>> announcer: this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathis broad rally. stocks rebound from yesterday's selloff as investors try to figure out what to expect in the months ahead. bucking the trend. walmart wants what a lot of retailers can't, get more customers in-store and more online. policy shift. why the company that started the remote working revolution is now calling employees back to the office. those stories and more on tonight's "nightly business report" for thursday, may 18. good evening, everyone, welcome. investors put money back into stocks as the market recovered from its worst drop of the year. early on it seemed that today would be another rough one. but that wasn't the case.

at one point the dow was actually up triple digits. the closing numbers, the dow jones industrials dow jones industrials added 56 points to 20,663. the nasdaq rose 43. and the s&p 500 was up eight. bob pisani spent the day at the new york stock exchange figuring out why stoc [ bell ringing ] >> reporter: yesterday's selloff was a one-day event, at least so far. traders had been nervous going into the open because yesterday a lot of big institutional traders were selling stocks. the concern was that the big players would continue to sell today. that did not happen. wall street strategists also do not appear ruffled by the wild ride yesterday. none of them were taking future stock gains, at least not yet. jpmorgan told clients they were still raising earnings estimates because corporate guidance has really been strong. elsewhere, an accident in times square in the middle of the day

that caused the death of one pedestrian caught the attention of traders. but it does appear to be an accident and not terror-related. the markets did rise briefly midday on erroneous headlines from bloggers regarding jim comey's may 3rd testimony before congress. comey was asked in the video whether the attorney general or senior justice department officials had ever asked him to halt an investigation. bloggers misconstrued the video to mean neither trump nor anyone else had ever asked comey to end the probe. for "nightly business report," i'm bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. hugh johnson, who has seen a lot of stuff over the years, joins us now to discuss what we can expect in the months ahead in the markets. hugh, so glad to have you here tonight. like me, your sense of history and sue's as well goes back through many crises over the years. >> mm-hmm. >> how should we think about what's going on now as an investor and how can we keep

cool helads when the headlines are so hot? >> it's not easy. i remember the nixon crisis and the clinton crisis. even though we try to keep our heads, even though we tried to focus on what really counts, which of course are earnings and the economy and things of that sort, the truth was in both periods we were very focused, obsessively so, on what was going on in washington. that was true in both of those instances. and i think it's going to be true in this instance as well. and occasionally, periodically, we're gng to get some sort of a shock, a shock that suggests the president is going to be impeached or something is going to happen in washington. and that could cause a real ripple through the markets, a real decline. so this is going to be very much i think, you know, we're going to be walking on hot colals for the foreseeable future, three to six months. there could be some fairly sharp corrections along the way if

there are bad shocks for the administration. >> if i'm hearing you correctly, you're saying we can't really gauge from those past periods of time because we were in very different economic circumstances for the nixon era and also the clinton era. >> very different. the nixon was era was as dismal as it gets. not only did inflation go from 3% to 11%, the economy went into a recession. we were focused on the deterioration, in not only earnings, but the stock market itself. we were obsessed with that. there still was a lot of focus on washington. but it was very bad times. the clinton administration -- >> go ahead, please, hugh, finish your thought on clinton. >> clinton was entirely different, the economy was expanding, things were really good. so the market performed well. generally market performed poorly in the nixon period because of bad fundamentals.

markets performed well in the clinton period because of good fundamentals. but there were shocks along the way that caused ripples or declines in the clinton area. >> so what should i do, what would you like to tell our viewers who are investors that they should be wary of or they should take advantage of? i'm going to ask you to cheer me up a little bit, hugh. the economy is pretty good, right? unemployment is down and incomes are moving up a little bit. it's not all that bad. >> yeah. no, it's not. and the fundamentals are good. we have further to go in the current sort of stock market economic interest rate cycle, so you should maintain a meaningful allocation in your portfolio to stocks. the stock market over time is going to be fine. i think this is going to be a little bit of a testy period for two reasons. valuation is not particularly good. i think we discounted all the good news that i see from the so-called trump stimulus, if we ever do get it.

we've already discounted it. what i simply would suggest to investors, maintain a high allocation to equities, but make sure you're very patient and very good at picked entry points. a good entry point to this stock market where valuation problems are not so lofty is lower than current levels. that's not 2350. that's 2300 or even lower. be patient, pick your entry levels. >> thanks for your wisdom, always good to see you, hugh johnson with hugh johnson advisers. >> my pleasure. a better than expected quarter for the world's largest retailer. walmart topped earnings estimates and report growth in key areas, helping lift shares more than 3%, making it the best performing stock in the dow index. courtney reagan looks at why walmart's business is thriving in a challenging environment. >> reporter: retailers are struggling, but walmart isn't one of them. investors are focusing on its growth streak, growing u.s.

comparable sales for nearly three straight years, and much of that from an increase in customers. an impressive feat for a retailer in today's environment. forecasts are stronger than analysts were expecting. stores still generate most of walmart's sales, but its digital sales grew 60% from last year. walmart has a long way to go to catch up to amazon online. walmart's total sales, though, are 3 1/2 times bigger than amazon's. >> this is a company that is generating traffic not only in bricks and mortar but on e-commerce. you just don't see that anywhere in retail. so i mean, if you're going to pick a winner, walmart is definitely one of them. >> reporter: more people are buying groceries at walmart too. in fact the most in three years. food makes up more than half of walmart's total sales. the enthusiasm fell somewhat due in part to walmart lowering prices and sales of more expensive items at the beginning

of the quarter. in a retail wreck, walmart is a bright spot. i'm courtney reagan for "nightly business report." in the midst of a political crisis or at least controversy, president trump hosted a news conference at the white house with the president of colombia. he was directly asked about the russian investigation and his conversation with the then-director of the fbi, comey. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape, or form to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also as you look back -- >> no. no. next question. >> the president also said, speaking for himself, there was no collusion with russia. and he called the entire investigation a witch hunt. as we have been reporting, investors are watching what's happening in washington because events there threaten to interfere, at the very least, with the administration's business-friendly reforms. the trump administration formally told congress it intends to renegotiate the north

american free trade agreement otherwise known as nafta. the two-page letter offered few details about what changes the white house wants to make to the 23-year-old pact between the u.s., canada, and mexico. but the u.s. trade representative, the administration's main trade negotiator, said the motive is to renegotiate the deal rather than scrap it. during the campaign, the president called it a horrible deal for the u.s. and possibly the worst trade deal ever. also in washington, the federal communications commission voted to begin undoing some of the rules governing the internet, rules put in place during the obama administration. the current regulations make it illegal for internet service providers like at&t and verizon to block or slow down websites for consumers. the companies have argued that softer regulations would let them raise capital and allow them to do things like upgrade their networks. the fcc will start taking public feedback on the proposal. it could be put to a vote, a final one, later this year. the biggest gathering of

cancer doctors in the whole world takes place in early june. but already some new data on what could be promising new treatments are being released. meg terrell has more on the companies behind the drugs. >> reporter: the meeting starts june 2nd, but last night the conference released more than 5,000 pieces of research in advance, giving analysts, investors, and those in the medical community a preview of what's to come. >> there are 40,000 people who attend who are involved in some way with treating patients with cancer. >> reporter: key themes are precision medicine and immunotherapy, medicine that reveal cancer cells, enabling our natural defenses to attack it. >> trying to figure out what therapies are best for individual patients. we used to have a handful of chemotherapy drugs we would give to people in sort of a

nondiscriminatory way. now we realize some patients will do better with some therapies compared to others, and can we pick the best therapy for each patient. >> reporter: the biggest companies in the space are merck, bristol-myers squibb, astrazeneca, roche, and pfizer. the companies have generated results that have excited the medical community. it was merck's keytruda that former president jimmy carter credited with completely shrinking the brain tumors associated with his stage iv melanoma. not all patients see such a dramatic benefit. so a key strategy is combination therapy, finding out if putting multiple drugs together produces responses. >> some patients don't respond or don't respond for very long. we're really trying to understand more to the next level. >> reporter: these research updates frequently move stocks as drug makers compete. >> investors are putting anywhere between 30 and $40

billion, and investors are trying to figure out how you divvy that up. >> reporter: insight's shares spiked after an experimental drug showed promising results in combination studies in a number of different cancer sites. with combination therapy looking like the future of cancer treatment, another question arises -- cost. with many of the newer cancer drugs priced at more than $10,000 a month, many worry that multiple medicine will drive costs too high, sure to be a key topic in the conversations in chicago along with research on new approaches to treating cancer. for "nightly business report," i'm meg terrell. still ahead, role reversal. why ibm, which once encouraged working from home, is changing its tune.

the number of people filing for job less benefits fell last week. initial claims for unemployment payments dropped. claims have been below the key level for 115 straight weeks. ibm is shifting its policy on working from home and calling workers back to the office. in a reversal of the work from home movement that it pioneered, the tech giant now says its remote employees must come back to a regional office or leave the company. could other companies follow? joining us, professor gordon, good to see you again. >> hi, sue. >> what do you make the ibm's move? some say that this is basically the company's way of shrinking

its workforce, giving employees a choice, but as a result, if you leave, they shrink the workforce. others say it's better to be in an office for the collaborative type of environment that that fosters. >> this is one where you just have to ask yourself, what were they thinking? now, if what they're thinking is this is a backdoor way of shrinking our workforce because people don't want to travel two hours to one of these locations, then it's smart. but if that's not their intent, it doesn't seem smart at all. >> what has been the experience of other companies that have done this, have reversed these kinds of policies? i'm thinking of yahoo! i believe bank of america and others. >> so it varies depending on what your company is. if you're a bank or an insurance company, most of your workers aren't tech workers. they probably like coming to work. in fact when you told them to work from home, they thought they were losing their workspace. but at real tech companies like yahoo! or any of the rest of

them, it's a terrible idea, because the workers don't want to come to work. they want to work from their kitchen. they want to work in their pajamas. they want to work theat midnigh. they don't want to get dressed, be in an office, and be in a cubicle. >> you're painting a wonderful picture of the american at work. >> is that why you say it's not a good move for ibm, if indeed their motive is more collaboration or something along those lines? >> first of all, they're not going to get more collaboration. they'll get more people i can't care yakking in front of the microwave. even professors collaborate, much less tech people. tech people are used to collaborating that way. if ibm wants to be able recruit the best tech workers for its supposedly advanced cognitive computing machine learning, it needs to recruit really smart

young people who just don't want to come in to an ibm or anybody's office. >> do you see any irony or analogy in the idea that when yahoo! did it, its ceo, marissa meyer, was under pressure, and ginnie rometti is under pressure too? >> i think there's a lot of that. i mean, ibm has for five straight years, every quarter's revenues have been less than the year before. she's tried a lot of ideas. people are getting -- investors are getting really impatient about why she can't get revenue moving. this is going to be seen by some investors as pretty desperate. if this is her next best idea, i don't think it's going to play well in the investment community. >> got it. eric, thank you so much. eric gordon with the university of michigan's school of business. >> next time he'll do the interview from home. general motors is pulling out of two foreign markets.

the automaker will shed its south african business and stop selling cars in india as it focuses on efforts in more profitable markets. the company will still build cars in india for export. gm shares up a fraction. the children's place said same sale stores rose. total profit and revenue also grew, topped estimates, and the company raised full year earnings outlook. but still, shares finished the day down 50 cents at $111.10. >> pandora is apparently in talks again with serioa sirius . pl pandora rejected a takeover from sirius last year. pandora's shares popped to $9.42. >> gap says strength in its old

navy brand helped a rise in same store sales. the gap reaffirmed its outlook for 2017. the shares initially rose after the bell but ended the regular session down more than 1% $23.19. the marijuana industry is one of the fastest growing in the country. use is now legal in more than half of the states. but will the trump white house put up some roadblocks to further legalization? kate rogers reports from oxon hill, maryland. >> reporter: with a new and potentially less friendly administration at the helm in washington, the marijuana industry is wondering what the future holds. investors, regulators, and entrepreneurs gathered in oxon hill, maryland this week for the marijuana business daily conference and expo. will the trump administration hinder the industry's record growth? attorney general jeff sessions and press secretary sean spicer

have signaled potential for tougher regulation on the drug, which is still considered illegal by the federal government. >> the noise we're hearing from washington, d.c. is it's going to stifle growth, probably slow down people from gaining medical access to cannabis as a plant medicine. i think they're doing the industry and the citizens of the united states a great disservice. >> reporter: right now cannabis is legal for recreational use in eight states and washington, d.c. medicinal cannabis is legal in many states. marijuana business daily projection the entire cannabis industry will have an economic impact of some $68 billion by the year 2021. but for entrepreneurs there are still major hurdles, from taxation regulations to finding and keeping banking ri relationships, forcing many to operate with cash. many financial institutions are

fearful of running afoul of federal law. >> banks continue to respect and adhere to the policies that are already in place that lay out a path for how banks can permissibly bank in this space. >> reporter: some marijuana advocates are hopeful legalization will continue and financial progress will follow. >> i've worked on this issue for decades all over the country. i've never met a single person that thinks there's any good purpose for forcing this industry to be conducted on an all-cash basis, if you care about money laundering, tax evasion, robbery. it's insane. and i think we're positioned that we can take care of this even while we're dealing with larger issuing of legalization. >> reporter: for "nightly business report," kate rogers, oxon hill, maryland. coming up, priceless? what happens when that work of art or sports member areorabilio longer worth what you th

leon cooperman's omega advisers has settled with the securities and exchange commission for nearly $5 million. last fall the sec accused the hedge fund manager of insider trading, charges he said were without merit. cooperman admitted to no wrongdoing. a settlement in the years-long memorabilia suit involving the new york giants and eli manage could be forget coming. the su last night we told you that this is a big, maybe a huge week for the art market with more than a billion dollar of art expected to be auctioned in new york city. have you ever thought about the people who determined the value

of artwork or other collectibles? when their opinion on what a collectible is worth changes, it could mean millions. andrea day has the story. >> when they change their minds about the authenticity of the work, the market rises and falls with that. >> reporter: a cezanne bought at sotheby's and exhibited around the world. >> first is the royal academy, then the national academy, before being sold at sotheby's. >> this is a stellar exhibition history. >> reporter: and included in the artist's catalogue raisonne or complete list of his paintings. >> inclusion in the catalogue raisonne is generally deemed to be an authentication. >> reporter: was there any doubt in their minds that this was a cezanne? >> nobody at the time could have had any doubt. >> reporter: but years later when judd grossman's client tried to sell -- >> it's unsellable and virtually worthless. >> reporter: expert opinions

changed over time. >> the authors of the online catalogue raisonne project have determined they just don't believe it's by cezanne's hand. >> reporter: the painting included in a new expert's catalogue. >> it's not the first time and it won't be the last. >> reporter: and he says it can happen for a number of reasons. new scientific methods that come out. information about the work's history or past owners. or just new generations of experts. we reached out to sotheby's but did not get a response. so how many millions could be lost here when opinions change? >> countless. countless. and that can happen in the blink of an eye. >> reporter: it's not just art. at golden auctions, sales of sports collectibles topped $25 million last year. >> billionaires buy sports teams. the multibillionaires buy sports memorabilia. >> reporter: he says jerseys were later found to be

counterfeit. >> as years went by and authentication standards improved, everything revolves around who is authenticating it. >> reporter: he offers insurance in case things change. >> that would allow us to reimburse the customer for this event happening because we sold it as authentic. >> reporter: when it comes to priceless art -- >> not including a work in a catalogue is essentially saying it's not right and no explanation beyond that is really necessary. >> reporter: and he says even the courts won't usually go against it. his best advice, do your due diligence before the sale to minimize any risk. but even with all of that, just know that opinions can change. for "nightly business report," i'm andrea day. roger ailes, the man who helped create and build a cable news empire, has died at the age of 77. he died from a fall at his home. he was a titan of media industry, turning fox news into

a ratings juggernaut. but as julia boorstin reports, he was also very controversial. >> reporter: roger ailes was founding ceo of fox news in 1996. he became chairman of fox tv stations group as well in 2005. he was ousted last july following a sexual harassment scandal and a series of lawsuits. in the five decades prior, ailes rose to become one of the most powerful people in american media, building the fox news channel into a billion dollar brand and transforming the capable news landscape into what it is today. in addition to building fnc into a news powerhouse, ailes was president of cnbc for three years before launching fox. he consulted to republican presidents richard nixon, ronald reagan, and george bush, and advised president trump's campaign, helping with debate prep. 21st century fox's ceo rupert murdoch says he will always be

enormously grateful to ailes. he forged an indelible mark on the american landscape. for "nightly business report," i'm julia boorstin. that is "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us. >> i'm tyler mathisen. have have a great evening, everybody. we'll

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