with tyles "nightly business hard numbers. corporate america faces a new reality from the tax man. how bottom lines may be hit for some major companies. to prepay or not to prepay. homeowners across country scramble to figure out whether they shoul prepay next year's property tax or even if they can. we'll break down the do's and don't's for you. and bowling for dollars. a look at the half billion dollar windfall from the business of college football bowl games. all that and more tonight on "nightly busin forr good evening, everyone, and welcome. sue herera has the evening off. the holiday present of tax

reform promised by the white house was delivered on time. and now, as the wrapping continues to get ripped off, we're finding out more and more about the impact of the new law. and now more companies are coming out with figures on how their bottom lines might be affected. positively, negatively. morgan brennan has a look. >> reporter: corporate america is finally beginning to release hard numbers from the immediate impact to the balance sheet from tax reform. insurer chubb expects a bottom line boost in 2017. daimler and bmw, although bmw added it couldn't quantify the tax effect for 2018 just yet. these announcements coming after fedex kicked off the trend last week, saying reform could add $1.5 billion in profit to fiscal 2018, before the bill had even become law. >> we're encouraged by the tax cuts and jobs act, the legislation advancing in congress at this very moment.

this legislation offers pro growth, pro business tax reform solutions that will power the economy, increase business investment, expand job opportunities, and enhance incomes and improve u.s. competitivenes >> r but there are near term losers as well. big banks warned they will incur charges. barclays, credit suisse, bank of america, and citi, which earlier this month warned it could take a hefty $20 billion writedown. earlier today royal dutch shell said it would log a noncash charge, all one-time hits tied to the valuation of deferred tax liabilities or deferred tax assets. with deferred assets, companies can use losses from one year to offset future taxes. but those aren't worth as much on paper with the corporate rate falling to 21%. for deferred liabilities, which most big corporations have, the opposite is true. >> once companies starting

incorporating t tax benefits and getting those one-time pops, it might be the one year where earnings expectatis are lower than what we end up seeing for the rest of the year. >> reporte overall, companies including big banks are upbeat long term, saying reform will positively impact future u.s. earnings. and if the economy grows, that could benefit them as well. but it is an adjustment. an adjustment that could mean some big and unusual numbers when earnings season gets under way next month. for "nightly business rep i'm morgan brennan. and the realities are setting in for those select groups that were left out of the bill. last night, ylan mui told us about the stocking stuffers that were included in the law. and tonight she looks at who got a lump of coal. >> reporter: the new tax law that congress passed before leaving for winter break is also leaving some groups out in the cold. republic say the new tax code is all about closing loopholes. that's creating unexpected losers as a result.

take bicycle commuters. the law gets rid of tax incentives for employers that encourage biking to work. right now it saves workers an estimated $89 a year that they can use for the cost of maintaining their bikes. starting january 1, it goes away. also in the crosshairs, a tiny college in kentucky. all the kids at the school come from low income families and none of them pay tuition. it's a free college degree. it was supposed to be exempted from a new tax on colleges and universities that have big documents. at the last minute lawmakers had to scrap the carve-out because it didn't comply with senate rules. on the senate floor majority leader mitch mcconnell vowed to keep trying to protect the college and blamed democrats for blocking the measure. >> they attacked the measure because they could. in the process they insured it would bear the brunt of this

blatant political calculation. >> without objection the motion to reconsider roc >> r but the biggest shocker of all, congress got rid of some of its own tax breaks. the deduction for lawmakers' living expenses is going away. they also won't be able to write off settlements they pay in sexual harassment claims. that's a move that some say is long overdue. for "nightly business r" m ylan mui in washington. the new tax law limits to $10,000 the amount that taxpayers can deduct for state and local income and property taxes they pay. the new provision takes effect january 1. so taxpayers in several high tax states like new jersey, illinois, california, have rushed to their town halls this week to prepay 2018 real estate taxes that have already been assessed. doing so according to an irs ruling late today will let them deduct the full amount on their 2017 return in most cases. here to explain who can and who

should and how is johanna cena, senior tax manager at magneto karp. who should try to do this and who shouldn't? >> so first of all, the irs released guidance today surrounding who can deduct property taxes. the most important thing to know is if your 2018 property taxes have already been assessed prior to year en you'r allowed to prepay and deduct those taxes. if you u do not yet know what your 2018 property taxes are, you will not get a deduction on your 2017 return. >> how do you do it? do your town hall and ask whether there is a bill ready for me? should i do it no matter what? or only if my property taxes would be so great that i wouldn't be claiming this new

expanded standard deduction? >> absolutely. so the first thing i would look at is if you are going to be in the alternative minimum tax or amt in 2017, and if you are going to be an amt, unfortunately ye not going to get a benefit for paying any property taxes. so i wouldn't pay them in that scenario. if you will get a benefit, the best thing to do is contact your county and see how you can make that early payment prior to the end of the year. >> and obviously get a receipt for the amount you did pay and that can be your proof that you did prepay. >> absolutely. >> i would think another wrinkle here, many people have their property taxes escrowed in advance by their mortgage processor or mortgage lender. >> correct. >> i would think you then have to go to that entity and say, hey, i already paid, stop escrowing. >> exactly. you're going to have to contact

your bank if your mortgage does escrow your property taxes and figure o with your specific bank how to get that escrow refunded for your prepayment. >> it sounds like several gnarly steps here, johanna. >> yes. >> but ultimately you could end up saving a lot of money this way, couldn't you? >> absolutely. so in 2018, the state, local, and property tax deduction is going to be added together and capped at $10,000. so if you do have the ability to it's going to save a lot of money on your 2017 return. it's worth giving your bank a call to see if you can get that worked out. >> i've seen that you should prepay january's mortgage payment because then you will be able to claim the interest if you itemize, true? >> yes. so if you have a mortgage payment where you're paying principal and interest for your mortgage, and usually your

payment is due on the 1st of the month, if you want to pay that a couple of da earlier, i would just make sure with your bank that that mortgag interes that you pay will be deductible on your 2017 return as well. >> all right. the tax world is a-changing and you're going to be a busy person. >> oh, yes. thank you so much. >> thank you. on wall street, stocks closed with modest gains on one of the lightest volume days of the year. everybody is away, it seems. dow rose to 24,774. nasdaq climbed three. the s&p 500 was up a whopping 2.12. as you surely know, 2017 has been a remarkable year for stocks. and in many ways, an unusual one as well. so what might 2018 look like? a re to the norm, or a year that makes 2017 look like the new norm? bob pisani takes a look. [ bell ringing ] >> reporter: 2017 was a year of surprises. and they say 2017's gains can't

happen again. but why not? by almost all measures 2017 was one of the most extraordinary years in the history of the stock market. we saw outside gains, record highs, and record low volatility. many traders say we can't have 20% returns in the s&p because it's not normal, the average was 8% since world war ii. they say we can't keep hitting new highs. 62 all-time highs this year. and they say we can't keep up this low volatility, only 8 days when the s&p moved 8% or more, the average is 50 days. they say we can't have this huge divergence in sectors, with technology outperforming telecom by 40 percentage points. but why can't we stay at the highs? earnings are not peaking out and if anything, are going up thanks to tax cuts. the complaint that the market is expensive is true. when the global economy is expanding and earnings are at record highs, this is the time

you can justify a higher multiple. outside a big outside shock, we have been in a longer term low volatility period that is likely secular, long term, caused by perhaps low rates, etfs, maybe less trading. finally, for anyone who wants to dump technology and buy cheaper sectors like energy, maybe. if you believe that earnings continue to expand, however, that would argue for growth stocks, which would include technology names. for "nightly business r" i'm bob pisani at the new york stocexchange. as we've reported this holiday shoppi one. with americans shelling out nearly $700 billion during the period. some of those gifts of course were gift cards. now retailers want gift card recipients to spend the cash so they can bank it. .ate rogers is in union >> reporter: ameri were projected to spend more than $27

billion on gift cards this year pert national retail foundation. that's up slightly from last year, as consumers are feeling upbeat about the economy and allocating their spending on other items. the nrf says consumers plan to buy an average of four gift cards. restaurants were most popular, followed by cards for retailers, visa, american express, master, and discover gift cards, and coffee shops. retailers want consumers to come in and spend. they can't count gift cards as dollars earned until they're redeemed in stores for goods or services. season was strong one. mastercard says sales rose 5% from november 1st through christmas eve. e-commerce grew even faster, at a rate of 18%, as consumer sentiment rose and shoppers continued to spend late into the season. consumers said they felt confident about the economy and took advantage of sales. >> since trump has been elected, i th a lot for the economy. >> knowing there was a lot of

unknowns, i just worked really hard and we had a good year. >> i spent less money on christmas this year, better sales, i took advantage of that. >> reporter: don't expec shoppers to slow down anytime soon. they're set to spend some $69 billion this week through new year's, that's 10% of the overall $682 billion the national retail federation had projected for this holiday season. for "nightly business r i'm k up next, how the debate over deficits has shifted the focus on confi well, the new tax law has done a lot of things. but one of the most amazing is how it has changed the conversation about budget deficits and which party takes which side in the debate over

how important they truly are. with all the tax cuts coming through in 2018, it is possible that the federal deficit could pierce a trillion dollars next year. and that's in an expanding economy, not a recession. sp paul ryan has his focus on cutting spending, specifical entitlements. john harwood is joining us from washington on what is sure to be a tricky bank shot for the gop. john, after fighting the white house over deficits so much during the obama years, republicans have brushed off talk of higher deficits from tax cuts. do they not matter if they occur because of tax cuts, only if they occur because of spending? >> reporter: that's what republicans believe. part of it is partisan, but republicans bel in smaller government. they view tax cuts as economic policy to produce growth, then want to right size spending to fit the tax rates that they have

cut to. and so that's why republicans brushed off those democratic complaints about deficits from the tax cuts during the tax debate. but they're coming at 'em pretty quickly now that the tax cut is real and we're going to have some budget consequences. >> i seem to hear you saying that the deficits give the gop an opportunity, then, to shrink the size of government and that that is really fill solvica of philosophicay what they want. but is the solution cutting entitlements? r: if you ask paul ryan, the house speaker, who is very ideologically driven to reduce government, yes, that is the answer. he has said that the way you tackle debt and deficits is by restricting those big entitlement programs, especially the health care entitlements of medicare and medicaid, not to mention social security. the challenge is that's very politically unpopular to do. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader, last week said "i don't expect that on the agenda because democrats will be

opposed and if they're opposed, we don't want to do it." that's a 2018 election coming up and republicans need to be careful. >> if washington becomes paralyzed over the budget, should the markets be worried about the consequences of near term deficits? >> reporter: i thi not in the near term, tyler. you know, this has mostly been a theoretical problem. t greece during ctions we woul the obama years, that didn't happen. fo lenders are still willing to buy treasury bills and fund our deficit. i think in the long term, when the baby boomers retire and those numbers get overwhelming, yes, markets should worry. not so much right now. >> john, thanks very much. john harwood in washington. well, apple faces a growing list of lawsuits. and that is where we begin tonight's market focus. last week, as you may recall, we told you the tech giant was slapped with two lawsuits over its practice of slowing down older model iphones to help extend their battery life. that number of suits has now crept up to at least nine, which have been filed across the country.

they allege that the company defrauded users by slowing the devices without warning. apple's shares nonetheless are three cents higher today at $170.60. the financial firm key bank expects tesla's model 3 deliveries to disappoint in the fourth quarter. the fi slashed its forecast nearly 70% to 5,000 vehicles. key bank says its projection are based on conversatio it's had with 18 tesla stores in the u.s. tesla shares fell nearly 2% to $311.64. the drug maker horizon pharma said the fda has expanded the list of who can be treated with the company's drug for a rare life-threatening metabolic disorde horizon said the approval means children as young as a year old now to the treatment. sh initially rose as much as

on th news but ended the day fractionally higher at 15 and a penny. bernstein is downgrading shares of ce marke perform to outperform. it says pipeline setbacks don't bode well for the stocks's potential upside. the firm says part of the excitement surrounding the company has been celgene's bet on innovation. as of late it just hasn't panned out. the drug maker recently reported disappointing results for its cancer treatment and said it will end its crohn's disease trials. tonight's market monitor says he is finding opportunity in emerging markets in 2018 thanks to global economic growth, demographics, and reasonable valuation compared with the u.s. he's got three picks. they include a mutual fund and two etfs. this is his first time on the program. greg lucan, greg, good to have you with us, welcome. why three separate etfs and

funds here? can't you get it >> thanks, tyler. and many people do. one of the advantages of using several different positions is the differences in company and country weightings. so you see pretty sizable differences between the way they weight the different countries inside that, which makes a sizable difference in the results that they get. >> so these funds and etfs we're about to talk to do different things different ways, have different exposures. let's start with, i believe the ticker is demix, delaware emerging markets fund institutional. do you like it? >> because the costs are reasonable. the country allocatio have worked. and we think they will continue to work. they have a lot of exposure in the pacific rim.

and it continues to deliver. >> up 40% on the year, i would say that's delivering. i think the next one is f.e.m., first trust alpha dex etf. why do you like that one? >> first trust uses a little different way of weighting countries. they he an overlay, kind of a paint by numbers, if you will, a mathematical way to select the companies and countries that go in there. and it ends up with a very different mix than the typical emerging markets index. >> and then there's an i-shares emerging markets fund, you say it's not the cheapest but tracks the most closely to an index, up 35% in one year. >> that's right, this is probably one of the purest forms of matching the underlying emerging markets index. and despite the expenses, it

tracks right with it. >> what are you looking for in the markets domestically next year? quick thought. >> quick thought is, 2017 was a great year. we think 2018 will be a solid and a good year. higher. it wi we think the tax cuts are going to mak a difference. any infrastructure spending could be a real positive. and we've got a number of sectors that have underperformed >> i think you should spend more time on those beautiful mountains right behind you, greg. >> greatest snow on earth. >> you bet. greg lucan in salt lake city. ever wonder why there are so many college football ga

former president obama warns about the challenges with social media and the potential for using it irresponsibly in a bbc radio interview with prince harry. mr. obama said that people on social media o >> the question i think really has to do with how do we harness this technology in a way that allows a multiplicity of voices, allows a diversity of views, but doesn't lead to a balkanization of our society, but rather continues to promote ways of finding common ground. >> still, the social media space is closely watched by investors. so what might 2018 hold for this important group? julia bo >> reporter: in 2018, we can expect an acceleration of change in the media industry as the giants adapt to more competition. first with disney's fox deal creating a behemoth that will

grab an even bigger piece of the box office. all the other media players are likely to scramble for scale, targeting the smaller media companies such as discovery, lionsgate, and amc network. we could see netflix lock in a library with subscriber appeal, all as the industry awaits a court decision on at&t's battle to buy time warner. directv now will make greater gains as discovery appeals to people who don't want espn. new live video offerings from amazon and even apple and facebook could put a deeper dent in pay tv numbers. lastly, with sexual harassment and misconduct revelations prompting an overhaul of hollywood's to signs point to the entertainment industry taking the lead in redefining workplace conduct. after years of criticism for

being too white and too male, studios are going to prioritize diversity, not only because it's the right thing to do but because it helps draw the broadest audience for their content. for "nightly business r" i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. finally today, on new year's day college football will be played. winners face off for the football championship january 8th. did you know that before that there will be nearly 40 other bowls, many of which you probably haven't heard of? but it doesn't matter. bowls are big business. eric chemi expla >> reporter: tonight at yankee stadium, it's a bowl featuring iowa and boston college. if you look at the business of bowl games, it's very different than a generation ago. back then you d nonprofits like the rose bowl. now you have for-profit entities. e yankees decided they wanted to create a bowl. they're still the owners of it today.

iowa and boston college have been up and down new york city doing a lot of media appearances, even doing the opening bell at the stock exchange the other day. that's good for those schools as recruiting trips to get future players. the big 10 and the acc want to be national conferences, they want to be in the new york city media markets. this is a perfect opportunity for them to do that. for the sponsors, there's real value as well. a sponsor like new era for tonight's game, that's worth $4 million. for some of the bigger games, you're talking abo $11 million in sponsorship value. new era already had a relationship with th yankees because new era sells baseball hats and the yankees are the most popular team in the country selling baseball hats. they want to keep that relationship happy as well. the larger picture, all the schools and conferences, because of this full month of bowl games, they're going to generate $600 million in revenue. there's only $100 million in expenses. that's a half billion dollar profit for the teams playing in these 40 bowl games this month.

if you're wondering who's watching these lower tier ball games, turns out more people than you think. last year all but one bowl game had at least 1 million viewers. so that's good for holiday retailers trying to get their christmas specials advertised. even for movie studios that want to announce their blockbusters coming up during the season. a lot of different parties want these bowl games to exist. that's why these games exist like the pinstripe bowl behind me. for "nightly business r" i'm eric chemi in the bronx. and that is "nightly busine for tonight. i'm tyler mathisen. .

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