this is "nightly business report" with tyler matheson and sue herera. >> losing streak. the dow dipped for eight straight days, as wall street weighs the potential for tax reform. and investors wonder if there's more selling ahead a town divided. why seal city, nebraska, is split on the construction of the keystone pipeline. protecting the power grid. how vulnerable is the key infrastructure from hackers? those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for monday, march 27th. good evening, everyone, i'm sue herera. tyler matheson is off tonight. it is the longest losing streak for the dow since 2011 when the fight over the debt ceiling prompted fears of a default by the u.s. government. this time the string of losses

is for a different reason. investors are starting to doubt the president's ability to push through pro-business policies, following the defeat of the republican health bill on friday. the losses extended to the overseas markets this morning. and continued into today's trading session. although stocks did come off of their lows by the close. the dow jones industrial average fell 45 points to 20,550, its eighth straight loss. >> the markets started on a very weak note with the dow down nearly 200 points at the open. no surprise. the weaker sectors were those that would be hurt if the trump agenda and tax cuts failed to materialize. dollar was lower. bond yields were lower. oil levels were lower. and it all of a sudden turned around. s&p 500 went positive in the last 20 minutes of the day and ended slightly negative.

what happened? it's still being debated. but the s&p held above the 50-day moving average. second, the trump agenda may be a bit more iffy, but it's not dead. some believe some tax cuts are coming. third, earnings season is about to begin. the early signs are very promising. we may have the best quarter for earnings gains in nearly six years. more on that later. but finally, remember all those people who wished the market would drop 5% or 10% so they could buy at lower levels? they have an opportunity now. volume was not heavy overall, but we saw heavy volume heaviest where the banks are in correction territory already. big names are down more than 10%. some trades were indeed betting at least on a short-term bottom. for "nightly business report," i'm bob. >> traders believe some kind of tax reform is coming. here's what some on wall street are saying.

goldman sachs portfolio strategists believe the restructure of the corporate income tax rate will be smaller. bank of america is warning that the tax legislation could be a watered-down version of current proposals. so what do you do now with your investments, concerns about what will or will not get done in washington weigh on wall street. kevin is the senior portfolio manager at washington crossing advisers and joins us to talk about that. kevin, welcome back. >> it's great to be here. thank you. >> this market, some say, has been climbing and has been built on expectations. expectations of what was coming out of washington. do you agree with that? >> i think that's partly true. if you look at where we've come since the election, it's been a very strong rally. of course, some of that has to do with an expectation for tax cuts, regulatory reform, maybe some spending. but on the other hand, the other part of it has to do with the underlying economy, which

actually began to turn around and show some signs of improvement well before the election. summertime of last year. i think it's a combination of an improving economy with expectation for some pro-growth strategies. >> have you been adjusting your portfolio balance, or the types of stocks that you've been investing in, given the landscape that you laid out for us? >> we've been focusing on companies that are going to survive whatever the next difficult environment is. so we focused on companies that had very good balance sheets, that are consistent in terms of their overall businesses, whose dividends would be able to survive a slight downturn in the economy or their own business. those are the kind of things that we're focusing on. because we've been through a very good period of time for both the stock market and the economy. but we know that these things don't last forever. so we want to be ready whenever the next thing goes bump in the night. >> yeah. you've given us four questions that you think individual investors should ask themselves, deciding whether or not to keep

a stock in the portfolio. does the company rely on debt or financial engineering? has the business proven to be relatively steady during tough times in the past? is the dividend at risk of cuts if the earnings slip and does the price of the sdok reflect reality or wishful thinking? say you come up with, yes votes on all of those four key questions. i would assume that means you keep the stock? >> well, if we are -- if we have good company, then we want to hold on to them. but we're doing as much on the search part of the adventure here, too. because we want to make sure that we're looking constantly for companies that are going to fit the bill, that have the characteristics. and anytime we can upgrade the quality of the portfolio, particularly with the dow near record highs, over 90 months since the last recession, we want to make sure we're taking advantage of the ability to make those changes. so it's both of those things, looking at the existing

portfolio, but also looking for new opportunities. >> kevin, thank you so much. we'll leave it there. >> thank you. well, the health care bill may have been pulled, but there are still some legal cases looming that could change the prognosis of any future reform. >> the defeat of the gop health bill removes some uncertainty for insurers in 2018, but there are still unresolved legal issues, starting with cost sharing reduction subsidies for low-income people. >> it impacts low-income individuals, who really would not have the means to cover all the deductibles or the insurance premiums themselves. >> people who earn up to $29,000 a year, not only get subsidies for their obamacare premiums, they also get cost sharing reduction funds that bring down their out-of-pocket costs. it's a big deal for insurers, because they pay the costs up

front. and the obama administration reimbursed them. but republicans in the house sued to stop those payments, arguing funding for those subsidies had not been approved by congress. and last year a federal judge agreed. when president trump won, the house put its lawsuit on hold. the big question is what happens now. >> this puts republicans in a very, very strange spot, where they're making the same illegal payments that they accuse the obama administration of making. >> if congress decides to keep going with that lawsuit, the insurers will sue, or leave the markets. and the markets will em ploed. >> ceo joe swedish told president trump in a private meeting that maintaining those payments which amount to $9 billion for 2017, is critical. insurers want assessment. >> we've said all along one of the things that was important to settle the issue on the cost sharing reductions. congress has the ability right now to appropriate the money. if they want to put this behind

us, they can do it. >> i think they recognize individuals are talking, that come the may period, they need to deal with that. >> more than a dozen insurers have also sued the government over payments originally promised to make up for big losses on high-cost enrollees during the first few years of obamacare. congress fought funding for that, too, so the obama administration only paid a fraction of the claims. which helped contribute to some insurers leaving the exchanges. one insurer said if the trump administration could settle those cases now, it would buy an awful lot of goodwill from the industry. bertha coombs, "nightly business report." >> whatever happens next in washington will likely impact wall street. john harwood joins us from the nation's capital tonight. bertha laid out some of the issues that still remain. so tell us what's next for reforming the health care sys m system? >> well, the question is whether or not the trump administration

wants to let obamacare deteriorate, or whether it wants to focus on resolving its current problems. there are ways they could do that. they could work with democrats on some fixes. the president's talked about that. his press secretary sean spicer talked about that. but that is not consistent with the desires of the republicans who control the house and the senate. so i'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon. speaker ryan made some noise today about returning to health care later in the year, after they deal with other priorities like health care and the budget -- excuse me, tax reform and the budget. >> i was going to go to tax reform. health care reform is very complicated. tax reform is very complicated as well. perhaps not as emotional an issue, though. what can we expect on the tax reform front? >> i think prospects are a little better on tax reform. republicans like to come together to cut tax rates. cutting rates is easier than the reform part. because if you reform a system, you're closing loopholes and those tend to be popular with

the people who have them. the real question is, what is the scope of tax reform? is it just corporate or individual as well? and do members decide that it's going to be revenue neutral? that is, it does not increase deficits or are they willing to let the deficit get bigger. i'm not sure the freedom caucus will go along with that. >> there seems to be a growing buzz about a possibility of a government shutdown at the end of next month. are we headed that way? >> that could happen. it will ripen the questions a lot sooner about tax reform and health care. if they don't fund the government by april 2th, they'll shut down. now, it ought to be easy to do that, just to keep funding on a steady state. the problem is, congressional budget office has projected that if action isn't taken to reduce the deficit in six years they'll be at $1 trillion levels again. many republicans do not find that acceptable. so far, the trump administration

has not proposed either tax increases or net spending cuts that would allow the deficit to come down. >> we will see. john, thank you, as always. >> thank you. >> john harwood in washington. the supreme court has rejected a bid to revive a $7 billion settlement reached between retailers and the credit card companies. the decision means that retailers can still challenge swipe fees in the future. the move by the supreme court is considered a win for large store chains, and a blow to visa, mastercard and other payment companies. by some estimates, swipe fees exceed $40 billion annually. the court did agree to hear a case that could limit lawsuits for omissions in shareholders' disclosures. the issue is whether publicly traded companies can be sued for securities fraud by third parties for omitting certain trends or uncertainties in filings to shareholders. a ruling last year by a new york court found that companies can be sued for alleged disclosures

shortcomings. the u.s. attorney general has a warning for sang tear cities. jeff sessions said cities and states that protect immigrant felons from federal immigration laws may see funds cut from the justice department. >> it is a policy of the executive branch to ensure that safe and cities comply with all federal laws, including all immigration laws. failure to remedy violations could result in withholding grants, termination of grants, and disbarment or ineligibility for future grants. >> the attorney general also said that one justice department office was expecting to award more than $4 billion in grants this fiscal year. still ahead, a small nebraska town's big role in moving canadian crude to the gulf coast. >> behind me where two pipes become one, this is theoretically the keystone for the keystone pipeline. that story coming up on my

business report. black rock and vanguard want the new retirement rules to be re played. the fiduciary rule could confuse investors and add unnecessary costs to the financial industry. the rules were endorsed by the obama administration and are set to fake effect in april. president trump has ordered a review of the measure which requires financial advisers to put their clients' interests first. the retirement industry is estimated to be worth $16 trillion. the trump administration

recently granted final approval for the completion of the keystone pipeline. the approval comes nearly a year after the obama white house blocked its construction over environmental conc but the energy market is a lot different now than it was then. and many are wondering if the country today really needs more oil. jackie di angeles reports from steel city, nebraska. >> 100 miles south of omaha, nebraska, is steel city. locals say the number is closer to 54 now for the population. the city has become the keystone to the next and final phase of the keystone pipeline. patrons of the local and only bar in town the salty dog saloon have split views on how the project will impact the town. >> well, you know, it's funny to sit in the bar and the bartender here is everything. one side of the bar is cheering for the pipeline coming through,

you know, get some income to town, and the other side's more worried about the environment. >> just a mile away from the bar surrounded by farmland and dirt roads is where the long contested keystone xl will connect to the existing lower leg, bringing roughly 800 million barrels to refiners on the gulf coast. despite opec's efforts to stabilize the market, the concern is that more oil will flood an already unbalanced market. >> this additional oil from canada is significant, and it will help to depress prices even further and force opec's hand to cut even more barrels to support prices. >> what will the u.s. do with the additional barrels? some speculate they'll be refined and exported. >> the u.s. gulf coast is already swamped with oil. so you can bet that most of this canadian crude that's flows down through the keystone excel pipeline will head overseas,

likely to asia. >> even then, it's tough for the product to be absorbed. back in steel city, though, the owner of the salty dog since 1985, margo deangelo, is hopeful the area will reap the benefits of having the pipeline run through their backyard. >> definitely brings a lot of money into the area. whether it's locally or the hotels, the ford dealerships, chevy dealerships. gosh, just everything. grocery stores. everybody makes money off of them when they come. >> the irony here, when this project was first proposed some years ago, the argument could be made that we needed the canadian crude. now with a pipeline friendly administration, some would argue the opposite is true. for "nightly business report," i'm jackie deangeles, steel city, nebraska. >> pipelines are a key part of our infrastructure. so is the electric grid and a growing challenge is keeping it safe. especially from hackers backed by governments. andrea day reports.

>> it came out of nowhere late last year in the ukraine. part of the nation's capital city cut off from power. >> order for ukraine to recover the power, they have to switch off the computers and go back to a manual system for distributing the electricity. >> it was the second time the ukrainian government faced a major outage, blaming russia for the first attack. the assault exposed security gaps here in the u.s. >> turning off water, turning off electricity, those are all realistic attacks now. >> real now, he says, because the criminal groups are backed by governments and big money. security expert leo -- >> we're tracking over 100 different groups operating all the time backed by governments. >> and he says that's way up from just five groups a few years ago. >> sometimes launching realtime attacks, and sometimes just setting up to have a back door to use in the future. >> electric utility companies take this issue very, very seriously. >> scott arnson, the trade group

that represents the nation's investor-owned electric companies. >> whether it's an act of war or act of god, that is impacting the grid, we have ways to be resilient, to make sure we can keep the electricity flowing. >> and that includes, he says, sharing information with grid operators across the country. along with top government officials. >> we have begun to pursue a capability for manual operations so that we can be prepared if a similar incident happens here in the united states. >> the grid extends to canada and into mexico, and is worth more than $1 trillion. bringing power to some 334 million every year. >> we're talking about a government and the resources and the money and the expertise that a government can wield going up against private companies. so the real mismatch there in the power of attack and power of defense. >> what's being done to protect the electric grid? the government accountability office or gao are increasing

reliability. including threats from hackers. but they admit that more needs to be done. for "nightly business report," i'm andrea day. falling eggs prices hurt a company. cal maine which is the largest producer of shell eggs in the u.s. posted quarterly results that missed estimates, citing the volatile market conditions in the egg industry, that they experienced this year. still, shares of cal maine scratched out a gain of 15 cents to close at $37.50. a company g-3 issued full year guidance that was well below wall street targets. g-3 announced a partnership with macy's, where macy's will become the sluicive retailer of the donna karen line. that wasn't enough for investors. they focused on the weak guidance numbers, sending shares down 14% to $19.69. dow chemical and dupont said they had received conditional approval from the european

commission for their proposed $77 billion merger. the chemical company said it is a significant step towards completing the deal. after which the plan is to spin off into three independent publicly traded companies. the deal still needs u.s. approval. dow chemical up 1.5% to 6402. dupont up nearly the same to 8058. sealed air is selling the cleaning products business. the maker of bubble wrap said collectively, the division's being sold, and will continue to employ nearly 9,000 people. shares of sealed air fell 2.5% to $43.55. the decline in home ownership may have something to do with the sluggish economic recovery. a new study suggests that the slowdown in home construction activity took a $300 billion toll on the economy last year. according to "the wall street journal," tighter lending

standards are also contributing to the below-normal rate of home ownership. it currently stands at a 50-year low. but whether you're shopping for a home to live in, or looking for an investment property, take note. housing demand is strong nationwide. but some markets are still struggling, and some are healthier than you might expect. diana oh lek breaks it all down. >> the hardest hit market from the housing crash are now some of the healthiest. and the hottest are cooling. a new report ranks the nation's top 50 and the leader is a shocker. real estate auction and analytics company tenex ranked markets based on population growth, job growth, wage growth and home sales, prices and construction. tampa, florida, came in as the healthiest housing market in the nation, even though it had one of the highest foreclosure rates during the crash. jacksonville also rounded out the top five and orlando made the top ten. >> florida fell the furthest, really, of any state in terms of

peak-to-trough pricing. it still has a ways to go before it gets back to its prior peak. but that shows us that there's still room for growth in the florida market. >> other surprisingly healthy markets, las vegas, thanks to strong population and job growth. prices there are still 20% below the peak of the housing boom, but demand is high and construction is coming back. not so healthy, new jersey and long island, new york. employment is just not keeping up with the cost o. los angeles and san francisco are suffering from their own successes. high demand in the last five years pushed prices beyond affordable, which does not bode well for either market in the coming years. overall, the south is the real winner, as both population and jobs move to the warmer states, and home builders respond accordingly. for "nightly business report," i'm diana oleck in washington. you can always head to our website nbr.com. coming up, uber's rocky

road. the latest headache for the fast growing ride hailing company. north carolina's controversial law limiting lgbt protections will cost that state close to $4 billion in lost business over a dozen years. the estimate was put together by the associated press after analyzing interviews and public records. over the past year concerts were canceled, paypal pulled its expansion plans and the nba moved last year's all-star game out of charlotte. the national football league has approved the oakland raiders move to las vegas. the nfl said it was not satisfied with oakland's new

stadium proposal, and couldn't pass up las vegas' offer of $750 million in public money for the project. the team will move to las vegas in the year 2020. in arizona, one of uber's self-driving cars was involved in an accident. it's the latest blow to the startup, and arguably the most impactful. because as deidre reports, uber has a lot riding on that program's success. >> reporter: this self-driven uber-owned volvo ended up flipped on its side in tempe, arizona. a police spokesperson tell us there were no serious injuries, and uber wasn't responsible for the crash. but at a time when some of the biggest companies in the world are racing to develop autonomous vehicles, and people need to get comfortable taking their hands off the wheel, every accident can be a big deal. after the collision, uber pulled

its entire fleet of self-driving cars off the roads in its three testing grounds. arizona, where the collision kurd over the weekend, pittsburgh and san francis. by monday, the cars were back on the roads in all three cities. the crash is the latest setback for uber as it races tech companies and automakers to develop autonomous vehicles. a few months ago woen one of uber's self driving cars was caught driving through a red light in san francis. there's also the lawsuit from alphabet self-driving car unit wamo and high-level departures at startup. this could have major implications for the startup's entire business model. ub uber's nearly $70 billion valuation depends on uber leading the way and figuring out autonomous driving. the company loses billions of dollars a year, eliminating the driver would eliminate one of its biggest costs.

for "nightly business report," san francisco. finally tonight, the fearless girl will stare down the wall street bull for another year. it was scheduled to be removed next month. she was put in place by state street global advisers to advocate for getting more women on corporate boards. according to new york city's mayor, she will remain as part of a city public art program. that is "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thank you for joining us. we'll see you here tomorrow.

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