this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. record friday. the s&p 500 closes at a new high. so do small cap stocks and the dow jones industrial average break through 18,000 for the first time this year. are there more big gains ahead and where should you put your money now? fighting cyber crime. it is one of the biggest threats to business and today at a summit in silicon valley president obama urged cooperation with the private sector to make the internet safe. all th tonight on "nightly business report" for friday february 13th. good evening, everyone. i'm tyler mathisen. sue herera is off tonight. well the bulls are back on wall street turning friday the 13th into a lucky day. the s&p 500 ends the week at an

all-time high. the blue chip dow index breaks above 18,000 for the first time this year and not to be outdone, small caps also finished the day at a record. strong economic data out of europe gave the markets a lift early on and hopes that greece and its creditors will reach some sort of deal when they talks on monday. dow jones rose to 18,019. nasdaq gained 36 points to fresh 15 year high and the s&p 500 was up 8. for the week the dow rose 1%. the nasdaq up more than 3% best week since last october and the s&p 500 gained 2%. the energy sector was helped by a 3% rise in west texas crude. it is now up nearly 20% from its lows last month. brent crude back up above $60 a barrel actually above $61 for the first time this year. both benchmarks have now risen

for three consecutive weeks. what's behind the broad based run-up and is a sign the bulls will stay in control? dominic chu reports. >> reporter: it may not feel like it for many investors but we are once again at record high levels in the stock market. at least when you look at the s&p 500. the broader large cap stock index set a record high today, led by energy stocks behind oil prices and a slew of other companies that hit record highs as well including coffee giant starbucks. home improvement retailer home depot and toy maker hasbro. so will this upward move continue and will it get more people interested in buying stocks? uncertainty about global risks holding some investors back but if that changes, that could help the bull run continue. >> right now, we have some possible resolutions to things. we have russia agreeing to a cease fire with the ukraine.

we have the greeks talking to the ecb and the eu trying to renegotiate their debt package. we have the chinese reducing reserve requirements trying to expand their global economy. >> reporter: and it's not just overseas developments to keep an eye on. if the u.s. economy continues to gradually improve, that's an upside catalyst as well. >> our employment rate continues to move lower. the consumer is in a great spot. consumer confidence is very high and we could see, i think, additional spending on the retail side which again, consumer spending is 60% of our economy. >> reporter: of course those are the positive takes. the more cautious in the marketplace point out the fragility of the local economic recovery and say markets are priced for perfection. if anything upsets the balance, we could be set up for more volatility ahead. for "nigm dominic chu. >> here to talk more about the record-setting day on wall street and his stock picks is this week's market monitor, eric marshall president and

portfolio manager of hodgkin's capital management runs more than $2 billion. welcome, eric. good to have you with us. how do you explain the market turnaround these past couple of weeks? >> well i think it's really been a response to the commodity and some of the volatility that we've seen in currency markets and so forth. just kind of settling down. we've gotten into earnings season corporate earnings and the outlooks that we're hearing from companies are relatively positive and i think it's been a normal, you know, one step back two steps forward. >> what is it like down there in dallas not really the epicenter of the energy world in texas, i guess you'd say houston is but you're very close to it. a lot of the economy is dependent on it. what are people saying? >> well you know, in dallas and in north texas, we really haven't seen much of an impact of lower oil prices. if you look at the texas economy, it's much more diversified than it was back in the early '80s when we had the

big oil bust. and so in dallas, we haven't seen it and anecdotely you hear some things from houston but hasn't had as big of an impact yet. >> well we were speaking a couple of weeks ago here internally we wanted to have somebody on who focused on small cap stocks on the blue chips and here lo and behold we have you on a night that the rustle is at a record high. make the case for small caps this year and i suspect that one of the arguments is that they are less prone to be whip sawed by currency moves. >> yeah. at the funds, we don't get too caught up in the absolute level of market index but with small caps you can always find secular growth opportunities in just any type of market and to your point, they are more domestic centric. less foreign exchange exposure and more simplified capital structures. i think it's really a good place

for active portfolio management where you can get in there and do some individual stock picking. >> let's go through some of your individual stocks beginning with eagle materials. you mentioned last time you were here about a year ago, what's been going on there? it's down a little since then. >> yeah. they're a manufacturer of cement and chips and wall board. those have seen very good demand very good pricing power. the prices of both of those commodities have been rising as the housing market and construction market continues to improve in different areas of the country. and we really like the earnings profile of the company, the the earnings power over the next couple of years. they do have a segment of their business that's relatively small that does provide fracks to the oil and gas industry. that's the reason the stock is down the past year but we

really think you're buying the long-term cement and egyptian wall board business. you get the rest of the business for free at the price levels. >> that's the reason it's been stuck in the mud there. jar don cooperation trading at $51 and change. >> yeah and this is more of a mid cap stock than a small cap stock but it's one we like here. they do over $8 billion in revenues and the consumer product company. they own brands like kalman camping equipment, raulings sporting goods. mr. coffee. they bought yankee candle company here about a year and a half ago and they have a number of other brands. and they're seeing very good organic revenue growth in these areas as well as some acquisition opportunities. the company throws off a lot of cash flow. they've been aggressively buying back their stock with that cash. and it only trades about 15 times for earnings. >> quick thought on swift transportation. big trucker.

>> yeah. this is another area when you look at the trucking business it hasn't been very good over the last ten years. and they're starting to see pricing power with some of the long haul truckers and swift is really well positioned to take advantage of that. they've started to raise prices for the first time in about ten years. and we think with a lot of the driver shortages and lack of investment this space, we think they're going to be very well positioned to take advantage of these trends over the next couple of years. >> eric, thank you very much. have a great weekend. we appreciate it. >> thank you, tyler. >> with hodgens capital management. sentiment unexpectedly fell. this is according to university of michigan's preliminary sentiment index. due to the rise in recent gasoline prices. energy workers concerns about possible job losses and even the harsh winter weather in the northeast and parts of the middle west. now to what the white house calls a defining challenge of

the 21st century. cyber crime. president obama held a summit in silicon valley with companies like apple, bank of america, intel and walgreens urging the private sector and the government to work together to make the internet and business safer. but as eamon javers reports, some big tech ceos were no-shows. >> reporter: a clash of cultures today at stanford university in tech sentron silicon valley for the summit. some of the biggest names in technology were conspicuous no-shows including ceos of facebook google and yahoo. continuing fallout from the edward snowden spying revelations. despite that tension between the east and west coast, the president signed an executive order to encourage more cooperation between the private sector and government. and he told his audience the country needs to come together

to deal with a common problem. >> foreign governments and criminals are probing these systems every single day. we only have to think of real life examples. air traffic control system going down. and disrupting flights or blackouts that plunge cities into darkness. to imagine what a set of systemic cyber attacks might do. this is also a matter of public safety. >> reporter: also here tim cook the ceo of apple. >> if those of us in positions of responsibility fail to do everything in our power to protect the right of privacy, we risk something far more valuable than money. we risk our way of life. >> reporter: part of that clash of cultures between the government guys and the techies is the arms race to recruit top technology talent. federal officials here say they know they can't compete with the googles and the facebooks of the world directly on salary but say

they find ways to work around that. >> we have a lot of imbeds. we put agents out here in the silicon valley working with the technology companies. we leverage what they can do and again, the government is never is going to be able to match the pay scale, obviously but plenty of patriots out there who want to be in law enforcement. >>t to heart of the technology community, to the president it was all about bridging the differences between government and the private sector. for "nightly business report," i'm eamon javers in stanford. mastercard and visa announcing plans to expand security features for online shopping. visa plans to do away with traditional account numbs and use a unique series of numbers that can authorize payments. mastercard plans to spend more than $20 million on its initiative will let customers verify transactions using voice and fingerprints. mastercard plans to launch that program in the spring. now to the west coast port laborconagra.

blamed on the traffic congestion out there. the package food company said the slowdown is hurting some products it exports. shares of the company off 4%. and as the slowdown drags on at the west coast ports, one sector most at risk. retail. we may learn more about the extent of the impact when retailers begin reporting earnings next week including the world's biggest, walmart. as courtney reagan tells us, investors will pay close attention. >> reporter: consumers may be looking forward to ditching winter coats for spring apparel, but retailers are having trouble getting that spring merchandise in stores. as disputes over labor contracts continue the west coast ports responsible for nearly 40% of all u.s. cargo are shut down for a second straight weekend, which means merchandise is stuck at sea or in containers. far from the intended retail destination. >> i see some stores that are out of balance, still featuring

what i'll call winter and holiday goods when at this time of year that should be relegated to the back racks on sale and the front should be all fresh new merchandise. the balance isn't right. >> reporter: target best buy, michael kors and ralph lauren have brought in orders early to protect inventory levels and using other points of entry and distribution to get merchandise into and through the country. container volume at l.a. long beach and oakland ports dropped 25% or more in january from the year prior, but despite the lower volume the journal of commerce said some west coast shipments that normally take two to six days to unload are now taking up to three weeks. circumventing west coast ports gets merchandise on the shelves but comes at a cost. up to $7 billion this year according to some estimates. getting cargo from asia to the east coast takes longer and adds to expense. air freight is also more

expensive. both back-up plans crimping profit margins. as retailers reroute asia to east coast parts, richard jaffey points out overflow puts those ports at max capacity. >> the doomsday scenario the product comes in late. the season therefore shortened. retailers have to accelerate sales using discounts. the consumer benefits with discounted prices but the retailers suffer because short and credit discounts. >> reporter: diversified points of distribution including nike toomey and vf corp. should be more insulated in the short-term while lululemon and deckers okay because of west coast distribution. while contingencies are working to avoid a material impact on business if an extended shut shutdown or strike occurs industrywide consensus, no

retailer goes unaffected. for "nightly business report," i'm courtney reagan. still ahead, how the steep drop in crude prices has one city on edge. whether the housing rebound could fall apa. the number of u.s. oil rigs continues to fall according to baker hughes. drillers idled 98 rigs this week bringing the rig count down 30% since october, a very steep fall there. some look to rig counts as a leading indicator of production since they are used to drill new

wells but u.s. oil production overall remains at multidecade highs. now to texas, the state driven by a strong energy focused economy. it is suddenly now feeling the impact of oil prices now about half their year-ago levels though up from their lows. layoffs announced at big energy firms and if the unemployment rate rises, the houston housing market could eventually feel a bit of a chill. diana olick has more. >> reporter: david hopkins sold his houston-area home last fall for top dollar. he says he timed the market just right. >> i feel really glad. i'm like that guy that sold his oil company last year. he's feeling pretty good too. i feel the same way. >> reporter: both home sales and prices hit record levels in houston last year fueled by a booming energy sector. with oil prices now cut in half houston is already losing jobs. the primary driver for housing. >> now that oil prices are down

things haven't completely changed but let's just say that things have come to more a stall. >> reporter: it will take significant time for the drop in oil prices to trickle down to houston's housing market. in previous oil downturns, it's taken eight months to two years for job losses to factor into home prices but all eyes are on houston now with the oil industry accounting for about 5.6% of its jobs. this especially because it was the nation's hottest housing market barely a year ago and is still growing. single family houston home sales jumped 6% in january from a year ago and prices hit a record high up 7% from a year ago. the only problem now is supply. barely 2.5 months due to all the demand. this as builders start to get careful. kb homes ceo last month said the builder had pulled out of a couple of land transactions in the fourth quarter because of

quote, sensitivity there. but they claim they are not seeing any pullback yet by consumers. >> because it hasn't been hit yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen. so i think patience is the buzz word. we're expecting that houston will cool down significantly on the residential side. >> reporter: just for contact, energy has really pushed housing recently. according to trulia in the seven large metros where oil-related jobs are at least 2% of the total, home prices rose 10.5% year over year last year. that's a lot faster than the rest of the nation. now the reverse is in play. for "nightly business report," i'm diana olick in washington. >> for more on the state of housing in houston, head to our web site, nbr.com. powerhouse brands help bolster results. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. like north face and vans matched on both top and bottom lines. profit fell from last year as the company booked a write-down on the value of some brands and

company warned investors about negative effects from currency fluctuations for 2015 but revenue still rose on strength in its outdoor and action-sports division. i know no kid in my town who doesn't own a north face jacket. shares popped 6%. $75.26 was the close. nordstrom up to 37 cents a share. new payout made to shareholders in march. the yield on the dividend is up more than 1.5%. fraction up $41.41 and jm schmucker reported mixed results with revenue missing estimates. the owner of folgers coffee said weakness in coffee business weighed on results but expecting business to get caffeinated again this year as prices stabilize. shares up more than 1% to $113.89. alibaba received a request for information from the fcc.

the agency looking for information related to the interaction with a chinese regulator. alibaba said it's cooperating with the request. shares fell initially in after hours trading. before the bell the stock was up 2% to $89.05. a rising economic tide lifts all boats and that is especially true for the boating industry as the economy improves and people feel better about making big purchases. boat manufacturers expecting solid sales growth this year and they're kicking off their season as they so often do in miami where thousands of boats are on display at two separate shows. morgan brennan is there. >> reporter: a big weekend for boat enthusiasts as people descend in miami for boat shows. brokers say business is finally recovering. >> over the last two years, we've seen slow improvement and it's directly related to the stock market. the stock market inches up our phone calls increase. so with the stock market being

in chartered territory and demand pent up people are buying yachts. >> reporter: it's not just luxury but water crafts. the marine association said sales of new recreational boats grew 8% last year and expects that momentum to continue. >> as we look out over the next few years, we think we've got three or more years of pretty good growth in new boat sales. >> reporter: good news for an industry rocked by the recession. when new sales plunged to 3% and closed up shop. since then to recapture consumers, companies had to change their strategies rolling out new models at lower price points. industry leader brunswick corporation said demand comes from both ends of the consumer spectrum. >> a lot of bigger models completely sold out over a year and then pontoons fishing boats which tend to be smaller, different income level have also now begun to reach prerecession level. one at the end market the other end, market is very powerful. very strong and growing very much. >> reporter: what's fueling demand for all of these boats?

an improving labor market rising consumer confidence and increasing disposable income thanks in part to lower gas prices. but for now here in miami, people are buying boats and with thousands to choose from from inflate bls to runabouts to yachts there's something here for everyone. for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan in miami. coming up money and marriage. why planning a different kind of date this valentine's day could lead to not only marital bliss but also financial harmony. the window to enroll in health care under the affordable

care act quickly closing. midnight sunday is the deadline for coverage this year and those who don't enroll may be subject to a penalty. federal officials say they've seen a big pick-up in traffic on the healthcare.gov web site over the past few days. well 2014 was a rough year for atlantic city but this year so far, off to a more encouraging start. casino revenue for january was up almost 19% compared with a year ago, even though they've shut down casinos. part of the reason is less competition for the eight casinos that are still there. looking for a valentine's day gift for your significant other? might want to forget the flowers and chocolate and instead plan a date a money date. as sharon epperson tells us that could be the most valuable gift of all. >> reporter: mark and evan el cowits have been married for 18 years. like to talk about everything even money. >> we certainly have conversations about money.

>> reporter: sometimes they're not called conversations. >> more like complications. >> many people weren't learning to brought up how to talk about money. maybe your parents didn't talk about money in front of you or maybe not at all or thought about it. >> reporter: it's a crucial conversation to have. but nearly 40% of couples in a city double cash survey said they haven't set aside time to talk about their finances in the past year. about 30% wish they discussed it more. >> scheduling a time to get together it can be a fun, like go out and have a date. it doesn't have to be hard and boring to sit and talk about. i think planning a date in general is a hard thing. >> a fun date let alone an accounting date. >> reporter: the elkowits find other ways. a way to divide and conquer. >> i pay all the bills, by the way. i pay all the bills.

>> reporter: mark a plastic surgeon, the primary bred winner, while evan a personal stylist, handles everyday spending. >> it stresses me out. i don't want to know. i'd rather be in the o.r. than look at a phone bill. >> reporter: a phone bill isn't bad. >> or a credit card bill. >> reporter: the elkowits es try to find a balance. but with love and money, not all are transparent. in the city survey one in four in a committed relationship admit they have a priv that their significant other doesn't know about. yet many more would prefer if their significant other discus more often. >> you really need to come clean with your money. if you have a secret whether a hidden account or debt that's out there or spending that you're not telling your partner about, maybe spend cash but don't know what you spend money about, hide bags in your trunk or the back of your closet, come clean.

it's really hard to have marital bliss if there's not financial harmony. >> reporter: money advice to whether those challenging times for better or worse. for "nightly business report," i'm sharon epperson. and that is "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm tyler mathisen. thanks for watching. have a great long weekend, everyone and we'll see you back here monday for a special holiday edition of "nightly busi

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