thi is "nightly business report" with bill griffeth and sue herera. good evening, everyone, and welcome to this special edition of "nightly business report." >> as youknow, the stock market was closed today as well as the treasury market in remembrce of our nation's 41st president, george herbert walke bush who died november 30th at the aiming of nt94. >> presirump declared today a national day of mourning with an executive order, closi the federal government. >> in fact the last time the market was closed to mark the death of president was back on january 2nd of 2007 in the wake of president gerald ford's >> indeed. and the nation's mood today was somber. the former president departedto the ca building this

morning where his body had been lying in state. family, friends and dignitiaries gathered for a memorial tervice national cathedral in washington. in the front row, presidents trump, obama, clinton and carter and their spouses. eulogiys were delivered by his son former president george w. bush, by former ngt prime minister brian mulroney. former senator alan simpson and bush's biographeren jon meacham. his body was felon back to texas where it lies in repose until tomoow when a funeral sfts will be held in houston. during his esidency,he stock market gains were solid. that's the best we can use for that. the dow rose 45% over the four years. the s&p gained52%. but the market gains were overshadowed by economic issues. issues that continued t fluence many of today's discussions. whether you are talking taxes or bankin or trade. president bush's economic imprint is still felt.

>> so help me god. >> in 1988 george h. w. bush was elected president. thanks in part to the low inflation and solid growth the nation exped during the agan administration. >> i am absolutely convinced i will be your next esident. thank you. >> but eight years earlier tiring a failed run for the republican nomi. >> a voodoo economic policy. >>r. bush gaves the term voodoo economics believing the math behind reagan's proposed supply side i had tax cuts didn't add up. still he s two terms at reagan's vice president. and while change again in 1988 he defended the tax cuts wh a promise. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> the reagan tax cs did leave president bush with growing budget deficits. and so in 1990 he famously his promise, signing a tax increase that some economists believe contributed to a

recession. and even though it ended in 1991 it still helped bill clinton win the992 presidential race, depriving mr. bush of a second term. higher taxes and that recesomon ed conservatives to revolt and caused a lasting divide that the gop still copies with today. bush alsos faced a banking crisis. r badeal estate loans put savings a loans out of business. and the bush treasury department, including a younger jerome powell tightened regulations. those fixes and spending cuts aimed at reducing defends, while unpopular for many aredi cd with helping to set the stage for the tech led boom of the is'90s. one of priest profile achievement he signed the americans with disabilitie act into law requires employers to provide reasonay accommodations to employees wita lities.

it imposed accessibility requirements on public facilities. president bush also engineered foreign policy wins, oversaw saw an peaceful kwand ending to the cold war in 1989 appear 1990. >> america won the cold war. >> and he put fourth of july a 35-nation led coalition that pushed iraqi forces out of kuwait in the 1991, sustaining the energy flow that powered the decades.economy for and there is still controversy about his decision to sign the firstrade deal between rich and poor countries. the north american free traem agret or nafta. the trade deal was latter ratified by a democratic congress under president clinton bd reworked by president trump whomed the old nafta for american job losses. but for george h. w. bush, the decision to sign wasn't about politics. as he did so often during his career in public e,se he

simply thought it was the right thing to do. >> let's talk more proce president bush's economic legacy with john harwood, he is outside the national cathedral in washington, d.c. always good to see you, john. bill just of laid out the template of the bush economic legacy. but of the things mentioned, what do you think he will be best remembered for on the economic front? >> on the economic front,th i k it's that budget deal. and you know, the lt couple years of his presidency lly were shaped by that recession. and that recession by the way began in the middle o 1990, before the budget deal, before the tax increase. and it actually end add few months after the tax irease wa enacted. however, it was a difficult step. it divided his party. he took t rat up from 28% where ronald reagan left it to

31%, in return for spending bcuts. and thget deal, although he didn't get much credit for it at the time and it was controversial contributed to his defeat in his 1992 re-election attempt, set the stage for t surplus that is occurred later in the 1990s followed by another budge deal of bill clinton that raised taxes. and by the 90s we had a booming economy and booming surplus. >> is he the last president where we had consecutive quarters of 4% growth or more >> this is t irony. bill clinton's campaign was "it's the economy, stupid." . the notion was that bush had been inatent toef economy. but in reality when you loo at statistics we were well out of the recsion by 1992. he was the lass president to reside o four consecutive quarters of 4% plus growth. that's remkable when you think people are yearning for 3%

growth. >> wasn't enough at that s time. johny there. let's bring in our next guest, barbara franklin, she became the highest ranking woman in the bush administration when ppointed at secretary of commerce. madam secretary thank you for joining us. >> delighted. >> and as fate would have it, as commerce secretary you led a presidential mission to china to open uphaarket to americexports. >> the president bush had the idea of sending me to china. to put it in context, if you remember the crisis at the square in 1989 in june. and we placed sanctions on china. and think president bush very deftly managed the sanction regime so that we showed displeasure with what china had done but we weren't going to

mess up the relationship completelyth however ag economic really stopped after tiannamen. ond there was a ban on high level government government contact. and it was after theelection, the loss in 1992, he called me the week after election and swad you to go to beijing. and i want to you meet with your counterpart to reconvene the u.s. china joint commission on commerce and trade. jcct, still meets. i want you to do that. andil that in effect restart the economic relationship between two country that is we really need to have this restarted. and he also wanted to smooth the relationship a bit, which was -- d been at a really quite a low point. and then the other thing was this would take away the span on high levovernment to government contact.

he thought the clinton tministration then would have a smoother way engage with china and to keep this commercial relationship going if that sanction were removed. >> right. >> and i'm happy to tell you we didn't know how we would be received. we threw a mission together very, very quickly because we were gng to go out of office. >> right. >> the chinese side delivered and we brought back a billion dollars worth of signed contracts between u.s. and chinese companies. >> it seems to me that the president doesn't get quite enough credit of bringingco in e ept of globalization. because not only was your mission successful but also the fa of the berlin wall, the beginning of a healthier economy in the now reunited germany. there were a lot of economic things happening around therl that happened on his watch, and some of which of course like china hstarted. >> well he absolutely did. and i think onhihe piece people don't really understand what he did. and he paved t way then -- my

mission was just a piece of that process -- paved the way for the great growth of the economic relationship between the u.s. and china, which is- has been the very bedrock of the foundation of that foundation of the relationship today. wee in a rocky patch. but i have confidence that we're getting somehow throu that. but i don't think the president -- of course he never took credit for anythi. >> right, right. >> as you said. i don't think he gets credit for what he did with respect to that relationship, u.s. and china, which is a very importantre tionship globally, economically today. >> jon, we heard repeatedly during the memorial service at the national cathedral, he was a gentle man. and he cared deeply about public service tohe united states, didn't he? >> well he also,bi , was somebody who believed in the institutions of american government. and that's what i think is so tellg about secretary

franklin's anecdote about being sent to china aftern his elect defeat. that was a very difficult campaign. >> right. >> i was covering h white house then. he took- that was a very difficult defeat for h to stomach. but he ran through the tape. he was concerned about continuity after he left so that president clinton would continue the dialogue with china. in fact president clinton did that. and china was admitted to the world trade organization by the end of this term. andhat sort of encapsulated in the famous note he left on the note of bill clinton that bill clinton found on his first day in office. where he said, bill, president now. i'm routing for you. your success is america's success. i think that reflects the the ethos of george h. w. bush. >> madam secretary, do you want to weigh in on that? i heard you a little bit in there? but h really has a remarkable legacy, does he not. >> h really does. and some of this shows his uality and strength of

characte he could be a tough minded andh decisive necessary, but always gracious and kind at the same time. this is leadership to me. and what he did with respect to getting the chinati.s. reship back on an even keel was leadership. and tt is what presidents do. and he did it without seeming to doing anything sometimes. >> right. ffortlessly.ook but he did. >> right. >> the great quality of this man i'm honored to have served and known him and barbara bus for 40 years. >> we are pleased you are with us as well. barbara franklin, the former commerce secreta and our own john harwood. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. thank you. >> still ahead, the day in business news and the surprise hidden in the latest report frov the federal re

a massive pharmaceutical acquisition was approve as well. takata shareholders okayed the $59 billion-dollar tak overover of shire. creating a drug powerhouse and shing it further into the rare diseases industry. it's t biggest acquisition by a japanese company but at this to the pharmaceudecal company load as well. to the economy and the housing market, which saw mortgage applications rice two% last week. according to the mortgage bankers association. volume wasearly 20% lower than the same week a year ago. expert say the 3-week decline in mortgage rates is not enough to get buyers back in t market in a notable way. and one reason is that prices remain high.af rd ability is at its lowest

level in a decade. meanwhile,heederal reserve latest survey on the economy was released this afternoon. and ito pointed modest to moderate growth through late november. but there was also a surprise. steve liesman joins us now. surprise?he >> well, you know, it started mod toast moder te growth, way it has. i don't know how long going back but then quickly transitions into this discussion of slower growth. and we really haven't seen much of it. in fact four districts report either slight or slower growth compared to the therior beige book which is the collection of economic anecdotes from t districts that comes out every six weeks or so. it says while firms remain positive. the quote is there optimism has wayned. that's a do youer note in the book that's generally been upbeat. tariffri uncertainty. ng constraints.

>> tariffs mentioned 39 times. >> 39 times. we've been t trackings number. it was zero in january. and it ramped up to 51 in the prior report. and now it's still a very elevated 39 process o this time. th word slow. 43 times. >> does that change anything in terms of what the fed ds on rates, the language has change, with we're seeing tariffs more frequently. >> i think that's a direct question. i want to back up a little bit before i answer. and i think the first thing is there is some evidence here for thn the market who are betting on -- or now believe that u.s. growth i slowing down. i don't believe the report at this point is as dower as down beat as they said. i think if the evidence of slowing continues, for example in the friday jobs report weet th adp number tomorrow that gives us a heads up on the jobs report. if that happens, if we tend to get a generally downbeat out look from the economic data,

certainly 2019 is in question. but we might be o thecusp. >> okay. >> a few more 80 oh-point down days in the got which i don't hope for but that could change the outlining for december. >> we will see how the beige book responds tomorrow. >> indeed we will. as steve mentioned, tfi ncial markets are closed today. and getting a bit of a breather after that almost 80 oh-point plunge. so what's next for stocks in we're joined by brian jacobson vestment strategist as wells fargo asset management. thanks for joining us. nice to have. >> you thanks for having me. >> we don't have trading today. we had an almost 800-point plunge yesterday. now we have the beige book. what's your best guess how rest of the week plays out? >> well it's probably going to be a ptty bumpy week. the beige book was a lot more negative than what i wasin expe it would be. now, kind of in a weird way investors might likeca that e it suggests the federal reserve can be patient with

hing rates. maybe hike in december and take a pause. the fact is that economic growth has been slowing. and that is a maj change from where we were a year ago when everybody was talking about nchronized global growth and now it's synchronized slowing. and how much slowinge will get? it seems we are having issues with optimism of business executives related to tariffs. that's one of the reasons whyth whole tariff situation between the u.s. and china is so important. >> two other events we have later this week tt will have market impacts, the opec meeting and then the jobseport steve was talking about. that could add to bumpiness. what are yours expectati there, by the way. >> the opec meeting -- they had a preliminary meeting today. it seems russia will go along tith production cuts. the m tomorrow might finalize as far as the details.c ld see oil prices rise in the wake of the opec meeting. nsen with the jobs report it

seems the s sus around 190,000 jobs, wage growth of 3.2% year on year. those are good solid numlyrs. probbove trend numbers. i think the danger is with the bij book, the indicator that maybe it's a bit weaker. we could be in f store more volatility as we enter into and get furtherhrough the holiday shopping season. >> we also saw in the beige book wage pressure continuing, and l thor market extremely tight. might we see that reflected in the friday repor as well? >> we could see wages rise. i think the expectaon is around a 3.2% increase year on year,hich is a sligh pick up from the 3.1% for october. from a historical perspective that's not bad as far as increase in pressure. if we have about 2inflation that's about 1.2% real wage growth. and honestlye could do a lot stronger than that before i think that it would become a problem. but, you know, traders are

does it oking at what tell us about next year, not just last month? it could be pointing to a build up of pressure. t's my expectation is steady as she goes here. >> on that note, wrieen thank you so much. brian jacobson with wells fargo assetement. >> thank you. as we mention opec is meeting in vienna tomorrow. and the stakesave never been brgher for that oil producing cartel. n sullivan has a preview of what will be an important and possibly contentious meeting. >> what a difference few months make. opec not only facing falling oil prices but perhaps the beginning of the end of the cartel. in june opec agreed to raise production. it was a move to counter rising prices and thehreat of lower supply from on coming iran sanctions but it miscalculated and was cght in the cro hairs of two trends. iran has been able to sell oil around the world and the united ates and russia continue to boost their production. >> i can't stress the importance of what's happening in oil right w.

a one-ier low. >> pricing crashed in november. posting the worst month in more than a decade. president president trump loves tweeting recently that lower gas prices are a big tax cut. tt our cut is a profit tax on opec. and it not only has to figure out how to dea a with trump the united states but also a break in its own ranks. this week the country of qatar shocking everyone, saying it's quitting the cartel because ito wants focus on natural gas instead of oil. >> our intention to develop a new gas project f>> export. s thursday's meeting opec expected to cut production likely by 19.3 million barrels of oil per day. but the markets will pay attention to what happens on friday as well. because that's when the saudis meet with non-opec member russia, what s ceynics call the real opecg. meetin so between expected cuts, qatar, cutting and running and the continued rice of the american oil juggernaut it could be a contentious couple of days in for "nightly business report"

i'm brayen sullivan. geral motors ceo was on capitol hill today for two days of meetings. mary barra met with the two senators from ohio and tomorrow she ischeduled to meet with michigan lawmakers. the meetings revolve around the auto maker decision last week to close four u.s. plants and lay off thousands of workers. phil lebeau joins with us more on that story and others. good to see you, phil. what is she telling the officials? and might these meetings changl her to close some of the plants? >> i doubt they're going change general motor as plans. i think general mot the plans and says these are wildly underused plants in terms of how much capacity is there. we need to make this decision for the good of general motors. hang said that, mary barra has been called to capitol hill in the past. sometimes she has done well, sometimesot done well. she realizes and generalotors

realizes it needs to listen to the lawmakers where the plants are closing and idled. at a minimum they have to say we understand the cwhcerns. can we do in the future to make investments there? but i wouldn't expect a commitment out of the meetings. >> while we ha you here, let's talk about driverless cars for a 'smoment. goog company way mow is launching the driverless cars -- how soon do you think. >> it's a long ways off. i think what you see is a grdual onension of the waymo autonomous ride share service. gradual in phoenix tmaybe move o the silicon valley and then slowly showing up in other cities a the country. i have to be honest. i would not expect in to be replacing uber any time soon. we're many many years down the road before you and i h e in chicago or new york are call up

and saying i need the car to pick me up. before we let you go, the hawaiians airlines cut revenue outlook. is it specific to them or are the airlines overall slowing down. >> no it's specific to hesaiian airlnd some of their issues. i wouldn't call them issues. but specific to their service within the islands in hawaii and the routes they fly there. the industry, overall, sue, a lot of the analysts looking at numbers say we have to raise the ecvenue projections for the airlines overallse they are doing better with bag fees, reservation change fees. the revenues are improves. >> this is more specific to hawaii than the industry overall. >> phil lebeau in chicago. thanks, phil. >> you bet. >> elsewhere, glass door is out with the of the best places to work. the survey is based on the iut of employees who voluntarily provide anonymo feedback about their job. the top three companies management consulting firm bane and company.

followed by zoom video communications a video confercing company and favorite of ours. in and out burger. rounds out the >> um-hum. >> coming up, president bush and his lovef fun, colorful socks. earlier this year we aired a story abo a young man named john con cronen who with his daut start add company making socks. john has downes syndrome top to him the socks represent more than just things to wear on your feet. the bright patterns allowed him

to spreadhappiness, awareness and fun. and and it was through a mutual love of colorful socks that john's friendship with bush 41 began. he looks at bush's seegly as trendsetter and trend. >> for a man averse to add las vegas and attention george bush sure did want you to see what was on his feet. >> i like a colorful sock. i'm sock man. >> the morel color the better. the preference leaned to red white and blou. entrepreneur john cronen of john's crazy socks and sent the president a box of someesf his favor soon on world down's syndrome day the president wore these socks john designed. john's george bush socks are sold out today. that he was oft 199a wheelchair the last several years all the better to off socks. if a fellow former president was stopping by for a visiting with clinton socks when sully the as

much as dog came on forward he -starred with the president and was with the president when he went to vote. there was sully dutyfully at the president's se after he passed. the president will be buried in ervicesocks in homage to in world war ii. jets in formation and the aviator wings. safe flight, mr. president. >> and thank you for watching ip ial edition of "nightly business report." i'm sue herera. >> and i'mil griffeth. have a wonderful evening. we'll see you tomorrow.

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