> i think jeff in general needs to really think about several factors. the rise of off price and how do they compete against tj max, ross stores and others. we need more people to go to the mall. more physical traffic. that's a big issue, too. then the consumer. the consumer has profoundly changed, they need to get goods in the store quicker in terms of the supply chain, responding to fashion trends, as well as just

getting your stuff really quickly. >> gannett gave wall street a glimpse into its plan for macy's last week. he still thinks the store is relevant today and calls stores pillars of the community, but the challenge is making them contem the fundamentals, brand merchandise and digital and store offerings. part of his plan includes designating areas in each store for simplifying sale promotions to eliminate what he says makes shoppers do mass gymnastics. macy's is also testing more do it yourself shopping, like putting multiple shoe sizes on the floor so customers won't need an employee to fetch them, as well as hands on beauty products testing, similar to ulta or sephora. many stores already feature their own sun glass hut, finish line and more. lens crafters is a recent addition. many worry that even with all the right strategies though, the

largest u.s. department store by sales is fighting an uphill battle against a shrinking department store sector, but gannett isn't discourageded. he's been working for the opportunity his entire career. flinl tonight, american es plan to spend more than ever on easter this year. according to the national retail federation, spending will reach roughly $18.5 billion, which is up 6%. and what will all that money be spent on? well, the survey found most dollars will go towards clothing, gifts, candy of course and flowers. a few toys in there as well. >> very nice. in a few weeks. >> hope you have a chocolate bunny in your basket. thanks for joining us. >> have a great evening. everybody. we'll see you back here. >> nig"nightly business report"s been funded by -- >> all it takes is a spark. one idea to take flight.

the courage to see the unknown. to innovate, disrupt, to move forward. to explore a different perspective. at nasdaq, we connect the world with ideas, with capital. in businesses. the people that drive global economy. the future isn't tomorrow. it's right now. all it takes is a sp nasdaq.