>> announcer: this "nightly or down to the wire. the house moves to keep the government up and running. but the battle isn't over just yet. wild swings. the rush into bitcoin accelerates. but how exactly does it work? what are the risks? and why is everybody talking about it? retail fraud. a dark world of crime and drugs is being fueled by an unlikely source. gift cards. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business repor for thursday, december good evening, everyone, and welcome. we begin tonight in washington, where the house voted to avert a partial government shutdown for now. up against a deadline of midnight tomorrow, the measure pushes the next threat of a

shutdown to the friday before christmas just two weeks away. it also buys time for talks on a number of thorny issues. john harwood is following the story for us tonight from washington. and john, it's not over yet, but at least there's a step towards resolution. >> reporter: yes. they're not going to have a shutdown this week. there are still issues they've got to resolve by december the 22nd. most importantly on the republican side, they want a big increase in defense spending, which requires democratic votes to get passed the caps that existed from the obama administration. in return, democrats are demanding an increase in domestic spending to match that defense spending increase. they've got other demands as well. since the republicans control the government, democrats think they have the leverage here. >> how much are nonbudgetary issues at play in this debate? namely the dispute, the debate, the discussion over the dreamers under the daca rules? >> reporter: they're part of it.

democrats are insisting that the president follow through on the commitment that he made some weeks ago to nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, the democratic leaders, that he would support legal status for the dreamers. now, he's since try to kick that into next year. republicans are saying we can decide this later. but because democrats are likely to succeed in blaming republicans for a shutdown if they don't get what they want, they're holding out and saying in addition to t spendg concessions on defense, you need to give us this legal status, and that's divisive internally for the republican party. >> we mentioned the fact that the house has made progress. there's still the senate to go. what are you hearing about that? >> reporter: i think that's not going to be a problem in this particular case. the drama was whether or not they cou round up the votes in the house to pass this on a short term basis. but then both chambers are going to factor in in a very big way when we get to december 22nd with the added pressure of

christmas right around the corner adding to the drama there. >> there's always drama in washington, it seems, these days, john. thank you so much, john harwood in washington. just when you thought the frenzy over bitcoin couldn't get any crazier, it did. and today it was a whirlwind. early this morning, coinbase, a crypto currency exchange, put bitcoin's value above $15,000. it didn't take long to break $16,000, then 17. soon after that, $18,000. until it pierced $19,000. but as quickly as it went up, it dropped, losing 20% of its value just like that. and it all happened by noon eastern. keep in that coinbase isn't the only bitcoin exchange. but it is a popular one. and it tends to trade at a premium price. so there is clearly a lot of volatility in bitcoin. there is also a lot of interest. according to data cited in "the new york times," the number of people with coin-based accounts

has gone from $5 in january to 13 million in late november. in late november coinbase collected 1,000 new customers a day. that's more users than charles schwab and e*trade, although schwab and e*trade have more assets under management. bitcoin is not an easy thing to wrap your head around, because it's not really a currency. it's not really a commodity. and it is not a stock. it's all based on a new technology. so we asked dominic chu to answer the question. what is >> reporter: the extreme volatility in bitcoin and other digital currencies is raising more than just a few eyebrows. it's also leading a host of experts to recommend caution before getting involved. so what is bitcoin? it's a digital currency that is part of a payment system and recordkeeping system known as blockchain. that blockchain is a public record of transactions that occur on its system. transactions are verified by multiple independent parties and

bi are awarded as payment for the complicated processing that needs to take place to keep the records. how do you get and transfer them? the original way is just to mine them, as we mentioned. but trading platforms have emerged in recent years that allow people to buy and sell them much like other assets, like stocks or bonds. digital wallets compatible with digital currencies also allow near seamless transfers between one party and another. and what are the risks? there are a lot of them to consider, not the least of which is the extreme price volatility. there are also genuine concerns about how the value of each boys bitcoi or other currency is derived. ma a that the only value bitcoin has is what somebody else is willing to pay for. there is also concern how much more regulators will get involved in the future. that's just the tip of the iceberg. for "nightly business repor"

i'm dominic chu. let's turn to matthew green to learn more about bitcoin and the craze and what you need to know. he's a computer science and crypto currency expert at johns hopkins security information institute. welcome, matthew, good to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> where do i buy bitcoin, who am i buying it from, and how do you know the place i'm buying from is legit? >> there are a few websites where you can buy bitcoin. some are a little sketchy. some of them are regulated. one of the ones you mentioned earlier is coinbase, they're regulation-based. there are other ones less genuine that you might not want to trust with your money. >> do you own any bitcoin? >> i have owned bitcoin in the past. unfortunately i owned it when it was worth a lot less and i didn't hold on to it, i feel bad about it. >> is it a fraud? >> no. bitcoin is not a fraud. bitcoin is a real technology,

it's al discrepanci the question is are we in the middle of a bubble or seeing an explosion of value in this currency. e answer to.i don't k but these numbers are very high. >> the other issue that we've heard is that what do you use it for, you know. if you're just trying to gain on the movement of the crypto currency, we saw today that many people did make money. but if you want to use it for anything else, is it a practical solution? >> so bitcoin has two problems. the first is that not very many businesses accept it. a few restaurants have. and a couple of online businesses have. but most people don't use it that way. and the second problem is that the value changes so quickly that if you own bitcoin in the morning and you try to spend it, you might be losing thousands of dollars by holding it just for those hours and spending it. so it makes it difficult to use as a real currency. >> or you may spend it in the morning when it's worth $10,000 and turn it over to somebody

else that morning and it goes up to $17,000. so you feel pretty stupid, you just paid $17,000 for something that you really wanted to pay $10,000 for, right? >> exactly. this is a big problem for people. >> what do you think is going to happen, because coming up over the weekend, the futures exchanges, one of them in chicago, is going to launch a futures contract on it, which may change the whole dynamic of this crypto currency. how do y >> so i think that's the big question everybody is hoping to answer. one of the t that is happening now is there are a lot more people coming into this crypto currency area, bringing a lot of money with them. these price explosions are kind of explainable when you see this money coming into this small world. the other thing that happens with futures is they allow people to bet against bitcoin. that's kind of hard to do right

now. you can short bitcoin. it's possible what we'll actually see is bitcoin prices start to go down and become under control. we just don't know what's going to happen. >> matthew, i have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of you. matthew green with johns hopkins information security institute. meantime on wall street, stocks closed higher. tech stocks gained some ground after a recent pullback. and investors looked ahead to tomorrow's employment report. the dow jones industrial av added 70 points to 24,211. the nasdaq was up 36. and the s&p 500 gained seven. feeling wealthy? according to figures from the federal reserve, household wealth in the country hit a record $96 trillion in the third quarter, driven by a rising stock market and increasing home values. that in theory increases the purchasing power of americans who own both stock and real estate and could increase spending. that is the biggest part of the u.s. economy. in washington, as the tax bill makes its way through congress, investors are trying to figure t what a change to the deductibility of state and

local taxes might mean for them and the economy. steve liesman >> reporter: it's in high tax states over the possible economic fallout from losing the ability to deduct state and local taxes or s.a.l.t. deductions, in short. ending the deduction is the biggest revenue zor ise r in th tax bill. and there's a debate about how severely states will react to the change. >> i think this will come at the expense of k-12 education, at the expense of college, at the expense of training programs, preschool. all the types of things that the tax base in these states is currently serving. and i think it's, you know, penny wise and pound foolish and would hurt the economy over the long run. >> reporter: but supporters of the tax bill say such concerns are overblown. >> ballooning deductibility would actually change the mix of how they raise the revenue but it doesn't affect the overall level of services.

concerns over schooling going away, training programs going away, seem overblown in light of that research. >> reporter: one reason no one really knows is the bill was put together so fast, with no hearings or testimony, that the issue wasn't studied. >> they're just moving around pieces, moving around chairs on the deck of the titanic just to make sure that everything fits the way it's supposed to. if you ask any of them, you know, what are the economic consequences of any individual provision, i'm sure they have no clue. >> reporter: what's known is that it will hit those states with high taxes the hardest, including california, new york, new jersey, and illinois. the tax policy center says by itself it will hike individual taxes in those states by $2500 or upwards for each taxpayer. but it doesn't include other offsets like the effects of low tax brackets or a higher standard deduction in the bill. versions in both the house and senate allow for a $10,000 property deduction. and there's talk now of allowing income taxes to be included. motivating the change, not

economics, but politics. republican lawmakers from high tax states are behind raising the limit because they're worried about the political fallout. they're better, it seems, at counting votes than they are at gdp. for "night steve liesman. coming up, out of control. the southern california wildfires intensify. people fleeing. insurers tallying the cost of a yearful of natur the southern california fires are burning and spreading fast and no one, of course, knows when they will stop. businesses and residents are fleeing as firefighters move in. aditi roy is in ventura, 60 miles

>> reporter: the red-hot flames raced through the wild land in southern california. and fueled by fierce winds of up to 80 miles per hour, made their way to the crowded suburbs of los angeles and ventura counties, forcing tens of thousand places like this ventura neighborhood, where mother nature spared some homes and destroyed others. >> it's devastating. >> reporter: patricia hampton had 20 minutes to leave her home. she an her boyfriend had only the clothes on their backs when they fled. >> it was surreal, the ash was so thick and the fires were huge. people were running everywhere. it was scary. >> reporter: she says they lost their home, one of 150 structures officials say were destroyed. in los angeles, big stretches of

major freeways were shut down. watch this video taken from inside a car on the 101 freeway, capturing devastating images of the biggest wildfire. los angeles public schools were closed and classes at ucla were cancelled. this red cross shelter in ventura took in 150 horses and 200 dogs and cats, as more than 2500 firefighters from nine states wrestled with the flames, the wind, and their fatigue, amid the longest and busiest fire season in the state. >> we've gone from fire to fire to fire it seems like for the last six months. we've been really busy. it's unprecedented for us as firemen, how busy we are. >> reporter: and with the national weather service issuing more warnings about the winds through saturday, more could be coming. for hampton, it's just too much. >> i can't imagine this happening, and it's still going.

i just don't know. >> reporter: firefighters are watching those high wind gusts carefully as well. many are telling us it's virtually impossibl to fight the flames when the winds are that high. meanwhile california governor jerry brown has issued a state of emergency for ventura and los angeles county. for "nightly business report, aditi roy, ventura, california. in addition to those wildfires, we've seen an unprecedented number of hurricanes this year, wreaking havoc on a number of states. which insurers are expected to feel the impact the most of these disasters? cathy seifert is here from cra research, welcome. >> glad to be with you. >> obviously a terrible situation for those affected. many are insured, however the companies also will bare the brunt of many of these disasters as well. what companies are you watching the closest that perhaps have the most exposure to both the

hurricane damage and the wildfire damage? >> when you look at both events i mean, the companies are the top insurers, berkshire hathaway, travelers, chubb. from an investor standpoint it's important to compare and contrast the florida market to the california market, a hurricane versus a fire. as much as these fires are awful and they're devastating, at least homeowners can rest assured if they have insurance they will be covered. we all see the fallout from hurricanes when there's a question of, do you have flood insurance, what's covered, what's not covered. so while the hurricane created a lot more damage, the question of what was covered is more of an issue there than in california with the fires. i mean, having said all that, this is still going to be a really tough year for the insurance industry. the industry as a whole will

produce an underwriting loss. a number of these companies are still going to make a profit because they have other resources, namely investment income that they can use to offset these losses. but i mean, this is what the industry does. they have $700 billion in capital. and, you know -- >> forgive me, if i'm remembering correctly, cathy, often what happens in these cases is in the subsequent year, the insurers raise premiums and then profits kick in and they do very well. >> right. i mean, that's, you know, sort of a part of the underwriting cycle. and during a third quarter earnings season, a number of companies were very low key in terms of their expectations for pricing. i think there's some concern that investors become a little too enthusiastic and we don't have the results to justify it. we saw that late last year in a lot of the fin sectors that traded up in anticipation of regulatory reform and things

like that that haven't come to fruition. i think the insurance industry is sort of down, you know, downplaying the impact of that. theoretically that is definitely what happens. >> cathy, thank you so much, cathy seifert with cfra research. a depression drug has promising results. the biotech said its medication to treat people with major depressive disorders quickly helped improve symptoms of the psychiatric disease during a study. sage says it plans to immediate with the fda to discuss next steps for developing the treatment. shares of sage rocketing higher by 70%, it's like a bitcoin, to $156.27. general electric is cutting 12,000 jobs in its power division as the struggling conglomerate contends with falling demand for coal and gas turbines. ge expects the headwinds in the power market to continue but said this move will save the company $1 billion and put it in

a stronger financial position. shares up a nickel at $17.71. one of sears' investors is urging the struggling retailer to consider going private. the swiss-based investment manager memento called for an investigation into the spike in short selling of the company's stock. sears says it believes in the long term value of the brand. investors sent shares up nearly 7% to $4.42. after the bell, american outdoor brands said challenging market conditions caused sales to slip. but the result still ahead of estimates. shares of the gun maker fell sharply following the report, wiping out a 5% gain in the regular session where they closed at $14.93. there were some stock buyback announcements after the bell. health insurer anthem said it was raising its program by $5 billion. and united continental is

launching a new $3 billion program with that airline saying the move represents its confidence in business. anthem's shares were flat in extended trading session after closing up nearly a dollar to $223.64. united initially rose, adding a 2% gain during the regular session, where they closed at $63.53. the justice department's lawsuit to block the proposed $85 billion merger between at&t and time warner will go to trial on march 19th. the judge presiding over that lawsuit says he will try and reach a decision by late april or may. the company's merger agreement expires april 22nd. at&t was up six cents to $36.17. time warner off a penny to $90.37. coming up, gift cards. they're simple, they're easy. but they're also being used to fund drug addi

it is that time of year when many of us decide the best gift to give is a gift card, simply because they're readily available for virtually every major retailer across the country. but thes cards will also the target of some very serious fraudulent schemes. contessa brewer investigates. >> reporter: inside some of the country's biggest retailers, there's a shadowy world of commerce, crime, and drugs. and at the center, gift cards. >> are gift cards currency you can use to pay for drugs? >> yes. >> yes. >> mos >> reporter: by all appearances, these four women could be tidying up what looks like a college dorm room. but this is no university. it's r. >> that worthlessness, that -- i mean, that guilt and shame that

i feel every day that i chose drugs over my son. every day. >> reporter: these women haven't students. they're patients. struggling with crippling addiction. >> i've definitely stolen. >> reporter: they sat down with us at a drug treatment facility in jacksonville, florida. christian's drug of choice, oxycodone and heroin. she's been arrested twice for gift card fraud. >> i would take things off the shelf, make sure i left the store so on it looked like i the item, then come back and go to customer service. >> reporter: some of the largest retas are the biggest targets because of relaxed return policies. >> i would go to home depot, lowe's, stuff like that and take stuff, leave, go to another home depot, take it back, get a gift card. >> reporter: sometimes drug dealers directly accept the cards as payment. >> you're dealer will do like

25, and they're not going to give you cash, they'll just give you product. >> reporter: more often, the cards get sold to third parties. corner stores, pawn shops and specialty retailers make it easy to get cash. the nationall federation found 57% of companies reported fraudulent gift cards or store credit in at least one location. that's down from two-thirds in . >> it's our experience that they're going to commit these crimes when they're desperate and needing their next fix. >> reporter: we ride along with lieutenant david ballard on a shelby county sheriff's tax force in the memphis area. the cdc ranks tennessee the third highest in per capita opioid prescriptions. gift card abuse has skyrocketed in the state. nationally every law enforcement agency we reached out to and every drug addict we talked to confirms the connection between

opioids and . deputies arrive at jcpenney to arrest an employee for embezzlement involving gift cards. suddenly -- [ sirens ] -- they spot a theft in progress and give chase throu the suspects cornered and arrested for shoplifting. investigators find a slew of gift cards on her front seat. >> would you mind just explaining t >> reporter: neither suspect wanted to talk. investigators have not linked their alleged crimes to drugs. in one tennessee county alone, in one month, police linked 16 of 19 overdoses to the sale of gift cards. in the city of knoxville, over three months it was 83 of 98 overdoses with ties to gift cards. there's no national database tracking the sale and purchase of gift cards. but a few states are aggressively trying to change

that, because of the opioid crisis. online exchanges say they vet sellers thoroughly and use antifraud technology. national retail chains are also grappling with the problem of run fraud and gift card abuse. home depot has recently cracked down with a change in return company, the company tells us it only accepts store credits for in-store purchases, and "we require proof of i.d. at checkout because of the increase in return fraud." in the end, making it more difficult for addicts to turn cards into cash may be only a temporary obstacle to the next fix. >> when you're suffering from addiction, any length means any lengthy and you don't care how many charges you have, you don't know what you've been through, one is never enough and a thousand is too many. >> reporter: no matter the cost. for "nightly business repor i'm contessa brewer.

>> the national retail federation says return fraud continues to be a serious threat with estim $9 billion to $15 billion. to read more about gift card crime, head to our website, nbr.com. an update to our top story. the senate has enough votes now to pass the stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown. and that is "nightly business for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joiningus. >> i'm tyler mathisen. thanks from me as well. have a great evening, ev

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