>> announcer: this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. three out of three. the dow, the s&p 500, and the nasdaq all close at records as the bank stocks rise and the treasury secretary talks up tax reform. it's an official. the national debt passes $20 trillion for the first time in history. reinventing the phone. apple is making big changes to its flagship product including the price. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for tuesday, september 12th. good evening, everyone, and welcome. i'm sue herera. tyler mathisen is on assignment with a report tonight from a major investor conference in new york. but we begin this evening with records being set on wall street. all three of the major

indexes -- the dow, the s&p 500, and the nasdaq -- closed at records. financials rose. and there was optimism about tax reform. and that enthusiasm put investors in a buying mood. so here are the closing numbers for you. the dow jones industrial average gained 61 points to 22,118. its gains were capped however by a decline in the shares of mcdonald's following a downbeat research note. the nasdaq was up 22. the s&p 500 added eight. ask anyone who invests in this market and they may have a different take on stocks and where they may be headed. the same is true of well-known investors like omega advisers leon cooperman and tiger management's julian robertson, who says stocks are in a bubble. >> the market as a whole is at a historic basis, i think that's due to the fact that interest rates are so low that there's no

real competition for the money, other than art and real estate. and so i think that's why the valuations are so high. >> the stock market has full valuation. that doesn't mean it's overvalued, but rather priced to appreciate earnings of 5 to 6%. >> those two investors spoke today at the delivering alpha conference presented by cnbc in new york. also in attendance was treasury secretary steven mnuchin. as tyler mathisen tells us, it was his comments that tax reform is a top priority that helped giveto >> reporter: hi, sue. delivering alpha is the foremost conclave of people in the institutional investing, hedge fund, and private equity worlds. we began today hearing from treasury secretary steven mnuchin, who is frankly optimistic about the probability of getting something done on tax

reform before the end of the year, but less optimistic about what the ultimate corporate tax rate will be. >> the president has made it clear since the campaign, ideally he would like to get it down to 15%. i don't know if we'll be able to achieve that given the budget issues. but we're going to get this down to a very competitive level. >> reporter: the man who leads the largest private equity fund in the world, steven schwartzman, shares mr. mnuchin's optimism, but also shares mr. mnuchin's view that getting the rate down to 15% is going to be a heavy lift. >> i'm optimistic that the worst we'll do in that area is a tax cut. somewhere between 25 and 28%. >> reporter: as for economic growth, ray dalio, who runs bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the country, says i think so we're in a kind of 2.5% zone for growth.

here's why. >> we're probably in a 2.5% growth environment. the real question is to some extent whether you can unleash the productivity by some of the changes that a pro-business environment can produce. i think there was more hope for that. >> reporter: and speaking of growth, jamie dimon of jpmorgan chase says that 2.5% growth, he doesn't view that as a new normal. here's why. >> if we did things right, we would be growing at 3%. but this growth that away had over the last eight years has averaged a little less than 2%. it's half of the normal, okay? a little long recovery. but it's half of what we would have had in a normal recovery. >> reporter: all in all, sue, a big day of big thought and big insights from the delivering alpha conference here in new york city. it was a day where we heard from the treasury secretary and some of the really top people in the world of hedge funds, private equity, and institutional investment.

>> thank you so much, ty. one thing that could have ramifications for tax reform is a breathtaking milestone for the federal government. the national debt has now surpassed $20 trillion for the first time in history. elon muoy is following the story from washington. >> reporter: this goes back to the deal that president trump cut with democrats last week when he agreed to raise the national debt ceiling. the u.s. debt actually jumped by about $300 billion, almost overnight. and that's what pushed us across the line to reach this new record high of $20 trillion for the national debt. >> what does that mean for the prospect of tax cuts, big or even small? >> reporter: as you said, $20 trillion is an eye popping number. it could make it tougher for some republicans who have run has fiscal hawks, run on concerns about deficits and the

debt, to agree with and go along with the prospect of some big tax cuts. however, key conservative republicans like the freedom caucus have said that they are willing to stomach increasing the deficit, add to ing to the national debt, if it means getting big tax cuts because they believe that could lead to further economic growth. >> the president worked with democrats on the debt ceiling. is he going to be working on tax reform in the same way, reaching across the aisle? >> reporter: i think what president trump made clear is that if he doesn't feel like his party is delivering what he wants, he is willing to strike a deal elsewhere. and so what you're seeing is the president tonight hosting a dinner at the white house with three key red state democrats as well as several influential members of the senate finance committee which does handle tax writing. maybe they'll be able to reach some sort of by partisan consensus amongst those members.

>> thank you so much, elon. financials tonight were among the biggest gainers. rising bond deals could help banks make more money on the difference between what they pay to get deposits and charge to lend. at the same time, some executives are warning that trading conditions during the third quarter were not going to be all that good. bank of america sees revenue from trading will likely decline 15%. jpmorgan's chief says analysts are taking down their trading revenue estimates by about 20%. and goldman sachs' president said conditions for fixed income trading have not improved since the beginning of the year. on the economy, we learned today that america's middle class had its highest earning year ever last year. according to the u.s. census bureau, median household income was more than $59,000 in 2016, surpassing the previous record of $58,000 set in 1999. the figure is adjusted for inflation. the census said the uptick in

earnings occurred because more people found full-time or better paying jobs. and the number of job openings in the country also hit a record. the most recent report from the labor department suggests a slowdown in job growth last month was an aberration. other economists say that report shows that experienced workers ar still ahead tonight, the most valuable publicly traded company in the world is making big changes to its flagship the upscale department store chain nordstrom may be close to going private. according to late day reports,

the nordstrom family has chosen a private equity firm to help in the process. a formal bid could be submitted in the next few weeks. and that sent the stock sharply higher in afterhours trading. apple showcased its latest iphones in a much anticipated product unveiling held at its new campus at cupertino, california. josh lipton has the details of the company's latest iteration of the company's ten-year-old signature gadget. >> we do have one more thing. [ cheers a >> reporter: and with that, apple introduced the world to the iphone x. ceo tim cook borrowing the fame phrase from his predecessor in the steve jobs theater on apple's new space-ship-like campus. cook called at it biggest leap forward since the original iphone, along with a $999 price tag. apple unveiled a slew of new features on the iphone x, including facial recognition, camera upgrades, and no more

home button, plus wireless charging, a feature already offered by samsung and others. the flagship phone was shipped november 3rd, a little later than usual, leading to some concerns about supply chain constraints ahead of the holidays, although in line with apple's previous guidance. apple also introduced an iphone 8, an 8 plus, which will be available later this month. the iphone is critical to apple's business. it represents about 60% of the company's revenue. big contributorer t eto the cam you see behind me which was built for a reported $5 billion. but the iphone wasn't the only product announced today. >> apple tv has changed the way we experience television. now we're at the next major inflection point. one that has the most stunning visuals ever, that are ideal for the large tv screens that are coming into our living rooms. this will bring cinematic quality to virtually everything that you watch.

>> reporter: the watch is also breaking free, in a sense, as a new version of the watch will have a cellular connection built in, allowing you to untether from your iphone. apple's stock dipped slightly on today's event announcements, in a sentiment a bit more bullish. only 105 shopping days until christmas. for "nightly business report," i'm josh lipton from cupertino, california. they say their therapeutic epilepsy drug disappoints. the biotech firm said its medication to treat epilepsy did not perform much better than the placebo during a study trial. that news sent shares of sage therapeutics by 14%. jeffrey smith speaking at cnbc's delivering alpha conference called drug maker

para pa parago one of the best investments, saying it's well positioned for growth. >> to recap why parago is compelling to us, you have a company that's undervalued, has a leadership position in a market with consistent, defensible growth. there's an opportunity to improve that growth with e-commerce platforms and potential partnership with amazon. there's potential market improvement in europe. there's potential for the separations of the businesses. >> shares of parago took off on smith's remarks. they rose about 4.5% to 89.01. progress software hiked quarterly dividends after reporting preliminary results that topped expectations. the software maker raised its dividend to 14 cents a share. progress up nearly 36% to 36.38. anthem said it's still determining which obamacare markets it will sell its plans in next year.

the health insurer says it has until november 27th to finalize where they will offer coverage in 2018. shares fell 3.5% to 189.24. just days after forming, dowdupont is making changes to its original plan to break up into three separate companies post-merger. the chemicals giant said it made those adjustments to allay some shareholder concerns over >> if we lock the verticals, where you can offer gross capability is what this realignment allows us to do. we were 80% right the first time round, but our investors did their work and these create game changing, market driven companies in the future. >> the shares rose 2.5% to 68.52.

36 senators are calling on federal agencies to investigate the sale of equifax securities shortly after that company learned of a massive cyber breach. and before that breach was made public. as we've been reporting, up to 143 million americans were impacted. and they're now worried about their personal data. questions are also arising about loosely-regulated credit bureau industries. adid ad roy has our story. >> reporter: ashley power is worried about someone stealing her online identity. she's one of up to 143 million equifax customers who could be impacted by the company's massive cyber breach. >> i think it's scary, actually, because basically a company that is supposed to protect us and their information, if they're not doing that then who can we trust, right? >> reporter: she's not alone. less than a week after the credit bureau announced a massive data breach involving up to half the country, more

fallout from lawmakers. in a letter to equifax ceo richard smith, house finance committee chair orrin hatch and ranking member ron wyden are demanding answers from the company, asking for a timeline of events and which executives knew what and when, including the three who sold shares after the breach was discovered. equifax maintains the executives did not know about the cyberattack when they sold the shares. the letter also asks the company about an arbitration waiver that consumers agreed to by signing up for an identity protection package it's offering customers affect by the breach. the company said the waiver did not apply to the cybersecurity breach and has since taken the waiver language off the website. equifax has lost more than $3.5 billion in market cap or 21% of its value in the first two trading days since the breach was made public. and the incident is also prompting many consumer groups

to question the relative lack of regulation in the credit bureau industry, compared to banks, which operate on charters and licenses and face constant monitoring by regulators. the class action suits are also piling on, with the company reportedly facing more than two dozen suits from plaintiffs. the highest profile ones include one filed by celebrity lawyer mark geragos, and it's seeking nearly $70 billion in damages, which would make at it largest class action suit in u.s. history. another suit filed in federal court in atlanta where the company is headquartered cites gargantuan failure to safeguard consumers. as those cases make their way through the system, consumers like power are now wary of going online. >> it makes me question everything i put online. >> reporter: as far as what customers can do, consumer groups are urging people to get credit freezes so no one can

open an account in your name. make sure you get that freeze with not just equifax but the other two credit bureaus as well as, experian and transunion. the cost depends on the state you're in and can be between 5 to $10 per freeze. i'm aditi roy, san francisco, for "nightly business report." let's turn to gayle hillibrand, the associate director for the consumer education and engagement center at the consumer financial protection bureau. welcome, gayle, a pleasure to have you here tonight, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> let me start out with the basic question that aditi roy posed in her report. do you think the country's credit bureau industry is adequately regulated? >> we share the same deep concern that members of the public are expressing about this data breach and we'll certainly be looking into it along with several others in federal government. >> do you think there needs to

be more or tighter regulation? >> it's clear there's something to be looked at here. there are a lot of people in washington who will be doing that. >> let's talk about the credit freeze issue. first of all, do you think that we have an issue with experian or transunion and what should a consumer do or an investor do, for that matter, if perhaps we see the same sort of situation develop there? and do you think we might see that? >> so data is valuable to criminals, and people are trying to steal it. so i can't tell you what will happen with the other bureaus, but if you're an individual who is worried about the potential for this data breach or any future one, to have someone open accounts in your name, the credit freeze is your best option if you don't need to be active in the credit market, if it's going to be easy and simple for you to lock people out from opening new accounts in your name. if you put the freeze on, and you are about to get a car loan or something elsewhere you need your credit, you will then have

to take steps to remove it when you want to use your own credit. but it does stop thieves from opening an account in your name because they cannot see your file, they cannot open an account. other things you should think about, a fraud alert, a lighter form of protection, it does tell creditors, check if it's me before you open an account in my name. finally, unfortunately, everybody needs to do this, check your accounts. make sure that nobody is putting charges on your accounts. and check your credit reports to make sure no accounts are being opened in your name. if you find an account you don't expect, you can dispute that and should do so. >> as i understand it, and correc wrong, credit freezes protect you from what's called pure identity theft, when somebody sets up a new account in your name. but it does not necessarily protect you from people putting charges on your credit cards or accessing your bank account. is that correct? >> that is absolutely right.

the credit freeze stops new accounts. the only way to address charges to your credit card, your bank accounts, is to watch those statements very closely. you should look at all your statements every month and raise a question if anything is on there that wasn't you, even if it's small. because sometimes a crook will try a small transaction and come back later for a bigger one. >> thank you so much, i know we'll be talking to you soon. gayle hillibrand with the consumer financial protection bureau. while americans are wondering whether their personal information has been compromised in want equifax breach, there is a new threat you need to watch, your cellphone number. that number is now becoming a key to your identity. think of it as a new social security number. and anyone can use it to find tons of your personal information. andrea day has tha >> the most shocking thing was how quickly i found it. >> reporter: just a few minutes. that's how long it took this guy to track down intimate details

about our producer. and that was all with just a cellphone number? >> just a cell number. >> reporter: we blurred out most of the images, but he found a lot of information. >> what property they own, what parking tickets they have. this is a street view of her house right now. >> reporter: and all without knowing her name. a security risk? >> it's a huge security risk. nobody wants to change their cell number, it's become an integral part of your identity. that's where the problem starts. >> reporter: full disclosure, he is a cybersecurity expert. but he says tracking down the info doesn't take much. >> no experience at all. >> reporter: where do you start with somebody's cell number? >> the best place to start was facebook. >> reporter: we won't show you details, but -- >> most people don't realize that facebook by default makes your phone number accessible to everybody through their search. >> reporter: he says facebook allows you to limit it to just friends but there's no way to stop friends from finding you by

your phone number. if you try to remove your number, facebook removes some features. neighbor tells us your phone number has a setting on who is able to search for you using that info and that adding a mobile phone number to your account helps keep your account secure and makes it easier to connect friends and family with facebook. >> if you look at it from a job perspective, you have to give your cell number when you apply for a job. within five minutes, i know everything about you without even seeing whether you qualified for the job, i can just reject you. >> reporter: he says that's just the beginning. >> i have your online identity. i have pretty much everything. i own you, basically. >> reporter: and his advice? treat your cell number as something even more important than your social. only give it out when you absolutely need to. and for the record, he uses a number from google and changes it at least once a year. he wouldn't even give us his real number. for "nightly business report," i'm . >> wow.

coming up, a critical artery of florida's economy reopened today. we'll take you on a tour of the port of tamp travelers plans to temporarily suspend a program while it assesses losses from harvey and irma. they said they estimated pretax losses in the range of 375 million to $750 million. shares of travelers finished the day fractionally lower. milligraons of people in

florida are still without power following hurricane irma. fema administrator brock long says it could take week for power to be restored. >> we have been working with our partners at the department of energy to prestage power crews not only in florida but the southeastern united states. let me reiterate, it takes a long time for this information to come back up. it may take multiple days if not weeks in some areas, as we've been saying before the storm hit. >> the head of fema said the hurricane destroyed about a quarter of the homes in the florida keys. but the port of tampa reopened today after sustaining only minor damage during hurricane irma. that is to getting commerce and the florida economy moving again. carl quintanilla takes us on a tour of this critical piece of >> you cannot predict what a hurricane is going to do. >> reporter: paul anderson runs

florida's biggest physical port, which receives orange juice, steel, and gas. when he opened the port, truckers who had sheltered in place hustled to get to their rigs and fill up. >> my motto is you hope for the best and prepare for the worst. and we did. we did hurricane exercises at least once a year. >> reporter: the fuel came from tanks on land that had already been filled up so as not to be empty and crushed by irma. >> think of a coke can that was empty in the wind versus one that's full. and it's very similar. they're rated to handle high wind and hurricanes. but they have to have fuel in them. >> reporter: each truck holds 40,000 gallons. that's enough to fill a station's 10,000-gallon tank. when it comes to irma, anderson says it's clear tampa really did dodge a bullet. >> we're having this conversation rig here, now, because that storm moved very much at the last minute, 40 miles. it changed everything for tampa, for the bay, for millions of

people. and for our ability to get fuel. >> reporter: for "nightly business report," i'm carl quintanilla. >> the port of tampa is the biggest one in florida. it generates nearly 100,000 jobs and delivers some $15 billion in annual economic impact. that is "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us. have a great evening, everybody. .e'll see

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