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captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone and welcome to this "nightly business report" special edition: "conscious capital." more and more businesses are following this principle of creating companies not only to build the bottom line, but to build a better world. tom. >> tom: we've found several young entrepreneurs, susie, who are doing well by doing good. but it's a strategy not just for start-ups. from giant chains found on every corner to socially responsible investing funds, tonight we profile companies embracing the dual goals of "conscious capital." >> susie: we begin in northwest indiana at a company that buys and sells used books and donates a portion of its profits to literacy projects. diane eastabrook reports. >> reporter: better world books is an orphanage of sorts for used books. they come into the company's mishaiwaka indiana warehouse by the hundreds where they get

sorted, recycled, re-sold or donated to charity. better world's shelves are crammed with some four million hard covers and paperbacks with nearly 2.5 million unique titles. >> right here we're looking at a book understanding nutrition that could have come in from the university of nebraska or who knows where. and it's right next to a book about donald rumsfeld, yep it's a completely random put away. >> reporter: kreece fuchs is one of better world's three co- founders. the trio of former university of notre dame students hatched the idea for the company in their dorm. they found they could make more money selling their used text books over the internet than back to the school bookstore. >> over the course of that summer after i graduated, i would get an email saying your book sold and i would run to the post office and ship the book and you know a few days later i sold another book. >> reporter: last year better world made about $55 million buying and selling new and used books. the company donated roughly $2 million to literacy programs and to libraries which give better world their unwanted inventories.

the public library in evanston,e rates due to the weakness in europe and higher energy, fuel and commodity costs. >> reporter: some market pros say the q1 earnings slowdown is already factored in to stock prices. others think disappointing corporate profits will only trigger a hiccup in the stock market. still market strategist, stephen wood says he has another worry. >> what's more likely to trigger a sell-off is probably oil prices because we've known that there's going to be a deceleration in earnings for a number of quarters and we had a fairly good idea of what that would be. what's turning into a wild card is that energy prices have spiked over the last couple of weeks. >> reporter: the bad news for stock investors is that the q1 earnings slowdown could just be the start of a prolonged decline. not everyone agrees with that forecast. but, it one more thing for investors to worry about. suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: the sector expected to show the best earnings growth in

the first quarter is the industrials sector as u.s. manufacturing continues showing signs of life. the institute of supply management index hit 53.4 in march. any reading over 50 shows expansion. this is the 32nd straight month of growth. are rdz scott paul is the executive director of a wlins e he is with us in our washington d.c. bureau, what is the driving the growth of american manufacturing, is it u.s. demand or are we shipping this stuff overseas? >> tom, it's a mix but by and large it is u.s. demand. we have seen strong demand for automobiles, for durable goods. we've seen consumer confidence slowly creep up. we have seen some increased exports, although the situation in europe means that that, we can't count on that as a market for growth. and i expect, i know auto numbers are out tomorrow. i expect to see some good numbers there, which is obviously a good thing for american manufacturing.

>> tom: so if it is u.s. demand driving the resurgence, does that tell you is more sustainable than just exports? >> it would obviously be nice to see global growth. but it's nice to see the u.s. consumer back in the game. and the areas in which we see manufacturing jobs growth in primary metals, in transportation equipment, that's automobiles n durable goods is a strong indication that there is some pent-up demand that is being released rate now. obviously we need to keep moving in the right direction on jobs and on a number of other factors. >> tom: politics being what it is what do you say to critics who say nothing is made in america any more when you look at these numbers? >> we're seeing a renaissance in manufacturing, we've seen about two years of solid job growth. this is the best performance we've seen since the early 1990s. for those who say we should write-off manufacturing, i think this is good evidence that they are wrong. >> tom: scott paul along with us on the state of manufacturing.

scott's with the alliance for american manufacturing >> tom: while it's an election year, this is a slow time of year for congress-- a break in the usual politicking about the budget. but there are two very different spending plans for uncle sam in washington. how far apart are republicans and the president when it comes to their budget proposals? how far are both sides from reality? and what does all this mean for you? darren gersh went looking for some answers. >> reporter: it is hardly news tot,ayha t before they left town for the holidays, democrats and republicans failed to solve the budget crisis. but they did accomplish something else and it's pretty

important. they put the president's budget on one side and the budget from house republicans on the other. you now have a very clear idea of where each party would take the country if they could. >> if you never want taxes increased, this is what happens to social insurance. if you only want to increase taxes on the wealthy, this is where the debt ratio winds up, perhaps it's not stabilized enough. and these are the real issues the voters have to understand and then answer in the election. >> reporter: the differences are really quite striking. in their budget, house republicans cut taxes deeply and cut federal spending so deeply that there's not much left of the federal government beyond defense, social security and a slimmed down medicare. the president's budget raises taxes on the wealthy, but even then, federal debt only stabilizes and that's if you use some very generous assumptions. and both republican and democratic budgets ignore the really big enchilada. there's no policy to deal with

the retirement of the baby boomers. and short term budget cuts, are just that, a short-term fix. >> you're still right on the cusp of that being destabilized because of the increase and aging of the population. >> reporter: interestingly enough, house republicans and the president agree on how much they want medicare to grow in coming years. the answer: not by much. and many analysts think that's unrealistic. >> we're going to have think-- go to the middle class and say these are benefits, you know, these are programs you benefit for and you're going to have ante up a little bit more. >> reporter: and when it comes to middle class benefits and taxes, the two parties share the same focus. >> a huge part of the action has to do with changing the taxes on upper income payers. one side would raise them, one side would lower them. nobody is really looking and saying seriously well... well are-- is everybody paying the right amount of taxes. >> reporter: and that question is likely to be answered after the election. darren gersh, "nightly business

report," washington. >> tom: still ahead, tonight's word on the street: contrary. gregg greenberg of thestreet.com joins us with stock picks running against the grain. >> tom: this week, we continue our look at the spring housing market. tonight, we head to phoenix in the heart of arizona. it was one of this sand state's hardest hit housing markets. but as mike sauceda reports, buyer demand is building. >> reporter: cristal romney of avondale, arizona wants her own home so she can move out of her sister's place. she's taking a tour of a place in gilbert, arizona, has a good credit rating and a 20% down payment, but still it's been difficult to find a home. >> it is very frustrating to buy a home because when i look at the house i want, i put in an offer, it has a multiple offers. i go way above the listing price and it goes for more than what i put the offer in.

>> i am seeing the market tightening up. there are less homes for buyers, which is causing a buying frenzy on properties. >> reporter: that frenzy is being fed by a shrinking housing inventory in the phoenix area. it has fallen from a high of 58,000 homes in 2008, which would be a 19-month supply at agaverhae sales rates. however, up to 8,000 homes are being sold monthly now, and the nearly 16,000 homes on the market that are not under contract represents just a two- month supply. although the shrinking housing supply signals a housing recovery, the health of the market also depends on the willingness of banks to loan money. mike thorell is president of pinnacle bank in scottsdale, a community bank with one branch. half of its lending is to small businesses. the other half to home buyers. >> i would harken back to the days when i started in banking it took a real highly, highly qualified person to get a 5%, 10% down mortgage were there, and maybe more. >> reporter: thorell says that

local and regional lenders are stepping up in the absence of aggressive lending by the mega banks. >> it now has been very clearly represented that you got to be careful. and you see a lot of the national lenders not fully embrace coming back to the state to make loans and if they are coming they're being extremely careful. >> reporter: another factor are arizona laws preventing banks from going after homeowners for any money owed on a home after its been foreclosed on and sold. but mortgages are not a factor in many housing transactions in the phoenix area. 40% of homes sold here are being bought with cash, even as median prices have turned higher. last summer, phoenix median home prices fell to $108,000. in february, that had jumped to $122,000. rising prices and shrinking inventories will help those underwater on their mortgages come up for a breath according to michael orr, the head of the arizona real estate center at arizona state university's w.p. carey school of business. >> that will probably have a

beneficial effect on the local economy because people will feel more confident that they're not losing value in their homes anymore if they're underwater they're not as underwater by as much and it think its gonna spur homebuilders to catch up this shortage and create jobs in the construction industry and everything that goes around that. >> reporter: mike sauceda, "nightly business report," phoenix. >> tom: tomorrow we turn to real estate in the big apple and show you that market's surprising sweet spot. >> tom: this week's big news for investors will come friday with the march jobs report. the nation has posted solid gains averaging over 240,000 new jobs per month over the past

three months and there's plenty of optimism the momentum can continue. it's been almost a year since president obama's council of jobs and competitiveness first met. the group of top c.e.o.s, labor leaders and economists has focused on getting american companies to create more jobs and create them faster. erika miller sat down with a member of that committee, robert wolf, chairman americas of u.b.s. to get his views. >> i think there's a myriad of things this country can continue to do. i think that one starts with education. we have over two million jobs available for engineers and mathematicians. so we need make sure we are educating to align with jobs and business needs. >> reporter: wolf is also a big advocate of infrastructure spending-- estimating that billion dollars spent on improving the nation's infrastructure would create more than 25,000 jobs. what are some other things our nation can do to boost hiring? >> this is a debate that's not easy. one, there's a skills gap.

so, a lot of the jobs available, we don't necessarily have the skills to fill that gap. and, the second part of that is you need a demand driven economy. >> reporter: but there, the news seems to be getting better. from manufacturing to consumer confidence to the rally in the stock market, most economic indicators seem to be improving. are you seeing any signs from your corporate clients that confidence is improving? >> there's no question that the acquisition pipeline is building. we also have an ipo pipeline that is starting to build. and the debt markets have been on, you know, a complete roaring run with low interest rates where they are. so, you know, our business lines are doing well. >> reporter: ubs is obviously headquartered in switzerland and one of europe's biggest banks. what can you tell me about the health of the financial environment there? >> it's clear the lessons we have learned as a banking industry over the past few years is equity is equity and nothing else is equity.

and we had to go through a situation where we had to de- lever and we had to raise equity to be stronger. we're now one of the most well- capitalized banks in the world. and that makes people wanting to do business with us more. >> reporter: but u.b.s. has faced plenty of challenges in the past year. it is in the process of downsizing its investment bank.v and it has been clawing back employee bonuses, which may make it harder to keep top performers. and there are even bigger issues of trust. >> ubs has stumbled from one credibility crisis to the next. first there were big losses during the credit crisis. then the u.s. probe into offshore tax evasion and then the $2 billion rogue trading scandal. what kind of toll has that taken on your business? >> i would say it a little differently. we like all firms have had a very humbling three to four year period. but i look at where we are today. we are one of the most well capitalized in the world. we have a great group of leaders. and we have a great bench. >> reporter: where do you see

the biggest opportunities for growth in your business? >> from where i sit, it's the u.s. the u.s. for us is a great growth engine. 50 plus percent of the fee pool in our industry is in the u.s. and we are now ranked somewhere between seven and ten. so we have a great opportunity to take market share and continue to grow. >> reporter: robert wolf, chairman americas, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> tom: stocks began the second quarter building on the historic first quarter gains. the s&p 500 rallied mid-morning after the report on manufacturing, holding onto most of those gains into the closing bell. today's rally takes the index to another new post-recession high, back to prices last seen in may of 2008. the economically sensitive materials sector was up almost 1.5%. while the more economically insulated information technology

sector rallied more than 1%. and energy gained almost 1%. topping the technology trading was apple. the incredible rally continued with the stock rallying more than 3%. it takes apple to another all- time high, over $618 per share. one investment analyst thinks the iphone is the top-selling smartphone at all three major u.s. wireless carriers. a separate media survey finds 51% of u.s. households have at least one apple product. another company that is familiar in many households, but has been struggling is avon. today, a perfume maker went public with its offer to buy avon. the privately owned coty offered 23 to 25 per share in cash for avon, making it a $10 billion deal. coty's first offer was made less than two weeks ago. avon said no, saying it "substantially under-values avon and is opportunistically timed."

that last phrase is in reference to avon's recent management shake-up. late last year avon announced it would replace long time c.e.o. andrea jung. but no replacement has been hired yet. shares of avon shot up 17% on the buyout interest went public. the fall-out from friday's credit card customer data breach continues. processing firm global payments first discovered the intrusion about three weeks ago. on a conference call today, c.e.o. paul garcia noted the break-in will cost the company. how much, he doesn't know. >> this is manageable. we will get through this. absolutely. positively. now, it might be bigger than we'd like. but we are going to get through this. this is a one time charge. we're going to be better for it. we'll get through this, and the sooner we can tell you, the better and that's what we're focused on. >> tom: shareholders aren't showing much patience. global payments fell almost another 4% today. as many as one and a half million cardholder accounts may

have been exposed to hackers, including mastercard and visa customers, but those two stocks each rebounded. finally, sirius xm radio shares saw heavy volume even for it. more than 140 million shares traded with the stock finishing just below a 52 week high. the wall street journal reports liberty media is asking the fcc to declare it in de-facto control, even though it owns less than 50% of its stock. and that's tonight's market focus. >> tom: despite objections from drug stores, two giant companies managing prescription drug insurance plans are now one. express scripts finished its $29 billion buy-out of medco health solutions today after the federal trade commission ruled combining the two largest players in the industry would not hurt competition. >> reporter: combined, these two companies handle 40% of drug prescriptions, that's almost one and a half billion prescriptions annually.

and after an eight month review, the government gave it the green light. >> there's a billion dollars of synergies in this deal and those actually come from looking at the contracts, looking at who has the best contracts with both pharmaceutical manufacturers and the pharmacies, but more importantly it's really driving patients to the right drugs. so getting them on those low- cost generics, low-cost brands and really getting them to adhere to their medications and getting them better health outcomes. >> reporter: but some are skeptical about the merged company's ability to drive down prescription drug prices. jennifer mallon represents 23,000 privately-owned pharmacies with the national community pharmacists association. >> frankly, one of the concerns that we have is that even if there are alleged efficiencies we are very concerned that those alleged efficiencies will not be passed on to consumers in terms of cost savings. >> reporter: but in okaying the merger, the f.t.c. anticipates more competition coming from health insurers themselves. for instance, next year united healthcare will switch to its own pharmacy benefits unit.

>> tom: while the s&p 500 may be at its highest level since the great recession, insurance, taxes and television haven't exactly been hot stocks. that brings us to tonight's word on the street: contrary. gregg greenberg is a reporter at thestreet.com. so gregg wrkts market in post recession highs is contrary simply an investment, something that just hasn't rallied? >> well, to a certain extent, as we all know on wall street, eventually the last becomes first. that is a great way to make money. everyone says you want to buy when there is flood in the street so it is the best way to make money otherwise you might as well just stick with the index. >> its he easy to say buy low t a tough one to

actually do it one of the stocks, the fund managers told you they are looking at, afl is aflac-- aflac, a a big presence in japan. it has been trending lower over the past 12 months what could fuel it higher? >> well, aflac was up about six percent in the first quarter. that compares to about 13% for the s&p. and you look at the other insurers like metlife, aetna, aig, they were up about 20% so it certainly lagged the sector. now aflac is to a certain extent gotten over its troubles. it had a bad yush mean bond portfolio. a lot of people say that is resolved. a lot of people say if you are looking for a contrarian name and maybe even a takeout look to aflac because there is another big insurer which didn't do that well in the first quarter that was berkshire hathaway. that stock was only up about 7%. and we all know that warren ffapd cheap stocks oy out of favor. >> tom: and he has made a name in insurance over the past several generation. what about gannett, gci, best known for "u.s.a. today" and owns tv station this stock is not necessarily out of favor but it hasn't rallied as sharply

as the markets. if has kind of flat lined in the mid tunes. >> well, the sector is out of favor. everyone keeps saying that newspapers are going to got way of buggy whips. and when people think about gannett they think about u "u.s.a. today" and the lovely pie charts when they stay at holiday inns arrange the country. but gannett also owns tv stations. and tv stations are a very good asset in election years w all that super pac money buying commercials so that's why gannett had actually a very got first quarter, up about 16%, a lot of people say it can go higher despite being an out of favor sector. >> tom: all right,. how about disclosures, do you or you can own positions in these two stock stocks? >> i do not. >> tom: you can read gregg's arm with one more stock idea as well, on thestreet.com's web sites. a link to it on nbr.com as well. it's our guest this evening, gregg greenberg with thestreet.com. after an historic six hours of arguments after an historic six hours of

arguments last week, the u.s. surpeme court now weighs the future of president obama's health insurance reform law. today, the president weighed in on those arguments, saying he's confident the law will be upheld. >> and the reason is because, in accordance with precedent out there, it's constitutional. that's not just my opinion, by the way, that's the opinion of legal experts across the ideological spectrum, including two very conservative appellate court justices that said thi wasn't even a close case. >> tom: while we expect to learn the law's fate in three months, tonight's commentator worries about the fate of any future health care reform effort. here's steven ullman, professor of health sector management and policy at the university of miami school of business. >> reporter: last week, the supreme court listened, questioned and contemplated the affordable care act. the court will announce its ruling in june as it reflects on issues from a constitutional

perspective rather than a policy perspective. so now we wait and see. and what if the supreme court declares the accountable care act unconstitutional? then what? without any indication of a plan b by either political party, it is projected that 68 million people will be uninsured within six years. it is anticipated that health care costs will reach a staggering $13,700 for every man, woman and child. with our unique employer-based health care system, it will mean that these costs will be borne heavily by employers as they pay the bulk of the costs for their own employees and implicitly pay the costs of those who are uninsured. it will mean that firms will find it ever more difficult to compete globally. just as medicare was adjusted and improved over time, so it would be with health care reform. however, if the affordable care act fails this constitutional test, no one will touch health care reform for another 20 years. and that is a very scary prospect. i am steve ullmann.

>> tom: that's "nightly business report" for monday, april 2. i'm tom hudson. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org c