this is "nightly business report" with sue herer and bill griffith. >> alive and kicking, the bull market is officially the longest of all time and thearket are rally mode. target's big paying off and investors are reaping the reward. trade talks as officialsrom the world's two largest economies resume discussion, a factory owner in guangdong, china, is paying very close attention. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report"or wednesday, august 22nd. good evening, everyone andil welcome, griffith is off tonight, history was made today on wl street and this bull market is now the longest in history, surpassing the dotcom run-up of the 1990s. by mosteasures t bull was

born on march 9, 09 during the depth of the financial crisis and five months and 13 days ter the s&p has more than quadrupled and today sits just below its all-time high. todayhetocks fin mixed. the dow jones industrial average lost 88 points to 25,733, the nasdaq was up 29nd the s&p 500 fell one. an area of the market that's been rallying has been the dow transportation index. today it closed just bow its all-time high after finishing at a record yesterday and the rally confirms one-half of a classic market theory that could point to more gains. here t t talk aboutt is matt maily, managing director and equity strategist. nice to have you here. >> thanks, sue. >> that theory is called the dow theory is it says that when the transports and the dow jones industrial avera both basically confirm we have more gains to go.

so what's been leading the transports higher? >> well, it's ineresting becahe transports have been doing quite well for most of the year because of the rail stocks, and the railroad stocks which have been in a pretty consistent fashion arriving all year long. ahowever, theline stocks have been lagging badly. in the last two months or so they'v bounced back very, very stronglynd this has given anottor leg her to make a new high and the airline stocks are still a long w from all-time highs earlier in the year and they have a lot more upside potential. so if they can keep going it will be positive for the transportation index and it's ry important and economically sensitive, so the higher that goes, theetter it is for everybody. >> you know, the airline stocks, a lot of pple thi they're very highly correlated to theio dire of oil, but that's not always the case. >> no, you know, it's absolutely correct. the one thing is intellectually

it makesfsense, oil prices are going up which is a major cost in the airline industry that means profits must be shrinking. owever, if you look back in history, the airline stocks and crude oil move in the same direction and it's --hink out it, with the economies doing better companies use a lot more oilan product prices move up and the same thing with airline business. when the economy is doing well, people go one vacation m and people send their business people around the country more and they gop. it's more economically sensitive when they move in tandem and there are instances whe they move in the opposite direction and the intellectual rule doesn'tollow when you look at it in practice and the fact that, in other words, the people saying the only reason yet airline stocks are bouncing is because o came wach down a bit and if oil goes back up, i don't believe so, and history says otherwise. what about the broader market? we talked about this theory and

the dow and thetransports, but if you look at the broader market, as we go into the latter part of this year how do you feel about it? >> it stillooks pretty good and one of the key things we've seen over the last two or three months or even the last four months is the move toward a more defensive posture a it's a good thing for investors to do because as the big fiscal stimulus that we've gotten this year,s that winds down a bit in 2019, that could create a little bit o a headwind for the stock market. therefore, you look in the last three or four months, consumer staple stocks and the utility stocks and especially the health care stocks, they've outperformed and those who rotated and i won't say dump anything with defensive names and they've actually outperformed so they're getting both protection and upside potential and that's something we should do if we inv this year. >> matt, thank you so much. matt with miller taback

it is the longest slump in existing sales since 2016. they dropped 7% in jul marking the fourth straight month of declines, ring prices and limited inventory and increasing mortgage rates are pushing potential buyers to the sidelines. purchases account for thety majof home buying activity. >> federal reserve policymakers appear to be on track to increase interest rates. according to the minutes of the last meeting, officials said they are wary of the ctrrent e dispute, but see no reason right now to pause their current path of hikes. the central bankers left rates unchanged at their rafng mee and are widely expected to tighten policy when they meetnt again next >> and with the fed focused on trade, u.s. and chinese officials met in washington today for the first tim in two months. both sides hope to outline a framework for further talks. kayla tausche hasy more. toda dozen chinese diplomats trickled into the u.s. treasury to re-open trade talks.

as ais multi-monthte between the world's two biggest economies has only escalated. china's vm ofommerce leading the delegation invited by the last week. the market jumped on the prospect of a truce, but such a deal is unlikely. treasury is not expected to provide at the close of talk chinese and one official said the purpose of the visit was to test each other's boundaries. >> a newest in the trade war comes tonight, when the u.s. would slap n tariffs on $16 billion of chinese products and china will retaliate immediately and the path that we're on is the high-stakes gam and what we need to do is find a way to conclude that successfully and that's going to take some tough tiations and some willingness by china to really open their market in ways we've seen to date. >> while the china situation may remain on progress across town. u.s. and mexican delegations met again today and could resolve ue

bilateral iss by the end of this week, providing a small breakthrough amid a o backdrop continued trade worries. rt, i'mhtly business re kayla tausche in washington. >> michael cohen's lawyer started a go fund me campaign to help president trump's former attorney. cohen's attorney says the goal is to raise $500,000. >> cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal charges and said he worked to influence the 2016 election, quote, at the direction of theat cand end quote. so will there be a tipping point when markets start to take notice of developments out of washington, and will the's governme focus now shift to ongoing trade tensions. joining us to talk about that is david riedel. he is founder and president ofe ri research group. >> welcome back, david. >> thank you. >> overall, the markets seem to have shrugged off much of what was coming out of washington. why is that, do you think >> i think they've gotten used

to this amount of noise coming out of washington as a new normal. chaos.pect this kind of as we get closer to the midterms, as people are shifting the benefit to one party or the other i think that's when the market will pay attention. >> in other wordhe house senate races. >> that'sly exa right. when you end up with a government that's more the policies and that'rk what the doesn't like. do you think that could derail the market overall? will that be the tipping point or maybe there is no point?ng >> i think there say tipping point and i worry about inflation and the impact of the trade wars more than i do about the politics of the u.s. i fear that rising inflation around the world and the impact and the knock-on effect of the republican's administrati trade wars is really going start to crimp people's expectations of the 2019 growth and that will get the market's attention.

>> and trade will trump, no pun intended, on the election concerns, correct? >> i think that's right. >> so what should an investor do at this point, do yo think? and what should we be watching for? >>. >> i think wet definitely wo watch inflation because if we start to see the impact of the hiser pri from the trade war start to end up on supermarkete shelves in gas stations or erever people feel t impact of inflation and that's going to be a big deal and i think if we continue on this path of ever ratcheting up tariffs with china,ea i that will not resolve in the resolution of this situation and it really will start to e away at people's pocketbook issues heading into the midterms and beyond. >> kayla tausche just mentioned the trade talks going on this week into the weekend, some say, it doesn't sound like you have high expectations on that front impeach these are talks about talks and it is always betr to be talking and this isn't a

point at which they're prepared to start making concessio and reaching agreements pip think you might see a handshake deal with mexico aounced tomorrow or friday, and i think that's a very big deal, but i think that the china rhetoric will continue for some time. >> you make the point that china has tremendous ability to mobilize public opinion against usiness interests. what types of companies that do business there do you think might be affected if indeed that does >> if you look at the past five years. they've had these situatians with j over the disputed islands and in that situationti alist opposition to japanese products resulted in almost a 90% decline in china. more recently, was there a dispute in south korea which led to almost having chinese trave to south korea. if beijing decides to flip the switch of nationalism, i would want to be very careful with companies like apple which china considers very replaceableith their homegrown alternatives, as well as high visibilityargets

like a starbucks. >> on that note, david, thank you very much. david riedel with riedel rearch group. it is time to take a look at some of today's upgrades and downgrades. starbucks was downgraded to neutral from overweight at piper jafflyy. the a says the stock will be range bound until u.s. trends improve. the stock is $53 a the stock fell 52, and at&t was downgraded to market perform at wells fargo and the analyere says the stock will be rangebound as it navigates its purchas of time warner. the price target is $35 and the shares fell 2% to $32.68. netflix's pce target was raised to $395 at mkm partnerst an analyst said enthusiasm for the stock increased following a rent pullback and the stock was up nearly 2% to34 44. still ahead, shop 'til you

drop. why target says its stores are busier than ever, but first, if you had invested $10,000 in these stocks at the start of the bull market, take a lookt what at investment would be worth today. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ oil prices rose to a two-week high after a government report showed inventories fell more than expected last week. the price of domestic crude was up for five straight sessions, rising 3% to around $67 a barrel. separately saudi arabia hasal reportedlyd off its aramco ipo at least for now. the story was first reported by reuters. the listing was the biggest ipo

inrd history. has issued two safety recalls and t company is recalled 250,000 charge cords and it is recalling the ford edge, the flex and the lincoln mkx for improperly secured power supply cable fasteners and those recalls weighed on the stock which fell more than1% in trading today. >> lowe's is outlining a strategy to better compete with its rival, home depot. the home improvement retailer is shutting downh the arc art supply hardware store and it's planning to cut back on inventory at its lowe's stores. it helpe report better than expected earnings and the retailer cut its profit outlook for the rest of the year and investors focused on theew strategy and sent shares up more than 5% in trading today. and a new strategy is certainly paying off over at targe and investors are reaping the rewards. he retailer reported i biggest sales growth in more

than a decade as shoppers flocked t the stores and that sent the stock 3% higher in trading today. courtney reagan has more on what's working at target. >> the retail rally rolls on.o add target the list of those topping expectations with its latest quarterly resthts. big box retailer saw comparable sales grow ,6.5% the strongest rate in 13 years with both online and in-store sales growing sharply. >> we're seeing a great consumer response, and unprecedented traffic, as we go back and look, we've never seen traffic growth like this. >> it's pretty amazing when you think of e com and the role of e com in everyone lives that they are driving traffic incrementally to the store ande it'sy positive because it means that their online sales aren't necessarily cannibalizing their in-store sales. >> it is in the middle of a three-year$7 billion plan to remodel the stores in cities and

near college campuses improve its digital business, lower prices and speed upiv dy add and refresh brands that shoppers can only fine atge t for now investors are cheering target spendt'g because taking market share even if it meansrofitability takes a hit. >>. >> these world-class retailers, the targets, the walmarts and tjx, it doesn't happen overnight and it's not free and it takes time. it took amazon 15 years to scale and amazon still spends a lot of money. the brick and mortar guys are in, we're still in th early stages of rolling out our strategy. so next year you'll see more of what we' sewing this year. >> it's far from the only retailer to turn in a strong quarter, the strength of the u.s. consumer and broer economy is a large factor. >> it'sealthy consumer

environment. i've been doing this for a long time and it's the healthiest sector i've seen. we're building market share in every cat gore. >> when it announced its investment plan early next yeare inors were skeptical and while the most recent results may quiet critics today the question remains wther the strength were both target and the u.s. consur is sustainable. for "nightly business report," i'm out me reagan. >> the number of retail stocks hit all-time intrad high, shares like nike, best buy, kohl's and costco. william's sonoma's results impressed the street. after the bell, the retailer reported stronger than expected earnings as strong online sales its results. the company said there was especially strong demand at its west elm and pottery barn kid and teens brand. it saw margins improve and said it w raising the profit and revenue.

the shares took off in after-hours trading and they ended the day up 2% at $62.61. nordstrom said it was launching a $1.5 billion buyback program. shares of nordstrom initially rose in the afterrs hnd they finished the regulareson down to 67 cents. it was buying navigator's group for $2 million. that deal willucxpand its profferings and give it a larger footprint. shares fell 50% to $50.16. shares of navigator rose 9% to $69.90. >> we often talk about the impact tariffs are having on businesses here at home, but in this rcinnected world, it is also important to get a sense of the impact abroa and that's wh eunice yeun did when she traveled to a factory in guangdong, china.

♪ na♪ c factory owner mark wong isn't shocked these days and the makers of lights a candle holders received the letter from the biggest customer, a u.s.r retai urging him to split the cost of a 10% tariff imposed on his products by the trump administration. >> 10% is too high, he says. it's just too much for any of us to absorb. fashions like this one have been the backbone ofcha's traditional exports for american household, but with labor and raw material costs up as much as 15% of last year, many manufacturers here are struggling. wong says more than half of his sales will be hit by the stariffs. so h looking for more ers in europe and the middle east dropping low-margin products and cutting back on sales to the u.s. >> we need to shrink our volumes and focus on whate do best, he says, otherwise we can't survive. wong said the wker yuan hasn't

brought relief and moving production out of china won work. >> it's not that easy to move the supply chain and he says that the raw materials and suppliers are all in the same tace and ons street alone there are 20 factories that are making led lights and candle holders just like wong. wong believes the trade war will last as long as trump is in power. at least two years, hesays. we can't afford orders that don't make money.il we won't ourselves just to stay in the u.s. market. >> leaving fewer choices and potentially higher prices. for consumers. for "nightly business report qwereport," an amerin factory in kentucky is expanding. >> coming up on "nightly busi tss report president's in position, and it's aluminum and steelnelping cert companies in the country restart the question now that china's hit back will other companies ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ the democratic national committee sayst stopped an attempted hack of a voter database that databas houses the information of tens of millions of voters across t country. the committee said it notified law enforcement and that no information was compromised and an official said it was not yet clear who was behind the attempted breach. the tarifimposed by the trump administration have affected numerous companiesn differe ways. jackie deangeles traveled to a manufacturer that's expanding and creating jobs and today because of the duties it'sre arting a smelter.

she is in kentucky tonight. >> as trade talks resume, tariffs on imported aluminum and steel have consumers optimistic that a more level playing field have a landscapend here a ribbon cutting today. t down ne which was s was now operational and the compy credits tariffs. at 60% capacity now, next year it will be at 100%. eit will cre 300 direct jobs and for every job here, three hers in the community. >> i feel like before the trump administration and befhe tariffs were signed that the aluminum industry in the u.s. was dying. it's all, but dead. now what we're doing is we're bringing it back to life and bringing the jobs back. >> this aluminum is high purity and the only kind. is is the only plant in the

country that makes it. this isn't just about creating jobs. it's an issue of national security. >> it's been absolutelyritical for national security that this country has the ability to aluminum.imary this product, as you know, goes into tank armor, armored personnel carriers, fighter j skins and just think, we were within six months a couple of years ago,s you well know of losing the ability in this country to produce primary. aluminum >> when the announcement was china rlier this year, hadn't hit back. it's proposed 100 soy products, leaving some experts asking if the aluminum win or ones like it are enough top make for other short falls that could be caused by a trade war. >> there may be some far we're , but so way ahead of the game. look at the unemployment figures. they're going down. lookt the fact that there are

now 6.6 million jobs and more than million workers without them. the economy is surging,th more 4 important 5% in the quarter and it doesn't feel like it's a bother pretty much, but across the country. >> global companies are more blamed tha ever. aluminum spiked 10% when the russian president threatened. hina exported more aluminum in may. some industries are restarting while others fear they could stall. for "nightly business report," i'm jackie deangeles, hogville, ken tuck. >> and finally tonight, apple's ceo has donated nearly $5 million worth of ahales to charity. according to an sec filing, tim cook gave more than 23,000 shares to an unspecified organization. executives are not required to disclose the recipient mr. cook has made similar donations in the past and he has

said that he plans to give away all of his wealth. before we go, let's take a look at the final numbers on the market today, set records for the longest bull run in history. the dow 88 points. the nasdaq was up 29 and the s&0 was down one. and who knows what tomorrow will bring? that is "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. we want to remind t you,s is your time of year your public television station seeks your support. we thank you for that support. have have a great evening. we'll see you again tomorro ♪ wo

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