slg this is "nightly business " with tyler mathisen and sue herera. electric shock. ge cuts its dividend for only the second time since the great deprosecution. that's not all it's slashing. pays dividends, after ge's cuts, what are some safer investments that pay you back? fueling up, as airlines pay more, will fares g? those stories and more tonight on notice foib for month, h. good evening, everyone. welcome. it hands been a prett year for general electric. today it was downright ugly. the embattled company outlined a new agenda with a renewed focus, aggressive cost customering and reduced dividend. on an investor call, the ceo

offal industrial conglomerate said the changes -- on the same call he apologized for the company's performance. so far this year shares of this widely owned stock are down 40%. today after announcing ge's turnaround strategy, the stock lost 7% of its value on very heavy volume. the worst day since 2009. morgan brennan takes a look at the road ahe cut dividend, cut guidance, cut assets, those cuts are the crux of general electric's new strategy under sdwraun flannery. today flannery outlined big changes for the struggling industrial giant. >> going forward, we really have to focus on how we can create

the most value of portfolio of assets we have for the owners, and we'll do that with a very dispassionate eye. >> reporter: ge's dividend was cut today, reduced by half, as the new ceo looks to drum up cash and remake the company. ge has long been bought for the payout, with about 40% of shareholders retail investors, many dependent on the income. still the move was widely expected. what wasn't was the guidance. >> the mart is having a difficult time envisioning what the long-term trajectory will be and where the company will shake out. >> reporter: geow forecasts profit of $1 to 1.07 next years. 50 percent of what was recently an pated. that sent the shares tumbling. but yow lined a new strategy, focusing on the core business. over the next two years, he plans to exit more than a accident others, including transportation and lighting, a

ge business harking back to the days of thomas edison. even the stake in baker hughes could be up for grabs, but it will take time. the reason flannery says 2018 will be a reset year, with you that will be, quote, extremely hard with major changes and detailed execution. after that, though, he says profits should grow, and with hopefully, finally the stock. for "nightly business report, b well, ivan fineseth joins us to talk more about the turnaround plan and the road ahead for the company. he's a partner and chief financial officer at tigress financial partners. good to have you in the studio tonight. >> thank you. >> is this the bottom? >> i think this marks the bottom. the sell jot and the different cut i think is the reaction, the final sell-off where all the income funds, i think it needed a bold move. >> is it a parabolic move back or bouncing along the bottom? >> well, i think that at current

levels, it could represent a long-term opportunity. i don't think it goes right up, but what the ceo spoke about today, flannery spoke about, as being focused, he spoke about cost cutting, and spoke about a company that's focused in health care and in aviation, and in power generation, so he pretty much said health, light and flight will be the company's focus. the dividend i think was the bold move that showed he's committed to turning the company around. >> others on the stet, though, think that the stock price and the reaction today is telling a differt story, that he needs to do more, that he missed an opportunity, and that the company needs to be broken up. >> well, i don't think breaking up a conglomerate makes a better company. if you break it up, there will be nothing left. i think being a more focused company will be pow everybody i and see what the results are, but i think we're probably close to a bottom in the stock, and i think the new leadership and

some of the new actions are usually what it takes to put it in the bottom and change the direction of a company. >> he had to c the dividend, right? >> well, i think for two points one, it does free up cash. second it shows that he's willing to take bold moves. that's the key. ge has needed a seismic shift for quite some time. also the current dividend of 48 cents versus the new as to earnings per share guidance puts it in line with the targeted dividend payout of 45%, so he is now going back to the disciplined ratios that they have tried to live within. >> if you had a near-term target for the and you've been looking for a dividend cut for a while, so they have not achieved that objective, in your mind. if you had a near-term target for the stock, what would it be? >> well, i think it probably staying around the $19, $20 range for a while, maybe to the end of the year, because you'll

have some tax loss seing, and then i think that for the long term, if this is an opportunity to buy an iconic company, and in many cases, when you buy good companies when they're going through a hard time it has paid off. >> um-hmm. >> ge has had a hard time for a long time, so i think that the things are in place for a bottom. the next thing we need is the catalyst that will make the stock go up. >> if this were politics, the current ceo/president would be blaming the predecessor ceo/president. yes. >> how muc of that would be valid criticism? >> yes, i think he's being politically correct by not doing that. the market has done that. there's no poi blame somebody else, but the prior ceo made a lot of bad decisions, and timed a lot of his decisions poorly as well, and i think it's all about looking forward, and he wants to change the company

for the future. >> right. >> i mean, ge is probably the leading jet engine manufacturer, and there's strong engine demand. look how well boeing is doing, and there's big demand for upgrades in exists plane and greater fuel efficiency and updade engines for helicopters and all the kinds of aircraft. military orders are strong. they are winning a lot of contracts for new military orders. so the jet engine business -- >> they're in a good spot there. >> yes. >> ivan, thank you very much. later in the program we'll get investing ideas from a market pro who says the dividends are safe at the companies he recommends. well, despite ge's sharp decline, the broader market managed to close slight lehigher. sentiment on wall street has been driven by deals lately. today reports that hasbro's offer,o contributed to the

increase. the nasdaq added six. the s&p rose two. new developments in a proposed megamerger, qualcomm has rejected broadcom's offer, settin the stage for possibly one of the biggest takeover battles ever. qualcomm says the offer undervalues the company and that putting the two together would spawn regulatory issues. by dcom says it continue toss the reaction of stakeholders. both companies count among their biggest customers. a federal reserve officers sis he expects to back an increase next month. patrick harker added that inflation, which has drifted lower, continues to make him cautious. this has happened even as unemployment has fallen. the central bank has rai ras twice this year. harker is considered a centrist when it comes to monetary policy.

oils rose slightly to settle to a near 2 1/2-yearhigh. over the past month domestic crude prices have risen, the increase is exactly what opec wants to see. the cartel hopes that the longtime glow of crude will soon turn into a deficit. jackie deangelis explains. >> as crude oil nears $60 a barrel, every move opec makes is being carefully. 9 powerful group of producer reported that it fell slightly by $150 a barrel a day. well, the drop wasn't dramatic. it did show that production is headed in the right direction, and that compliance with the group's promised production cuts is high. even more telling, where production dropped. iraq and iran, countries that ramped up output in the past, reduced it a bit last month. saudi arabia and libya still showing increases. while the market has focused on these supply points, it's also paying careful attention to

demand forecasts. this report increased expectations slightly for next year to almost $100 million a bare per date. >> we're all going to be focused on opecember meeting november 30th. that has been the driver. they've seen the effectiveness of their production cuts, but right now it seems like they want to extend those production cuts, be very liar and s that there's going to be a -- and that effectively taxi $2 million barrels a day. that's drilling in on the supply econvex. >> meantime here in the united states, higher prices have meant more production. the energy administration reporting last wee that u.s. output eclipsed the 2015 high. the worry that shale's emergence as a swing producer could swing prices the other way. for "nightly business report, i'm jackiedeangelie. coming up, are companies bearing the brunt of the massive breach at

bitcoin has had a very volatile few days. the price rose today rebounding almost after losing a third of its value in less than four days. many believe that the fall that began late last week was becau of a decision to abandon a software upgrade that would have made the network more practical for user and ultimately help lower fees. bitcoin has gained nearly 600% still this year, but investors remain divided on the future of the alternative currency. wall street bankers may see higher bonuses for the first

time in four yours. incentive pay is expected to rise by 5% to 10%. bankers who work on corporate debt and will likely see the biggest jump. the president nominated a drug company executive to be the next secretary o health and human services. alex azar was until january the head of eli lilly's u.s. division. he also served as a deputy at the hhs department until george w. bush. the announcement was in a twitter post while he was in asia. he tweeted that, quote, he will be a star for better health care and lower drug prices, exclamation point former secretary tom price resigned in september amid controversy over the use of chartered flights for government travel. the president will head to capitol hill on thursday to speak to house republicans about their push for tax reform. house leaders could put their

tax bill on r that same day. congress wants to finish the legislation before the end of the year. nsa was a victim of a deeply intrusive cyber-breach. what we didn't know is the breach has taken a big toll on the country's most secretive intelligence agency. the business community has something to say about it. eamon javers reports. >> the headline in "new york times" was arresting. security breach and spilled secrets have shaken the nsa to its core. tht fro the paper reporting adding new details to an account of a an anonymous group call the shadow brokers, stealing some of the most valuable cyberweapons and se on the black market rippled through the cybersecurity industry. the times reported the hack has led to millions of computers shout down, thousands of corporate emplees' data wiped, cybertools that

american taxpayers paid to develop. it's all reviving a long-running debate. should the nsa even be in the offensive cybersecurity business, or should it just focus on cyberdefense? what about the company that is have found themselves bearing the brunt of the damage so far? some argue the nsa has to stay in the offensive cyberhacking game, because the secrets it can steal are vital to american national security, even though american companies sometimes pay the price. >> companies aren't going to get hurt unfortunately, and they will end up being effectively class real damage, but it doesn't make a difference whether that is caused by the u.s. and nsa, or a foreign intelligence service. if the nsa isn't finding vulnerabili you can be sure a foreign service is. >> others question whether gathering these in one place is actually making american companies more vulnerable. >> the idea that we would put so

much trust, so much of the kind of sing the points of data, of failure in the hands of a single organization is something that we need to reexamine not only as corporations or as individuals, but i think as a country as a whole. >> one analyst told me today that big companies have always been damaged in warfare. countries bomb ports, burn fields and damage infrastructure in armed conflict, but this is peacetime. the biggest concern for americans companies is there's no end in sight, means that corporations are the soft underbelly that nation states are attacking in this new below the radar type of conflict. for "nightly business report, i'm eamon javers in washington. the nsa had this to say in response to eamon's report, quote- the nsa regularly discloses information concerning i.t. vulnerabilities that personnel discover during the course of their foreign intelligence activities. if the government decides to

whole a vulnerability from release, it does so only after careful consideration of the relative risks. roku inks another licensing deal. that's where we guest tonight as focus. the streaming said it signed a licensing agreement with a japanese company to incorporate roku into phillips branded televisions. it's currently included on several brands. to 42.71. tyson foods reported a higher than expected profit as a drop in animal field costs helped to beef up results. the meat processor and producers also topped analyst sales expectations and set the strong demand for chicken and beech products. shares of tyson foods higher by nearly 2% for 7559. the maul owner general growth properties received a nearly $15 billion offer from brookfield

prerty partners to buy the remaining ggp shares it doesn't already own. general growth said it's reviewing the bid shares of brookfield fell nearly 5% to 2250, but shares of general growth properties took off 8% to 2405. a rise in sales helped china's jd.com report an unexpected profit. the e-commerce company managed to top expectations, to competitors, leading up to china's major shopping event singles day. jd.com says it expects apparel growth to be a weak spot for the company as it recovers from the loss of major clothing brands. jd.com shares up more than 3% on the session. madison square garden's chief executive officers step down executive chairperson james dolan. the entertainment venue did not offer a reason for o'connor's

departure. shares of msg were off 2% to $225 on the button. after the bell, it was reported that the private equity firm is invested in taking over buffalo wild wings. "wall street journal" says roe arc offered more than two dozens celeryticks for the chicken wings chain. shares took off after hours trading, but ended the regular day to 117.25. [ laughter ] uber has reached a deal with softbank. uber has not disclosed how much it would invest in the ride-hailing company. that deal comes after months of internal conflict within the board. it represents an early win for the new ceo and could give the world as most valu start an ally as it expands operations across the globe. walmart has reportedly a new strategy to get customers in the

doors of the stores. the plan includes raising prices online, where it costs less to sell something. according to "wall street journa walmart has already hiked the price of some household items. the world's largest retailer recently tripled the online selections for the holiday season. well, from prices at walmart to prices airlines pay touel up. after two years of enjoying relatively low fuel prices, the industry is now facing an old worry -- dealing with higher costs. the question now is whether those increased costs will make airfares more expensive. phil lebeau takes a look. >> is this the return of an old headache in jet fuel prilss are now moving higher, up roughly 10% since the beginning of october. jet fuel prices are now at the highest point since 2015. for airlines and their investors, the rise in cost is a concern they haven't had in

several years, but since jet fuel is the biggest expense an airline faces outside of labor, the higher prices are worth watching. what does it mean for travelers? busy holiday season? fares through the end of the year are unlikely to change much. with heavy demand the few seats still unsold will likely demand a higher price. beyond that the focus is on airfares the first half of next year. typically airfares go up in the spring as airlines anticipation more people flying, but next year if jell fuel prices keep rising, airlines c feel pressure to raise fares faster and more than usual. phil lebeau, "nightly business re chicag still ahead, the hunt for yield stocks that you can count on to pay you back over th

we'd love to get your helg retirement. on thanksgiving, wee examine the retirement crisis we hear about all the time. we want you to be a part of it. go to our website, nbr.com and contact us. are you having trouble putting away enough money? why? what happened? what if anything are you doing to fix it? you can go to our facebook page or tweet us. there's a chance that your story will b as we told you earlier, ge cut its dividend today. with many investors turning to

higher yielding dividend stocks, where else should you be looking for yield that's safe and not at risk of being slashed? paul is the market strat ty and president of -- capital. >> good to see you, sue. >> just a brief note on ge, you say that dividend cuts are lacking indicator coming mostly at the end of a long decline for the stock. that certainly applies to ge, but what should you be looking for if you want stocks where the dividend is safer than what >> dividend cuts really come -- if it's the football game, the fourth quarter of the game. the fourth quarter of a decline when volatility expands. if you're looking at the opposite. some safer things to look at, one, stocks that are quote/unquote safer from having different cuts are either going sideways or stocks are rallies. that would be number one.

number two, if you simply divide the dividend by the earns -- not to get too technical, the dividend payout ratio, if a company is paying to which out in the dividend, obviously the dividend is in jeopardy of being cut. also if it's too good to be true, many times it is. so people looking at dividends of 7, 8, 9%, not -- there's certainly a higher risk to get cut if the dividend yields are very fat. some of those high yields are siren songs macy's i think has the highest dividend yield in the s&p 500, but you point to that one as one that might be in the untouchable category, right? >> no, to me macy's looks a lot like ge. so retail has a problem, industrials don't, where ge resides, but nayy's looks like it's a dividend just craving to be cut, and probably will get

cut. everyone is so freaked out about retail because of the amazon bogey out there. i wouldn't go near macy's. i think retail in general is bouncing now. it would get benefit from the effect where the most beaten down stocks rise in the year end, but i think the bottom for retail stocks is down the road ahead of us, not right here. >> okay, you've given you three names where you think the dividend is safe. u.s. bank corp, 2.3%, but you think the stability of the stock really plays i the stability of the dividend? >> it's one of if not the most stable well-run banks on earth, so yes, a different yield is a little lower, but i think near underreporting earnings. they're holding back, they're reserving more for bad loans, but the bad loans are not springing up for them. that's a great story for 2018,

'19 and beyond form the only payout 30% of their earnings to investors in the form of dividends. that's a good one. >> pfizer and brinker. paul, we have to leave it there. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. well, bill gates has a new mission. the founder of microsoft is making a big investment for fight alzheimer's, and he's hope big data can help find a solution. the philanthropist will invest . it's a personal one, not part of his foundation. it will be followed with another $50 million put into a number of start-up ventures working on less mainstream approaches to the di than 5 million americans live with alzheimer's. that number is expected to grow. finally tonight, if you are -- forgive me -- flush with cash, listen to this. a fully functioning lieuies vuitton covered golden toilet did now be yours.

the artist used 24 different vuitton bags and stcase to cover the commode. it's on tradesy. call it a latch irloo. >> the most expensive pay toilet of all time. it gives new meaning -- >> it does it's not even -- i won't -- good night. thanks for joining us. have a great evening, erybody..

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