this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. follow the money with jeb bush's departure from the presidential race, will his donors make a big difference for someone else? behind the wheel. how the fast growing ride sharing company screens potential drivers. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report." it's monday, february the 22nd. good evening. i'm bill griffith. i'm in for tyler mathisen. >> it's great to have you here. i'm sue herera. stocks start the week with

rally. we begin with a potential blockbuster merger. hon honeywell, dow components held talk about getting together. a combination that would create a bohemoth. it sent shares higher and shares of honeywell lower. >> reporter: united technologies and honeywell have had discussions about a deal in the last couple of weeks. the discussions initiated by honeywell which have offered a large cash deal. not the first time the two companies have spoken. last year united technologies approached honeywell about a merger of equals. didn't happen because of concerns of social issues and because utx stock price fell dramatically over the summer. fast forward, honeywell made an offer to acquire utx in a

letter. utx said no. that was october and the now the latest discussion. a big question mark hanging over this transaction. the two companies provide a lot of what goes into an airplane. the question is whether regulators in the u.s. and europe would oppose a potential deal. that may be the position utx takes if it decides it no longer wants to continue those discussions. "nightly business report," i'm david favor. >> reports of that merger, potential merger help stocks exand the their gains kicking off the week in rally mold. investors cheering a rise in oil prices. all was said and done the dow climbed 228 points to close at 16,620. the nasdaq rose by 66 and the s&p 500 gained 27. the price of domestic crude oil rose sharply up 6% in part on speculation that shale out put would decline and late today

opec secretary commented on the freeze talks and described them as a good first step. despite the rise today, oil prices are near historic lows. as we've been reporting many commodity companies are struggling. late today bhp slashed the mid year dividends by 74%. the world's largest mining company by market value also reported a big loss and says it expects the commodity price downturn to be prolonged. to politics now. the race has been reshaped both politically and financially. john has been following the money and the politics and john, what do you think, did south carolina put donald trump on track to be the republican nominee? >> he's in the driver's seat. he won impressively across the state. every congressional district, all the delegates. he beat marco rubio who finished

second and ted cruz a thousands votes by double digit margins. we'll see whether that triggers resources or voters to help somebody else get some momentum. >> what do you think the odds of that are? bush has left the race. do his voters or donors go and back another candidate such as trump or elsewhere? >> well, yes, his voters will go back another candidate. there weren't there in of his voters. his donors will scatter. some already have. marco rubio, specifically, you've had other people like ken langone go to john kasich. both candidates are so far behind trump, it will be difficult to breakthrough. they have to find states to win. money means something, but if it

meant everything jeb bush wouldn't be out this race. >> quickly on nevada, on the democratic side, how important were the caucus results there? >> significantly. it's going to be hard for bernie sanders to breakthrough. he'll give it a shot. >> thanks as always. >> all right. let's bring greg in. he's chief global strategist. great to see you as always. welcome. >> great to see you. hi. >> let's start with mr. trump and wall street. what do you think wall street would make of a possible trump c candidacy or victory. >> markets hate uncertainty and this is the mother of all uncertainty. four really quick things. he's promised a trade war which china.

number two, he's itching for a fight with janet yellen. his tax and spending proposals would blow a hole in the budget and he regularly bashes wall street. other than that, mrs. lincoln, is there anything wall street could like about this guy? i'd say no. >> then you have the democrat who is are no fan of wall street to begin with. if it came down to hillary versus donald trump, who do you think wall street would favor? >> i've talked to a lot of professional investors on this and they are torn. needless to say they are not big fans of hers but they think a lot of her rhetoric against wall street has been for show to impress the sanders supporters. i think a surprising percentage of people would hold their nose and vote for her. >> the economy, how is that going to play in to this whole discussion? mr. trump has been resonating with parts of america's certainly. the economy has not necessarily

or the strength of it has not necessarily been resonating with his supporters. >> you're right. i think a lot of us in the industry look at an economy starting to re-accelerate. it was a great story about an economy that would be humming by the second half. i don't think the average american appreciates that. they still worry about layoffs and forclosures and things like that. they will be an advantage for the republicans. >> my question, if the economy does strengthen, who does that favor more in the election, do you think? do you think the republicans? >> no, i think her. if it strengthens and perceived as strengthening, an important point, i think the voters would say maybe she's right. maybe the obama administration has made real strides. she's not there yet. in late february, she's not there yet. >> let's talk about the other candidates. mr. rubio and senator cruz.

what would wall street make of nomination for either of those two gentlemen. >> i think wall street could live with rubio. they would view him as fairly moderate on social issues. i think on economic issues, wall street would certainly accept rubio. cruz is another story. here is someone who does not like to compromise boasted when he was in the senate that he wouldn't sprocompromise. someone who has pledged to go after the reserve and not that in favor of free trade. i'd say the cruz agenda could be more troublesome for wall street than marco rubio. >> all right. thank you. from the presidential race to state politics where new jersey has now threatened to take over atlantic city which has been struggling for years. today the mayor of the city denounced the plans. he did not mince words.

>> reporter: in response to new legislation proposing a state takeover, atlantic city officials had some strong language for new jersey lawmakers. >> the final piece of legislation that the state presented to us was far from a partnership. it was much worse. it was absolutely a dictatorship. this is an insult to democracy and to american citizens living in atlantic city. >> reporter: the bill would give new jersey vast control over the city's finances including the right to cancel union contracts and declare bankruptcy. the city's mayor vowing to line up other state lawmakers to introduce different financial recovery bill. the clock is ticking. atla city is set to run out of money within two months. a spokes american dismissing the comments as nothing more than political posturing adding that new jersey taxpayers can no longer be asked to bail out a.c. when it continues to tax and

spend so irresponsibly. it's struggled for years. caseinos have sprung up in neighboring states. for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan. >> political drama is playing out in the united kingdom. prime minister david cameron is facing tough opposition in his own country from those who want to exit the block. we have more on the possibility of a so-called brace it. >> reporter: british prime minister david cameron facing the defection of six cabinet members came face-to-face with london's mayor. >> prime minister to explain to the house and to the country exactly what way this deal returns sovereignty over any field of law making to the

parliament. >> this deal brings back the welfare powers. it brings back immigration powers. >> reporter: cameron has four months to argue his case. if he can't convince britain to stay in the european union other countries could follow meaning the mere existence of the eu is in doubt. he's the highest profile politician to back the campaign for britain's departure. >> because i want a better deal for the people of this country. >> reporter: skeptics like johnson doubt the uk can gain any rights back from the eu. the british have debates the merits of eu membership for years. tensions are rising as it stretches the limit of a slow growth and sometimes no growth europe. tensions rose more as the british pound suffered the si biggest single day drop in almost six years. >> it's important that the certainty of continued job

creation, that this certainty can continue. i think it's message for europe and i believe that a word to the uk to leave the challenge for the european union would be a mess. >> reporter: financial insiders are pointing to business leaders. the top execs at royal dutch shell are among those expected to sign a letter saying the departure from the european union could put britain's economy at risk. now it appears wall street is getting involved too. gold mman sachs has given more than $700,000 to a group called britain stronger in europe. still ahead, a company no stranger to controversy sees its stock price plunge after a revised cancer warning from the

cdc. the number of takata air bag recalls may quadruple. as first reported by reuters roughly 29 million have been recalled. they are investigating a potential wider safety hazard. now phones and gadgets and virtual reality dominate the start of the mobile world congress. this is the mobile world's biggest event. this year there was a new issue dominanting the conference. one that has grabbed the world's attention. john fort reports tonight from barcelona, spain. >> reporter: it's the tech world's biggest global stage

where east and west come together to launch products and do deals. global world congress attracts ceos from around the world. it comes from smart phone makers samsung which made a big sla splash. facebook ceo joined samsung on stage to talk about how the galaxy phones are the best enabler of mobile virtual reality. >> reporter: he pushed the idea that virtual reality will create demand for faster, fit wireless generation networks . for poorer countries he drove home having internet access for countries that don't have it. >> one of the things i've heard that's been disappointing is this idea that 4g was about giving people a good experience and 5g is about connect things.

what i hope is that we don't just do that, but we also finish the job of making sure that everyone in the world gets internet access. >> reporter: also voiced support for apple's fight against the fbi. he wasn't alone. intel ceo spoke out. >> i think there's a balance between the two. i'm not in favor and don't believe we should do back doors and be forced to do back doors. there's probably a way that working together with agencies we can find way to really protect the citizens from the terror. i think it's best when the engineers get together and solve the problem rather than es s escalation. >> reporter: top tier smart phones are no longer the stars of the show. they paved the way for new forms of virtual entertainment and new security headaches that have seized be world's attention. i'm john fort in barcelona. shares at flooring company

lumber liquidators fall sharply. certain kinds of laminate carries a three times higher risk of causing cancer than previously thought. the cdc issued a report two weeks ago saying there was a low risk of cancer. the cdc says it used an incorrect value for ceiling height leading to inaccurate results. shares were down nearly 20% today to 11.40. dean foods saw the profit triple as they benefitted from allow lower milk cost. shares were off neerply 8% to n

18.88. there were strong sales from botox. the company is expected to complete a $160 billion merger with pfizer by the end of year. cisco will collaborate to create a new generation of routers. they will work with verizon to make it happen. it will allow for faster networking speeds. shares were up fraction at $26.61. shares of valient were getting hit after a dow jones report said they're expected to restate earnings following an internal review. that report a says they restatement is likely over sales to its former drug distributor. on friday shares fell by 10% following an analyst report slamming the company. today the company was off another 10% to $75.92 that was

before this report added to the free fall after hours. coming up, who's driving? a look at how uber vets its drivers. uber is standing by its driver screening process after one of its drivers admitted to a shooting spree over the weekend that killed six people in michigan. now users want to know more about the company's background check process. indicate rogers reports for us tonight. >> reporter: while the shooting suspect jason dalton did not

have a reported criminal history, the incident raises the question of how safe are passengers when traveling with uber? the screening does not include fing fingerprints or check with the fbi databases. they have to provide license, vehicle documentation and social security numbers for third party background checks that comb through criminal records at county, state and federal levels. in new york city the taxi and limo commission conducts dmv and criminal background checks on drivers and also has. this includes fingerprinting and drug testing. the fingerprinting issue has been a hot button one with advocate, regulators and unions saying there should be an even playing field with how establishment drivers are screened and how uber and lyft screen their drivers. >> government conducted criminal background checks that involve fingerprinting are the only way

that you can see an individual's criminal history. private background checks, use names cannot access an individual's full criminal history. in addition, people can sign up wi fake names and then the background check is completely worthless. >> reporter: critics like who's driving you saying foregoing fingerprinting allows uber to scale up more quickly. less than two weeks ago they agreed to pay $25.8 million to around 25 million riders in a class action settlement over the term safe ride fee. two lawsuits took issue with the claims the background checks are industry leading and as part of the settlement the fee would be renamed a booking fee. on a conference call this afternoon uber defending its policy of not using if i thineis and said it would not be changing its policy. spokes people said given the

fact that the suspect did not have a criminal history, a background check would not have caught him. >> why not change the policy, if for no other reason, pr to reassure people. >> you would think they would want to update it. they were very adamant. they said fingerprinting can be d discrimanatory. they feel by going through the local, county, state and federal level on their own and county, in particular, they said was important to them, they feel their background check is more current and up to date. >> in india they have panic button on the app. might they bring that to the app here in the united states or no? >> they said we have the ultimate panic button in our 911 system and it's so vast that we don't need a panic button here. they encourage people who are unhappy or feel they are in danger rather on any trip to

just call 911. they feel that's the better way to do it. they said there's been reports they had tested this in chicago. they shot those down on the conference call and said social security not be-- it's not beend here. something to watch. thank you. thanks very much. >> will the tragic uber shooting spree change the way people feel about the sharing economy? let's turn to david reese who is professor of law for urban business entrepreneurs. welcome back. >> thank you. >> do you think it will change the way people feel about the sharing economy, this case this particular? >> i think we have to look at the short term and long term. in the short term we'll see people will think twice about it. in the long term, and as people think about their experience with sharing economy services and seeing how frequently terrible and tragic incidents like this occur, i think we'll

see a return to some growth in that area as people put this into perspective. >> are you surprised as our reporter kate rogers pointed out in their conference call they seem to be digging in their heels on not changing their background check policies here. why not do that if only for pr reasons just to reassure the public? this is a pr problem for them right now. >> it is. they're probably not wanting to make big promises about big changes to acknowledge that their business model is flawed and they will probably want to make changes on their own calls. >> there's been more calls for sharing of te ining the sharing. do you think it opens the door a bit wider for regulation? >> i certainly do. i think there's been this attitude of it's better to ask forgiveness than ask permission and an incident like this and

all of its tragic consequences raise the argument that maybe that's not the right way to go and getting it right the first time is better than kind of seeing how it unfolds. >> growing pains in the sharing economy or is this a real dent? what do you think? >> i think it's growing pains. it's been growing so rapidly with so many innovations. i think it's here to stay. i think people are voting with their feet in terms of using the services and government is trying to figure out how to adapt and regulate. >> d change their liability? do they have to change some of their policy, all of their policies because there's a liability issue? the weekend's horrible events really point that out. >> i think businesses react to lawsuits and to large judgments, and if courts and juries find this behavior was negligent or reckless, they will get a clear

message and they will change to adapt. i think that regulators will look carefully at them. i think a lot of this is in flux. i'm sure there will be changes. i don't know what they will be. >> have you used uber and will you think twice, if not? >> i've used lyft, and i would continue to do. >> all right, on that note, good to see you. thanks for joining us. david reese with brooklyn law school. nasa has received a record number of applications for its next class of astronauts. earlier this month we reported on nasa's efforts to recruit and train future explorers in space. this time around more than 18,000 people applied. that's roughly three times as many as the last go around. landing that job will be very difficult. nasa estimates it will choose between 8 and 14 selected candidates from the most recent batch of applications. that's a very small number.

>> it is. before we go another look at the rally on wall street. the dow jones climbed 228 points. the nasdaq rose 66 and the s&p 50 gained 67. >> thanks to that rallying oil. >> were you on the nasa list? >> not this time around. >> that's "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for watching. >> i'm bill griffith. have a great evening. we'll see you tomorr.

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