this is "nightly business report" w wh s herera and bill griffeth. new high. the s&p 500 kicks off a big week of earnings at a record, and it may be because of what companies are not saying on their coerence calls. abc of earnings. alphabet's profits disappot but revenues rise as higher expenses take a toll on company's bottotoline. california on fire. from t north to the south, wildfires are spreading and once again the state's bigst utility is at the tcenter. se stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for monday, october 28th. welcome. evening, everyone and bill has the evening off. the s&p 500 closed at an

all-time high extending its gain into the fourth week as investors cheered corporate earnings. according to lpl financial today is historically the best day o the year f stocks and it stts the best six-month stretch for the ma det. toda not disappoint. the dow jones industrtrl average was up to 27,090. theed nasdaq a 82 and the s&p 500 rose 16. and as you know, earnings can often drive rallie but this move higher appeave to be d by what's not being said on all ofhose earnings conference calls. bob pisani explains. we're coming up on the halfway part of the earnings seas one word investors are not hearing is recession. plenty of issues out there but the u.s. consumer which is the engine of global growth istill holding up. we've been scanneding the conference calls. 32 companies have mentioned the wordsion and that along

with hopes of a trade deal is the major reaso the s&p is hiing record highs today. the consumerer holding up. bank and credit card ceos in partular have painted healthy picture to the area. richard fairbanks, o of capitol one said the s. consumer is in good shape thanks to its strong labor market, rising wages and lt year's tax ts. home builders have also tauted strong consumer spending. stuart leonardusaidmers don't seem to be viewing it that way and the housing market in general seems to be strong. then there are the autos and industrials. that's a far less rosie outlook. sgraco's outlookd the trade slowdown in china is putting strain on a industrialivity across the board over there. unlikely a recession will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. ood news.ry the economicarrative has shifted from recession earlier in the year to slower but more

stable growth, a far less dire scenario for 2020. for "nightly business report," i'm bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. globa markets are also in rally mode. itpan, france, germany and italy allng new 52-week highs in trading today. so let's turn now to larry adams to talk more about this record-setting market. hes thehief investment officer at raymond james. larry, nicic to have you back with . welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> is this move in the s&p 500 and the broader market sustainable in your view? >> i do think it's sustainable for a couple of reasons. you mentioned earlier in the show, there's no recession. asong as there's no recession that tends to be positive for the equity markets. the second reason, i tnk you're going to see an acceleration of earnings growth going io next year. when you have better earnings growth that tends to be supportive of higher equities. and third you'll see positive

seasonality. this tends to be the best time of the year. the fourth quarterends to have the best performance of the fous qu positive seasonality tends to extend into next year because when you have anye election , that tends to be very good for the equity markets 90me of th ou have a positive equity market, that's regardless of whether or not the o incumbe the challenge be ger wins. >> and what about the trade situation? because that has created so much volatility both on the up side and the down side for investst but you think the language or at least the optics have changed a little bit? >> yeah, ihink very -- if you looked earlier, there was a lot of hardball discussion that was taking place. i think wyou look at this upcoming meeting in november 14th and 15th in chile where you're goingee to president xi from china and president trump from the u.s. get together, i think they' going to to play ball and get something done because both of them understand the importance of gettinina deal done toelp support the economy

of both countries going forward. i think they will work very closely t get a deal and that will be a positive catalyst for the equity markets. >> we mentioned the fact that the overseas markets were all higher in today's trading session. would you beutting money to work in the overseas markets or do you think it's bettero be domestically invested? >> i still prefer the u.s. equity market over the international markets. first of all, if you do look at economic growth, it is still better here than in the u.s. anhat you're seeing overseas. the economies are struggling. that's bleeding through to earnings growthoo when you at earnings growth of u.s. companies, right now they tend to be much better than what you're seeing overseas. the other thing that's very important is you have tota unde what you're buying. when you look at the u.s. equity markets, we hava lot mor technology exposure. that happens to be one of my you're going to see that during this earngs session, that's an area to be in. that's why i continue t favor theu.s. equity markets.

>> larry adams, thank you so muyo. >> thank sue. an enks miss for google's parent company, alphabet. it hit its bottom line. the good news though, revenue was strong rising b20% investors focused on the weaker than expected earnings and the stock was volatile in initial after hours training. josh lipton has more. >> when alphabet reports, they make a beeline for google properties. that's the bread and butter,pr e erties that the company owns and operates like search and youtube.re that 19% to $28.7 billion. aaron chester said that was above his estimate. he notes that operating expenses came in higher thanxpted during the quarter, 13.7.7 billion. alphabet's ceo did note there were some unusual items in the quarter expining some o that. for examplpl $545 million expense related to a legal settlement. for "nightly business report,"

i'm josh lipt, san francisco. there were reports that alphabet was interested in buying fitbit and made an offer. thateport w enough to send fitbit shares up more than 30%. to the economy now and a new survey that shows hiring has hit a seven-year low.ve the s from the national association of business economists also found that fewer employers are raising pay. more businesses are reporting slower sales and profit groh in par because tariffs have raised prices. federal reserveic p makers begin a two-day meeting tomorrow. a dision on interest rates will be announced on wednesday. the market views the outcome as critical in part becauau it comes with the s&p 500 at new highs. mike santoli has more.r: >> repor with a break to a new record high in the major indexes just ahead of aederal rerve meeting, wall street finds itself in pretty familiar spot. in fact, the past five fed

meetings going back to march have come as the s&p 500 was approaching or was sitting at an all-time high and each time stocks began to dip or pull back anywhere from 2 to days surrounding that fed meeting. the st severe setbacks came after the mayay or july meeting which came in the thick of a reassuring corporate earnings season. investors are now asking whether this pattern will strike again with the fed widely expected to deliver its third rate cut in four months comg thiswe esday. but there are reasons to think the market is a bit less vol neshl leading up to this feded move. for one thing, the rally lately has been unusual broad and has beaten the beaten down cyclica sectors. this is a signar thet is no longer acutely fearful of a recession starting ver v soon ad investors are not seeking open-ended help from the fed the way they were in past months. treasury yields as well have begun to rise, especially longer term bonds which is the market's

way of suggesting it believes e fed can pause after one more rate cut potentially and to see if a soft patch in global growth firms up. and, of course, the calendar helps. november and december are two of year's best months for stocks at least historically speaking. now of course with stocks up some 7% since their august low, they might be expected to settle backlm ont any excuse or headline, but the market might also be in a better position to handle the fed's message this time around than it was in the spring and summer slowdown for "nightly business report," i'm mike santoli. the european uniond agr to a potential three-monte- brexit extension. the new date is january 31st. u.k. prime ministeris b johnson vowed to deliver brexit on october 31st but w forced to request a delay after he was defeated in parliament. the european council presidentt reluct accepted the postponement saying he had no choice under the law. boeing's o will make his

first appearance on capitol hill tomorrow to testify onhe 737 max crashes which killed 346 people. his testimony was released today and in it he will acknowledge mistakes and tell the senate commerce committee that improvements have been made to ensure that accidents like these never happen. it is time to take t a lookt me of day's upgrades and downgrades travelers was upgraded to buy from neutral. the analyst cites higher policy tes which are expected to persist next year and into 2021. the price target is $160. despite the upgrade shares of the dnt compo fell to $129.30. they cite an up beat earnings outlook. the price target is $24. the sto s was up 2.5% to $19.23. lululemon was downgraded to neutral from buy at citi. the analyst cites a pickup inhi

promotions could have weaker than expected rgins. the stock finished around that level, $205.97. microsoft was the best performing stock on the dow today. tris a aer landing a big defense modernization ct late friday. the contract is called jet eye but it has nothing t do with "star wars" and everything to do with the cloud. here's morgan brennan. >> reporter: after competition that stretched almost two years and was ripe with controversy, crosoft emerging victorious for the jedi program. the jedi is a large winner take all clout contract. the united states military will be a single data framework. it's valued at $10 billion. amazon, wch had been viewed as the front-runner, microsoft and earlier on ibm o andcle all viewed for the opportunity. analysts say this outcome will clve a big impact on the broader

market for d. >> i think for microsoft it's really a validation of its oader cloud strategyn terms of trying to go deeper with the enterprise customers they perspective. from a public cloud i think in terms of what it does for the numbers, it really doesn't move the numbers in any -- in a big way.ic >> reporter:so responding, quote, we will forge expanding our long-standing our support at the tactical edge with the latest unique, differentiated azure cloud abilities. we're surprised abo a the conclusion. a aws is clear leader in cloud computing and a detailed assessment on the comparative offering led to a different conclusion. amazon can protest the outcome but it hasn't said whether it wortd. ex think it may have grounds to in part based on some of the animus between president bezos that,quote, raises the

level of intrigue. one shareholder notes aws has been slowing but that amazon is still the market leader. >> still amazon has aotf head space beyond microsoft number two google cloud number three in the space. i think the one part abo a the jedi versus the difference about the general kind of aws or azure business is this idea of a network effect of these kind of app ecosystems, right? so that means that there's a winner take a dynamic if you look at an aws or azure and am on's still the clear in that. >> reporter: for its part the defense department issuing a lengthy statement. quote, the process clearedre ew by the gao and court of federal claims at the outset the competition included four all offers were treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation's stated citation criteria. as big as jedi is expected to be, it' oneiece of

modernization efforts and the pentagon sayit does anticipate additional cloud contracting opportunities. for "nightly businessneepmt," morgan brennan at the new york stock exchange. burning.california >> reporter: i'm jane wells in healdsburg, california. the governor has declared a state of emergegey. the state's companies are trying flames.he e step a we'll have that story coming up.

dest ctive fires are sweepin through the state and the winds are high. power has been shut off for thousands of people and the utility pg&e said that its pow skbrer lines may he started o wildfires over the weekend in the san francisco bay area. pg&e shares fel sharply again today as the iinkaide fire the north casts doubt over the bankrupt utility's future. jane wells reports from wine country in healdsburg, california. >> reporter: from north to south. >> they want to get people out of there safely. they'll worry about the structures later. >> reporter: california was on fire again. in southern california several new fires broke out including one along the 405 freeway which forced celebrities who live on

l.a.'s west side to flee. >> i personally saw five homes on tiger tail that have been lost but i saw them holding the lines there and that h n n spread further in the last couple of hours rfr up north in sonoma county the kinkaide fire doubled to over 66,000 res. over 180,000 people remain evacuate and more than 2 million people have been without power. pg&e turned o the power intentionally to avoid disaster but disaster came anyway. the winds were calm and the temperatures cold which slowed the progress of the fire, but a new wind event isxpected to start tuesday as pg&e is telling a lot of people it'ot going to be worth it to turn the power back on until after thatecd eventtlows through. >> what we're starting to get ready for is another red flag event. right now it looks like that's going to start stymied day tuesdaynd push us into wednesday morning. so we've got kind of a quiet 24 hour and tn we'reoing into another critical period. >> a map of pg&e&e outages show

how wide the blackouts in the state. down south so cal edison says it could increa. they report earnings on tuesday whicicwill give investors the first ideahat fires and blackouts are causing. pg&e whi isn bankruptcy reports next week. its shares continue to have their own sort of owerfailure. governor newsome is repofloatine idea that warren buffet buy it out of bankruptcy. even though cutting the powerows supposed to cut down on the chances of having a fire it may have,ut theire that is n this winery was possibly caused by the power that was not cut off. tiffany gets a proposal. that's where we begin tonight's market fofos. e jeweller confirmed it received a possible acquisition offer from french luxury goods maker lvmh. the financi detaiere not

released. it was for about $120 a share.y' tiff says it's reviewing that offer. its share spark s is up34% to $129.72. walgree will be shutting down about 160 in-store clinics as the drugstore chain looks to cut costs and bring in outside providers to help deliver walgreens quarterly results topped expectations thanks to high prices for patented drugs and prescription volumes. es up to $55.80. spotify posted an ehanings with active user amium eet subscribib numbers. the company's cfo will be retiring in janua after overseeing spotify's direct listing last year. ro to 16% to $140.20. the chicken processor sander son farms rose today thanks to china lifti its ban on american poultry imports.

reuters says this is part of the phase 1e trade deal in which the ban will be lifted. san derson farms rose to $155.71. after the bell beyd meat topped estimates as the company received new partnerships with restaurants seeking more plant-based products. beyond meat also raised its fl year outlook. the shares were initially volatile after hours and they closed the regular session up more than 4.5% to $105.41. also after the bell mirati therapeutic said its picks err imental treatment helped reduce tumors in early stage trials. the shares initially rose following the news and they closed the regular session up a frtion to $81.47. at&t reported better thanar expectedngs and reached a truce with an activist investor the company agreed to focus on the bottom line and not enter into any big takeovers in the

coming years. activistnvestor elliott management called into questiont strategy of making big acquisitions. as part of the truce at&t committed to stock buybacks. it willwo appoint new directors to the board and will conduct a review of its port ilio and will pay down debt. when you think of activists, you may think of investors who pressure a company to aggressively cut costs, but that's not always t case. leslie picker did some digging. >> reporter: when defending against activist investors, compans like at&tften argue that the outside input may not be best for the long ru elliott had been pushing at&t to focus more on the btom line andec cut out unnessary acquisitio acquisit but what if so-csoled corporate raters were actually corporate invators. at's the case that researchers from duke, columbia, yalend a host of otherchools are seeking to make in a journal of nancial economics.

their findings contradict conventional wisdom that slash and burn companies in favor of short-term profits, they found that activistsak actually coanies more innovative. dhey analyze publicly tra companies that were targeted by hedge funds between1994 and 2007. the academics found that while researchnd development spending dropped significantly in the five years after a hedge fund gets involved with the company, the number of patents and citations for patent actually increased. the study argues that outside intruders mak m cpanies mor m efficient when it comes to innovation. elliott hopes that its involvement in at&tan help move the company forward during this pivotal time in the telecommunications industry. for "nightly business report," i'm leslie picker. coming up, why even those with health insurance are avoiding seeking ce.

for more than 200 million americans who have employererased health insurance or by their cover through the federal marketplace, it's time to pick your plan for next year, but what type of insurance should you choose during open enrollment and how can you save money? you know who's here. ourr sen personal finance correspondent sharon epperson joins us with someer an great to see you, sharon. >> great to be here, sue. >> i was looking through some of this. it literally is an alphabet soup. there's a pph, hmo and one i had

never heard hdhp. what do people have to learn? >> the first thing you have to know is know when open emrollment starts, nr 1st for the federal marketplace. for many companies the beginning well.ember as know what they stand for. hmo is a health maintenance ti organi. know that's something that you'll pay less probably out of pocket but you have to stay in that networko that's more constricting. the ppo, which many employers offer and many people get in their employer will have a higher deductible, higherm premut more flexibility. you may not have to declare a primary care physician. a high dededtible health plan is increasing in possibility. if you can afford to pay that high ductible and if you want a heaah savings account attached to it. >> now that we know what all of those things stand for, what's the first step in open enrollment in approaching it? >> the first step in approaching it isunderstanding what health insurance needs are andhat heal insurance is. unfortunately, many people don't

know that. a new report outrom policy genius which is an online insurance marketplaceound that one in four people avoided care or treatment because they weref unsureheir coverage. they have health insurance but they're not sure what it's covering. was able that number, to correctly identify what a premium is, what a deductible is, what a co pay is. involved with you health s insurance and you need to know what they are and what you're paying efor. >>ent over some of the plans. you mentioned a health savings account. what's thee differe between a health savings account and at's called anffa. >> these are two ways you can save money for health care expenses. with a heanth savings acc you must be enrolled in a highi deductible health plan to do it. alsonow that any money that you put into that will roll over so it c an investment opportunity. you can invest that money. it is portable. it is yours. the difference b bween that and a flexiblend sg account, that's only really offered

through your employer. if you're getting coverage through the individual marketplace you can't get an fsa. the other thing to keep in mind is that it is not portable. not an investment option for that one. if you don'ton use it that particular year, or by the grace period, you're going to lose that money. >> that's good to know. >> that's important to know. >> when openen llment comes you' sitting at my desk, we'itre going througtogether. . >> just got toeview it. >> sharon person. >> sure. the new york stock exchange had an out of this world moment thning when the first space tourism company began trading. the company was created between the merr of richard branson's virgin galactic and a publicly mptraded shell y. that allowed branson's space venture to sidetep the traditional ipo press. >> i think it's a very big mimistmie. if the public wants to take a little, you know, dabble a little bit in the space, own a company, they can do so.ip we've managed to completely fund

it breaks even. through to >> the shares rose for most of the session but drifted lower andnded the day down just a fraction. the day's numbers on wall k at street. the dow is up 132.ed nasdaq a 82 and the s&p 500 rose 16 to close at a record. and that is "nightly business report" tonight. i'm sue herera. have a grere evening. we'll see you tomorr.

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