>> announcer: this is "nightly busi with tyler mathisen crunch time. the tax bill is done. now lawmakers have just days to avert a shutdown. sales surge. americans purchase homes at the fastest pace in more than a decade. but will the tax bill put the brakes on housing? retirement overhaul. members of the mil will see the biggest shift to their benefits in decades. those stories and much more for this wednesday, usiness dece good evening, everybody, i'm bill griffeth in tonight for tyler mathisen, coming to you once again from the new york stocexchange. hi, sue. >> hi, bill, good to see you. i'm sue herera.

welcome, everybody. congress approved the most sweeping overhaul of the u.s. tax code in decades. altering the finances for businesses big and small and households across america. the rewrite is the biggest legislative achievement for republicans since they gained control of the white house and both chambers of congress. the senate passed the measure overnight. the house passed it again after a snag that we told you about yesterday forced another vote today. >> it's been an amazing experience, i to tell you. hasn't been done in 34 years. but actually really hasn't been done because we broke every record. it's the largest i always say the most massive but it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. and re >> the president hasn't signed the bill into law quite yet. and he may wait until january. the timing depends on the outcome of separate ta

speaking of which, agreeing to a spending bill is the next legislative challenge. and lawmakers only have a few days to do it or risk a government shutdown. kayla tausche is following this story for us from capitol hill. kayla, good evening. where do things stand tonight? >> reporter: well, tonight, bill, house republicans are meeting to hash out exactly what their plan is to move forward. the self-imposed deadline of tax reform put them on a collision course with very real deadlines to fund the government by the end of this week. now they're having to throw out any expectations that the year-end spending bill would include comprehen republin prioriti and instead they'll put forward a streamlined to keep the government's light on for about a month. >> what are some of the sticking points, kayla, that you've heard about? >> reporter: sue, some of the most contentious sticking points at this point have been withdrawn, because they're just trying to put something on the table that they can pass. republicans had originally wanted to fund defense through september, 44 senate democrats

said that would be dead on an arrival. today two senate republicans said they would withdraw some controversia health care measures that would have put forward a roadblock in the house. so this is going to be a fairly straightforw bill, though it will seek to, on a short term basis, reauthorize children's health insur and potentially even tackle some disaster relief spending, althoug aides tell me that will likel >> big question. how does this get resolved? in fact does it get resolved anytime soon? >> reporter: they ar not expecting a government shutdown. if you ask any lawmaker here on capitol hill, they say there will not be a shutdown before christmas. no wants to be responsible for being the grinch. tonight house republicans will put forward a plan that they believe has consensus. they'll discuss it with their senate colleagues. and barring any opposition from either chamber, they hope to vote as early as tomorrow. remember, lawmakers are people too, they want to get home for the holidays. >> just like you do, i know, another late night for kayla tausch in washington for us

tonight. thanks, kayla. >> reporter: sure. now that congress has approved the tax legislation, a number of companies are outlining how they will deploy some of their capital. for example, at&t plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the u.s. next year. it will also pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 employees. boeing says it's still studying the provisions of the new tax legislation but following its passage, it plans to earmark $300 million on workforce related and charitable investments. we also heard from some banks. wells fargo and fifth third say they both plan to raise their minimum hourly rate. wells fargo is also going to target $400 million in 2018 philanthropic contributions. fifth third is going to be distribute a one-time bonus for more than 13,000 of its employees. to housing now, and the housing market, which finished the year on a strong note. sales of previously owned homes

rose in november by the strongest pace in more than a decade. almost all regions saw growth despite the supply of homes on the market being at the lowest level since 1999. but following the passage of this tax bill, some prospect of homeowners are concerned about what is to come. as we've been reporting, the tax bill does cut deductions for both mortgage interest and property taxes. while the specific cuts will not hit the vast majority of current homeowners, raising the standard deduction would cause many to stop itemizing altogether. that takes away incentives for home ownership. and as diana olick reports for us, some worry that it could actually cause. >> reporter: the curtis family has been house hunting for over a year, hoping to find more living space in the chicago suburbs. it has not been easy. >> sometimes you see a home, you really like it, and then it's off the market, within 72 hours

or so. it's like, oh, it's gone again. >> reporter: stiff competition, high prices, tight supply. it's the same story across the nation. and now buyers have one more worry -- taxes. >> it's definitely a concern. any time you don't get an opportunity to have that extra deduction or possibly getting that money back during that spring season can be a little bit of a -- kind of a little tight squeeze on your budget. >> reporter: the tax bill cuts the cap on the mortgage deduction to interest paid on $750,000 in debt. that's down from $1 million. but 94% of homeowners currently have mortgages below the new cap. and current homeowners are grandfathered in to $1 million. the deduction on property taxes is still there. but now capped at $10,000 in tapaid. 95% of homeowners pay less than that so it wouldn't affect them, according to t realtor. certain states, though, will be hard hit.

in new jersey, 30% of homeowners pay more than $10,000 in property taxes. 20% do in new york. and 9% in illinois. in areas like river forest, just outside chicago, that will be felt. >> of the 45 on the market, 41 have property taxes in excess of 10,000. between 10,000 and 63,000. if you're going to cap those at 10, that's going to have a huge impact in terms of incentives. >> reporter: also with a higher standard deduction, fewer people will itemize overall, leaving no tax incentives to become a homeowner. so the rent versus buy equation could tip more toward renting, especially with home prices still soaring. on the other hand, it could help buyers. >> we have to wait and see whether this impacts home ownership over the long haul. in the meantime, it's a tax cut for many americans. >> reporter: a savings which they could use for a down payment on a home. for "nightly business r i'm diana olick in washington.

on wall street today, the markets were pretty calm. stocks were little changed but remain near record levels after congress passed the tax bill. the dow jones industriae fell 28 points to 24,726. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 were both off about two. stocks have climbed this year in part because of the expectation of tax cuts. and now that they're here, there seems to be a debate happening among inve >> reporter: with a tax bill almost a done deal, now the debate shifts to whether to sell on the news. it may be happening already. stocks retreated on tuesday. we're little changed on wednesday. even a big move up in ten-year treasury yields failed to move bank stocks up. so there's three options here. first, the market pauses and stocks sell off on the news of a tax cut. or the rally continues. or the market rotates. many are arguing that the rally this month should pause. they say the market is overbought and it's expensive, even considering the tax cuts.

most analysts believe s&p 500 earnings for 2018 will increase anywhere from 8 to 11% without tax cuts. but tax cuts could add another 5 to 7% to that. and bears say much of that is already priced into the market. bulls say the global economic expansion coupled with low rates will continue to justify the rally, that there's still too many positive catalysts to see a pullback right now. there's a third option, a middle ground between the rally keeps going and sell on the news. that's whether the market can successfully continue sector rotation it's been seeing in the past month. banks, a sector that would great benefit from tax cuts, are up almost 7%. while technology and particularly semiconductors have underperformed. theyl be less likely beneficiaries. there's a sector that would see fewer benefits and there are sectors that will see greater benefits. who wins? if you continue to believe global growth will go on and rates will stay low, it's not that hard to make an argument that the market will at least hold its gains going into 2018. for "nightly business r"

m bob pisani at the new york stocexchange. last week, we reported that the fcc had voted to change the rules that govern the internet. now it appears as if that battle is not over just yet. our julia boorstin takes a look now at how this issue is unifying both democrats and republicans. >> the chair votes eye. the item is adopted. >> reporter: the backlash is growing. following the fcc's vote to over-allnet alln net neutrality regulations. dissenting fcc commissioner cliburn and senator cantwell hosted a town hall on twitter on why they believe it's so important to preserve the protections impleme by the obama administration, warning that startups and consumers could bear higher costs. >> internet service providers today produce and own content. they even own media companies.

so they have incentives in place to favor their own traffic, to favor their own content, to favor their own business interests. >> reporte and yesterday house republican marsha blackburn introd a solution to the fcc's vote. her open internet preservation act prevents blocking and throttling of internet content but would not prevent companies from p and there's legal battle brewing. new york attorney general eric snyderman says he'll file suit to block the fcc's plan, saying internet providers to promote certain viewpoints. four other state attorneys gel are announcing suits as well. a few states are look po to implement their own legislation to enforce net neutrality. this mean for companies and consumers?

"new york times"' tech columnist farhad manjoo says consumers won't immediately see a difference. >> the biggest harms will be invisible. li we will not see the company that can't afford to pay for this stuff, the kind of new, interesting video startup or maybe vr startup or some other, you kn high bandwidth application that needs to pay for fast lanes on your home internet, they may not be able to do that and you wouldn't see that. >> reporter: as for whether the fcc's net neutrality repeal stands, manjoo says expect the new rules to be the new normal until the democrats control the fcc once again. julia bo in san francisco. still ahead, las vegas is betting on a makeover. >> reporter: in a town known for gambling, it's the ice that's changing the face of this desert

city. brewer. how sin city is becoming sports it goes without saying that more americans are buying more items online in part because it's convenient and easy. after all, you just click and then a few days later your package is delivered. but it's the shipping process that's actually more complicated than that. courtney reagan goes behind the scenes for us tonight in walto. >> reporter: it's the final push for retailers to get packages shipped in time for christmas. if you're one of the 40% of americans still shopping and

squeaking in last-minute online orders, your package may be coming from one of these radial fulfillment centers. radial is a technology provider for hundreds of retailers and brands including levis and kate spade. it has 21 locations throughout the country. some orders placed on amazon.com are fulfilled by radial. amazon sellers can use radial's network to fulfill even prime eligible items instead of amazon's fulfillment options. this northern kentucky facility covers 1.3 million square feet, packing online orders for shoe carnival and others. the final hours for online ordering with delivery in time for christmas makes this one of radial's busiest weeks of the year. and every year the volume only gets heavier as more shopping ships online. this week, radial expects to ship more than 2 1/2 times the number of packages it shipped on

record breaking cyber monday. watch the shipping deadlines carefully if you're shopping online. here at radial, today is the last day for ground shipping in time for christmas. >> with christmas being on a monday, it's a little unique, so you have an earlier cutoff for ordering online than we usually do. but we've done upgrades for our customers, and really if you want to pay for air shipping, you have up until two days before christmas to order. >> reporter: he says many retailers have been silently picking up the cost of expedited shipping on consumers' behalf. but now it's on shoppers to pay for rush shipping. i'm courtney reagan in walto. blackberry's pivot from hardware to software continues to pay off. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. blackberry reported better than expected earnings and revenue thanks to strong demand from the government and nato for business software. the company is also looking to spend at least a half billion

dollar on deals that would help growth. the shares popped nearly 12 perfects to $12.17. general mills' cereal slump may be over thanks to strong sales of its new chocolate peanut butter cheerios. the food giant, which has been contending w soft demand, says cereal sales improved in the latest quarter. that helped overall revenue and profits beat estimates. shares rose 2% to $58.76. the rv maker winnebago reported profit and sales that grew faster than analysts were expecting. the company says it continues to see growth in its tullables division. nonetheless, shares fell more than 4% to $54.75. bill? >> i'm still thinking about those chocolate peanut butter cheerio. >> i know, they sound delicious. investors got their first chance to react to micron's strong earnings report and upbeat outlook.

the company, which released results yesterday, said the growth of artificial intelligence will likely increase demand for its products. >> we're barely seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of artificial intelligence impacting our lives. and as artificial intelligence goes into all verticals and processes a lot of data, it actually is going to drive a lot of growth for solid state drives in data center applications, where we see the biggest growth. >> shares of micron higher by 4% today to $45.7 and after the bell, bed bath & beyo reported earnings and revenue that edged past expectations. sales, though, fell fractionally. shares initially popped in after hour trading tonight, and then sold lower. they ended the regular session up 2.5% to $24.57. you probably know that las vegas was built on gambling. but now, it wants to add to that reputation and become a city

built on sports. contessa brewer looks at how sin ci is reinventing its >> reporter: in a town famous for flashing lights and clanging coins, cheers are become a mainstay. >> loud, raucous. we're cheering through the night. >> reporter: in this desert city, ice is a draw. golden knights ted they're have exploded onto the national hockey league, tied for first this their division. the arena where the knights play is filled both with locals and visiting fans. >> we're sold out. so before the game, people are going to restaurants, they're going to bars, they're coming here, they're buying food, they're buying drink, they're spending their money. there's uber and taxis. so we are creating a lot of business momentum for las vegas

by being this hometown team. >> reporter: the raiders broke ground on the stadium where they'll play pro football starting in 2020. soccer is launching an expansion team. the las vegas lights start playing next year. and now companies with global gambling dominance are betting big they'll hit the jackpot with sports. mgm owns a big stake in the arena where the golden knights play. and just bought the wnba's worst performing team, now named the las vegas aces. though other wnba teams are struggling to make a profit, mgm's ceo is prepared to ante up. >> it's about empowering athletes. it's about bringing live entertainment. and i'm very optimistic about the future of the wnba, particularly in a market that is so entertainment focused as las vegas is. >> reporter: he says 65% of mgm's revenue now comes from non-gaming sources. but sports is about more than

the business bottom line. >> it makes it a hometown, you know, being a transient city, it's great to see the camaraderie come to life. >> they a sports may change that, it gives us something to come together and rally behind. they also say that about october 1st, that what happened at mandalay bay on october 1st was a rallying call for las vegas. >> i was excited about this long before that tragic date. we had already acquired the team before that point. but it certainly feels good that we're going to be able to bring another opportu to bring the community together. >> reporter: this community depends on visitors. with 150,000 hotel rooms to fill every day, las vegas is betting sports fans will travel here to see their favorite teams play. sports events are new to las vegas, of course. it has a long history with golf, tennis, rodeo, bull riding,

nascar. at the top of the ticket, boxing. but for decades, major leagues and gaming governing bodies have resisted putting sports teams here, worried about the crossover between sports gambling and sports. but that's starting to change as the nation moves toward widespread acceptance of gambling. s a new product for us to put out for the public. >> reporte a product that's turning sin city into sports city. contessa brewer, las vegas. and coming up, members of th military are being offered new choices that could affect

yet another major setback for uber. the european union's highest court ruled that the fast-growing ride hailing company is a transportation business, not just a platform that connects drivers with riders. that decision will force uber to comply with the region's transportati rules and it could have implica for other companies operating in the so-called some big changes are coming for members of our armed forces. starting next year, the military is overhauling its retirement benefits system, ushering in some of the biggest structural changes in 70 years. sharon epperson has our story. >> reporter: 23-year-old zack beckman is a government contractor in the private sector and a reservet in the united states marine corps. >> i've wanted to be a marine since i was a little kid.

my dad was a marine, my grandfather was a marine. >> reporter: now he's being offered a choice he never had. >> the old system, you had to stay in 20 years before ut any retirement plan. >> reporte you are not thr the plan, military members receive 50% of their base pay. to earn it, they must serve at leas. aim to hit that target. but only 19% reach it. the majority leave the service with nothing. >> today people move from job to job, and they need a retirement benefit that they can take . >> repor starting january 1st, service members entering the military will be part of the new blended retirement system. it combines a d something like a 401(k) plan, putting more of the responsibili for long term savings on the members' shoulders. >> it starts to cause them to learn how to contribute to their own future, their own retirement. >> repor those with at least

12 years of service will stay on the legacy program. but 1.6 million who joined after 2006, including corporal beckman, will need to choose which plan they want. >> if you know for a fact that you are going to serve 20 years, then you should stay with the legacy system. >> reporter: there is still a pension under the new system, as long as you reach 20 years. but the amount is reduced by 20%. the department of defen says members are encouraged to make up the difference using the federal government's thrift savings plan or tsp. those who opt in will select how much money they'll contribute to the tsp and can begin receiving government matching contribution of up to 5% of their pay right away. >> it is my strong belief that they get the education and they start right away contributing, they won't miss the money. >> the reason that congress passed the law. >> reporter: the military is requiring mandatory financial education trainin on basis and online. so far, over 80% of those who

must make a decision have taken it. some financial advisers worry one course may not be enough. >> this all has to start in the boot camps. this has to be fully integrated into training, just as much as they teach you how to shoot a gun, they need to teach you how to manage your paycheck. >> reporter: pentagon officials say access to a portable retirement benefit early in their career will make military service more competitive. >> the blended retirement system, we think it's a key step in recruiting and retaining the talent we need to ensure military readiness. >> rep reservist says his choice is clear. >> i know the value of a dollar and i see that it's important to save for the future. >> reporter: for others, choosing the best past for their retirement savings may not be as easy. for "nightly business r m sharon epperson. finally tonight, a gold bar was recently placed among dollar bills and coins in an idaho

salvation ar kettle. the one-ounce bar is worth more than $1200. the salvation army plans to trade it in for cash. as we told you yesterday, a $200,000 check was also recently dona such a nice story to end on. >> keep the donations coming. >> absolutely. on that note, that does it for us tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joi us. >> i'm bill griffeth. have

>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.