>> announcer: this is "nightly busines report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. foreign affairs. domestic matters dominated the first weeks of the trump presidency. but in recent days, the markets have turned attention to hotspots and conflict overseas. and today was another day on edge for stocks. an inexplicable valuation. that's how one ceo describes tesla's $51 billion market cap. the bull and the bear case for the electric automaker. and business behind bars. the story of a man who's doing time and turning a profit. those stories and more tonight on "nightly busines report" for wednesday, april 12th. and good evening, everyone, i'm contessa brewer in tonight for sue herera. >> and welcome, everybody, i'm

tyler mathisen. we begin with news out washington and there is a lot of it. president trump's domestic agenda dominated the headlines and the market moves. but during the past ten days, international affairs have taken center stage and investors have had to recalibrate in the face of new challenges like today's high stakes face-to-face meeting between secretary of state rex tillerson and russian president vladimir putin in moscow. why don't we start there, kayla, with the meeting in moscow and the aftermath, what i saw as a fairly disputatious press conference. >> reporter: the stakes have been rising through the past few days based on the u.s. firing a few shots across the bow at

russia, first moving to expand nato further into russia's backyard. and second, u.s. officials in the last day accusing russia of attempting to help syria cover up that chemical attack that occurred last week. secretary of state tillerson and his counterpart, russian foreign minister sergei lavrov, agreed to investigate the source of the chemical attack and disagreed on what should happen going forward in syria and the future of the assad regime, leading secretary tillerson to characterize relations with russia currently this way. >> i expressed the view that the current state of u.s./russia relations is at a low point. there is a low level of trust between our two countries. the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship. >> reporter: there was high drama as well as secretary tillerson met with vladimir putin. we don't know exactly what was discussed noticing meeting, but this afternoon, president trump

said it went maybe better than expected. but we'll have to see. >> the u.s. security council also refused to pass or failed to pass a resolution condemning those chemical attacks in syria. in the meantime, president trump this afternoon, kayla, met with the nato secretary general. on the campaign trail, trump said nato was obsolete. what happened today? >> reporter: it was a more jocular press conference for the most part today, the first meeting between president trump and the secretary general of nato. they had discussed syria, russia, and how to move forward with policy coordinated in afghanistan. but interestingly, it was the talk about the financial commitments, where they provided the most detail. that was where president trump had lobbed the sharpest criticism about nato on the campaign trail. he called it obsolete. he said the u.s. would pull out if other member states didn't pay their fair share. and the secretary general said, you know what, we turned a

corner financially and actually the contributions rose 3.8% last year and he thanked president trump for lighting a fire under his allies. >> comments on interest rates, fed chair yellen, chinese currency manipulation, give it to us in a nutshell. >> reporter: he says the dollar is too strong, in reality it's bad for exporters and businesses, especially when other countries are devaluing their currency. with that he said he won't label china a currency manipulator. that goes directly against something he promiseding his voters on the campaign trail. he says, "i like low interest policy." he must like what the bond market is doing now, bonds are staying low. >> a lot of news to get through today, kayla, thank you for helping us. on wall street today, stocks closed lower as investors

assessed the geopolitical landscape. the dow dell 59 points, nasdaq down 30 points, s&p 500 fell nearly nine. bonds yields, as kayla mentioned, lower too. americans are conflicted over the president's policies. according to a new survey out today, steve liesman explains there's strong support for many of the president's initiative but with that support comes a lot of uncertainty. >> reporter: there will be no niagara falls or caribbean beaches for the trump presidency. the cnbc all america survey shows he's not getting any honeymoon at all. just 39% of the 804 americans polled from around the country approve of the job president trump is doing. the average president in his first three months, going back to ronald reagan, enjoyed a balmy 58% approval rating with at least some support from the other side. not donald trump. >> people who called themselves independents have a very

negative viewpoint of the president right now, as do, not incidentally, democrats. the entire approval that he has is being held aloft solely by members of his own party. he has historically bad ratings with members of the opposite party and those are dragging his overall numbers way down. >> reporter: ironically, the survey shows historic economic optimism that's tied to the president. 38% of the public say the economy is good or excellent, a record for the decade-old survey. 40% expect the economy to improve in the next year, close to the record. of those who think the economy will approve, 67% say it's because of trump's policies. >> not only has the economy risen directly after the election but now it's maintained after the election. and into the first quarter of president trump's term. >> reporter: one problem for the president, the survey suggests his economic agenda polls well until he acts on it. americans love the president's plan to rebuild the country's

infrastructure and cut taxes and renegotiate trade deals of which he's done little so far. but majorities disapprove his agenda in places where he's acted, climate change, the immigration ban, and repealing and replacing obamacare. the question is whether the president can find greater public support as he moves to implement big parts of his economic agenda like tax reform and that infrastructure spending. none of that promises to be a honeymoon either. for "nightly busines report," i'm steve liesman. >> to get some thoughts on what can get done in washington and how, we turn to john harwood. he sat down with the president's budget director, mick mulvaney, to find out where the president stands on issues all americans care about, health care and tax reform. >> reporter: washington is wondering what comes next after the republican failure on health care. president trump's budget director, mick mulvaney, has a simple answer. the white house is taking charge on tax reform and other top issues. >> it's a message across the

board from the health care, the fact we've not been able to pass health care yet, you'll see the white house take more leadership on issues, on tax reform, on infrastructure, on funding. you'll see a much more policy-assertive white house going forward. >> that's going to slow down tax reform, because the house had been preparing to move their bill. now they're waiting to hear from you. that's going to slow them down. >> the house can do what they want to do. we're going to formulate our own policies. >> we should not assume that the plan you put forward is going to resemble the house tax bill? >> i think it's too early to say. >> because in the beginning of the year, they assumed you were going to sign onto their bill. now it seems like that's not having. >> again, i think you'll see the white house have its own white house law, with different modules, you can plug in this rate or that rate, that deduction or this deduction. but at the end of the process, you'll have a white house,

donald trump tax plan that we'll take to the hill and try and sell. >> will it be corporate only or individual as well? >> no, we're going to fix the tax system in this country. that means corporate, s corporations, that means dealing with deductions, individuals, everything. it's a go big or go home type of attitude. >> reporter: of course the bigger a tax reform bill gets, the harder it is to pass. the republican goal of completing tax reform by august is already out of the question. but budget director mulvaney offers one concession to make the process easier. he says he doesn't care if tax reform adds to the deficit. for "nightly busines report," i'm john harwood in washin. still ahead, modern medicine. how big pharma is using research from iceland to uncover cures.

now an update on that ongoing story involving united airlines. ceo oscar munoz speaking out about this clip seen around the world, showing a united flier, dr. david dow, being dragged off a plane. munoz said he was ashamed and promised united would never again use police force to remove paid passengers on overfilled flights. munoz came under fire for his initial reaction to the incident and he took the opportunity to clarif >> my first reaction to most issues is to get the facts and circumstances. and the initial -- my initial words fell short of truly expressing what we were feeling. and that's something that i've

learned from, the expression of apology and specific to the folks i mentioned before is an important part of a conversation like this, because again, that shame and embarrassment was pretty palpable for me and for a lot of our family. >> munoz also said he would not resign despite the explosive backlash that has ensued following the video's release. on top of that united announcing all passengers on that flight with dr. dow will be depend fcod for the cost of their ticket. president trump weighed in, on an interview with "the wall street journal" the president called the removal, quote, horrible. united shares are down on the day by a percent. delta tops profit expectations. and that's where we begin tonight's market focus. the airline did miss analysts' estimates for sales but said passenger unit revenue turned positive last month for the

first time since 2015. the company also said it expects that metric to remain positive through this year. delta's shares fell a fraction to 45.05. as part of an arbitration settlement, blackberry will receive money from qualcomm in a dispute over royalty payments. last year the two tech companies said they would enter arbitration talks after blackberry said it was overpaying royalty. blackberry's shares soared to 8.93. shares of qualcomm off 3% at 53.39. walmart will begin slashing prices on thousands of products ordered online. but there's a catch. the retail giant said in order for a customer to receive the discount, they must have the item shipped to a walmart store for pickup. shares were little changed on the news, ending the day at 73.44. the world's biggest automakers gathered today in new york to show off their latest models. and it was clear from the offerings that car companies have a common demographic in mind. phil lebeau reports.

>> reporter: here's the new york auto show. luxury and performance are taking center stage. not a surprise, given the fact that new york city is one of the top luxury markets in the united states. we're talking about porsche showing a new design for a panamera wagon, or the new lincoln navigator. almost all the automakers are putting out a new derivative of a luxury model so people can look at it here at the javits center. but people are wondering, are we seeing a slowdown of auto sales in the united states? while there's a lot of hand wringing on wall street about the strength of the auto market, almost every executive believes it's still strong. >> we said about a year ago that the industry was plateauing. but it is plateauing at a historically high level. when you look at consumer spending and supported by job and income growth, you look at

the consumer surveys, even the business confidence surveys, they're pretty good. >> if i look at the overall economy in this country, reasonable fuel prices, low unemployment, all factors point to a stable economy for 2017, especially for the luxury segment. >> reporter: in march, the pace of all toe sales fell, but most believe this is a market where the end of the year sales totals will be about 17.3 or 17.4 million, perhaps a little bit down compared to last year, but still very strong. >> i think the buying public and the auto manufacturers need to kind of relax a little bit and we're just still a little nervous, i think. and we're kind of looking for the signs. but generally we do have a healthy market. >> reporter: the biggest indicator of strength in the auto market, consumer confidence. as consumer confidence goes, so goes the interest people have in going to a dealership. right now consumer confidence in

the u.s. remains very strong. phil lebeau, "nightly busines report," at the new york international >> and automaker tesla is making news this week, the electric car maker briefly passed general motors to become the most valuable u.s. car company, with a market cap above $50 billion. but shares of tesla slipped in today's session after the ceo of the largest automotive dealership chain in the country questioned tesla's market value. the is to estock is up nearly 4 to date. the automation ceo said tesla is either the greatest ponzi scheme of all time. lay it on me, why are you so bullish on tesla? >> tesla is a really high conviction stock for us, top in

the ark. our case with tesla is the auto industry is really undergoing two major transformations. it's moving towards electric and autonomous cars. tesla is a leader in both those areas. we think because of battery cost declines, there will be 70 million evs sold in the early 2020s. and tesla will have a good share of that market. on the autonomous side we think -- everyone considers tesla just an electric vehicle maker. but we think it could be a future autonomous taxi service provider. that taxi service market we see growing to roughly $10 trillion by the early 2030s. if tesla were to just maintain its share in evs and get a 5% share of the autonomous taxi space, we think that could add hundreds of billions of dollars to its market cap in the next five years. when people look at this stock and say it's overvalued, we think it's just started. >> give us the counterargument here. i gather you're concerned about

profitability. this company is not really lighting it up there. but amazon didn't make profits for a long time either. >> just to put this in context, historically we've been bullish on tesla's products. where we have trouble continuing to be bullish, it's a twofold argument. one, the preparedness of the technology, so still the vision that we're talking about with the advanced driver assistance, and then secondly, in terms of operating profits. as we look out to a million vehicles, and giving them credit for something on the order of 15% operating margins, which would be robust and i think a real accomplishment for this company, we're still coming out with a valuation in and around $270 a share. on the technology standpoint, if you look at the ability of these cars to actually navigate in inclement weather, in rain, the technology still is not prepared to do things like reading lane lines and assisting drivers in a

real autonomous manner. >> and colin, you have a concern about the energy investments, how they've been investing in solarcity and the like. >> we have an issue with that investment, we don't think there's an roi with equity investors. we've enjoyed seeing them deemphasize that business in recent months, we think that's the right choice. it was a poor allocation of capital. >> thank you both for joining us, we appreciate the insight. >> the bull and the bear case there on a biggie. last night we told you how iceland's unique family tree have turned that country into a hub for genetics research. tonight meg terrell explains how the technology behind it is being used around the world. >> reporter: tourism is up in iceland.

the nordic island nation is also becoming known for genetic research, a model now emulated worldwide. icelander carrie stefanson founded decode genetics, a company taking advantage of the country's ideal conditions for genetic research. a population largely descended from common ancestors. comprehensive and an generate genealogy records. and a strong health system. >> genetics is the discipline that studies the information that goes into making a man and how it flows from one generation to the next. and the genealogy gives you the avenue by which the information is passed on. it's obvious that it gives you an advantage, to have the genealogy. and we have taken enormous advantage of that over the years. >> reporter: 20 years after decode was founded here, it's exported the underlying technology to the rest of the world. their spinout provides the technology to power large genomics projects. >> the big project in iceland was of course one of the first

and still is the leading population project on the planet. many of the tools and methods that were discovered here are directly applicable to other projects of similar scale and other parts of the world. >> reporter: projects including one in the united states. former president barack obama's precision medicine initiative. >> we're anxious to move as quickly as possible away from a one-size-fits-all approach to how to keep people healthy or how to manage chronic illness, into something that's much more individualized. >> reporter: clues in genetics can provide leads for better treatment. two medicine recently approved to treat high cholesterol, for instance, are based on a naturally occurring genetic mutation. the u.s. program, called all of us, aims to combine genetic information from a million americans with information from surveys and wearable sensors, according to dr. frances collins, director of the institutes of health. the u.s. project is one of many going on worldwide, from the uk

to singapore to qatar. >> there are at least 50 programs enrolling at least 100,000 people in various countries around the world. and one of the goals we now have is to be sure that we all learn from each other and make the most of that kind of a global network. >> reporter: drug companies like amgen, which owns iceland's decode, are all leveraging genetic insights to improve drug development. from data on huge numbers of people, researchers aim to develop medicine that are more personalized than ever before. for "nightly busines report," i'm meg terrell. coming up, business behind bars. we'll introduce you to the warren buffett of san quentin.

here is what to watch tomorrow on the data front. the one to look out for is the producer price index measuring wholesale inflation. we'll also get the weekly jobless claims report. and earnings season will really get under way. lots of big banks report tomorrow. jp morgan chase, citigroup, wells fargo, they all come out before the opening bell. more later. that's had a to watch tomorrow. warren buffett is one of the most influential investors ever, of course. when he speaks, wall street listens. but in this case, wall street is inside san quentin. in the final part of our series "business behind bars," jane wells went inside to meet him.

>> i'm in prison for first degree robbery, murder, and attempted murder. and i was sentenced to 54 years of life in prison. >> reporter: what's your nickname? "wall street." >> reporter: 38-year-old curtis carroll went to prison at age 17 and didn't know how to read. one day he went to pick you want sports section of the paper and picking up the business section instead. >> an older prisoner said, hey, youngster, you play stocks? he said, that's the place the white folks keep their money. >> reporter: that sparked carroll's interest. he learned to read by studying the business section. >> i saw an article in the paper. no, it was a magazine. and it had bill gates and warren buffett's net worth next to countries. and it was showing how these guys -- and i had never even knew that a billion dollars existed, let alone these guys had 20, 30, 40, $50 billion.

>> reporter: he became a student of warren buffett's investing philosophy and asked friends on the outside to open an e-trade account. >> my best investment was taser international. dumbest move i've made, valeant. i have snapchat, bank of america. i'm up. if you're talking about money i made myself, just money i've made for people in general, just giving advice and things like that, six figures easily, easily. so even though a dilution of those shares happens, those shares are still there. >> reporter: yep, wall street does give advice for free and has even started a financial literacy group inside san quentin. >> you now have seven shares. you never lose your money. >> reporter: his hope is to some day leave prison. he could go before the parole board in three years, then start a hedge fund and teach inner city kids a better way. >> all criminals are

entrepreneurs. i was a great entrepreneur. i just got caught doing it. if someone had said, this kid out here in oakland, california, that's running around burglarizing homes, has managed to customize a way where he can take a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a breakager a e er break adjuster and get $800 of quarters and turn it into a business, if we got this kid to mit, what could he do? >> reporter: more than anything, wall street would love to meet his idol, warren buffett. >> and you have inspired me to become something that my family, my friends and my community can be proud of. i just think stocks is the greatest platform that man has ever created, that the average citizen and average person can play in and own some of the greatest brands that society has ever seen.

>> reporter: an education which has perhaps allowed a convicted murderer to take stock. for "nightly busines report," jane wells, san quentin. >> an amazing turnaround. >> great story. that's "nightly busines report" for tonight. i'm contessa brewer. thank you for watching. >> thanks from me as well, i'm tyler mathisen. we'll see you back here tomorr