this is "nightly business report with tyler mathisen and sue he it's over. the dow's longest win streak in years has come to an end, and late-day earnings from visa could set the tone for tomorrow. mega mergers blocked. the justice department says two big health insurance combinations would not only increase costs but also threaten care. >> home sweet home. sales hit their highest pace in nine years and one type of buyer in particular is showing up in force. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, july 21st. good evening, everyone, and welcome. a pause in the rally. the dow's win streak, its longest in more than three years, is over. the blue chip index had climbed for nine straight sessions,

seven of them were record closes. that was its longest winning streak in some time. but earnings came in mixed, and the european central bank's decision not to add stimulus to that region's economy weighed on sentiment and pressured stocks. the dow jones industrial aver lost 77 points to 18,517. the nasdaq was off 16. the s&p 500 fell 7. >> dow component visa could set the tone for tomorrow. the world's largest payments network operator reported a steep drop in quarterly profit and added $5 billion to its stock buyback plan. visa did earn 69 cents a share. that three cents better than estimates, but if you include charges related to an acquisition, profits were actually 76% lower than a year ago. revenue at 3.6 billion, slightly below expectations. shares volatile in after-hours trade, but the big news from the company today wasn't found in its quarterly results but rather in a partnership with paypal.

kayla tausche has more. >> reporter: paypal and visa are familiar foes in the payment industry, but today with a new deal, the two companies became frenemies. a new strategic partnership allows visa to capture more business from paypal customers. paypal saying it will no longer steer visa customers toward using a bank account and instead will try to encourage them to use visa, debit and credit card accounts. but there's something in it for paypal, too. they will get a cut of all the volume they send visa's way. but they also get access to millions of points of sale for visa contact list payments at brick and mortar merchants. that's something paypal has wanted for a long time. visa customers also get the ability to move money through paypal accounts from their visa accounts instantaneously. for now it looks like two companies that couldn't agree much have come together to make a deal that will hopefully be

mutually beneficial. for "nightly business report," i'm kayla tauschy in new york. another dow component travelers saw quarterly profits fall to their lowest level since 2012. the property, casualty insurer said catastrophes like the alberta wildfire rose while investments fell. higher catastrophe claim costs are expected to hurt earnings across the industry. shares of the dow component fell fractionally in today's session. and now to a former dow component, general motors. shares of the automaker accelerated after the automaker posted much better than expected earnings for the second quarter. the stock rose more than 1.5%, and is now trading right around its ipo price. the company is also raising its earnings guidance for the rest of the year. and as phil lebeau reports, it's all because of trucks, suvs and the american con >> reporter: talk about zooming profits. gm set 19 financial records last

quarter. many due to strong sales in the u.s. where demand for new pickups and suvs is not slowing down. not only that, people are paying more for the models they are buying at chevy, buick, gmc and cadillac dealerships. personally because they are asking for features to keep them connected behind the wheel, but also because certain models, like gm's mid-sized pickup trucks, are connecting with buyers right now, but gm is also profiting because of its decision to cut back on less profitable fleet sales, vehicles that are sold as a lower price to rental car companies, government agencies and corporations. it's a move that has lowered gm's dominance in market share, but gm would rather sell fewer vehicles at a higher profit. after six straight years of rising sales, analysts worried consume remembers running out of gas, but gm's cfo doesn't see that happening. >> we still expect to see strong industry performance in the u.s.

for the foreseeable future. clearly the results in june were a little bit less than what we expected, but the fundamentals are there for continued strong performance, and that's our baseline assumption for the rest of the year. >> stevens did tell analysts general motors is bracing for sales in europe to slow down, and that market adjusts to life after brexit. if that happens, general motors could see a slight loss in europe over the next couple of quarters. phil lebeau, enbrost, chicago. now to more on today's decision by the european central bank to leave interest rates unchanged. well, that was mostly expected. president mario draghi also stopped short of pledging fresh stimulus in the future. julia chatterly has more now from >> reporter: assurance provided by mario draghi, the head of the european central bank today, but not a lot else. standing pat on any future policy as far as the reaction of

the markets and the impact of the brexit vote, he said we're in the dark. we don't know and we've got to wait for the data to feed through so that's a case of hanging on in there until september wh update their forecasts. in terms of some of the concerns about the bank running out of options to buy the sovereign bonds of the likes of germany in particular, the banks said they didn't even discuss what the options are in order to address that, so despite analyst concerns out there, the ecb here are say, look, we're just not that concerned at this moment. then on the banks he was quite interesting. he made a point of suggestioning that for all the risks and the concerns that we saw in banking stocks in the aftermath of the brexit vote, he said the banks have r in a far stronger position today than they were even as back as they were back in 2012. >> i'm pretty confident that a strong supervision and the robust regulation and better communication indeed by the

supervisory authorities, the ebas and all this will still improve the situation and the perception in -- in the rest of the world's eyes. >> reporter: an interesting response from there. on the one and he was supporting the banks and saying they are in a better condition, but on the other hand he admitted to me, look, he doesn't also want to downplay the risks at this stage. on that, we've got stress test results coming out at the back end of next week, so that's what you have to watch, but as far as policy is concerned, guys, have you to pack your bags, go on summer holidays and i'll see you back here in september. for "nightly business report," i'm julia chatterly in frankfurt. >> thank you, julia. the number of americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell last week. according to the labor department, jobless claims dropped by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 253,000. the number has been below the 300,000 mark for the past 72 weeks. that's the longest such streak since 1972-3- >> home sales moved a little bit

higher in june and hit the highest pace in about nine years. the national association of realtors says existing home sales rose 1.1% last month. a lack of supply is keeping sales from being even stronger, but there is a bright side. diana olick reports. first time home buyers may finally be coming back to the market. >> reporter: 32 yoerl jorge already owns a trendy restaurant in arlington, virginia, but only recently could he afford to become a homeowner. >> it was a little bit too pricey, so i thought i would look in different places, also in d.c. and it was a very long process. >> reporte he came to the u.s. from bolivia 12 years ago was willing to put in the time. he managed to find a townhouse in d.c. and qualified for some assistance. >> i always wanted to, you know, purchase a home and live the american dream. >> reporter: that dream is moving further out of reach for

some. the median price of a home sold in june was nearly 5% higher than a year ago, according to the national association of realtors. that's because supply is down from a year ago and has been heading down now for over a year. tight supply means more competition. >> in may we saw the average stays on market 12 days, less than two weeks so things are moving pretty quickly. >> reporter: nationally in june days on market fell to the lowest in seven years according to red fin. nearly one-quarter of homes sold in just two weeks. to meet the demand, builders are finally starting to put up cheaper homes again, but buyers have to pay a higher price in terms of convenience. >> builders are willing to go farther out now than they were before, farther from the urban core and into the more remote suburban areas and get lots and develop them, and then they can offer homes in these affordable price ranges. >> reporter: but millenial buyers seem to like the city life, waiting longer to get

married, have children and consider the suburbs. for alborda there was simply no appetite to leave town. for "nightly business report," i'm diana oleynik washington. >> still ahead, high stakes y.tonight's speech by donald trump may be the most important and most scrutinized in his entire c ♪ the justice department is taking a hard stance against two health insurance mega mergers. regulators are suing to block

anthem's proposed purchase of cigna and etna's merger with humana. regulators say the merger would harm competition. today it became official. bertha coombs has the details >> reporter: justice department says when the nation's five largest heers compete, consumers benefit, but etna's $37 billion deal to acquire humana and anthem's $54 billion deal for cigna would reshape the health care landscape for the worst. >> they would leave much of the multi-trillion dollar health insurance industry in the hands of just three mammoth insurance companies, drastically constricting competition. >> reporter: doj's antitrust chief praised the insurers even as he argued the deals must be blocked, saying etna and humana's competition of helped rein in costs as have anthem and cigna in the large employer market. >> there is quality competition going on, innovation going on.

you reduce the number of players in any market from medicare advantage, for national employers looking r cover for their employees. you run the risk that that innovation will be stopped. you run the risk that insurance premiums will go up. >> reporter: etna and humana vow to fight the doj lawsuit and etna's chief say they have secured strong insurers to buy plans in medicare markets where they overlap and he contends work together they will continue to innovate for seniors. >> both of our plans have the second and third highest star ratings in the united states because we've invested in the quality of network we've put together for them, the quality of service and seniors like our products. we think we can do more of that, so we're willing to take this all the way to the very end. >> reporter: but it won't be easy. it has been 12 years since the doj has lost an antitrust case in court. still, anthem and cigna also say they will fight, calling the doj's decision to block their merger misguided. they also argue together they can push for lower prices from

increasingly large hospitals and physician groups, but regulators worry consumers won't see the savings. >> mergers may indeed increase the profits of etna and anthem, but they would do so at the expense of consumers, employers and health professionals across the country. >> reporter: both etna and anthem say they will continue to pursue settlement with the doj, officials here say right now the only way they see these cases being settled is in court. for "nightly business report," >> to cleveland now where republican presidential nominee donald trump will officially accept his party's nomination for president tonight. trump will speak directly to the american people and make the case for why he should be elected 45th president. john harwood joins us this evening from cleveland. john, welcome. what is trump's job one tonight? >> reporter: look, the speech he's giving tonight, tyler, is on a whole different level from the exposure he's had on television before. this is when a huge swath of the

general election electorate is going to be watching him and thinking about him as a potential president, so job one is to come across to the american people as someone that they can see behind the desk in the oval office, that they can see as commander in chief. donald trump hasn't always looked that way in his campaign, but he's got a chance to do that tonight. >> ivanka trump, his daughter, an accomplished businesswoman, both with her own fashion line and also within the trump organization, is going to be speaking before him and introducing her father. what do we know with b what she might say to humanize her father or put forward some of those presidential qualities? >> well, i think like donald trump jr. and eric trump before her, she is a very poised young woman, somebody who will reflect well on her father simply by delivering a good speech, but in addition to that, she can give some texture and background about him as a father, as a

grandfather, as somebody who she has seen in all sorts of situations different from what anyone in the public has seen. that unique testimony that they could give about their father could be very valuable if shefuls off. >> john, an interesting night ahead. harwood, thanks again. >> sales growth disappointed starbucks and that's where we begin the market focus. coffee chainsaw same-store sales rise 4% but analysts were looking for a 6% gain. overall revenue missed estimates but profn line. shares initially fell next tended\hours following the but ended the regular session up six cents to 57.60. chipotle returned to profitability in its latest quarter, but the results still weren't good enough. both profit and revenue came in shif expectations and burrito chain's same-store sales fell 23% as the company continues to

try to recover after last year's health scare. chipotle ended the day down a fraction to 14, 870. despite the increase results weren't good enough to top revenue targets. the company reported product in line with estimates and reaffirmed its outlook for the year. shares of at&t initially fell into the extended session but finished the day down a fraction to 42.52. shares of southwest fell their most in seven years. lower fuel costs helped drive profit higher, but that wasn't enough to hit targets and revenue was also shy of forecasts. that news sent shares down 11% to 37.32. biogen topped profit and revenue financials thanks to strong performance in its multiple sclerosis and hemophilia business. the biotech company also announced a $5 billion share buyback program and raised its

guidance. biogen also said its ceo would step down in the next few months. shares up 7% on the news to 282.:45. profit fell nearly 20% at union pacific as weak demand for consumer goods hit results and earnings still managed to match wall street targets. revenue at railroad operator didn't fare as well missing the mark. the company's ceo said there are still challeng >> we're still face some. very same healed yinds we've fa faced in last quarters, natural gas price and replacing coal as a source of electricity, a strong u.s. dollar and strong shalel shaleled-rel activity being depressed but we are seeing sequential improvement which is improving. domino's hit a new high after the pizza chain posted results that topped expectations. the beat was largely attributed to robust store expansion and a

surge in revenue from the company's supply chain business. domino's shares up more than 5.5% to 144.66. fox news chief roger ailes has resigned. he stepped down today in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal. he denies the charges. ailes built one of the most influential, profitable brands in news. one responsible for one-fifth of parent company's 21st century fox's profits. ailes will get an exit package worth $40 million. executive chairman rupert murdoch will become chair and acting chairman of fox news. welcome, as always. let's start first of all with your reaction. i mean this, developed and came to a conclusion rapidly. >> indeed it did. you know, i think obviously if you're a casual observer this is bombshell news. however, iperspective, if

history is anything to go by, we expect investors to shake off the news but clearly roger ailes is a larger than life personality won fox news which is almost synonymous with his tenure. obviously fox news is an extremely important asset for, you know, for 21st century fox, but i think on the bright side they have been successful in signing a lot of long-term contracts which should keep them going until they can get steady hands to replace roger ails. >> so you do not see this as a near or maybe even a long-term threat to the stock price or to the profitability of fox news? >> well near term you're likely to see, you know, some headline risk around this. there's also potential issues with succession, you know. rupert is taking over the -- you know, the running of fox news, obviously kind of more like a band-aid, so all eyes are going to be on who is going to step into those gigantic shoes. you know, i can't frankly think

of any potential candidates, but there's a number of names that have been mentioned. i wouldn't expect the company to focus solely internally, so there are big shoes to fill and i think from an investment perspective this is something that investors will be watching very closely given the significance of fox news >> you know, given the fact that rupert murdoch is stepping in to take over for mr. ailes rather than rupert murdoch's two sons who have been assuming the running of the company, does that say anything about rupert's relationship with his sons as it pertains to the running the business? >> well, you know, i think on the one hand, i think, you know, rupert needed to shome, you know, as kind of -- make sure that there's an orderly transition. there's been a history of the sons verseus, you know, roger ailes so i think they also wanted to manage the perception side of this, so all in all there's no question right now that this is a generational change from rupert to highs

sons. the question becomes, you know, what impact -- how do they kind of manage the transition? what impact does it have within the newsroom? there's any number of things that can happen here and we only hope that the company will be able to navigate this quite successfully. >> thanks so much for your perspective. comi up, why warren buffett, jamie dimon and mary berra and others held a secret meeting about the future of corpor

shoefs some of the nation's most valuable companies held a secret meeting to discuss the state of publicly trade companies. as reported by the "new york times," a group of business leaders met over the past year to address how to make the marketplace more attractive more privately held companies. today the group released a public letter with what they call common sense principles that suggest how current executives should lead their businesses. warren buffett was a part of that group and this is what he said today about berkshire hathaway becoming a public company. >> i originally would have preferred berkshire hathaway to be a private company, and over the years my view on that has changed 180 degrees. i enjoy having berkshire acpublic company and i enjoy having -- i don't know whether we have a million shareholders or even more, but i like the fact that people put their trust

in us and that we treat them like partners and they feel like partners. >> j.p. eggers is a professor of management at new york stern school of business and is here to discuss that with us. you know, there's a lot of things in this letter and in the reporting vond surrounding it. why would a company want to go public today? there's so much more money in the private markets than there used to be that one of the main reasons for going public, to cash out, may not be as compelling. >> well, for many. startup firms that still is a very compelling reason because the initial investors who have put their money in at the vc rounds and the angels rounds early on are still looking for a way to cash out. they can cash out through kind of subsequent rounds and buy out early investors, but it becomes a little more complicated, and certainly if you're looking for a way to get a major capital and fleet infusion for some sort of infrastructure expansion or something likethat, then there's still an appeal to be going public. >> but at the same time administratively it's more difficult to be a public company. in addition to that, we're increasingly seeing the board

have more power than the ceo, so there's less incentive for those who are at the top tiers to run a public company versus a private company. >> i think this is absolutely true, right if you're the ceo of a company that's privately held and you don't need to cash out either for yourself or for your investors or for a big capital expansion to go public, then there's no reason you should be wanting to do this, right? why would you want to subject yourself to quarterly earnings reports and analyst phone calls and earnings guidance and things like to when you can actually just focus on running your business. got to deal with your board and investors and keeping them happy. it's a lot easier to communicate with a smaller group of people that are very well informed about the business than trying to communicate to a large body of people who may not understand what's going hon in your company. >> and investors there by invitation only as opposed to public investors who may include an activist that doesn't like what you're doing. let's talk about the question of earnings guidance which seems to be a grain of sanld, maybe a big rock in the shoe of a lot of

ceos. gore they come down on this and where do you come down on it? >> certainly the report that came out from jamie dimon, warren buffett and others was definitely very much against the idea of ceos offering earnings guidance. it's good to have the information out there as far as earnings quarterly from a transparency ber spective, but quarterly and even between quarterly attempts to try and get ceos to give guidance about where they are going and whether they are going to hit or miss and by how much has turned this all into a game in many ways where it becomes about trying to massage these opinions in order to make sure that you can actually match expectations every time. that's not good for investors. it's not good for the ceos. that's not really good for anyone in some ways, but it's kind of the incentive system we've designed by kind of forcing ceos to do this, kind of gives them the incentive do it. >> we've missed you. with new york university stern school of business. >> listen up, ty, finally

vcr. t the end of the l >> no. >> the last company making video cassette recorders, yes, they are still being made, is reportedly ending production by the end of the month. the japanese company says it's having a hard time to get the necessary parts to build the machines which were first launched about 40 years ago. >> remember when they were new. my goodness. eight-track tapes. bring back the eight-track. >> stop it. that does it fours tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for joining us. >> have a great night, everybody. i'm tyler mathisen. we'll see you tomorrow. >> i don't think my kids even know what a vcr is. this program is brought you to in part by

a passion for better understanding our world. accomplish the same thing -- they both allow us to venture into our world and experience great art, music, history, food, and people. and by... bread for the world, an advocacy organization working to end hunger and poverty at home and abroad. hi, i'm rick steves, back with more of the best of europe. this time we're enjoying the delights of the french countryside -- it's the chateaux of the loire river valley. thanks for joining us.