>> susie: investors here on wall street are worried about financial problems thousands of miles away as the debt crisis escalates in europe. >> if you have a very short-term horizon there's a lot of fear in the market, and until that fear is resolved the market could remain very volatile and potentially decline more. >> tom: key to the crisis? whether the problems in greece and portugal spread to other countries. you're watching "nightly business report" for monday, may 23. this is "nightly business this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. stocks plunged today as investors got the jitters over one issue, europe. >> susie: good evening everyone. stocks plunged today as investors got the jitters over one issue, europe. concerns about the financial health of eurozone nations intensified after standard & poor's issued negative outlooks on italy, and greece's prime minister warned problems aren't

over. >> tom: susie, the major averages closed at their lowest levels in a month. the dow tumbled 130 points, the nasdaq lost 44 and the s&p 500 was down almost 16. >> susie: europe's debt problems have been in the headlines for more than a year, so what's triggering this latest round of nervousness? suzanne pratt reports. >> reporter: when it comes to the european debt crisis, this is what wall street is most worried about. some call it the domino effect, others say contagion. what they mean is europe's sovereign debt troubles spreading beyond fringe economies like greece or italy. market strategist vadim zlotnikov says the biggest worry now involves germany, europe's strongest economy. >> the big question on people's minds is, to the extent that debt of the periphery needs to be cut or written off, how will that affect german banks? will they still be able to lend? and, if you start to withdraw liquidity from the markets in the nascent stages of the recovery, you could create more problems.

>> reporter: more problems might include a lack of capital in europe at a time when the global economic recovery is still fragile. experts hope at-risk european nations will implement austerity measures and make payments on their debt. nevertheless, that's still a big if. and we know how u.s. stock investors feel about uncertainty. >> if you have a very short-term time horizon, there's a lot of fear in the market, and until that fear is resolved, the market could remain very volatile and potentially decline more. >> reporter: european worries have also had a very real impact lately on the bond market. concern about the global economy has trigged a flight to safety. skittish investors have been gobbling up u.s. treasuries, sending bond prices higher and the yield on the 10-year down to about 3%. strategist alec young says lower treasury yields are generally bad news for stocks. >> when bonds are rallying, it often means there's a deterioration in the economic outlook and therefore a deterioration in the corporate

profit outlook. so, the decline in 10-year bonds, we think, is a harbinger of a weakening in the economic environment and a negative for stocks. >> reporter: to be sure, the european debt crisis isn't the only worry for stock investors. experts also recommend keeping a close watch on the fragile u.s. recovery, as well as emerging markets-- a huge engine of growth for the world. suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: concerns over europe's debt crisis spilled over into the oil markets today. crude prices fell sharply, down $2.40, to $97.70 a barrel in new york. the eurozone consumes almost a fifth of the world's oil, and if the region slows down, so will demand for crude. that may bring relief at the pump, but as darren gersh reports, it will come at a cost. >> reporter: this is one of those "be careful what you wish for stories." if you've been hoping oil prices would keep going down, you got

your wish today, but oil market guru fadel gheit says the forces driving down crude oil prices are not all welcome. >> nobody is really sure where we are going from here. are we going to get back into recession or the economy will start to pick up steam? obviously the news from europe is not very encouraging. slow down in china, so there are so many signals, if you will-- some of them positive, some of them negative-- and there are more negative signals than there are positive. >> reporter: china is now almost literally driving world oil demand, and manufacturing there fell to its lowest level in 10 months. platts also reported chinese oil consumption grew less than expected. factoring all that in, traders sent the price of oil down almost 2.5% today. that move means americans could be getting what they asked for-- cheaper gas, perhaps as low as $3.50 a gallon by june, though long-time oil analyst phil verleger thinks it could go even lower. >> whereas we were looking at $4

a gallon a week ago, we could be looking as low as $3 a gallon by july 4 if things slow down. >> reporter: and because americans are switching to conservation mode, driving less and buying smaller cars, verleger sees a lasting trend. >> we are going to see a softer petroleum market for probably the next year or so. >> reporter: but remember this? other analysts argue the potential for unrest in the middle east coupled with surging demand in the emerging markets should put a floor under oil. >> any drop in oil prices are likely to be temporary unless you have global economic slowdown. that is not in the best interest of anybody. >> reporter: falling crude prices are certainly not in opec's interests. the oil cartel meets june 8, and many of its members are counting on high oil prices to help keep their hold on power. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington.

>> susie: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: tomorrow, chrysler will formally repay $7.5 billion in bailout loans to the u.s. and canada. it comes almost two years after the automaker filed for bankruptcy. volcanic ash from iceland could cause trouble for travelers. the ash cloud is drifting toward the united kingdom and threatening air traffic. british airways and k.l.m. canceled flights tomorrow into scotland. a similar eruption last year grounded thousands of flights across europe, costing airlines hundreds of millions of dollars. and part of the mississippi river, shut since friday, has reopened near baton rouge, louisiana. a barge accident had closed a nine-mile stretch of the river to commercial traffic. still ahead, in tonight's "beyond the scoreboard," lebron rising, tiger falling. we look at two superstar sports brands headed in different directions. >> tom: more than 1500 police and fire rescue workers from

four states are working in joplin, missouri tonight. they're desperately trying to find survivors of a massive tornado that killed as many as 116 people last night. the twister cut a path six miles long and over a half mile wide. it destroyed homes and businesses across the town of 50,000 and severely damaged one of the city's two hospitals. >> susie: helping emergency responders communicate is a key business for motorola solutions. the company was created when motorola split its cellphone business from its government communications business in january. since then, the "solutions" business has been on a tear-- its stock is up more than 20%. diane eastabrook looks at the technologies driving motorola solutions and talks about its future with chairman and c.e.o. gregory brown. >> reporter: at motorola solutions innovation center, product marketing specialist anatoly delm shows me new ways the company is trying to make communities safer. at this mock command center,

video analytics help police dispatchers zero in on potential problems. >> for example, in the upper left hand corner there is a gentleman who's about to leave a suitcase at the bottom of the stairs at an airport. >> reporter: another new technology is a belt that monitors the vital signs of firefighters when they're on the job. >> the incident commander will often know that a firefighter is in trouble even before the firefighter knows they're in trouble. >> reporter: motorola solutions is also inside some of the nation's largest retailers, with handheld bar code scanners that let workers take inventory in a matter of seconds. >> i can tap on each of these individual tags and maybe find out what the size is, what's the style, is it on sale? that kind of thing. this part of the business-- known as enterprise-- had stronger revenue growth in the first quarter than its government communications side. >> reporter: still, chairman and c.e.o. gregory brown sees bigger potential in the government side of the business, despite budget cuts. >> i think, diane, what we've

been pleased with is, even though there are headwinds in government spending, not all government spending is equal. and, there is a high priority on national security. there is a high priority on interoperable, mission-critical communications, which has afforded us the ability to perform and reinvest and grow. >> reporter: with that in mind, what are governments buying right now? >> they want to make sure they have interoperability, so fire police, ambulance, local, state, municipal can have interoperable communications on the voice side. equally important though. and the united states is evaluating-- and congress is evaluating-- giving more spectrum to the first responder community in the u.s. it is critical that that happens. >> reporter: let's talk about the enterprise side. retailers continue to struggle. are you seeing evidence there is a turnaround in those businesses? are they willing to spend money again? >> we're definitely seeing that

they're looking to spend money again. and they have been a big part of the growth story of our performance over the last few quarters. last year our enterprise business grew 19%, so i think what happened is the macroeconomic implosion hit-- a lot of enterprise customers pulled back spending or froze it-- they're spending again. we saw it last year and we've seen it in q1 of this year. so far, knock wood, in the right place at the right time in enterprise and government. >> reporter: let's talk a little bit about the company since the split. how has it helped you better focus on this end of the business? >> all of the investment goes into innovation for motorola solutions. we wake up and go to bed every night only being concerned about our government and enterprise customers, so it's been liberating from a focus standpoint and we've gotten off to a strong start in q1. we've got to continue that into the balance of 2011 and 2012.

but, there's no distraction. there's no distraction on separation. there's no distraction on selling an asset or portfolio management. i've always thought this was the jewel of motorola and now we have it and we're excited about it. >> reporter: mr. brown, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you diane.

>> tom: u.s. stock indices lost at least 1%, with concerns growing about european government debt. here's how the day rolled out for the s&p 500 index. stock pricing was weak from the opening bell through the afternoon. let's pull out our time frame to the past 90 sessions. the index has been failing to make any post-recession highs since the end of april. instead, its seen a series of lower highs, and now lower lows,

for the past month. technology led the market lower. three big techs inside the dow industrials each fell by at least 1%. intel, microsoft and i.b.m. dropped, but on lighter volume. despite the drop, i.b.m. now has a higher market valuation than microsoft. it's the first time that's happened since 1996. one item that may have weighed on tech stocks could have been consumer electronics giant sony. the company warns of a huge net loss for its just-completed fiscal year, marking its third straight year of losses. the loss comes courtesy of writing off a previous tax credit, as well problems due to the earthquake and tsunami. commodity-focused stocks were also among the worst performers today. leading the drop in the dow industrials was caterpillar and its 2.3% fall. the selling takes cat to below its low last month and just

above its march low. late friday, the department of justice okayed its buyout of bucyrus. dupont was one of the weakest dow components, down more than 2%. volume was heavier than average as shares break down further, now looking for support at its march low. these big multi-national stocks also may have been hit by a strengthening u.s. dollar. the american currency has been trying to reserve this slide. since may began, the dollar index is up about 4%. we continue to see big volume in fertilizer maker mosaic stock. earlier this year, cargill announced plans to spin off its 64% ownership stake in mosaic. mosaic is selling stock as part of that deal, leading to the heavy volume.

although the share price bucking the most recent slide today, and j.p. morgan and stifel nicolaus both upgraded shares after this sell-off since january. krispy kreme doughnuts provided a sweet treat for investors-- a better-than-expected start to the year. krispy kreme's earnings jumped thanks to better sales at company-owned and franchised stores. investors had an appetite. the share price popped 26% as volume exploded. it takes k-k-d to a new 52-week high, just eclipsing the high from late last year. campbell soup's better-than- expected quarterly results have goldfish crackers and pepperidge farm breads to thank. the namesake soup business continues to be only lukewarm, though. that may help explain the tepid reaction in the market. campbell shares were down a fraction even though volume almost tripled. the stock has been trending lower since last september. finally, bond buyers were back, pushing bond prices up and bond yields down. the yield on the u.s. government

10 year bond is at 3.13%. that's re-testing the lowest yield, highest price of the year. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: business and investing >> tom: business and investing are about calculated risks in exchange for potential rewards. tonight's "beyond the scoreboard" looks at two individual investments that may be headed in opposite directions. rick horrow is a sports business analyst and c.e.o. of horrow sports ventures. nice to see you,. >> we'll begin in the nba when about a year ago the miami heat plunked down over

$100 million to lebron james. now the heat in the hunt for the nba finals for the first time in five years. is this investment paying off for miami and all the sponsors? >> absolutely. it's a per pettiation of a trend. mid 1980s i was the director of the sports authority, putting an arena together and-- the owner of the heat sat there with the commissioner, david stern. david stern said 32.5 million for a franchise, almost blew the deal. now forbes says the franchise is worth over $425 million. it validates people as an expansion city. it's not just the dolphins. all eyes are on south florida. it's an imponderable value. >> tom: you mentioned better than tenfold increase the heat has had since their beginnings back in the-- back last century here. just in the last five years, though, post championship season, 2006 it was 418 million. forbes now has it over that. thanks it to lebron james. when he announced he was coming to miami we asked tom zara with the branding firm interbrand about what is at risk. here is what he had to say,

listen to this. >> the single most important increment in his brand value will be his ability to win a championship. it has dodge him for the last seven year. he has not achieved that in cleveland. >> tom: most important thing for his brand and of course all the sponsors his ability to win a championship. which he hasn't done yet. >> he hasn't done that yet plus that decision was great in miami but alienated everybody else. he is three weeks away, potentially, from wing the first of many championships some say, the resuscitation of the brand of lebron james will then begin. >> tom: all right. meantime tiger woods has done something he hasn't done in 14 years. dropped out of the top ten rankings of world golfers. look at what has happened here with tiger woods. he's out of the top ten for the first time since '97, he is number 126789 he wasn't hon a-- won a major golf tournament since 2009. how badly damaged are his sponsors? >> well, off the course, he'll be okay. don't hold a bake sale for tiger woodses who is making $71 million, and a lot of it

is his commitment with ea sports and tag heuer and the equity deal with nike. but the bottom line is he continues to drop but continues to be this icon. and people can't get out of those arrangements now even if they wanted too. >> tom: the nike weigh was the big one for him in '96 when he first became pro. signed a deal with nike. here is what nike shareholders have experienced during the tiger woods years. share prices up by better than 240%. how much of that risk for nike going forward if tiger doesn't get back up in the top ten? >> they're tied at the hip. frankly f tiger continues his downward spiral that stock price may go down as well. lebron also a nike guy. so they are tied in on equity deals. contracted in the future, shorter and smaller. >> tom: final 15 seconds here, number of nfl teams have cut their front office salaries from miami to arizona, from new york jets to the san francisco 49ers. does this rachet up the pressure to get a deal? >> absolutely does. because now the common folk is affected. if they don't get a deal done by a couple weeks after the fourth of july we're risk the delay of the

beginning of the season and that is cataclysmic. >> tom: rick hor owe, c.e.o. of horrow sports ventures. thanks, rick >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: new home sales for april, and quarterly results from applied materials, autozone, medtronic and tivo. also tomorrow, our "word on the street" is size. we'll look at three smaller stocks in the restaurant, railroad and rental businesses which may be poised for growth. when it comes to safety, toyota needs to make some changes. an independent panel set up to review toyota's safety and quality issues has identified several internal flaws at the automaker. the panel was set up last year after toyota recalled millions of cars and trucks worldwide. among the panel's recommendations? giving toyota's north american leadership more power and boosting communication about vehicle safety across the company. >> tom: the justice department wants to stop h&r block from buying the maker of a rival do- it-yourself tax preparation product called "tax act." officials say the proposed

merger would stifle competition and raise prices in the growing market for consumer tax- preparation software. that market has expanded. 35 million people in the u.s. filed their taxes using online programs last year. that's up 8% from the previous year. no comment today from h&r block.

>> susie: we all know that money can't buy happiness, but tonight's commentator thinks having a child can add years of happiness to your life. he's tim kane, research fellow at the kauffman foundation. >> the decision to have a child is personal, private, sensitive- - but who knew it was so selfish? some people accuse modern parents-- especially the high- tiger moms-- of being narcissistic, even obsessive. but if having children was truly selfish, why are birth rates declining? in places like italy and japan, the birthrate is only half of what is necessary to sustain the population level. back to the point, is amy chua selfish? chua is the suddenly famous author of "battle hymn of the tiger mother," a fantastic book in my opinion, but also a kind of cautionary tale. her intense parenting is exactly

what makes many potential parents fret that they just aren't ready for children. economist bryan caplan says that's a myth desperately in need of debunking. bryan is a friend, and also what i would call a "dolphin dad." dolphin dads know that kids are less like clay and more like plastic. you can apply pressure, but they will bounce back to their natural shape eventually. twin studies show that parental influence is minimal aside from one key area: whether offspring love and respect them. too many couples delay having children because they wrongly aim to extend their own youthful freedom. that view mistakenly assumes children are a chore, not future best friends for life, which is how a dolphin dad sees them. the main point of bryan's awesome new book, "selfish reasons to have more kids," which is chock full of good research, is that more children will make you happier over your entire lifetime. and it will make them happier, too. i'm tim kane. >> susie: and finally, the unofficial start of summer is approaching with memorial day, but many people are ditching vacation plans this year because they can't afford it.

a new survey shows nearly one in four workers say they won't take a summer getaway this year. another 12% reported they can afford a vacation, but won't take one. while the majority will take some time away from work, 30% of workers plan to check in with the office on their days off. career builder did the survey, and says no matter what your budget, do find time to recharge-- either away or at home. >> tom: the erlier points was two young kids at home, i think sleeping in is a vacation in my house, i will tell you that. >> susie: i know the feeling. it wasn't so long ago i was going through all of that. >> tom: here here. that is nightly business report for monday, may 23rd. thanks for joining us. have a great night, you too, susie. >> susie: you too, tom. thanks for watching, everyone. hope to see all of you again tomorrow night.

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