>> tom: washington puts the finishing touches on extending the bush tax cuts. that's so real life businesses can start making real life plans. >> we're committed to putting another salesperson out next year. so knowing, we believe, that they're going to leave taxes where they are makes us feel better about that decision. >> suzanne: but that business owner says if the tax cut plan stalls, his hiring goal could be put on hold. you're watching "nightly business report" for wednesday, december 8. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

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>> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. susie gharib is off tonight. i'm joined by suzanne pratt. both mastercard and visa's corporate websites were down today, but not by choice. supporters of the controversial website wikileaks claimed responsibility for a series of cyber attacks. >> suzanne: tom, hackers flooded the sites with traffic, overwhelming servers and shutting them down. the attacks came after mastercard and visa both stopped processing donations to wikileaks. >> tom: other organizations that pulled support for wikileaks were also targeted. so, what can businesses do to protect themselves from similar attacks? erika miller reports. >> reporter: floods and hurricanes aren't the only disasters businesses need to consider. there are also potential man- made calamities, like cyber attacks. people who tried to connect to mastercard's corporate website couldn't for much of today. visa's corporate site was also targeted this afternoon.

no credit card sales were affected, but internet security expert raj goel says there's an important lesson here. >> no firm is too big, or too small, to be victimized. >> you may not be a direct target of an attack, but you can be the innocent drive-by victim of a large attack by someone else, because you share the same hosting company or internet service provider or i.p. address space with them. >> reporter: so, another lesson for firms is to try to minimize potential damage through redundancy. that can mean multiple servers in multiple locations using multiple networks. security expert john ottman has lesson number three: keep things as confidential as you can. >> people should only have enough access to sensitive data as what they need in order to perform their job. and that means that entitlements and privileges to data have to be carefully controlled. experts say lesson number four is not to scrimp on regular security reviews, a temptation during tough economic times.

>> good security and good i.t. systems are a business enabler. for most of our clients, if you have a good running i.t. environment-- whether it's your email is flowing-- there's no spam. there are no viruses. computers don't crash. your website doesn't go down. business just flows better. >> reporter: today's attack did not appear to compromise any personal data from businesses or consumers. supporters of whistle-blowing website wikileaks coordinated the attacks using hundreds-- perhaps even thousands-- of computers worldwide. that overwhelmed servers. experts say today's attacks show more needs to be done to protect privacy. >> large organizations-- particularly those that manage sensitive data-- have to acknowledge that they are targets and consumers need to demand protection and data privacy. >> reporter: today's attacks came from hackers on the outside. but security experts say the greater threat is internal. it's estimated that as much as 80% of data theft is done by insiders. erika miller, "nightly business report," new york.

>> suzanne: the other big story we're following? the tax debate on capitol hill. president obama today pressed lawmakers to finish negotiating and approve this week the extension of the bush tax cuts. tonight, washington bureau chief darren gersh takes us to where the proverbial rubber meets the road. >> reporter: is the cubicle half full or half empty? that's what the tax debate in washington comes down to for a small business like joseph w. mccartin insurance incorporated. extend the bush tax cuts and pass the agreement the president struck with republicans, and there will likely be a new employee sitting here next year. don't act and someone may lose a job, says owner mike mccartin. >> if we incurred a tax increase, the only place to cut it would be labor. >> reporter: mccartin employs 15 people in a small office not far from the proverbial washington beltway.

it's hard to imagine a couple hundred billion in tax cuts. it's easier to see what that means when you ask mccartin to measure what deadlock in washington could cost him. >> at a minimum we would have looked at a $20,000 to $30,000 increase in our tax burden and potentially a little bit more. >> reporter: despite all the controversy, most washington analysts think the tax cut package will pass, and mccartin is glad to hear it. >> we're committed to putting another salesperson out next year. so knowing, we believe, that they're going to leave taxes where they are makes us feel better about that decision. >> reporter: since his main expense is payroll, mccartin says the more generous tax benefits for equipment purchase won't help him. but it might help his brother. >> he just opened a restaurant on the eastern shore, and that will be a huge, huge benefit to him. >> reporter: the new tax cuts in the president's plan will go to consumers. that won't help mccartin's business directly, but it should

help support the economy next year. and that should help support his plan to hire more people in 2011. >> and this gives us the opportunity to know that there is some additional funds available to do that. >> reporter: and with an unemployment rate around 10%, there are a lot of people who'd be happy to fill this cubicle next year. darren gersh, "nightly busins report," washington. >> tom: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: another day of relatively flat trading, the dow rose 13 points, the nasdaq was up 10 and the s&p 500 added 4.5. volume backed off a bit from yesterday's pace, with 1.1 billion shares moving on the big board and 1.8 billion on the nasdaq. last week, pepsi announced plans to take a $4 billion stake in russian fruit juice maker wimm- bill-dan. today, the s.e.c. sued a group of unknown investors who purchased 400,000 shares of wimm-bill-dan just ahead of that deal. the stock jumped almost 30% on the pepsi stake, giving those investors a profit of almost $3 million.

a major test of nasa's plan to privatize some space shots. cape canaveral hosted the launch of a private rocket owned by spacex. the "falcon 9" launch went off without a hitch. nasa wants to hire spacex to use that rocket to carry cargo to the international space station. >> suzanne: still ahead, is hilary kramer still holding her health care picks from last week? she's tonight's "street critique," guest and she takes your investment questions. >> tom: the federal reserve's effort to jump-start the economy is concentrated on making sure banks have plenty of money to lend. but more than half the banks surveyed by the federal reserve say demand for commercial loans hasn't changed much in the past quarter, and a quarter say loan demand has dropped. i recently spoke with ian ratner, principal at glass ratner, a financial advisors firm that works with banks, and began by asking if banks are in good shape to make loans.

>> i think that there are a number of banks that have very strong balance sheets, and they are in position to make loans, and i think they would like to make loans to credit-worthy borrowers. >> tom: credit-worthy is the key phrase. match up the credit-worthiness and the demand for loans. are they matching up? >> i don't think they match up. the banks may want to make loans, but there are a lot of borrowers who are not in a position to take on credit. >> tom: you talk about loan demand. we spoke with the c.e.o.s of the 13th largest bank, and the 148th largest bank. i want you to hear what they had to say about loan demand. here they are. >> i believe you'll see a material increase in loan demand. i believe it will come in small businesses. i believe it will come in large businesses. i believe consumers will be more confident. >> we've seen a little bit

of a pickup. it starts with the bigger companies. we have companies in down-state illinois like the world headquarters of catepillar. we started to see them pick up in hiring. >> tom: are bank c.e.o.s just optmistic that loan demands will be coming bab soon? >> personally, i think they're a little optmistic. there are a couple of reasons we wouldn't see that much of a pickup. number one, the borrowers may not be in a position to take on more debt. and frankly, we've had a lot of borrower clients spending the last four, five years cleaning up their balance sheet. they're not anxious to relever at the same pace as they were in the past. >> tom: they don't want to take on new debts at this point? >> right. >> tom: talk to us about the overall market when it comes to the banks' ability to lend. what about the commercial lending mark and commercial mortgages? >> i think the commercial

real estate business is in a lot of trouble. and not only at the bank level, but also in the cnbs market, which is the commercial mortgage-backed securities. some 10% of the commercial mortgages are in default. a lot of the banks have some very disasterous commercial real estate on their balance sheet. >> tom: is 10% a significant number historically? >> it is mind-numbing. we're talking about close to $100 billion of real estate in default. >> tom: a couple of years after the financial industry almost came to a standstill, can you say with confidence, whooshing with banks -- working with banks big and small, that banking is more stable than a couple of years ago? >> i think many of the banks that have cleaned up their balance sheet are in strong shape. but i think there are many small banks and community banks and medium-sized banks are in trouble and

perhaps don't have the wherewithal to work through all their troubles. >> tom: ian ratner with the firm glass ratner. >> suzanne: there's finally a framework in place to unwind the government's huge stake in a.i.g., and it puts uncle sam in the driver's seat. it will happen in the form of stock sales, with the treasury dictating terms and frequency. the idea is to cut the u.s. taxpayer's stake in the insurer from 90% to less than a third. a.i.g. will hold at least two common stock offerings a year

until it hits that threshold. tom, just yesterday the treasury finished unloading its stake in citigroup. taxpayers earned $12 billion on their $45 billion investment in citi. >> tom: suzanne, a.i.g. shares were active on the news, falling 4%. they were the biggest drag on the financial sector today. let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." while a.i.g. was the loser among financial stocks, it was a different type of insurance company that was the biggest gainer: lincoln financial. the life insurer's stock rocketed higher by 7.5%. volume was three times normal. asked at an investor conference about the rally, lincoln's c.e.o. said it may be tied to higher interest rates. but he didn't think that's the only reason. now regional banks also did well. this exchange traded fund made up of regional banks jumped 2% on strong volume. the rally takes it to its highest price since july.

among the biggest gainers? fifth third based in ohio, zion's in utah and alabama's regions financial were each up more than 5% on stronger volume. there are building expectations that loan demand is picking up, which can be good for the banks. the sharp rise in interest rates this week may also help the financial industry in the outlook. and that move higher in borrowing costs continued today. the 10-year bond yield is at a six-month high again tonight. on monday, rates were just below 3%. the bond selling has picked up with this week's tax cut deal in washington. remember, as bond yields rise, bond prices drop. the golden arches saw business pick up last month thanks to its mcrib, but the sales gains werestreen's appetite. mcdonald's was the biggest dow stock loser, dropping 2%. but m-c-d hit an all-time high just yesterday. november same-store sales were

up a dissapointing 4.8%. one other dow component to mention, home depot. the stock is over $34 per share for the first time since may. it raised its earnings guidance for the second time in two months. airline stocks hit a tough patch, hurt by jet blue cutting its revenue outlook, blaming its strategy of not cutting airfares during the holiday travel period. meantime, american airlines says business travel is picking up. still, both stocks were caught in a down-drafts. jet blue fell 4% on its disappointing guidance. the parent of american airlines fell more than 3% even though it's optimistic about next year. the first of three companies competing with experimental weight-loss drugs finally received an okay from a f.d.a. advisory panel. orexigen was the third of the three competitors to have its medicine evaluated. the f.d.a. group said the benefits of its weight loss treatment outweigh the risks. shares almost doubled on the endorsement, up 84% on an explosion in volume. as you would imagine. two competitors have failed so far to get the recommendation panel's okay. and those others saw some spill- over buying from orexigen. vivus was up 15%. arena gained 11%. finally, filling blind spots may be a boon for gentex.

the company makes rear-view mirror displays. the stock added another 9% today. it is up 50% in the past two weeks. the rally was sparked by a new law requiring back-up cameras on new cars by 2014. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: from health care to holiday spending, tonight's "street critique" guest has been doing some stock shopping. she's hilary kramer, editor at gamechangerstocks.com. she joins us from the nasdaq.

>> tom: always nice to see you. welcome back. >> thank you, tom. a pleasure to be here. >> tom: a week ago you had three health care picks, shire far pharmaceuticals, and then you also like brookdale senior living, up better than 5.5% in the past week. let's tackle shire first. do you still like it after the small rally? >> i love shire. it is not just a one-trick pony. you have orphan drugs and the franchise globally. >> tom: as we mentioned last week, hilary, we were inviting you, the viewers to be with us. and he asks, why brookdale instead of five-star quality share. b.k.d., up 20%. five-star quality care, f.v.e., 122% return over

the past 12 months. why not get this big, explosive growth with five-star? >> they're both extent companies, and certainly with five-star, there is a much bigger chance they'll be acquired sooner. when it comes to scale, brookdale is a 2.4 billion market cap. with five-star, it means they have purchasing power. they have buying power, negotiating power for everything from insurance to buying drugs. they're both great companies, and if you had to bet which one would be acquired, it would be five-star. but there's tons of acquisitions and consolidations coming in this sector. >> tom: and that's why you looked optimer, and gail sent us a blog. optimer is without any product on the market, and a drug against gastrointestinal requested. is it really risky? we've seen optimer and the

price is still $10 per share. >> this is a stock that could easily go to 15 in the next year. yes, it is speculative and risky, i believe there is a 90% chance of the f.d.a. will pass and accept this drug. and the company has already projected $300 billion to $600 billion annually. >> tom: you've been shopping this holiday season, you like zales, z.l.z.. it's been losing money. what's to like? >> jewelry sales are very hot this season. on black friday, they were up 22%. and the market share in general went from 11% to 22%. and online shopping increased 17% year-over-year. and zale was a company left for dead. wall street doesn't like it, they've dismissed it. but they've turned themselves around. $650 million line of

credit. you're going to see zales come back to life. >> tom: hilary, this quartet of stocks, do you have positions? >> i own all of them except for zales, but i will be building a position in zales. >> tom: you e-mail us at streetcritic.com. or n.b.r.s feed at twitter and facebook as well. we'll feature some of your questions next week. our guest this evening, hilary kramer at krame kramerstocks.com. >> suzanne: here's what's happening tomorrow: we'll see weekly jobless claims and october wholesale trade. and when you're not watching "nightly business report," do you feel like there's nothing on television, even though you have hundreds of channels? you might find greater selection if your t.v. was connected to the internet. we look at the players in this new tech space. speaking of t.v., do you want 24-7 access to some of your favorite disney shows and movies

like "high school musical" and "grey's anatomy?" netflix can give it to you. a new deal lets the online streaming service offer disney movies and content from the abc network. subscribers to the new netflix monthly service can watch the shows two weeks after their original air date. >> tom: top u.s. newspaper publishers say advertising trends are getting better. mcclatchy and gannett both expect ad revenue to continue improving next year. bright spots include classified ads and more recently, employment ads. the reversal of fortune comes as newspapers struggle to stop a four year decline in ad spending, as advertisers use online destinations like google and facebook. euu

>> suzanne: while tom talked about the state of business lending earlier in the program, individuals are also facing a tougher time borrowing money. in tonight's "money file," the rise of a new option: p2p lending. here's john simons, editorial director of personal finance a "black enterprise." >> peer-to-peer lending networks are the facebooks and myspaces of money. but instead of collecting friends, loan-seekers look for individuals who want a better return on their money than they might get from a savings account.

loan amounts vary anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand. in the u.s., the largest p2p lenders are lendingclub.com and prosper.com. as traditional banks have become more tight-fisted in recent years, p2p lending has really taken off. in 2007, the dollar amount of p2p loans outstanding in the u.s. was $647 million. that figure is expected to grow to nearly $5.8 billion by the end of this year. here are some strategies for getting your p2p request funded: pay special attention to your credit score and other indicators of your financial health. to participate, you'll need a credit score above 640. it also pays to have a low debt- to-income ratio, and a solid employment history. be honest, upfront and clear about the purpose of the loan. transparency is key. be persuasive. convince potential lenders that

you're a good credit risk and offer a glimpse into your character. remember, people who contribute to your loan are attracted to p2p lending because they want to help people. if a potential lender asks questions, answer as soon as you can-- while you still have that person's interest. good luck. i'm john simons. >> suzanne: finally, when it comes to sales of flat-screen tvs, we could see a surprise this year. the l.c.d. television market in the u.s. is expected to see its first ever year-over-year decrease. research firm i-suppli predicts just under 32 million l.c.d. tvs will ship this year. that's down from just over 32 million last year. tom, why, you ask? a lack of consumer confidence amid high unemployment, and many people already have at least one flat panel t.v. i don't even want to tell you how many i have in my household. >> tom: sometimes one is enough.

it all goes back to supply and demand. >> suzanne: absolutely. that's "nightly business report" wednesday, december 8th -- >> tom: i'm tom hudson, thank you for joining us. and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

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