this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herara. >> game on. the best performing stock in the dow this year tops profit expectations but is the outlook for nike just as strong? new rules while real estate pros blame washington for a sharp drop in sales last month. >> and 'tis the season. more people are giving back this year and the improving economy may have a lot to do with it. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for tuesday, december 22nd. >> good evening, everyone. i'm sharon epperson in tonight for sue herara. >> and welcome from me, as well. i'm tyler mathison. we begin tonight with earnings from the hottest dow stock of the year, nike. the world's largest the world's largest sportswear maker continued to see strength in its north america and chinese operations. reporting earnings of 90 cents a

share, that was 4 cents better than estimates. revenues came in at nearly $7.5 billion for the quarter, just shy of expectations but about 4% higher than last year. shares rose in initial after hours trading adding to nike's 37% gain so far this year. sarah eisen digs deeper into nike's results. >> reporter: nike is firing on all cylinders. few highlights from the quarter, china remains a bright spot for this company. nike posting 24% sales growth in the region and a very strong outlook when it comes to future orders. this despite a slowdown in the chinese economy. nike continuing to see double digit gains there. in fact, ceo mark parker told me a few months ago, he doesn't see any sign of the economic weakness reported in the numbers. but like any global company, nike is feeling the pain of the stronger u.s. dollar which continued to strengthen over the quarter. total sales growth for nike this quarter was 4%.

that would have been 12% though without the impact of the stronger u.s. dollar which nike feels particularly acutely in the emerging markets and of course, in western europe with the weakness of the euro. but when it comes to nike's story these days, it's all about profitability, increased marges again this quarter driven by new innovative products and sneakers which nike was able to charge higher prices for. that coupled with its efficiencies in the supply chain and new technologies when it comes to manufacturing like fly net all helping drive gains in nike's bottom line. overall a solid quarter in what was high expectations going into an earnings report from the dow's best performer of 2015. for "nightly business report," i'm sara eisen. follows nike for morning star where he's retail equity analyst. welcome paul. we heard sarah talk about high expectations for nike. will that continue into 2016?

>> don't forget 2016 is going to be a strong year because you've got a number of events. the olympics, the european cup which is really important now. nike's pretty big in soccer. that's a big event for them. the other thing is don't forget the dollar hopefully won't restrengthen. if anything it might weaken over the course of the year. investors are already anticipating improvements. >> talk about one of their critical markets and o and that is china. we hear every day how china's growth is slowing, slowing, slowing. is that slowing of growth affecting the chinese consumer? do you expect it in 2016 to show up there? >> i cover luxury as well as sporting goods, and in sporting goods growth in china's been strong. in luxury, it has not. but i this i that's because a lot of chinese consumers are going abroad either to japan or to europe to shop for luxury goods. the other thing is, you know, 100, $200 pair of sneakers in

china is kind of a luxury good in itself. i'm seeing this as a very positive read on china, the futures orders for nike were up 34%. >> you know, a lot of investors are a little bit wary perhaps about apparel and particularly how some retailers have done during the holiday season. is it better in 2016 to perhaps stick with athletic brands like nike if you're going to go for apparel retailer? >> well, you know, you've got to be a little bit careful with apparel and also fashion. obviously, in my view, athletic apparel and footwear athletic brands in general are a little less fashion sensitive than a michael kors. so yes, athletic apparel has been a fashion trend in the last five, six years. in gem a broad based company like nike although they are fashionable, they're nor insulated than in other pure apparel brands. >> if i were to buy the thesis

that i want to be part of the active wear world and i want to invest in either nike, underarmor or adidas, which one would you choose based on price and future prospects? >> yeah, that's a layup because even though i think all the companies are priced a little rich right now, nike and adidass are actually equally adidas trades for a higher earnings multiple and trade a little bit above my fair value, both companies. however, nike's long-term growth is about 10 to 12% where adidas is only 6 or 7%. so i would pick nike. >> paul, thank you so much with morning star. >> on wall street is, stocks rallied as oil stabilized. one of the most beaten downtown dow stocks this year caterpillar saw big gains for a ching. the dow tr do you industrials rose to 17417. nasdaq gained 32 back above the psychologically important 5,000 level. the s&p 500 added 17 and the

energy markets domestic crude traded basically at a part with brent. west texas settled at 36.14 a barrel slightly above brent at 36.11. >> the u.s. economy expanded a touch slower in the third quarter than first thought. the final read on third quarter gdp, the broadest measure of economic activity came in at 289% from july 0 september. the economy had expanded by 3.9% in the second quarter. steve liesman explains what's working within the u.s. economy and what's holding it back. >> the government made a modest revision to third quarter growth bringing it to 2%. that were average of pedestrian growth masked strengths and weaknesses inside the u.s. economy. the consumer's been doing just fine for almost two years. six of the past eight quarters have seen growth of 3% or better. 2006 for a better running average than that. that's helped send autos flying off of dealers' lots and meant

pretty good gains in home building. if consumers are strong and they're such a big part of the economy and helped autos and housing, why isn't overall growth closer to 3bers? there's two reasons. first, business investment, second, weak overseas growth. comimt spending was solid in the third quarter but moving in fits and starts, up 9% in the third quarter but the 0.3% in the second. it's been hampered by the crash in oil prices where spending for rigs and pumps and trucks have been slashed. companies have also been reluctant to investment amid a climate of nervousness and uncertainty. a stronger dollar which made american goods more expensive overseas and challenged domestic manufacturers. they're trying to sell more expensive goods into mostly weak overseas is economies. the bottom line, domestic growth outside of oil doing pretty well, but weak overseas is growth and strong dollar are taking away from total u.s. growth. the optimistic scenario for 2016, job and wage growth

continued to underpin strong spending. then the dollar in oil stabilized and weak overseas economies turned around beginning manufacturing and business in the u.s. a lift. that could propel is the u.s. to the sought after 3 or 4% growth. it's possible, but many on wall street are more worried about the opposite. that the weak parts of the economy in 2016 drag down the strong. for "nightly business report," i'm steve liesman. home prices surpass ed their 2007 peaking in october according to the federal housing finance agency. prices increased that month a half percent from the prior month, low inventory and improved markets helped drive cup prices. >> on the other hand, sales of existing homes suffered a surprise setback in november. the national association of realtors says sales tanked 10.5% for the month below expectations to its weakest level in about a year and a half. much of the decline is being blamed on new regulations out of washington. eamon javers has our story. >> reporter: rising home prices

and low inventory were expected to slow existing home sales last month but new mortgage regulations got the blame for the whopping double digit decline in november. >> the big reason for the latest decline appears to be the new federal rule of regarding some new closing documents that needs to be processed. because it's new, people need to work through it. there's a learning curve that they'll go through. >> josh green at eastern title settlement company has experienced that learning curve firsthand. the new rules that took effect october 3rd have changed the way his business interacts with lenders and slowed down the process. >> where we've had four or five settlements in a day, they've ended up only being one and they get pushed back each day due to the new closing disclosure rules. >> reporter: while the closing process has been frustrating for buyers and sellers, it appears to be causing delays, not cancellations. but it could be a few more months before the real impact is

known. >> i think it's going to take 60 to 90 days to work out all the kirvegs. >> >> some say the new regulations are a convenient scapegoat. >> what we have seen all year is very low inventory and appraisal issues. that's been a big change in the market. it's really derailed a lot of closings and it's delayed settlements. >> the consumer financial protection bureau says that is future closings should go more smoothly once everybody gets used to the news rules. the realtors say demand remains steady. it's just price and affordability that are the issues. for "nightly business report," i'm eamon javers in washington. a measure of factory activity in the mid-atlantic region rebounded in december. a survey by the federal reserve bank of richmond showed volume of new records picked up this month. the manufacturing sector has been hard hit by the strong dollar and weak global growth. while manufacturing had overall has been floundering, the automotive portion is doing well. today there are reports that

ford and google are talking about working together to develop self-driving cars and a partnership if true could be announced shortly after the new year. that sent shares of ford nearly 3.5% higher and alphabet, the parent of google was up a fraction. phil la bowl tells us why is this reported partnership could mark the beginning of a new era in transportation. >> reporter: with self-driving cars picking up speed, ford is reportedly looking to partner with google. the tech titan turning heads with tiny self-driven cars. neither company confirms pl planning a partnership but both admit to talking with a number of companies about the future of automobiles wilinclude self-driven cars. >> how long has ford been trying to do this themselves? we don't know the exactly. it makes sense it partner with someone doing a lot of work and wants to partner with an automaker. >> reporter: earlier this year when ford's ceo showed the us the company's new research

center in california, he admitted ford is focused on the silicon valley because it's a hot bed for innovation. >> that's why we're here because we want to be part of this community. >> reporter: meanwhile, google's self-driving test cars have logged more than 1.3 million miles. reporting just 17 minor accidents and none where the google car was at fault. >> so the end goal is to get this technology out so everyone can use it. we think the right way to do that is in partnership with the car companies who make these vehicles, do pleasing job and doing it for 100 years. >> tesla's autopilot allows drivers to go hands free for short periods and gm will soon unveil similar features with super cruise control. meanwhile, apple is rule mored to be researching electric autonomous drive cars. it's clear the auto and tech industries are on a collision course. what remains to be seen is which companies or partnerships wind up building the next generation

of self-driving cars and trucks. phil lebeau, "nightly business report," chicago. meantime, ford is recalling some older cars. the automaker identified 313,000 vehicles in north america that have headlights that can go dark. and cause a crash. the recall covers crown vics and mercury glarnd questions. safety regulators found 15 crashes and one injury related to these faulty headlights. still ahead, nailed the landing. while the launch of this rocket may mark a new phase in space travel.

spacex completed a dramatic and historic launch and landing last night of its falcon 9 rocket. it was the first time an unmanned rocket returned to land vertically. and as jane wells reports, it marks a giant leap for the future of space travel. . >> it was lrs big news that spacex was launching a falcon 9 rocket. its first launch since a rocket explosion had grounded everything last june until the problem could be solved. but last night in the florida sky it wasn't what went up that had the biggest impact but what came down. >> history in the making. > for the first time, spacex was able to bring back to earth in one piece a first stage booster. [ cheers and applause ] >> not only was it the first successful landing, it was the first time spacex had tried it on land after previous attempts to land the booster on a floating site at sea failed. >> i can't quite believe it. >> ceo elon musk said on a call with reporters that he thought

at first the booster had exploded on impact because of the sound of the sonic boom. he was wrong. the booster was fine. and spacex even created an image of both the rocket's launch and return. >> we could not have asked for a better inition or better day. >> reporter: why is this such a big deal. >> reusing rockets can bring down the cost of launches by a factor of 100, says musk. a necessary price cut to make space travel more prevalent and affordable and critical to his goal of putting people on mars. >> i think it really quite dramatically improves my confidence that have a city on mars is possible. >> last month jeff bezos also successfully landed a rocket which reached the edge of space before coming back down. he sent his congratulations sort of pointing out the altitude of the booster? >> congrats spacex on landing falcon's suborbital booster stage. welcome to the club."

but the spacex rocket landing was different. it was on a much more difficult mission carrying a payload of 11 satellites. spacex will test the booster to see if it could fly again though it probably won't fly this first one anymore preferring to keep it as a big memento. for "nightly business report," jane wells, los angeles. meanwhile, boeing reaches a settlement with the federal aviation administration. that is where begin tonight's market focus. the dow component agreed to pay a $12 million fine and improve auditing and compliance procedures. the fine could double if the company doesn't implement the terms of the settlement. shares of boeing rose 1% to $142.38. con agrag reported profits that topped expectations despite decline in sales. the maker of slim jim and chef boy ar dewas helped by cust cutting and chlorcommodity expenses. last month they said it would sell the majority of private

label business. shares up to 41.37. paycheck said earnings rose 9% as it expanded human resources serviceses business. revenue slightly below analysts expectations. paycheck shares up slightly to 52.71. >> express scripts issued a strong earnings outlook for next year. it now expects a 10 to 14% increase to its adjusted 2016 earnings. the company says it is negotiating the repricing of its contract with the big insurer anthem. the stock started the day higher but finished down slightly at 86.67. >> investors getting a chance to react to earnings from steel case. the office furnituremaker missed expectations on the top and bottom lines, quaek fourth quarter earnings and guidance. shares down nearly 23% on the day to $14.55. for the declines in shares of chipotle as we told you last night, the centers for disease control warns of a potentially

new e. coli outbreak unrelated to the other ones that have weighted on the chain in recent months. that prompted jpmorgan to downtown grade account stock. shares off another 5% today to 4 4494.61. >> if you're not quite done with your christmas shopping, there's actually an app for that. mary thompson has the story from amazon prime now hub in new york city. >> reporter: for workers at amazon's part-time now fulfillment center in manhattan, the one hour shoutout means get moving. this app based service promising to get the goods to dplints select cities in 60 minutes or less for $7.99. >> it is a pricey thing to do one-hour delivery to customers. we do focus on keeping our costs in line so we can offer great things to customers. >> launched last december, prime is upping the game this year promising clients using the prime now app on their phones to deliver last minute christmas

gifts to them by 11:59 p.m. on christmas eve. typically, clients condition use prime now to order household items and bakes like bottled water. closer to christmas though, amazon prime now's worldwide directder stephanie landry is seeing a change in client's wish lists. >> heading up to the holiday times, we've seen a shift with people buying more holiday stuff, toys, board games, electronics, more things for the holidays lately. >> reporter: amazon's prime now hubs operate pretty much the same as the online giant's traditional warehouses. though at a faster pace and higher turnover of inventory to keep up with customers' requests. it is keeping can up with the times giving you can only order using your mobile device. this holiday season, that's where more and more people are shopping. adobe saying mobile sales are up over 26% this season, accounting for 37% of all online shopping. as more shoppers phone it in.

for "nightly business report," i'm mary thompson in manhattan. meanwhile, the economy doing better, are consumers making more donations this year? patrick rooney, associate dean for academic affairs at indiana university's lilly family school of philanthropy. good to have you with us. last year americans gave something like $58 billion, three-quarters of which came from individuals. do you expect that number to be up this year and how tied is giving to the fate of the economy and the stock market? >> yeah, we think that the economy is very important player in overall giving because people give generously out of their incomes every year and the more incomes they have and the more wealth they have, the more they are likely to give and the bigger gifts they're likely to make. each year we see increases and decreases as we see with the business cycle. we're hoping giving will increase next year. >> are people being more

discerning in terms of where they give? i'm hearing about impact philanthropy and people wanting to work in an organization, volunteer before they give money, checking out these organizations to make sure that they're doing what they say they're doing, that their money's going to the right purpose. are we seeing more activity liking that among a lot of donors. >> absolutely. more and more donors are saying i want to understand the impact my gift will have and the organization. i want to make sure it has good leadership and good management. so they look at the board members. they sometimes volunteer themselves first and they want to look at what are the long-term outcomes as well as short term impact. where do americans give the most? >> well, about a third of total giving goes to their faith-based organizations. so mass, mosques, synagogue, other congregations. higher education and other educational institutions get about 15%. health and human services get another 15%. those are the biggest sub sectors. >> very quickly, where can you

go to check out the charity you're interested in? where should you do the research? >> one of the resources that's available to everyone for free is guide star, ww guide star. it's a resource that has annual reports and irs informational tax rurnts for all the charities in the united states. so that's a good resource as a starting point. >> quickly, i would assume that the more affluent you are, the more inclined as a percentage of those people that those people would give. but do the affluent give a larger percentage of their income than those who give who are not so affluent or do you know? >> that's a great question. we absolutely see an increases in giving in the propensity to give with increases in wealth across the entire wealth spectrums. at the same time, some people speculate that low income households give nor sacrificely out of their incomes buse they have less to deal with. we do a study every other year for bank of america on

philanth philanthropy. high net worth households tend to give a larger and larger share of income compared to the middle class and lower middle class in the united states. >> thank you very much. patrick rooney with indiana university's lilly school of philanthropy. coming up, seeing green a small business hoping to make it big when new york's 234u medical marijuana laws kick in in the new year. >> here's what is to watch tomorrow. lots of economic data to keep an eye on including durable goods orders. a read on personal income and spending. the new home sales report is also out. that's what you need to watch wednesday.

>> the new year will bring changes to new york. some marijuana laws, the state's five licensees will be able to legally sell medicinal cannabis in early january. as indicate rogers reports from johnstown, one entrepreneur is ready to open for business. >> reporter: new york state's marijuana startups will be ringing in the new year with green. raking in their first official sales. after being awarded one of the state's five licenses for medicinal marijuana operations earlier this summer, virriol health is gearing up to begin selling january 5th. the company has invested upwards of $5 million in its johns town, new york cultivation center which features it eight flowering rooms each with hundreds of plants. they're also building out a 20,000 square foot grow house. >> what's surprising to most folks most of our medications aren't intoxicating. some of our medications are high in thc important for some conditions but most of our

medications are cbd which is not intoxicating so actually three of our five products are not going to cause any intoxication. >> reporter: the company will open up four dispensaries across the state in 2016 including one in queens. the catch with new york's state law is you can't smoke any of the cannabis. all of the plants that you see here behind me will be turned into oil for vaporization and capsules to be injected orally. >> new york's law is one of the most restrictive in the country. right now, there are only ten approved illnesses for patients to get treatment. among them are als, cancer, aids or hiv, and parkinson's disease. another catch insurance won't cover medicinal marijuana but virriol health says it's committed to expanding patient access. >> as far as as far as the low income program, folks with reduced incoming will qualify for a 10% reduction across the board. >> the department of health for new york state says the doctor

certification and education process is ongoing and with just two weeks left till sales begin, patient certification should be up and running shortly. for "nightly business report,"ings in johns town, new york, i'm kate rogers. and to read more about the business of medicinal marijuana in new york, head to nbr.com. >> that's "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sharon epperson. thanks for watching. > thanks from me, as well. i'm tyler mathison. have a great evening everybody. we will hope to see you right back here tomorrow night.

♪ >> the world renowned mormon tabernacle choir and orchestra at temple square celebrate the holiday season with a special concert featuring santino fontana, ♪ the candy man can 'cause ... ♪ and the muppets from sesame street. ♪ sing a song ♪ >> narrator: this program was made possible in part by ronald c. and kaye gunnell, the george s. and delores dore eccles foundation, the j. willard and alice s. marriott foundation, the cleone peterson eccles endowment fund, the charles and janet stoddard foundation, and the alan and jeanne hall foundation. ♪ ♪