. >> annou this is "nightly busine with tyler mathisen and sue herera. lucky seven. the dow has its 70th record close of the year, the nasdaq clears 7,000 for the first time ever. but what will drive the bull market's chest chapter? the next strategy, the president puts china on notice. and returning to old-school mail-orlando catalog, even in the digital age. those stories and more tonight for "nightly business rep for monday, december 18th. good evening, everyone. welcome. i'm sue herera.

tyler mathisen is off tonight. the major indexes climbed further into record territory. the dow closing in on 25,000. the optimism sums ahead of a vote on the tax bill that would be an historic overhaul of the u.s. tax system. it would cut the corporate rate and result in likely increases in profits. a number of corporate deals also helped lift sentiment. we'll have more on that later. but first a look at the closing number. 24,792 for the dow, its 70th record close. the highest number in a calendar year ever. the nasdaq was up 58. the s&p 500 added 14. with the steady climb in stocks all year and the tax bill vote near, what will drive the next leg of growth? mike santoli took a look for answers. every bull market needs a good story line. the one that started nearly nine years ago has followed several

along the way. you have the depths of the bear market in early 2009. the bullish story was stocks were simply too depressed. as the years went on, the narrative shifted to central banks are supporting the market, the stocks looked cheap, and companies are buying back lots of stock. the happy store has centered around a global economic expansion and deregulation in corporate tax cuts. this combination has helped carry the major indexes to the best year since 2013, with the s&p 500 up 20% and the dow adding more than 25% to come within a whisper of the 25 thousands market. how might the extort shift again? analysts are suggesting the corporate talks cut is but amarket that constantly looks ahead. the benefits will be unevenly shared. te compa the market

leaders for -- >> most helped by the tax plan. the theme no next year might be how the markets and the economy can stand the heat generated by a nicely -- tight labor market and -- when a federal reserve is looking to -- three more times. one result of all of this could be a belated unexpected -- more aggressive and challenge the fortitude of the bulls. stocks are already quite expensive by hist while finally have flown quite one fortified by enough good news that it shows few signs of expiring suddenly anytime soon. for "nightly business ike mike santoli. joining us as to discuss what 2018, is the founder and ceo of zoeie financial. welcome. nice to have you here. >> thanks for having me.

i'm fascinated by how you think an individual investor should address this market. you say first of all, hope for the best, prepare for the worst, but you should absolutely know what your required return is. how does that play out for the individual investor? how do you do that? >> i think you set it up nicely. the best way to think of it is take a step back. instead of predicting what the next year will give you in market returns, which when you look 12 months out there's a lot of noise. you have to ask yourself, what are your goals? ten years yo trying to retire? trying to plan for your kid's college education? what required returns do i need to a goals? and then work your way backwards. if those are more than say, 8% to 10%, then you need to basically take a step back and look at the goals again, because the old days of 10%, 12%, 14%

returns are unlikely, not necessarily impossible, but unlikely. so you have to understand what required market returns you need to accomplish those goal >> what do you think would be an adequate return based on where the markets stands now? and as we mentioned the 70th record today, so it's a banner day to have you on with us tonight, but what do you think an average return will been in this market as we go into the new year. >> that is the question. the way i would look at it are what ranges a most probable? to give you one number is difficult. the way i would look at it, somewhere between 2% to 8%, which is very wide. the markets are very hard to predict. the reason i give that range is, if your required return is, say, 10%, you're putting yourself in a tough situation to have to readjustment. what about valuations, given the

fact we are in this record-setting market and have been for most of the year, do you city market? or is indeed user required return outside of 2% to 4%, do you look offshore? >> that's an important question to ask yourself. great, valuations here in the understandings are very high. it lowers the chances of the type of returns we have seen. where do you go? you have to look abroad. for example if you look at the emerging markets, value wailing are much low -- not necessarily dirt cheap, but they're lower than the u.s., and the profile for growth for those economies looks fairly favorable. you need some component of your portfolio looking outside the u.s. if you need returns of higher than 2% to 4%. >> we'll leave it there. thank you for joining us tonight. > confidee amo the nation's home builders the

highest it's been in 18 years. builders see the business incentives and the republican tax plan as outweighing changes to both the mortgage interest and property tax dediscuss. the report shows that by the traffic is up lie lick because of the shortage of existing homes and builder are upbeat about future sales. and it's not just not the builders, but americans' optimism is on the rise. foe first time in 11 years, more than half of the respondents to t surve have the economy good to excellent. many expect wages to rise and home values to increase. 800 adults were surveyed nationwide. president trump today outlined his national security strategy, which centers around his america first ideology, and it puts economic issues like trade and energy at the center of his vision. eamon ja

>> president trump laid out his first national security strategy document, a cost lace of the president's foreign policy views, and how he sees america's place in the world. the document included what they call four pillars -- defending the homeland, defending prosperity, and peace through strength. in remarks today, the president spec r and china. >> we also face rival powers, russia and china, that seek to challenge american values and wealth. we will attempt to build a great partnership with those and other countries, but in a manner that always protects our national the president also said that economic power is a key part of national power. >> for the first time, american strategy recognizes that economic security is national security. econom vitality, growth and

prosperity at home is absolutely necessary for american power and influence abroad. any nation that trades away its prosperity for security will end up losing both. >> for all the criticism of russia in the national security document, president tru also found a way to spotlight some cooperation between the united states and russia, citing an incident over the weekend in which the cia had provided valuable intelligence to the russian government that stopped a te. for "nightly business r i'm eachenafter at the white house. >> the house ask expected to vote on the tax bill tomorrow, followed by the senate, but there's another issue not getting much attention. it is the budget. if lawmakers don't agree to one beforet sh shut down. john harwood is follows the story for us from washington. john, good to see you as alleges. what's the status >> well, the negotiations haven't gone all that far along,

sue, because the republicans have been completely preoccupied with getting their tax bill through. the possibili is we will get to the end of the week and rather than have the big showdown then, that the democrats and republicans will agree to kick it over until january and defer that showdown. democrats have a lot of leverage, but also a lot of things they're seeking. they want to be careful not to push it too far. once republicans get that tax bill, they'll be in the mood to talk. are there any big sticking points in the budget or not? >> the big sticking points are these. first of all, the republicans and the trump administration want a very larging in in defense, but to get that increase, they ha to have votes from democrats, at least eight democrats, to make that happen. s are insisting in for those votes, that do metzing spending programs also be increased in a comparable amount. democratsant want to have the so-called dreamers, the deferred

ac president oba implemented, they want that codified into law. president trump has said provisionally he will revokeit. they also want the children's health insurance program extended, which has been expired for several weeks now. >> you have those that you name, which one do you think will be the toughest battle? >> i think the hardest is getting the protection for the dreamers. i think republicans will compromise to match those of the defense department, but it's more difficult given how volatile the immigration is on the republican side, more difficult for them to make a deal. that doesn't mean they won't do it, but that will be the harder one the john, thank you so much. john harwood in washington for us tonight. still ahead, the big food companies get the munchies, and they buy up their al

health insurer humana is reportedly in advanced talks to provide kindred health care. according to "wall street the deal would be a partnership with private equity firms such a deal would be the latest convergence of health care companies. most recently cvs agreed to acquired aetna. ck there is also merger and acquisition talk in the food sector. hershey will acquire the maker

of skinny pop, and campbell's soup will -- all four stocks rose higher. kate rogers takes a look at the ap >> americans love to snack, and food companies are taking notice. campbell's soup acquisition of snyder's lance is the largest deal ever in the soup company's history. snyder's own snacking brands like diamond foods and pop secret popcorn. separately hershey is spending more than 1.5 billion to apply amplify. it signified big companies are looking for move beyond traditional offerings, and more people are tsunamiing on pretzels and popcorn as they spend more time eating on the go. >> it's a tremendous imposition to smeals. >> i think there's changes to household composition, which have made traditional sit-down

meal eating, and snacking more common. less timing on the cente the store i temperatures -- where they snacks are located. that why big food brands are buying up smaller once. other deals including keg report, and mars investing in kind bar's par >> one of the factors that have been plaguing firms is their inable to respond to evolve trends in a timely fashion, and we have seen some of these smaller niche operators prove to be much more agile. >> one more thing analysts say to keep in mind this trend will likely continue into 2018. big food companies are continuing to struggle and interest rates remain low, making this a perfect storm for more m & a activity. ite rogers in new york city. the railroa industry is

dealing with the sudden death of an industry turnaround expert. csx's ceo hunter harrison died unexpectedly over the weekend. now his death has left investors wondering what here's morgan brennan. >> hunter harrison's death injure days after csx announced he would be teak a mel leave. >> hunter was one of the greater railroad executives of the generation, and anyone who knew him is saddened. he brought in one of his chief disciples from the canadian national days, jim-foot, many others who understand hi philosophy, and his legacy will live on. harrison is the father of precision scheduled railroading, a strategy that streamlines

operation to improve service while cutting costs. he literally wrote the book on it and used the method to remaker two ra march, he sought again, amid activist says pressure. s speculation about his health twirl. in october he ire jim-foot, who has since taken over as actin ceo, but following summertime service problems that has drawn the ire of regulators, and with no succession plan officially in place. harrison's passing leaves investors asking what's next? >> able of the hard decision, of of that had been done already. i'm sure jim-foot is more than capable of following through with the ideology and the principles of precision railroading. >>-foo says the big changes have a turnaround under way, and investors may have to wait until earnings, which come out next month.

for "nightly business r i'm morgan brennan. the casino operator penn national strikes a deal with its rival. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. penn national said it was buying pinnacle entertainment. it combines the two largest casino operators in the u.s. outside of com operating in las vegas. penn will sell some of pinnacle's operations to boyd gaming. penn national shares fell 2% to 2903 while shares of pinnacle entertainment rose almost 1% to 3119. pfizer is launching a new 10 billion dollars buyback program. it's in addition to the 6 billion rema under the existing program. the dow component is hiking the quarterly dividend by 6% for 34 cents a share. to $37.13.ares were off just a

a milestone for shares of berkshire hathaway. the company saw its more expensive a-class shares hit $300,000 for the first time. that class of shares, which is also not surprisingly the world's priciest stock has outperform the s&p 500 index rising 2 spectrum pharma announced a management shake-up today. the drug maker set its board terminated. ceo without cause. the company said its current president will take on the chief executive position immediately. investors applauded the move sending shares up to 19.95. the engineering and construction company mcdermott said it was merging with chicago bridge and iron in an all-stock deal. the combined company has an interpride value of about $6

billion. mcdermott shares were volume at this time but they ended up 2%. chicago bridge and iron shares were also initially higher in after-hours, but they finished the day up a fraction to 17.92. the president of espn has resigned effective immediately. in a statement, john skipper cited substance abuse, something he has struggled with for years. he was considered one of the most powerful people in both media and sports. it comes as espn's parent company disn big bet on tv sports with the recent acquisition of most of 21st century fox, which 22 regional sports networks. as we've been reporting, the deal between disney and fox is emblematic of the rapid change in the media industry. today we learned that people are cancelling their pay tv packages at a faster clip. julia boorstin takes a look at the move to cut the court.

cord cutting and cord tripping have more momentum than ever. they find the number of respondents is 73%. that's down from 76% last week, and 79% the year before. >> the fact that you worry about cord cutting and the awfulia the stream, is really hurting your ability to go to the market quickly, to innovate, and i think that puts you on the heels 1/2 of your front food. rise of streaming alternatives, the very same number. 73 of responsibilitiants subscribed to netflix. cord trimming, people switching to mahler, lower-cost bundles, such as those offered by directv, hulu and even the cable giants. 27% say they're cord trimmers, dramatically up from 18% two years ago, but for now, the pay tv bundle appears to be protected by sports.

82% of sports fans tell, that they end their subscription if they no longer needed to access live sports. >> we also talk about cord cutting and streaming. that is clearly the trend, but as much of a statement was made on disney and fox on solidifying the bundle, right? you're not breaing of the rsns, you're going deeper into the bundles. but what happens when major sports rights contracts with in 2021? and if internet giants snap up those rights? we'll be watching to see if there's an impact from espn launching the direct-to-consumer app next year and growing the library of sports it offers as part of that. pwc reports that the average sportsman would pay $23 a pont to unlimited action. that that explains why sports rights are so valuable, both to traditional giant working to maintain demand and for new players looking to draw

subscribers and ad dollars. julia bootiin los ss r t installment of disney's "star wars" franchise was expected to have a big weekend. it certainly did not disappointed "the last jedi" raked in there 222 million, the second-bess following following our by "the force awakens." coming up, in with the old, why mail-order catalogs, perhaps the original form of virtual shopping, ir

house republicans will vote on the proposed tax bill tomorrow. the senate will follow suit, either voting later in the day or on wednesday. new housing data will tell us how many new homes went under construction? november, and fedex will report earnings and give an update on how business is far. well, power has finally been restored to the world's bus yost airport. georgia fire said a fire in an underground electrical facility put atlanta's hartsfield-jackson airport in the dark yet. hundreds of flights canceled. airlines spent today rebooking passengers and getting back on schedule. the good news, delta, which has its headquarters in atlanta, has planes and crews in that.

it is the pre-christmas rush for the postal service. this week is expected to be the busiest of the holiday season for the package delivery companies, the postal service expects to exceed its initial forecast of nearly $8 lly 850 m packages. and the increase in package deliveries is directly tied to the rise in online shopping. so it might seem odd that an old-school, more traditional way of browsing for items is making a comeback. the snail mail catalog. courtney reagan has our story. catalogs may seem outdated, but you again you may see the surge this time of year. retailers are getting better. catalogs are good at piquing interest. that combination could lead to more sales, which is why the push to send them spikes during the holidays than other big

spending events like moving or having children. liken it it to deliver inspiration tosh. >> delivering the whole story to someone's doorstep -- >> but if done right, sfwlz an average return 6 $3, and $9 for every dollar s for marketing sp effectiveness. ev those companies that started out purely online are turning to more traditional . thanks to eh commerce-only companies that started off -- find publishing a catalog gets them known, trusted, allows them to get new product offeringings out that -- and it's not just

youths grandmother ordering, 38% of mill lennians and genxers say a catalog has driven them to show up. >> mill len uses are very engaged by imagery, the catalog allows that to stand out. >> total cat -- is about half its peak, and it could be the price of postage, making up half the cost of the catalog. that's it for "nightly busi for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us. have a great evening. we'll see you right back he

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