this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib brought to you in part by. >> thestreet.com, up to the minute stock market news and in depth analysis. our quant rating service provides objective independent ratings daily on over 4300 stocks. learn more at the street.com/nbr. in detroit, the city becomes the largest to enter bankruptcy. what happens next? >> auto makers symbol of detroit's economy sold more cars than expected in november. but can the pace of sales continue into the new year? >> and falling behind, american students are lagging other nations in reading, math and

science. what changes need to be made to ensure future generations can compete in a global economy? we have that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for this tuesday, december 3rd. good evening everyone and welcome. i'm tyler mathisen. remember how great the month november was for stock investors, records and consecutive weeks of gains? hold that thought because so far december has gone the other way. fast. in fact, the dow and s&p 500 today ended lower for a third straight session. logging their biggest three-day decline in two months. some on wall street say stock prices are too high and they are taking profits and there is a pull back and this is the start of it, or maybe consumer spending, soggy so far this holiday season or the fed's seeing the blowout auto sales? we'll start pairing back on stimulus soon. whatever the reason the market sold off again today. the dow ending well off the lows of the session, however, nevertheless down 94 points and

closing below 16,000, as you see there. the nasdaq was down eight and the s&p 500 lost five dipping back below the 1800 mark. crude oil moved sharply higher getting a boost from solid manufacturing data out of china. it shot up to more than $96 a barrel, the highest price since halloween. a historic day for the city of detroit, birthplace of the motown sound and u.s. auto industry and poised to become the largest bankruptcy in the nation's history. a federal judge declarped the city could provide with bankruptcy filing clearing the way for sweeping changes to contracts and pension pay outs to city workers and retirees and losses for the municipal bond holders. scott cohn joins us with more and what could happen. tell what happened in court today and what does chapter nine

mean for detroit? >> well, susie, it is hugely significant for detroit, but it's also significant across the country. that's why this ruling is such a big deal, not just because it's the biggest in u.s. history but because of implications not just here in detroit but for cities, unions, pensioners and investors. the u.s. bankruptcy judge who is presiding over this case said that detroit could get through restructuring some of its massive debt saying that the path of the city is on now, piling up debt cutting services not only unworkable but dangerous and says the city needs help. >> so what is he telling me? we're sorry, we're going to take your pension and make you homeless, starve you out and send you to a superline? we're telling judge rodsrodes g

hell. >> the union almost immediately filed a notice of pean appeal a talking about going to the supreme court and for some 20,000 retirees. in the mayeantime, as that play outcomes the hard work of restuk touring the city's finances, that is coming up with a so-called plan of adjustment falls to the state appointed emergency manager kevyn orr who says it's time for everyone to work together. >> come forward with us. take this opportunity, even in the process of litigation and appeals to try to get at the sorely needed reform that this city has got to achieve so we can move forward into a new day. >> the union says the time for negotiating was before the bankruptcy filing and the judge did say that roads and the city

did not negotiate in good faith but nonetheless, said the filing itself was in good faith because the union refused to negotiate. susie? >> scott, you said this detroit situation has implications for other cities across the country and you did that fabulous series for us. are we likely to see more cities following the path for detroit? >> well, they may not necessarily be filing bankruptcy, that's pretty drastic but what it does is it really changes up the dynamic now between cities and their unions. we talked about a couple weeks ago the massive pension obligations so many cities face. they have a path to try and clear out some of those obligations and possibly hold the threat of bankruptcy over the union's head. the dynamic completely changed. >> scott, the unions have been fighting understandably but there is not any money to pay some pension benefits and the funds are underfunded. so where do the union member expect the money to come from when the city is broke and what makes the union any different

from a host of other creditors? >> well, the union says that the state is not insolve vant and the state could kick in money. snider wants to wait to see how the bankruptcy process plays out before he decides whether the state can give aid to property the city. we know that and will see if the state stops up. >> scott cohn, thanks for your reporting. despite the dire outlook, what it spawn sd a lynch pin of the economic recovery. sales of cars and light trucks last month rose to the highest level since february of 2007 on pace now to move nearly 16.5 million units for the year. big gains for detroit's big three. general motors say 14% increase thanks to tahoe and sierra and ford sales up 7% a boost from the ford fusion sedan and the f

150 pickups and chrysler rose 16% on sales of damage rom pickups and the jeep grand cherokee. phil lebeau joins us from chicago with more on what drove those number sales so much higher. phil, a lot of auto makers ran black friday promotions this year. did they really help? >> huge help, tyler. it wasn't just on black friday, that's a big draw. it was through the whole weekend almost every auto maker today said we had huge numbers this weekend, that's why we saw strong sales. >> tell us a little bit about what to expect from the luxury car market. this is the time of year when people like to give the keys to the fancy car under the christmas tree. >> sure, they have funny names for sales or unique names, i should say, and they are pushing aggressive marketing plans, susie. we saw strong sales in november, expect that to continue through december. >> phil lebeau, have to leave it there and there you see the luxury seams, mercedes number one and bmw and lexus. thank you.

president obama trying to generate support for the revamped rollout of the trouble plagued healthcare.gov website saying the site is working well and warning critics that he will fight efforts to repeal the affordable care act. >> this law is working, and will work into the future. people want the financial stability of health insurance, and we're going to keep on working to fix whatever problems come up in any startup, any launch of a project this big that has an impact on 1/6th of our economy. whatever comes up, we're going to just fix it. >> administration released a new report showing that through that website nearly 1.5 million americans have now been found eligible for medicaid and that was during the month of october. >> still ahead on "nightly business report", we'll tell you about the company many are calling the big winner of black friday and cyber monday.

more numbers coming in for consumer spending over the long thanksgiving and black friday weekend. shopper track a provider of retail an lit ticks reports that sales rose 1% at brick and mortar stores during the four days compared to so-called black weekend sale as year ago. shopper track says total spending topped $22 billion. not a lot on that money was being spent on perm computers. ibc says shipments of pcs are expected to fall by 10% this year, the biggest annual decline ever as more consumers turn to tablets and smart phones instead. speculation over an apple deal with china mobile flared up

again. fortune.com showing preorders for iphones. apple looking to increase the share in china but the world's largest carrier denied there is a deal with apple and the website page is taken down. investors liked what they heard and coupled that with a ubs upgrade. apple shares jumped 3% to $566.32, the highest since december 4th last year. more good news for apple that is shining with iphones and iphones flying off the selfs without discounts to consumers. josh lipton has more on apple's bright holiday prospects. >> reporter: in october ceo tim cook said it would be an ipad christmas, it looks like he could be right. consumers hit the stores on black friday looking for new

tablets and many of them decide to buy ipads. it wasn't just adults. the national retail federation says that for the first time, ipads were among the most popular gifts for children this year. the new ipad air has received a lot of positive attention. walter moss burg of the wall street journal called it the best tablet he's reviewed. apple didn't offer discounts but gave $75 gift cards with the purchase of an ipad air and $50 gift card with the purchase of an ipad mini. best buy cut the price of the ipad air by $50. apple faces competition in this space. a consumer research company says apple's ipad mini was the top seller at walmart on black friday. the ipad air was the top seller at target but at best buy, microsoft surface came in first. still, scott kessler of s&p capital says apple's success on

black friday could mean a stronger holiday season for the company. >> a lot of gifts were purchased for christmas and probably won't be opened for another few weeks. a lot of these products we think were probably bought for use now, and if that's the case, you're going to see people buying related accessories, software, content, apps. all those things will help boost apple we think throughout the month and holiday shopping period. >> reporter: apple stock surged higher up 46% from the low of 388 in june. apple predicted revenue in the final quarter to be as much as $58 billion after the strong showing on black friday and jeffreys thinks the quarter could track towards the high end of the forecast. a further boost to apple's future, if reports are true, about china mobile selling apple products, that could mean an additional $10 billion in annual sales for the company.

josh lipton, "nightly business report" silicon valley. j.c. penney had happy holiday news to report after the market closed and that's where we begin tonight's market focus. sales rose 10% compared to last november. sales on jcp.com were stronger. the stock rose in after hours. shares were up 1% to $10.11 in the regular session. groupon posted record sales this holiday weekend with more customers logging on to score savings. the daily deal site reported that black friday and cyber monday were the two biggest sales days ever in north america since the company's founding. the good news sent the stock up almost 4% to $9 and change. shares of pharmaceuticals soared, they wilmar cut and oncomed will study the

treatments and they will take a 5% stake. oncomed doubled price to $27.70 and cell gene fell. a high flier on the first day of trading. the biotech company went public raising 70 mmds in the ipo. the stock rose more than 51% to $8.34. the activist investor engaged capital is engaged in shaking things up at abercrombie and fitch. the letter says selling the struggling chain may be the best option. they responded to the suggest saying it welcomes in put. shares popped nearly 6% to $35.99. the oreo cookie maker boosted the stock buy back by $1.7 billion. that's a lot of cookies. the increase is part of the plan to use the proceeds from the

legal dispute with starbucks. back in november starbucks was ordered to repay for the early termination of a grocery store deal. the announcement sent shares up more than 1% to $33.90. potash will cut 20% of the work force or about 1,000 jobs, the world's largest producer has been struggling to keep up demand for two key fertilizer ingredients. potash and phosphate slumped. it will take place in canada, the u.s. and trinidad. shares were a fraction higher today to $39.79. a bad report card on american education. test scores show american students continue to lag in international rankings. according to results from the program for international student assessment, u.s. teenagers ranked below average in math and near average in reading and science. trailing behind countries like japan and china where students

of the same age continue to maintain top scores. can this be fixed and what does this mean for businesses and america's competitiveness. here to discuss this, michelle, former chancellor of the public schools in washington d.c. and the ceo and founder of students first. michelle, we're happy to have you. you're such an education expert. let me start with the first question, can this be fixed? because just about every ceo tyler and i talk to are very worried about u.s. competitiveness and, you know, where will they get top talent in the workplace if our kids in school just aren't doing well? do you think? >> it can absolutely be fixed. i hear the same thing from business folks saying they can't find people in the applicant pool that have the skills and knowledge to fill mission critical jobs. that means there is a misalignment what we teach kids and what the workplace requires. it can be fixed but fist, make sure we have high standards for all of our children.

and we're putting those things in place through the common core standards, which will ensure we have a set of national standers that are internationally benchmark. that's one important thing to don't the second thing we have to do is invest in our teaching force and make sure that we have the most highly effective and the best prepared teachers. that's what other countries that are topping the list internationally absolutely do. the third thing is we have to have accountability and that has to be at every level from the students being accountable to teachers, principals to superintendents. >> michelle, i was speaking earlier today to craig barrett who devoted much on his life to schools and education. he made exactly the same point you just did on accountability. is it not just accountability of the teachers and administrators all the way up to the superintendents of schools, but is it accountability for students? in other words, do we need to be

tougher with students? more demanding of them? and hold them back more if they are not making the grades? >> well, we do have to have accountability at every level including students and i think part of the challenge that we face today is that in american culture, we really shifted in the last couple of decades where now we spend a whole lot of time trying to make kids feel good about themselves, but we lost sight of taking the time that's necessary to actually make them good at things. i always use the analogy, i have two girls that play soccer, they are not so good but they have trophies and medal and ribbons. they have become this culture where just by showing up you get a trophy and that doesn't do a lot for the american competitive spirit. we have to teach kids in order to be the best, you have to work hard. you have to be really dill get and i think if you look at the asian countries topping the list, they definitely have a much more competitive culture where kids are expected to work

harder. >> i was going to ask you about that because we see in countries like china and india, how much of a work ethic students have and parents, and in a country like korea, a few years ago illiteracy rates were high and now they are super low. if we sent american kids into those places, would they come out math wizes, science wizes, is our method holding hinges back? >> america is the greatest country in the world by far, and i think americans have the ability to do something that no other country really does. but we are struggling right now in terms of trying to create the public education system that will ensure all kids are doing well. if you send an average american kid into china or korea they wouldn't perform particularly

well. i have every sense of confidence in american kids, if we set up the right education environment that our kids could absolutely out do any kids anywhere in the globe. >> that's a very upbeat note to end the conversation. thank you very much, michelle. >> absolutely. and coming up, why it may be more important than ever for the book publishing industry to have a best seller this holiday season. remember denise, the former ceo of tyco? he's famous for other successes, buying a $6,000 shower curtain with company money.

after suerving the minimum 8 years, he was granted parole today. she's scheduled to be released on january 17th. finally tonight, the publishing industry is banking on a hit this holiday season. command authority is the final work in the late author time clancy. it hit shelves today but will it be enough to give the blockbuster it desperately needs. julia boorstin joins us with the story. the book industry is in trouble. physical book sales fell more than 7% and everyone digital book sales expected to be publishing savior declined 5%. last holiday season accounted for about 20% of annual sales. so this holiday season, the pressure is on. >> like all retail businesses, it's critically important for authors, publicers, book sellers, important for the physical book sellers.

>> the period between thanksgiving and christmas is the busiest time of year. >> we give books the challenge we have is most everyone has kindles now so gift cards for whatever books. >> last year was one of the biggest ever for book sales thanks to breakout hits the hunger games and "fifty shades of grey" trilogies accounting for one in every 20 books sold. this year it's a different story. >> there are no big break jouou that's the problem or promise. >> reporter: whether new releases like tom clancy's book hitting shelves today will compensate for the lack of any dominating franchises. there is fabulous new fix this year. an incredible list for fall and our sales are up now and i think that is due to just the great books out there despite not having a popular series. >> reporter: in audition to clan si's highly anticipated release, new titles are expected to top

the charts, plus there are new books and jj abrams conception novel "s" and books from "duck dynasty." >> we do a couple books for holidays. >> during the holidays, christmas, i'm like a kid in a candy store. >> another wild card, how the explosion of e books and tablets and the ability to instantly download books will help publishers. >> it will make it easy for people to pick up books they heard about because you get delivery so quickly. >> when it comes to holiday sales, they want to wrap up and put beneath the tree keeping book sales like this one in business. >> you going to get "command authority"? >> probably not. >> probably a fast read. that's "nightly business

report" for tonight, i'm susie gharib. this is the time of year your public television seeks your support to make programs like ours possible. >> i'm tyler mathisen, on behalf of your public television stage. thanks for your support. we hope to see you back here tomorrow night. >> "nightly business report" has been brought to you in part by. >> thestreet.com, up to the minute stock market news and in depth analysis. our quant rating service provides objective independent ratings daily on over 4300 stocks. learn more at the street.com/nbr. minute stock market news and in

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