this is "nightly business report" th sue herera and bill griffeth. >> today my administration is launchinthe most sweeping action in history, to lower the price of prescription drugs to the american people. >> president outlines that plan to lower the cost of medicines and the health care sector alike. what it heard. >>. lucky the dow extends its win streak to its longest in six months. just as small caps close in on all-time highs. the rise of the robots. how mechanical arms are transforming industries fr agriculture to warehousing. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for this friday, may the 11th. >> finally. good evening, everybody. and welcome. the president today pledged to

lower the price of drugs, unveiling a plan that hes describes drastic training for the industry. he called the rising pricesat a tho americans. e called out pharmaceutical lobbyists, took aim at the drug distributors and vowed to put patients first. that's when the health care sector fell, just aft 2:00 eastern of the but the decline was short-lived andr the sec quickly rallied back and helped lift the broader market. meg tiell has mor on the president's initiative and the whip saw reaction in the market. >> reporter: president donald trump today laid out what he called the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs in the u.s. >> we will have tougher negotiation, moreomtition and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter. and it will start to take effect very >> reporter: the plan stopped short of what democrats see as the government's strgest tool reigning in drug prices, giving medicare the power to negotiate prices dthectly.

was something trump himself supported in the past. >> they say, like, $300 billion could be saved if we bid them oout. we don't it. why? we don't bid properly. and we're going to start bidding and we're going to save billions of dollars over a period of time. >> reporter: nor does the plan suggest allowing reimportation of drugs from other countries, where they're cheeaer. anothersure endorsed by democrats. instead, focuses on lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients, particularly seniors. through certain chang to medicare part d. it also seeks to remove incentives for higher-priced drugs in medicare part b, which covers medicinesdministered in e doctor's office or hospital. the president also took aim at the syste 's midmen, who he says contribute to driving drug prices higher. >> we're very much eliminating the middlemen. the middlemen became very, very rich right? >> reporter: middlemen might include pharmacy benefits managersike express scripts and cvs which negotiate on behalf ofnsurers and

employers. t rallied despite his strong language. so too did scks of drug makers, regeneron, in particular. the wall streetanticipated, the plan will hold more bark than bite. for "nightly business report," i'm meg terrill. >> jack hodly is a health policy analyst at georgetown university's health institute. thanks for joining us tonight. glad to be there. ngs that jumped out at me as the president's announcement, increasedompetition in drug markets and provide new incentives for drug manufacturers to reduce list prices. what do you think of those? is that doable? >> it is doable, but i'm not t sut there's anything in this proposal that really gets us there. i ink theroposal is disappointing in the sense that it's a lot of ideas on the table, but n a lot of specifics that will have an effect in the short-term. >> if you wer to advise the president or the people who are going to be working on this

package, because further negotiations are going to take place, is there one single thing that you think would be a game-changer, and would advise them to pursue? >> i mean, the potential game-changer would be for the government to have a more active role in looking at the prices of drugs directly, of negotiating, icularly on those drugs that are single-source drugs, where there ison really no competi and the market forces don't work very well in the absence of a competitor. >> today -- i mean, there's a lot of finger-pointing that's been going on. the insurance co drug manufacturers and the pbms. today the pbms were singled out as the bad guys. are they? >> not necessarily. the pbmsre part of the system that negotiates prices are the manufacturers. they work on behalf of a healt plan to try to get prices down. but what we've really got to do is get everybody involved at the table, including consumers, to try to think about what's the way to get these prices down. >> you know, there's a lot of lobbying interest, as well, in

this particular sector in the health care sector and drug sector in particular. to say the government needs take a stronger role. there are those who say that government basically might kind of make things worse, because they are t not goingbe as exact as they should be. and others say, no, they do have a stronger can you elaborate on how you would achieve that through go >> well, i think it is complicated to do. and i think you have to think about it very carefully. but when you have a c ae of single-source drug, you know, there's no role right now really r market competition to play out there. and so if the government designs tway to negotiate to really use its authority try to say we need to get a better price, there's potential ways to get there. but, you know, like any of these things, the devil is in the details, and we've really got to it rightt how to do >> for example, the democrats have made much today of the fact that the president is not going to want medicare to negotiateg

its own d pricing, which he had talked about in the past. would that be an answer, necessarily? >> you know, it's a potential part of the answer, and i think it needs to be on the table. we've seen aow, lot of these new very expensive biological drugs, and there's a lot of steps that could be taken to try to have an impact on the trices of those drugs. and the governmas got to play a part in that. >> what about reimporting drugs from count where those drugs are cheaper? how much would that help? because that is on the table >> younow, reimporting drugs can make a difference, but it's probably not the real game-changer. i think what you need to do is really address the high price of drugsfundamentally, and do something that sort of gets at the launch prices of new drugs. importation allows us to sort of avverage some of the power that other countries done to keep prices down. but it probably doesn't solve the problem bel i >> a lot of hope for what is a very complicated issue. jack, thaois forng us again tonight. >> you're welcome. >> jack hodly with orgetown university's health policy institute. and as we mentioned, health

care stocks helped lift the dow, extending its win streak to seven straight sessions as stocks capped their best week in two months. the dow jones industrial average went to 24,831. the nasdaq fell 2, and the s&p 500 rose 4. for the the major averages were all up 2% or more. and parue of that was to the rise in oil prices this week, waich were up about 1.5%. by the the president today also met with automakers at the white house, and he made it he wants more vehicles built here in the united states. d he also discussed his administration's push to relax fuel efficiency standards. eamon javers is in washington for us tonight. >> reporter: president trump gathered some of the nation's most powerfulutomotive ceos at the white house today for a discussion on cafe standards, t the degreeo which cars in the future will be allowed to emitl poants. california, a big market and a big powerful political state, wants to keep those standards as strict as possible.

the trump administration, though, would like t cap them at 2020 levels going forward into the future years. so all of that was the backdrop for this meeting with the president in whi he singled for doing the ceos something he really liked, sergio mars owny ofia chrysler. by the way, thank you. you're moving to michigan from mexico. he's my favorite man in the room [ laughter ] a big announcement. i'll tell you, the people in mi igan very much appreciat it. it's a big deal. leaving mexico, going to michigan. that was a w veryl-received -- i appreciate it. thank you. >> reporter: i caught up with him as he was leaving the white house this ternoon. he said the meeting was constructive. he said it was less tense than some of the reporting suggested it might be. but he laid out what the fundamental dispu here is all about. >> we deal with multiple o standards and little scale, none of which is pleasant to deal with, because it requires a phenomenal effort, both in terms

of engineering and manufacturing to make sure you comply. and so a uniform world would make it much easier for us to operate. ter: one white house official told me today that the president wanted to ask the ceos dhind closedrs what they think the mile per gallon standard oughto be nationwide in this country. we'll see whether those ceos were able tot get w was on their wish list today. i'm eamon javers at the white house. american, canadian and mexican officials ended ks week of tithout a deal on the north american trade agreement. instead, the representatives agreed to resume negottions soon after acknowledging that major differences do remain. but pressurch to r a deal is intensifying after house speaker paul ryan said he t needebe notified of a new nafta deal by thursday, may 17t, to give the current congress a chance to pass it. andho along lines, american soybean farmers are finding themselves caught in the middle of the ongoing trade dispute between united states and china.

chinese buyers ofic am-grown soybeans have been cancelling their orders, and now the chinese government isco aging its farmers to plant more soy to help make up for any shortfall. eunice un sorts it out fus. >> reporter: these farms have gotten caught up in the trade war between the u.s. and china. the chinese government is attempting to boost domestic production of soybeans. the ahorities heren the country's northeast have been encouraging their farmers to replacn their c crops with ybeans. this corn farmer is being offered a subsidy of $162 per acre to make thewitch. he hasn't taken it. soybeans are so cheap,e says. you don't earn much growing them. many of the w farmers spoke to here said the same thing. corn brings in doubl the profit of soybeans. and they don't have the righip seeds and ent to get good enough yields to compete with u.s. imports.

but if china increased the pay out, farrs like lee said they would be keen to take up the trade fight. of course, if we don'tmport u.s. soybeans, our beans in s china can d at a higher price, he says. we have fertile landni here. ho it would be if we could grow soybeans ourselves. a dream that could be seen as a nightmare for soybean farmers back in the u.s. for "nightly business report" i'm eunice eun. to the economy now, where the head of the st. louis fed said further interest rate incrses may not be needed. james fuller noted that rates have already reached a neutral level, and i that's the case, then they are no longer imulating the economy. he is not a voting member of the but has ank this year, been urging colleagues to be cautious about furthate increases. time to take a look now at some of today's upgradesnd downgrades. dow component verizon was upgraded from neutr by

jpmorgan. the analyst there cites a healthy dividend yield and clarity about its plans for 5g. price target, $58. shares of verizon, the best-performing dow component in today's trade. and shares of kohl's downgraded from neutral outperformed by credit suisse. e retailer will report lower than expected sales growth for its first quarter. th report will be out on may 22nd. price target, $64.to the closed down a fraction to $60.23. tyson foods is rated an utperform in new coverage at bernstei the analyst expects tyson to hold up better than other u.s. food compies, given the strong demand for protein. the price target is $81 a share. shares of tyson were higher today to $68.25. cy man tech was downgraded by a number of firms today following the disclosure of an internal investigation which we told you aboutast night.

one of the down grades came from oppenheimer, which cut its rating from hold to buy.st the ana said the internal probe is a concern because the scope and potentiength are unknown. the stock lost a third of its value today, closing at $19.52. still ahead, more packages are being delivered these days, but why is the post office losing so much money? ♪ good news for ford shareholders and factory workers. the automaker reportedly is going to resume production of its f-150 pickup trucks one week fr today a its deer born and kansas city plants. this according to r as we have been reporting, the automaker halted production of itsf-series after a fire at a supplier plant caused shortages

of necessary parts. at&t's ceo calls the hiring of president trump's personal attorney michael cohen a, quote, big mistake. end quote. in aes memo to emplorandall stephenson said the company's reputation has been damaged, and that t w executi oversaw the contract with michael cohen is leaving the company. at&t paid cohen $600,000 last year. yesterday novartis also called its payments to coyne a mistake. barclay's ceo find $850,000 for trying to identify a whistleblower inside his bank. the fine was levied by british regulators. he's the first sitting ceo to face such a penalty. the fine was 10% of thell ove pay package, and included a 30% discouee for his ag to an early stage of settlement. well,ht you m think that as more people shop online and haveackages delivered that the

postal service's business would be booming. but that is not the case. in fact,y' the age loss has more than doubled in the fir m threths of the year. morgan brennan explains why. >> reporter: losses at the u.s. postal service ballooned to more than $1 billion last quarter. but if it weren't for package deliveries, it might have been even worse. whereas first class mail continues to decline and retiree costs mount, package volumes and revenue grew. on a conference call to discuss the results, postmaster general men an brennan expressed the importance of the package business, to the future of the usps and mail delivery as a whole. >>ackage business is vitally important to our financial health. because the revenue and the contribution provided by our package business plays a significant role in providing crical funding toelp pay for the infrastructure, which enables us to mainthan universal service obligation. >> reporter: the postal service says the package business funded almost a quarter of institutional costs last year, helping enableai it to mai a

network compromised of roughly $650 million u.s. addresses for which delivery is required. but the results coming after a flurry of criticism from the oval office, as preside trump as recently as last month slammed the postal service's top customer, amazon. >> the post office is losing billions o dollars,nd the taxpayers are paying for that money, because it deliverses pack for amazon at a very below cost. and that's not fr to the united states, it's not fair to our taxpayers. >> reporter: but today the quasi governmental agency, which by law isn't funded by taxpayer dollars did call package pricing a quote, hyper competitive environment one in which the usps works with consultants on pricing that ultimately is approved by regulators. the postmaster said she welcomes a review ordered by the president, that the postal service finances deserve to be studied and larger public policy issues addressed.

lastly, she once again called on lawmakers for legislati reform so tusps can, quote, return to financial stability and finally operate profitably. for "nightly business report," i'mre morganan. call center operator convergis may sell itself, and that is where we begin tonight's "market focus." the "wall street thurnal" said company is in talks with several potential buyers, which include industry rivs and private equity firms. the report added that the sales process was triggered when the ceo announced she was stepping down last shares of convergis climbed to $25.30. game stop's new ceo has resigned after only three months on the job. the video game retailer said that michael maller was leaving for personal reasons, and added that an interim ceo has been named. game stop, which has struggled to raise sales, has seen its stock drop by nearly 30 just this year. and today's news did not help. shares were off another 2% at

$12.71. butigher steelrices and an increase in iron ore shipments helped earnings estimate the world's largest steel maker also said it expects results to improve this year thanks to strengthening demand from the u.s. and from europe.e shares r 1% to 35$35.72. after the bell, parago said it does not expect the fda to prove one of its inhaler treatments and is cutting e outlook. shares fell after the news, but finished the regular d up more than 2% to $77.52. and shares of yelp continue to come under pressure today after the review site reported a smaller expected loss after the bell yesterday. the company also saw sales beat and hikedorts revenueast for the year. but still investors sent the shares nearly 8% lower to finish the day at2. $44

companies are buying back their own shares now at a record pace. s&p 500 firms bought me than $150 billion of their own stock in the first quarter of this year. that move is partly due to the new tax law, which encourages companies to bring back cash that's been held overseas. it is time to talk to our market monitor, who is finding opportunity in small cap stocks, which as we mentioned earlier, are closi in on record highs on the russell 2000. ind joining us is sandy vil roy of theily balance fund. welcome back. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. let's start witour first pick,or cypress semicondu you say it's flying under the radar for a variety of reasons. why do you like >> yeah. and this is kind of a theme you'll see in all of my stocks. i like to buy things that are just under loved, under followed, diamonds in the rough type ofcompanies. so cypress trades at 12 times earnings. its peers trade at 19 times

earnings and these guys have some exciting stuff. they're a leader in the internet of things so they're supplying products like the amazon echo and in electric vehicles so things like tesla. so i think there is a bright future. d they pay a dividend yield while you wait. >> another one, 3 systems in the latter part of the -around stage. >> yeah, i think we're probably in the eighth or ninth inning of this and 3d, i probably haven't spoken about this one in a long time, because they're really just finishing up this un turn-a but they've got about six different printers they're going to come out secon half of 18. in fact, a couple coming out in may. and i don't think people have any o this stuff in their numbers. and so i think it's one that could, you know, really surprise people on the upside. this 5100 they'veot is four times as fast as its closest competitor and saves their customs about 90%. so they've got some exciting things going on, and people just don' know much about t

company, which is why i really like it. >> all right. hughes corp -- howard hughes corp, hhc, is your final pick here. and there is a lot about this company i thought i knew. but i didn't. and that part of it is their land holdings that you say stretch all the way from new york to hawaii. >> yeah, that's right. they'v got, you know, about 28,000 acres that is just north of houston, in the woodlands which ixt doingmely well. they've got 22,000 acres in summer lynn, which is about miles from the las vegas strip, and they're continuing to build that out. they've got a village in chhonolulu, w is just phenomenal, if you look at those properties.an the south street seaport at pier 17 in new york, and espn will have that as their hub.k they t about 19,000 square feet and now when you see a major sporting event in new york, it will be live from the seaport. so i think that will be neat.

a 1.5 acre rooftop that's going to have music venues and that sort of thing. so stay tuned. but i think it's very undervalued and people aren't giving any credit. and it should work out well over the next several years. >> ah, and right in my backyardh k maybe friday cocktails off the rooftop. thanks so much, sandy. >> thank you.you. coming up, how robots are helping plant the seeds of the rm of the future. ♪ manufacturing is becoming more high-tech, and now the agricultural sector appears to be moving in the same divection. and the labor shortage in that field, it could help dig farmers out of a hole. aditi r is in berkeley, california, for us tonight.

>> reporter: robots are lirally running circles around humans. causing their heads to spin. >> robotics is just running away with technology. >> reporter: boston dynamicssp r ini robot was the s attraction at the robotic session's crence at uc berkeley. the robotics company release this video, showing the four-legged machine running up and down stairs and dodging objects. its two-legged companion, the atlas, jogging around the neighborhood. the increasing agility of robots is transforming industries like agriculture. cambridge-based softic rob uses pliable robotic arms in its machines, packing delicate items like eggs and picking tomatoes off trees.hi whiles automated harvester plucks strawberries, itsyeing tested driscolls, the largest berry distributor in the world.

john deere is investing heavily, automating tractors and combines, which are outfitted with computer vision technology. >> like facial recognition, it goes through the field, and identitiesee versus crops. >> reporter: the head of john deere lab says itse also addr the labor shortage among fieldworkers in agriculture. >> i've heard not only in saskatchewan but all acrossno h america, getting the right labor is a challenge. we think that automation really helps with that. >> reporter: in the warehousing industry, startups like fetch are doing some heavy lifting. s robots move around autonomously, work alongside humans, and can carry heavy cargo. >> we can take something from assembly area in the manufacturing plant and put it on to a conveyor. we have a part of the robot that can connect to a cart and mov a cart around, so when you put a whole bunch of packages on to a cart, t robot can come pick up

that cart. >> reporter: for some enthusiasts, the robots are headed for eve greater things. >> just as with phones over the last, you know, couple of decades, they've, you know, gone from being a novelty to being -- and that's going to happen in the robot area. >> reporter: this inevitably raises concerns about job a recent study found that in nearly 60% of all occupations, one-ird of all job activities can be automated by 2030. forne "nightly bu report," i'm aditi roy, berkeley, california. and finallytonight, spacex successfully launched and landed its newest falcon 9 rocket today. as we have been reporting, a number of companies are in a t race get commercial pay loads and passengers into space. and with today's launch, this booster of the rocket detached and guided itself back to earth. it is designed to fly frequent missions inapid succession. of course, potentially ushering

in an era of reusable rockets. great stuff today. >> amazing stuff. before we go, here's a look at theay andhe week on wall street. the dow added 91 points to 24, 831. the dow fell 2. for the week, the major averages were up or more. so a good with week for the bulls. that wil do it for us tonight on "nbr." i'm sue herera.in thank you for g us. >> i'm bill griffeth. happy mother's day. we'll see you on monday.

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