this is nightly business reportbrought to you by -- apple's influence, the company was the talk among investors and on wall street today.

so why does this one company matter so much? >> back home, they're back. why homes are once again being built without a buyer being lined up in add vans. and the cyber threat, what businesses and individuals can do to keep from being hacked. all that and more tonight on nightly business report for wednesday, april 24th. good evening, everyone. apple's numbers were out yesterday. but the company was all the talk today, it was the day of reckoning. >> whether you were in your office or trading posts on wall street, everyone was talking about apple today. its stock, it's earnings, it's iphones and ipads and it's competito competitors. why is everyone so obsessed with apple? whether you know it or not, chances are some of your money is invested in apple. now the second most valuable pl company on the planet. 34 million shares traded hands today on the s&p 500. john takes a look at why apple

is such an important company to wall street and why it matters to just about all of us. >> reporter: even if you don't own an iphone, apple's a stock you should care about. why? because it's owned by so many 401(k)'s and pension funds for one. nearly 2/3s of apple's shares are owned by stitutions. apple stock movements influence some widely held index funds and apple makes up more than a 12% weighting. nearly twice that of google. that's enough to make apple stock moves a concern for the whole market. >> a significant percentage, and overweight percentage of the returns in the s&p 500 over the last two years has been because of apple stocks. if apple swoonz, it's going to impact many indexes and fund

managers that were overly confident for the prospects of this technology company. >> apple's product cycle has a influence for better or worse. before the iphone was introduced six years ago, smart phones looked like this, now, here's the latest htc and samsung phones. if you owned blackberry, nokia or motorola shares over the past few years, apple became a pretty big stock to know about. a big launch for apple? sure, it was even bigger for hp and dell, which have seen their pc businesses implode. now there's a new reason to care about apple. cash. apple boosted its dividend to $3.05 a share. making it the biggest dividend pair in the world. the total cash return to shareholders will total $100 billion by the end of 2015. >> yes, apple is managing to

lower growth expectations, it's doing so because it's now suddenly losing share. the smart phone market is not saturad, butpple finds itself losing out to more diverse and better priced android alternatives. >> reporter: tim cooke acknowledged on the call that apple's growth has slowed and its margins are coming down a bit. what's a lot less clear is weather investors will continue to embrace it as a growth stock. either way, it's going to be an important story to watch for more than just apple stockholders. for nightly business report, i'm john fort. >> later in the program, we'll look at the new strategy samsung is employing as it tries to take an even bigger share of the smart phone market. more proof today that ford motor is running on all cylinders. the automaker said today it posted its best quarter ever in north america. ford earned 41 cents a share, four cents more than estimates. revenues revved up 10% thanks to

the rollout of all models. earlier today i talked with ford's chief financial officer and asked him what ford has to do to keep that sales momentum up for the rest othe ar. i tnk w ve to do what we've been doing, our business is a product business. and i think we've got great products that we have just introduced, we have more coming this year. we are managing the cost of the business well, keeping our production in line with demand and working the top line. i think we continue doing that. >> bob, why all the demand for these cars? is it because ford is making better cars? or is it that people just need new ones given that the a of the vehles on e road are so old? >> yeah, that's a very important point, suzie. there is a strong replacement demand element behind the industry growth in north america. and certainly that's part of the story.

but clearly the consume are responding to the product that is we have out there. a lot of that was around the new fusion. the new cmax and escape, and part of that story is fuel economy. it's the fun to drive element of the vehicles and they see value in the price positions that we have in the marketplace. as popular as ford isith consumers, it's toyota that is the number one automaker in the world. what can ford do to change that? >> we have to keep working our own one ford plan. which is working and is having great success. we've seen the fruit of that in north america, growing dramatically in africa, and we expect great things from that part of the region by mid decade. we have a restructuring plan in place in europe. we have a plan and it's working. we justeep on tck wit that. and the company will move forward. >> to what extent is the weak

japanese yen making prices on toyota corolla's and camrys more attractive to american buyers, and do you think a price war could shape up in the u.s. car market? >> well, we don't know yet, because it's only over the last six to nine months or so, that the yen has deappreciated to the degree that we see today. it clearly has given the japanese competitors an advantage not only here t arou the wor. we've only seen very small, selected areas where they may have leveraged that in terms of price positioning in the marketplace. historically, they haven't used that in terms of heavy incentives. what they've generally done is to put new content on to vehicles and not price for that. so that's the thing that we're looking at very closely. and we'll be watching that going-forward. but so far, just some -- few signs that they're starting to take advantage of that. >> let's take a look at ford sales and market share. gmtill dominates thatmark.

wh do u ha do to catch up? >> well, we have to keep working our plan. we've presently got seven plants under construction in asia pacific africa. seven of those are in china, two in india. we had a 30% increase in our share, in the quarter in china. we actually wholesaled more cuses in the region, most of that in china, than we did in either europe or north america. >> china's also on track to be the biggest market for luxury vehicles like bmw, audi, mercedes, verypopur. ishere a place for the new lincoln to win over buyers of luxury cars in china? >> we think so. we've announced that in 2014 we're going to introduce the brand into china. teams already working to prepare for that. and we do think that we've got the products and we're going to have a consumer brand experience and dealership experience that

we think is going to set us apart from others. >> ford shares hitting a speed bump today. they were down slightly, the stock is up almost 3% so far this year. >> ford shares, like a truckload of other stocks today ended slightly lower. the major averages did finish the day mixed. orders for long lasting durable goods were softer than expected in march. and investors took a ho hum view of mostly positive earnings reports from before the bell about boeing, eli lilly, and others. the dow was down, dragged by a 6% decline after proct & gamble lowered its outlook for the year. the cfo described the economy as challenging, he confirmed his company's 2013 outlook. nasdaq and the s&p 500 both closed a tiny fraction higher. encouraging housing news. applications for new mortgage

loans rose 1% last week as rates on those mortgages kicked lower for a fifth week in a row. most of the new applications came from current homeowners refinancing existing loans. but at a cheaper rate. many of those current homeowners are staying right where they are and taking advantage of lower mortgage rates. many would be home buyers are snapping up newly constructed houses, almost as quickly as they're being built. and that's driven some home builders to do something we haven't seen since the housing bust. building houses first on spec and then trying to sell them. diana olick has more on this old new trend. >> reporter: steven paul says he should have no problem selling this five bedroom home. he built it without a buyer. something he hasn't done much of in the past eight years. >> we're monitoring the resail inventory of listings for the last 18 months.

and we've watched that drop over a period of time. we realize that there's going to be a dion mad for homes where people want immediate deliveries. and there are none on the market. >> reporter: so called spec building was more than just a four he letter word during the housing crash, it was a risk few were willing to take. the story now is, no supply. home listings in march were down 17% from a year ago. the big builders say they're holding back construction because they're facing land, labor and material shortages. and because they want to keep prices strong. that has others thinking the time is now right for specs. >> i think the biggest competitive advantage that builders have right now is that they have product. with existing inventory so low, they need to take advantage of the inventory they have to sell. >> reporter: pausays he's targeting high end high volume markets for most of his specs, doing mostly tear down projects.

that's where the risk could bring the greatest reward. >> we've been monitoring other builders and we've been noticing they have had a reluctance to start to build specs. we see it as an opportunity. >> he's starting to see buyers who had damaged credit. even lost their homes to foreclosure three or four years ago, now back and able to buy again. that can only mean more demand amid this limited supply. for nightly business report, i'm diana olick in bethesda, maryland. >> meritage home reported a strong quarter. pulte and d.r. horton out with their reports thursday and friday. schwab hit by a second cyber attack in as many days. we'll ask a security expert how businesses and individuals can protect themselves. first, let's take a look at how the international markets closed today.

investors were busy all day analyzing a new batch of earnings. we begin with qualcomm, the chipmaker reported after the bell profits in line with estimates, and revenues ahead of expectations. it's a big supplier of chips that are used in apple devices and galaxy phones, but with concerns about a slowdown in smart phones, qualcomm expects

profits in the current quarter to come in lower than analysts recommendations. shares tumbled more than 4% after hours. zynga reported a penny a share. that's the good news. the social gamemaker issued a very sharp warning about revenue for the current quarter. shares were up more than 5% before the close. they dropped more than 10%. right after that earnings release. first solar led the s&p all day, after selling its largest solar farm to the southern company turner renewable energy. the purchase more than doubled its solar capacity. first sola gained more than % today. and year to date is up more than 45%. and near the top of the dow today. boeing reporting first quarter profits up 20%. they took no special charge for the dream liner. investors cheered that earnings news and the expectation that

the faa will clear the dream liner for passenger flight later this week. boeing gained more than 3% today and is up more than 20% this year. yesterday's fake associated press tweet the one that sent the markets into a temporary tailspin escalated concerns about corporate internet security and how safe all our online accounts really are. today a victory for the good guys. police in australia arrested a man believed to be a high level member of the computer hacking ring called lose security. it's part of the larger group known as anonymous. which has claimed responsibility for cyber attacks on the cia, sony pictures and even public broadcasting service. meanwhile, online brokerage giant charles schwab admitted the website was the target of a seco cyber attack in as many days. denying its clients access to their online accounts for several hours. the problem has been resolved and schwab investors can safely

trade again. with so many of those schwab clients using mobile devices to conduct trades. another worry on everyone's mind how vulnerable is your mobil phone to being attacked. john herring, ceo of lookout demonstrates just how simple and quick it is to gain access to your mobile accounts. >> there's a whole host of spoof e-mails, in this case, what we have is an e-mail from a colleague. it says, hey, why don't you check out this game, i have lots of programs that get sent to me. i'm sure you have lots of documents sent to you. >> you think it's from a co-worker? or i think it's a from a co-worker? >> and it did not come from a skoe worker. if you open this file, hit install. it will install the application, and you open it, it's a game in this case it could be a docume. the device is now hacked.

the control is now in my hands. >> preventative measures are your key to protecting your identity in a cyber world. good afternoon, it's good to have you with us. >> good afternoon, thanks. >> we just saw how easy it was for somebody to hack into a phone in the past 24 hours, schwab has been hit twice. should i if i do my banking and brokerage work and trading online, should i think twice about doing that? >> well, you should be very careful. clearly -- well, first, mobile devices are kind of the new frontier for hackers. wherever people choose to do their financial banking, hackers are going to follow. they follow the money, and where money is on mobile devices, they will try to hack mobile devices. but i think overall, in terms of financial services industry. i think you need to be very

careful. you need to be careful about your passwords, you need to have strong passwords. you need to change them regularly. you also need to be careful about who is on your computer. at least the computer you're using for your financial services transactions. if you have a family computer and personal computer you use. you're better off using your personal computer, you don't know where your kids are going online and that type of thing. there are a number of different measures you can take to protect yourself. >> bause wedon't kno where other family members may have been, that may have brought in introduced viruss or malweaare, have to guess, even though we hear about hacking attacks on chase, wells fargo or schwab, the greatest point of vulnerability is probably the home computer. number one, is that correct? and number two, do the kinds of

off the shelf security programs, the anti-malware programs that i can buy, do they do the job? >> right, you're exactly right. just like with a company, the weakest link in either a network or a financial transaction involving a home computer is the end user. is a home computer itself. and the anti-virus software, or the security suites that involve anti-virus software, spy wear and firewalls, they are essential. you need to install them, they need to be updated at least daily, automatically, but unfortunately, the reality is, that depending on what study you read, only about 20 of these anti-virus programs are only about 25 to 40% effective in actually detecting the malware that we're seeing today. >> how do i get the remaining

75% protection that would seem reasonably important to me? >> a lot of that has to come through very, very careful user habits. in fact, when friends ask me, how should they conduct online banking? to the extent they can afford to, i recommend that they buy a very cheap computer and only use that computer for their financial transactions. don't use it for e-mail, don't use it for online browsing. anything. and -- just as a way to reduce the risk. but there's -- >> two quick questions. do you do your banking online and your financial work online? >> i do, yes. >> and so what would the three key things that you would recommend to our audience be to protect yourself in -- against cyber threat? >> well, one was what i just mentioned, you really do need to have a security suite of anti-virus software and spy wear.

the other is to have very strong passwords. and to change them regularly. the recommendation is, that you not have the same password for more than one account. practically speaking, nobody can keep track of all those passwords, but at least have unique passwords for those accounts that are most sensitive. for instance, your bank accounts or things like that. >> and i think the other thing is to reduce the use of those computers on which you're conducting really sensitive banking transactions. >> michael, managing director and leader of the cyber investigation unit at kroll advicery solutions. still ahead, best buy teams up with samsung. will it be a win win for both companies? fit, how treasuries faired today.

just a day after apple's earnings were released, samsung is trying to get a bigger piece of the mobile market by teaming up with best buy. courtney tells us more about the partnership and whether it will work. >> the teams of best buy and samsung electronics launched the samsung experience shops that will be in 1400 best buy locations by june.

this deal could be a big win for both sides. samsung is attempting to catapult past apple's smart phone dominance by taking advantage of best buy's huge physical footprint. best buy hopes to capture samsung's cool factor. 200 of these shops are already serving customers, just in time for the highly anticipated release of the new samsung galaxy s 4 smart phone. >> the feedback is positive. too early to quantify and be definitive, but we're pleased with what we're seeing. >> best buy also sells apple products in its stores. these new samsung shops will be twice the size of the apple shops, with an average foot print of 460 square feet. best buy is expecting to put the shops in twice the number of locations of apple's shops. >> the shop is all part of best buy's renew blue campaign to invigorate its consumers,

employees and vendors. some question whether or not best buy will remain brand neutral and not heavily favor vendors that have a large presence in its retail stores. >> the blue shirts is unchanged. so there's no -- they're not incentivized for a particular vendor or another. their focus is on customer satisfaction. and the success of the store. >> as the debate over how brick and mortar stores will deal with rising internet sales continues. with the blue shirt expertise and online price matching program, there's no reason for consumers to walk out of the store without purchasing. though best buy is joining other retailers in reducing its physical footprint. julie connds its real eate is an asset and not a liability. in this case, offering samsung a 1400 shop retail footprint in just five months time. courtney reagan, in new york. >> suzie, in china, they basically -- best buy follows this model in their subsidiary.

every vendor has a kiosk within their own store, staffed by their own employees and it's working very well. you go to the samsung counter you meet the samsung employee. the lg counter, you meet the lg employee. finally tonight, benjamin franklin is getting a makeover, two years after the initial target date. the federal reserve will put out a totally redesigned $100 bill in october. the new note will be chock full of features designed to stop counterfeiters, including a blue 3d security strip right down the front of benjamin there, and a disappearing holographic liberty bell. >> more colorful. >> i hope they keep the yak in the liberty bill. >> october 8th, they come out. i expect you to have a couple

hundreds and give me some. >> have a great evening, everybody, we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. nightly business report has been brought to you by --

glad to have you with us. it's thursday, april 25th. north korean leaders have shown they are determined to stick to the policy of military first. they are putting on a display of that belief. they are celebrating the 81st anniversary of the people's