. this is "nightly business report". brought to you i the street.com. featuring stephanie link who shares her investment strategies, stock picks and market insights with action alerts plus. the multimillion dollar portfolio she manages with jim cramer. you can learn more at the stre deals done. first tariffs are cut. now a surprise u.s./china accord on reducing carbon emissions. a new era at hand in u.s./china relations and what will the the magic of macy's. the retailer cut its full year seemed to care.t, but investors cold snap, what an early

winter can mean for the commodity that keeps us warm -- natural gas. all that and tonight on "nightly business report" for wednesday, november 12. >> the u.s the two largest economies and superpowers are often at odds on a variety of issues but at this week's apec summit in beijing, president obama and china's president xi jinping were toasting some break through deals they hailed as historic. they announced deals to, tend short term visas to china and american citizens, to elimin tas on high-tech goods and just today an agreement on a climate concern with a plan to limit future cemissions in both countries. so does this signal a new er ch asserts itself on the global stage in order t john harwood has more.

>> reporter: president obama's trip to asia made clear he's with his priorities anyway. he announced a new agreement with xi jinping that would accet economies in curbing carbon emissions. >> we have a responsibility to thatthe global effort against we can announce an historic agreement. i commend president xi, his team and the chinese government for , peak and then reverse the course of china's carbon emissions >> reporter: that's not the first move that mitch america connell from the coal state of kentucky had in mind. >> i was particularly distressed by the deal. an parentally he's reached w which is -- as i read the

agreement, requires the chinese to do nothing at all for 16 y o promote a trade deal with asian allies even as china promised a competing deal. >> i would welcome the president moving to the middle. said before i hope we can do some business on trade and tax reform but the first indications are not hopeful. >> reporter: the s >> tyler and susie, the impending executive office that the president has promised to make but there isn't common ground to begin with. >> john reporting from boston, stay with us. steve or laps is the president of the national committee on a. he joins us the conversation about the china/u.s. deal. the "wall street journal" said

climate deal is that differences on many core issues endure and the new agreements do not amount to a sea change in bilateral ties. ite easy to look at the deals done this week. in any real way? >> large and transformational, maybe not. but . i think, you know, i was giving a speech monday night busine community. i was able to announce the new visa policy, everyone stood up and applauded. makes an enormous difference to american business in chinese business in the united states. the ita, technology agreement allowling for increased exports of u.s. computer and software to china is going to increase exports. movement on the bila treaty is increase jobs in the u.s. for a president who lost the senate it was a win for him.

>> it makes a lot of sense, is it happen? does president obama have the authority to push a china? does he have the authority to get this going in his country? he p it right? >> reporter: well, the chinese president didn't commit to specific targets. he had the general goal of peaking emissions by 2030. this is not a binding agreement although any policy a president takes will th advancing the attempt to get a world climate deal, a new climate deal around the world. bac and push back hard.e goin they control both chambers of the congress. n to tie his hands?they going my guess is given his veto pen and the difficult the i of overriding a veto they won't be able to stop him. as s underscoring of the fact that presidents retain a

lot of power, especially in foreign affairs even after they get whipped in the midterm elections like the president did sounds like you believe that perhaps in the end the most significant brp pertains to thae open for which would enable ten years, would help tourists moving co here from china. but let me ask you -- >> there's the one at least -- that's completely within the -- needs to act on d there's that. >> as you said the businesses would be pleased with that. on the other hand with respect to the climate regulations, i would think that an awful lot of businesses would see the reductions of the united states -- that the ue t cutting by 24 to 26% over the next ten years or so, that that would

e gop side was them, costs that saying today. >> i was looking at the china side and they're willing to make the commitments, that they're willing to kind of move up the date by which they peak their carbon emissions very meaningful. that the pollution that -- you know, an ancillary effect is reducing pollution which has become an enormous issue in china and president xi recognized this this reaching tied up in a political fight in the united states. what does it mean to a me type of thing? what do all the n for the ameri consumer? >> well, if you're an exporter, you know, of technology l reduce tariffs r software and into china. pretty much throughout the s now, if the bilateral investment treaty is

concluded that's going to bring more chinese investment to the united states and it will increase job creation in the united states. you can't predict which communities it's going to end up in. but it will have an enormous effect on job creation in the united states. i think it's a win for the u.s. consumer. it will reduce costs and it's a win for business in that it's going to increase exports and it will allow us to penetrate the chinese market more which increases jobs more in the united states. so again i think president obama has done good for the business community. >> john, jump in. >> i want everyone knows especially at moving toward o action and carbon reduction, pricing carbon. to the extent this deal with certainty on the part of business that they're going to have to adjust to this sooner yes, it will impose costs. it will certainly impose costs

on the coal industry. that's why mitch mcconnell and others are fight it. understands that this is where the world's ndline. >> i want to correct something i said earlier, it's 28% between 2020 and 2025. great to see you. china.ning now to corpo cisco systems reported solid earnings. they earned 54 cents a share, two cents more than estimates i even though net income declined. revenues of more than $12 billion also topped wall street's forecasts on an increase in orders for new routers and switches. cfo frank calderoni is stepping down a trading and then turned lower on disappointing guidance. we have more from thta cisco re.

bertha? >> one of the interesting things on the conference call, john chambers, ceo, talked about net neutrality. the companies that provide the pipes for broadband access should be able to charge different rates to netflix or to google's youtube. john clahambers saying that the saw weakness from the service providers and he expects that to continue because of the uncertainty over netneutrality. he came out swinging politically, saying that the industry will be aggressive on this and if they are not able to charge different prices they won't be able to make money. as at&t said today, they will likely put a lot of the broadband buildout programs on hold. >> all right. fascinating reaction to net neutrality. bertha combs. on wall street, blue chip

stocks ended mostly lower. they snapped a string of five record high closes no major economic data came out. the dow off just two points. and the nasdaq went the other way. it saw a gain of 14. s&p lower by a sin one of the biggest gainers in the s&p today macy's. shares of the world's largest department store chain shot up 5% despite posting mixed quarterly earnings. so what do investors see behind the numbers? courtney r >> reporter: macy's earnings report was far from stellar, but it wasn't so bad either. wall street analysts say macy's earnings results likely indicate the third quarter was disappointing for the sector. even for a retailer like macy's widely considered best in class. while macy's sales disappointed, earnings beat expectation by a de margin in part because of

the gain from the sale of the of strong expen management. macy's lowered the full year earnings forecast because of weak sales in the third quarter but executives are optimistic are believing in the on magic of macy's too. with shares gaining in today's session. >> i think investors are sayin for the best in class name. i'd rather see macy's and apparel taking a more conservative approach and the underpromise, underdeliver becomes the case as opposed to missing estimates here and the macy's executives detail initiatives that are in place to drive sales this holiday season including exclusive merchandise, a buy online pickup in store option and upgraded mobile and web platforms. and while gas prices are expected to keep falling, macy's chief financial officer isn't counting on it to help sales. telling analysts on the conference call that consumers are spending those extra

disp not necessarily at the department stores. she also said that macy' isn't counting on help from the economy this season but every little bit will help. still ahead, xerox business goes way beyond printers and copiers and ursula burns explains why the path to profits depends on the health of the global economy. an interview from the c-suite coming up. an update on a story we told you about last night. regulators in the u.s. and europe have fined six of the world's biggest banks a total of

$4.4 billion for rigging foreign exchange trades. and then plotting out the moves in electronic chat rooms. the chairman of the futures trading commission in washington pplauded the agency's actio fixing want happen again. >> i'm trying to ensure integrity of the market. if i ct, i think that's a lot more valuable than taking two or three or four more years that it might take potentially to get something stronger. >> and now the bank settling with the regulators were citigroup, j.p. morgan chase, royal bank of scotland, hsbc and sales at j.c. penney fell and shares of the retailer followed suit. the company's loss was smaller than expect as as a drop in

operating expenses helped improve margin. but shopping momentum dwindled after back to school sales. after the share initially fell, during the regular session the stock rose almost 8% to $7.76. american eagle guided higher, lifting shares in today's session. the teen retailer pointed to reduced mark downs and lower expenses. the company will officially report its results in a few weeks. shares popped at 10% ahead of that to $13.80. visa homes posted the first full year of profitability in eight years and beat estimates by a wide ma the home builders results had better margins and a tax benefit. shares fell 3% to $18.62. shares of sea world tanked today after it announced a disappointing third quarter fall as it's been

dealing with controversy over its treatment of killer whales. shares tumbled 9.5%. investors bought up shares of twitter after they outlined plans to attract new users. that i are considering crafting new apps and improving messaging and it will roll out an instant time line to make it simpler for users to find content without o search extensively. shares up 7.5%. a welcome move for that stock. they closed at $42.54. cesars has reached a key agreement on a restructuring. the plan includes a prearranged bankruptcy for the casino operator's largest unit. shares surged 23% to $13.67. and bb&t is buying susquehanna bank shares and more than a 30% premium to the

closing price yesterday. they have more than $18 billion in assets, bb&t is one of the biggest lenders in the southeast. let's look at the shar susquehanna up 13.5% and bb&t fell to $37.67. ceo ursula burns has a new mantra for xerox -- simplifying the way work gets done. whether it's about moving them away from making printers to her push into back office business services or to her world view on the economy. tonight we get the views of ursula burns in our segment "from the c-suite. >> most people think xerox is this. copiers. but if you use ez pass, file a medical insurance claim or call customer service, that's all now a big player in

services. responsible for all the accounting and back office processes for hundreds of businesses. ursula burns is the person behind this massive transformation. ever since she took over as ceo of the iconic company five years ago. she says the success of her strategyl >> we have a solid business that will be successful if the economy has tepid growth but it could be more successful if it grows on a global basis. better and more evenly. >> as ceo of xerox, you have an inside look at the business functions of big companies, small companies and in so many different sectors. why are those customers telling you about the business environment? a little bit stuck. not bad. but not making you know, one step forward, a half a step back. kind of environment. some places are growing fairly well. some industries. most of the growth that we

see in the united states comes without a lot total job growth >> so if they're stuck, what is their willingness to spend money and add more people in terms of jobs? >> they're willing to do it, but if they don't need to it, what drives the need to do it? growth. strong, continuous growth with some clarity in rules and regulations and how you do business and whether you can get the talent. that's what drives investment. >> from what xerox is seeing going on in the economy, will xerox be adding jobs over th2 m? win contracts, as we increase particularly in certain segments the services business which is still growing, sub segments of that, we have to hire people for skills but also just to perform the work. >> you know, a lot of people are

very puzzled about why american aren't hiring more or raising wages. these are two important issues for the job market and the economy. what goes into yr so literally, if our clients need us to do more hire more pe. and we actually pay on a competitive base so we follow the market at the biggest thing entire discussion is around . and demand has to do with growth, not only in the united states we have high global demand, we'll hire more people. >> given what you said about the global economy what is your read s increasing a small amount, improving a small amount. but still underperfo. developing economies, china, brazil, really slower than we thought. growth in these economies are

slower than we thought. but i mean, you know, you can get 3% or 4% growth out of an economy. nowadays i think that's pretty export council. how critical is it to have exports and trade deals like t one just signed between china and the u.s. to help multinational companies grow? we have 300 million people in the united state there are almost 7 billion people in the worl so to me, the math is so straightforward it's. we must have trade deals. we must have trade deals that are logical and safe for u.s. business. airly predictable. and that the world is getting used to without literally becoming almost like one economy. >> let's talk a little bit about washington.

one of the issues that ceos bring up a lot are high corporate taxes and now that the republicans have won in this latest election there's a lot of talk about tax reform. what is t tax code? >> simple, lower tax rate. we are in mid 30s. the nations we compete against are the mid 20s. for us to be competitive, having you realistic is to expect od. any change in the tax code over the next two years? >> i ts low. i think all the business leaders would and i think it would be very helpful for the economy. i don't think,d version, just go to the website nbr.com. coming up, it is november and it's cold and some places getting really cold. that can signal a volatile

winter for the commodity that domestic crude closing at a fresh three-year low. and brent crude dipped below $80 a barrel today. meantime, the saudi arabian oil minister said there's no price t crude near four-year lows he wants to work with others to ensure that fall. a wintry weather blast across much of the u.s. this week has sent the price of natural gas spiking higher. weeks before the official start of winter. but today natural gas futures lost 1.5% after rising more than 5% ove. as homeowners prepare for the

higher home heating bills natural gas producers and traders are preparin. we have more from texas. >> reporter: welcome to winter. it's not yet thanksgiving and already cities from the deep south to new york are bracing for a cold snap from icy arctic winds. it was that notion that pushed natural gas prices in the financial markets as high as $4.50 in recent days. as players who had been betting on slightly less chilly temperatures reacted to an early november forecast that came in colder than expected. >> having a very cold set of days is not unusual. what's unusual right now is how the market is reacting to the e lack of liquidity in the front of the curve. i have my own theories about that. but it leads to ext periods of volatility. >> reporter: meanwhile, while hedge funds and other professional traders grapple with that, consumers could be

facing a tough season where map. literally and figuratively. in the northeast, consumer costs could climb again this winter. while in neighboring pennsylvanias with plentiful natural gas drilling activity like texas they'll likely stay low. for now, however, plans like this calpine natural gas facility in dear park, texas, are standing by to draw from the new advances in technology. and that larger homes like the 12-foot ceiling and larger footprint units that have been .uilt ar i'm kate kelly outside of houston. finally tonight, watch this. a frightening two hours, 700 feet above the streets of new york city today. a pair of window washers trapped outside the 69th floor of the

newly opened world trade center. thto dangling. look at the firefighters open up that window there and pulled the two workers inside. they were a little shaken up, >> if you have a fear of heights -- >> i hate it. i can't look off the front end of this desk. >> there's "nightly business report" for tonight. watching. >> see you back here tomorrow night. >> "nightly business report" has been brought to you in part by -- the street.com, including stephanie link who shares her insights with the multimillion dollar portfol

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