>> tom: call it a crude awakening. oil prices rebound 5%, moving up along with the stock market. >> people, rightly or wrongly, correlate the strength with the equity markets with potential demand for energy. >> susie: then, we ask loew's co-chairman andrew tisch about his energy companies and hotels, creating jobs and what it will take to fix the u.s. economy. it's "nightly business report" for wednesday, october 5. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. stocks rallied today on a wave of optimism about the u.s. job market and some encouraging developments about europe's economy. tom, officials in europe are talking about propping up the fragile financial system by pouring money into european banks. >> tom: and susie, those hopes that the global economy might be recovering also pushed up oil prices. in new york trading, crude futures rose to $79.68 a barrel-

- a $4 increase. it's a sharp rebound after months of declines. >> susie: there are pros and cons to higher oil prices. erika miller takes a closer look at what they mean for consumers and the economy. >> reporter: oil prices may be up sharply today, but it's important to keep perspective. crude is still within striking distance of lows not seen in over a year. at the pump, gasoline is averaging $3.40 a gallon, a 67- cent drop in the past 12 months- - which is nearly 25%. trader ray carbone says for months now energy prices have been taking their cues from the stock market. >> when people have doubts about equity markets, they have doubts about demand. >> reporter: but it's not just demand that's driving the market. it's also supply. oil traders are expecting the return of libyan oil to the market for the first time since march. even so, analyst fadel gheit does not think the bottom will completely fall out of crude prices.

>> there are so many factors-- economic as well as geopolitical factors-- that are setting a floor for oil prices which i think are about a $70 bottom. how high can oil prices go? speculation aside, i don't think oil prices should be above maybe $90. >> reporter: if energy prices rise, it's bad news for american consumers and the economy. economists estimate every 50 cent increase in the price of gas takes $50 a month out of drivers' pockets. for the nation as a whole over a year, it works out to a $70 billion hit to the economy. there's more bad news. even if crude prices do decline in the coming months, gasoline and heating oil probably won't fall as much. >> refined products have enjoyed relative strength versus crude, because refiners have to make money, and they can cut their refinery runs to diminish the supply to keep prices up.

>> reporter: understandably, many drivers and heating oil customers are hoping energy prices decline. but a sharp drop could also have a downside. >> we don't want oil prices to collapse, because that would mean a major symptom of weak economy. we don't want that. >> reporter: so, as odd as it seems, gheit is hoping energy prices rise slowly-- reassurance the economy is not running on empty. erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: u.s. crude oil wasn't the only energy source with higher prices. brent crude rose almost 3% to $102.73 a barrel. heating oil also jumped today, up 2% to $2.78 a gallon. as we mentioned, stocks traded higher in tandem with energy-- the dow rose 153 points, the nasdaq added 55 and the s&p 500 was up almost 13. better than 20 points. >> susie: despite that progress we told you about with plans to

back stop european banks, greece was hit with fresh protests over that nation's tough new austerity measures. from airports to the acropolis, a 24-hour general strike by public workers virtually shut down the country. public workers there are protesting plans to cut an additional 30,000 state jobs and levy additional taxes. meanwhile, protestors marched on wall street again today, with an estimated 3,000 people participating. the group behind the protests, "occupy wall street," says the wide-ranging movement is gaining traction. >> tom: a big beef for those protestors is jobs, or the lack thereof. we'll get definitive news on employment from the labor department on friday, but there was conflicting data on the job front today. first, the good news. u.s. companies added 91,000 private sector jobs last month, according to payroll processing firm a.d.p. the increase came largely in service-sector jobs and from small- and medium-size firms. another report set a much more pessimistic tone. outplacement firm challenger, gray and christmas says

employers announced plans cut nearly 116,000 jobs in september. that's 126% higher than august. everyone in washington can agree on the need for more jobs, but at what price? senate majority leader harry reid today launched a plan to pay for the president's jobs bill-- a 5% surtax on millionaires. reid says the tax on income above $1 million would generate $450 billion, enough to pay for the entire jobs bill. the majority leader wants to take it up on the senate floor this week. >> we're going to do everything we can to get americans back to work, even if means millionaires are going to have to contribute a little bit more tomorrow than they do today. >> tom: still, reid and his fellow democratic in the senate admit they'll need republican support to get the 60 votes needed to pass the jobs bill. >> susie: jobs and finding solutions in washington is topic "a" in corporate america.

that's what i talked about today with the head of loews. the giant conglomerate owns c.n.a., the insurance company. it's a big player in energy through its diamond offshore and boardwalk pipeline businesses, and it runs the luxury loews hotels. as we continue our series "how to fix the economy," i asked co- chairman andrew tisch about hiring plans at loews. >> we're adding jobs specifically where they are needed. we're adding a tremendous number of jobs. but as the hotel business continues to strengthen, we're adding jobs there. but for the most part we are being very, very cautious about making any additions to staff. >> susie: do payroll tax breaks encourage you to do more hiring? or do you need to see something else happen? >> i think the demand is really what stimulates our desire to hire more people. if we don't have the demand for the jobs, no tax break

that they give us is going to be that important to us that we would hire somebody when we wouldn't really have a need for. >> susie: a lot of concerns about europe going into a new recession. if that happens, what impact would that have on loews' praise? >> i'm not really sure. it won't be a direct effect, but it will be, if there's more tourism because of the european currency drops significantly, that will affect possibly our tourism that we have here in new york city, and may affect our hotels in new york or florida. so it's an indirect effect for us. >> susie: do you think that the problems in europe will tip the u.s. into a recession? and are you preparing for that? >> it could indeed tip the u.s. into a recession. but there are enough scenarios where the u.s. doesn't need up

to get back into a recession. so we're not looking at europe as the one cause. are we prepared for it? we hope we are. we've certainly talked about it enough, and done enough what-if scenarios. we are being very cautious about capital allocation, we're making sure that we have a significant amount of cash. right now we're sitting with about 4.2 billion in cash at the corporate level. and we're making sure that we stew ward that cash as well as possible so that if indeed there is a recession we have plenty of money not only to weather this storm but to take advantage of opportunities that may present themselves. >> susie: is there any one thing that you'd like to see congress or the white house do or not do that would give you confidence to expand and invest in your operations? >> well, the one thing that would give me the most confidence is if congress and

the president were to come up with a solution that addresses the government spending and the deficit issues. i think we, and i presume many other businesses, i know for a fact many other businesses want to see congress start to at least address the issues on a bipartisan basis. we want to see more ideas coming from the center and not demands coming from either of the wings. >> susie: from your perspective, how long do you think it will take for the u.s. economy to bounce back? >> i think it's going to be several years. and several years, at least three. i believe that washington can either prolong it into a much deeper recession, much longer lived. for if they come up with good

solutions, they can shorten it by a little bit. >> susie: andrew, thank you so much for your time, great talking with you. >> great talking with you, thanks. >> tom: as we continue our focus on jobs, we head to arizona. it's a state where the economy was decimated by the housing bust. the number of construction jobs there has dropped by more than half since the market peaked in 2006. as mike sauceda of our arizona bureau at phoenix's pbs 8 explains, the region is seeing a small comeback in construction jobs but the gains aren't being driven by a roaring economy. >> this is the sound of construction jobs being added in arizona. a massive hail storm hit the phoenix area last october, damaging roofs and air conditioners-- a factor leading to more construction work in the grand canyon state. before the hail, the state was pelted heavily by the housing

crisis and a shadow inventory of 60,000 foreclosed homes that have not been sold, or homes being held back from the market, but the clouds appear to be breaking. for five straight months, arizona has seen a slight increase in construction jobs after years of huge losses. the new jobs are putting people like pete dale back to work. he was without a job for a year. >> nothing to do-- just it was a shock. i'm used to being really busy and it was a shock. financially, it hurt. thank god my wife still had her job. i had some investments and some money saved up. financially, it did hurt me a little. took away from my retirement. just a few weeks ago, dale was hired as a supervisor by lyons roofing, a phoenix firm. ann pepper of lyons roofing says the outfit had to add nearly 50 employees to a staff of 75 quickly after the hail storm hit. >> it's not just growth. i mean, we've had the best year we've ever had. we still have work and will have work, like i said, through the

first quarter of 2012. >> reporter: but home remodeling and repair also are creating jobs. rosie romero is a long-time contractor and hosts a radio show on home improvement that broadcasts throughout arizona. >> you know, what we're seeing right now is those folks that wanted to remodel in '06 or '07 or '08, and then the economy did what it did, and they caught their breath and then they held their breath for the last three or four or five years. well, now they're exhaling a little bit and saying, "you know what? i'm going to do that project that i've been waiting four years for, but i'm going to scale it back. i'm going to scale it down." >> reporter: aruna murthy is an economist with the state of arizona who tracks employment figures. she says arizona peaked in 2006 with more than 247,000 construction workers, a figure that has fallen steeply to over 113,000. but there has been improvement. >> since march of this year, i think for the past five months we have seen a month-after-month increase. we have seen a total increase of about 8,200 jobs.

until and unless we find a long- term trend in gains, i wouldn't feel comfortable in saying we are out of the woods. murthy says among the construction subsectors, the biggest increase is in specialty trades-- workers who do remodeling and repair-- so >> reporter: the increase in construction employment may be small, but it is welcome news to construction workers like dale, who have weathered the storm of unemployment. >> just happy to be back to work. >> tom: tomorrow, our focus on jobs moves to houston, where the energy industry is facing a different jobs crisis. it can't find enough qualified engineers and other oil workers fast enough. >> susie: still ahead, putting your money to work. "street critique" guest hilary kramer explains why she's taking a fresh look at small-cap stocks. >> tom: we reported on the energy rally today. stocks also climbing for a

second session in a row. let's get you updated with tonight's market focus. they buying picking up late in the day, nice bullish sign, closing close to their highs of the day. with today's gains, the s&p 500 cuts its losses on the year. the index is down 9% since january. it remains out of bear market territory since its april high. economically sensitive stocks led the gains. steel maker allegheny technologies rebounded 8%. it hit a new 52-week low yesterday. same for fertilizer maker c.f. industries, which popped almost 8%. in energy, refiner tesoro jumped almost 14%. coal producer alpha natural resources gained 13% after closing at a new low last night. leading the dow was disney.

the stock jumped 5.5%. volume was heavy after sitting at a 52-week low last night. tonight, over $31. citigroup upgraded disney to a buy. among the tech leaders? cisco systems, up almost 4% on very heavy volume. cisco shares have been struggling this year, admitting in april it has disappointed its investors. yahoo continued its rally, up another 10%. look at the move. volume tripled. investment bankers are preparing to shop around parts of the company-- or the entire thing-- as yahoo looks at strategic options. today's rumor was that microsoft was interested in the company again. 3.5 years ago, yahoo rejected microsoft's buyout efforts. but after the close, the "wall street journal" reported microsoft is not interested in yahoo these days. buyout rumors also were swirling

around research in motion. shares popped 12% today on heavy volume and are up more than 20% from its most recent low, hit earlier this week. close to $20 per share. reuters describes the buyout rumors as vague. shares did touch a six-year low when they dropped below $20 this week. of course, research in motion's troubles stem from a lot more competition in the smartphone market. in august, the company came in third in market share, behind number one google and its android phones and apple's iphones at number two. speaking of the iphone, omnivision continued to find buyers. this company makes semiconductors for camera phones, and some think it may be involved in the newest iphone, introduced yesterday. leading today's buying interest. and finally, an earnings beat and miss. seed and farm chemical company monsanto rallied 5% after a smaller-than-feared loss. retailer costco fell almost 1% after a disappointing quarter.

it also announced it's raising its membership fee. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: while the major market stock indices have held just above bear market territory, small-cap stock averages are down more than 20% of their highs this spring. tonight's "street critique" guest is looking for big value among small stocks. she's hilary kramer, editor of

gamechangerstocks.com. you've liked small caps for a long time, and you're ordering up ruth's hospitality group, known for its steak house. ruth, this stock is well off its high hit earlier this year around $7 per share. it at $4 and change. what will fuel this higher? >> ruth has very loyal customers, but the price of beef is also looking to drop. so those margins will improve. and ruth is actually a growth story, five consecutive quarters where growth has increased. and as we go into the holidays i think we're going to have some surprises to the up side here, because it's a destination for special events, rather than for business travelers. but fundamentally the bigger picture is that even though i've been on the last few weeks talking about big cap dividend yielding stocks, you know, your point tom is so well taken. these small caps have been decimated, there's some real

value, deep value, deep down with these small caps, that really investors shouldn't avoid them. this is a chance to really pick up some good opportunities. >> tom: small caps come with a lot more volatility, and we've seen that with some of your previous picks. we've got some questions on those. david sent thus e-mail asking about trans 1. do you think it will regain hits oh men tum any time soon? it's up about 9%, but well off the highs when it was $5 and change. >> we actually did have close to a double here, and for quite a while, right, we had staying power with it. but it, but trans 1 which has an advanced back surgery devices for spinal fusion, has come down, officially they had to, there was a little bit of a liquidity that they needed,

there was some dilution that occurred here. but as we can see more reimbursements come in, like humana did, so it was beautiful last january, we're going to see trans 1 come back. that i believe in. >> tom: michael sent us this note. he asks, citi, it's the one for ten reverse split, now at 2.30 presplit price and i've lost a fortune again. a lot of people have here, december 29 you liked it. split adjusted at 4.77. it's at 24.7 '3. so you like it at $47 split adjusted. how about citi? >> it's a long haul with the financials, it's really unfortunate, but europe has brought them all day, even the ones that are healing their balance sheet like citigroup. it's no different with j. p. morgan or goldman sachs, or mark began stanley in the low teens. >> tom: are you still holding onto them? >> those i'm holding onto,

i've even buying more financials. >> tom: do you own everything we mentioned tonight? >> yes, i do. >> tom:. we'll feature some of your questions next wednesday. our guest this evening on "street critique" is hilary kramer with gamechangerstocks.com. >> susie: let's check what's on the calendar for tomorrow. treasury secretary geithner will be on capitol hill testifying about the state of the u.s. economy. we'll see weekly jobless claims along with september chain-store sales. and we'll look ahead to the holiday shopping season and forecasts that we may see a blue christmas for retailers. >> susie: european union >> susie: european union regulators have formally objected to the merger between german exchange operator deutsche boerse and the n.y.s.e. euronext. their biggest worry? the combined companies would play too large a role in the derivatives-trading market, a very lucrative business for exchanges. regulators recommend opening certain services to competitors. still, deutcsche boerse says

it's working towards finalizing the $9 billion deal by the end of the year. >> tom: it's the end of an ice cream era. friendly's, the iconic restaurant chain and ice cream retailer, filed for chapter 11 today. friendly's 424 locations will remain open, but it's already closed 63 stores, putting more than 12,000 people out of work. the company plans to sell itself at auction. so far, an affiliate of its current owner is the lead bidder. friendly's blames the bankruptcy on the current economic downturn and rising costs for commodities such as cream, and higher rents.

>> susie: with airlines charging for everything from seat assignments and checked bags, tonight's "money file" has some tips on keeping your travel budget stress free. here's nancy trajos, author of "hot broke messes: how to have your latte and drink it too." >> reporter: remember the days when taking a vacation relieved your stress? these days, vacations can actually be a source of stress. planning vacations is now more complicated than ever. airfares are higher. airlines are adding fees for bags, changing tickets and meals. even hotels are charging for more. think twice before you touch that bottle of water or use that safe. and don't get me started on rental cars. but you don't have to avoid traveling altogether. just get creative. travel in the off-season.

an early spring or late fall getaway will cost less than a summer vacation. fly during off-peak days. tuesdays, wednesdays and saturdays are best. sign up for alerts on a drop in prices on fare predictor websites such as bing.com, airfarewatchdog.com, and travelocity.com. join every frequent flier program you can. airlines will often email their members discount codes. consider less traditional lodging options. extended-stay hotels are often cheaper and have kitchens so you don't have to eat out for all your meals. if you do stay at a hotel, try to find one that offers a free breakfast. finally, remember that coupons are not just for grocery stores anymore. check your destination city's visitors' bureau website for coupons for restaurants, shows and other activities. and those group-sharing online coupon sites such as groupon and living social now have travel deals. i once financed every meal and activity on a trip to kansas city with coupons. you'd be surprised how much vacation you can afford if you

think outside the box. i'm nancy trejos. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for wednesday, october 5. i'm tom hudson. good night everyone, and good night to you too, susie. >> susie: good night tom. i'm susie gharib. good night everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> b