report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. funded in part by -- thestreet.com and action alerts plus where jim cramer and fellow portfolio manager stephanie link share their investment strategies, stock picks and market insights. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr. hay did l did l and the dow jumps over the moon. the big chip barometer rockets 409 in two days. can you trust this rally? what's next for stocks? don't blame me. russia targets oil for economic woes. geoff cutmore reports from moscow on how long putin thinks the troubles will last. and sony blinks.

the studio pulls the movie "the interview" before released caving to hacker threats. julia boorstin tells how the decision is going down in hollywood. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, december 18th. good evening everyone and welcome. susie gharib has the night off. no one seems willing to say it, at least not in so many words but stock investors have acted over the past two days as if the federal reserve sent off an all clear siren yesterday. that's when it said it would be patient about raising interest rates. patient is not what investors were today. they hit the gas early and never looked back sending the dow up more than 400 points. the rally accelerated into the close and when the bell sounded, stocks had not just their best day of the year, but the biggest point gain since november 2011. here's final tally. dow up 421, making the two day

gain more than 700 points or 4.2%. nasdaq up 104 and s&p jumped 48. oil had a whip saw session on conflicting sentiment after the current slump in prices was quote temporary. domestic crude fell more than 4% today at $54.11 and fresh five and a half year low, by the way. brent crude fell to $59.27, lowest since may of 2009. so can you trust this rally and if so, where can you put your money? the work math chief equity strategist. can i trust this rally? >> yes, i think you can trust the fed. it's the full faith in credit in the united states when the fed pushes money towards the economy, it flows through us and get these sort of beach ball markets and pops right back up. >> so what was wrong there over

the first part of this month? it almost reminds me, john, a little bit of october. the first half of october was very bad and then right on the 15th, the market starts to shoot up. we started december, the same thing. >> i was wrong too. i thought it was going to have more pressure before it came back. the power of the federal reserve, the power to push money across and the earnings are still fine i think is driving market. fundamentals are good and i think you have to look at it as if every bit of weakness you see and they'll come. but every bit of weakness is more of a buying opportunity than not. >> until the fed really slams on the brakes. >> a good distinction there. the fed acknowledging that it's a stronger economy and stronger economies can handle higher interest rates. they're really just trying to keep the stimulant constant in the face of economy and that's good for the equity market. >> i looked at the s&p 500 and i think it was 475 stocks in the green but which sectors do you think are the ones where i could

most profitably put money to work today or let's say the next 12 months? >> i think the technology sector is a good place to be. that's broad based but technology selling technology to other companies. i think the financial sector has been held back by a while. good evaluations, strong fundamentals. actually, higher short-term rates very good for financials and i like the industrial stocks and i should mention i'd buy the big oil companies, the multinationals. not crude sensitive. >> no. so you draw the distinction there but there's tech and then there's tech. there's energy and then there's energy and presumably some of the biggest multinationals are well-positioned to ride out this cut of the price of oil. let's talk about europe. is it too early to put money to work there? >> i'd rather be too early than too late. i think there's some real opportunities there. i think what happens in a value play is you wait for the reason the value came to be. the thing that made it cheap to

go away and then you buy. yours been cheap a couple years but because you didn't have offsetting or quantitative pressure from the restraint and now you see that. i think you buy over the next several months and next several quarters if you have to. they're following our lead there behind us, the chance to do it all over again. >> i look at my funds and see my emerging market funds have not been doing very well. should i expect them to turn and if so, what's the best way to play the emerging markets? >> emerging markets you want something to pay while you wait because you have to wait for a while. i try to avoid predicting the future when possible but within the next three to five years, the fundamentals and the sentiment will be better on merging markets because they're so bad right now. i don't know when. i take a position in my portfolio where i have a little bit but have some, don't take myself in five years but not at risk right now. >> settle, wait to work if and

when it does. john manly, thanks, with wells fargo funds. the stock is not the only place where the stock took off. russia, the ruble stabilized at least for today. this as president vladimir putin met the media in his annual press conference. he took a defiant tone towards the west. he blamed not only for instability in ukraine but visiting sanctions on the russian economy. he warned his country men to be ready for two years of economic trouble. geoff cutmore has more from moscow. >> reporter: right from the start of his speech, the president focused on the economy and said there will be growth of about 0.6% in 2014, but he acknowledged the economy is set to slow going forward. he said that was down partly to external factors like the sanctions and the fact that the oil price was coming down. let's listen to how he describes the current state of the

economy. >> i do not think i could call the situation a crisis or you may call it whatever you want. but i believe that i said quite clearly that the central bank and the government on the whole are acting correctly. >> reporter: he talked there about the central bank and as we know, the bank has been aggressively intervening with that hiking interest rates and putting money into the currency markets, so the president broadly said he was supportive of the way the government has reacted to these current problems here in russia. on the ukraine, he pointed the finger at washington and the west more broadly and said, it's been responsible for escalating the crisis and he said the west doesn't seem to understand russia's security concerns. >> translator: should relax and sit quietly, eating honey instead of hunting animals. maybe then they will leave the bear alone, but they won't do that. they want to chain the bear, take up its fangs and its claws.

this is how nuclear terrorism is working at the moment. if they take out the bear's fangs and claws, it will be useless. it will just be a stuffed animal. what we're trying to do is to maintain our sovereignty and independence. >> reporter: in spite of the defiant tone, the president said moscow is interested in a political solution to scale back the crisis in ukraine and he intends to speak with petro poroshenko in the next few days. geoff cutmore here in moscow. >> vivid imagery from mr. putin indeed and in the meantime today, general motors announced it's slamming the brakes on deliveries to new car dealers in russia, because the ruble there fallen so hard so quickly that auto prices in the country are skyrocketing. well, moving now to the latest in cuba after yesterday's stunner that the u.s. and cuba

will normalize diplomatic relations and permit freer travel and trade. now both big and small businesses from the u.s. and inside cuba are gearing up to compete in a whole new economic marketplace. michelle caruso-cabrera is in havana. >> reporter: here in cuba, a muted reaction to the announcement made simultaneously by president obama in u.s. and the leader, raul castro. here we won't see major rallies where thousands bust in across the country. the city center, listened to hours worth of speeches, something perhaps would have seen in the past. but we did see last night, a small celebration by university students who were pro-government and were happy about the return of cuban spies who had been in prison in the united states. cubans here telling me today that they're hoping that the changes announced will lead to a better economy in cuba. it desperately needs it. it's been devastated by socialist policies and almost

complete control of the economy by the government. they're also hoping that it means families won't be so divided like they have in the past by this policy. many cubans escaped to get to the united states over the decades and the changes announced yesterday they hope to see family members more easily and more often. for "nightly business report," michelle caruso-cabrera. still ahead, dow component nike reports a jump in sales but there may be questions about its future growth. we'll take you inside the company's earnings after this. earnings out after the closing bell from the footwear and apparel giant.

nike shot up in the first quarter. posted a profit of 74 cents a share, excludeing items forecast at 4 cents. revenues beat wall street forecast reaching $7.4 billion shares, initially lower in late trading on concerns about future growth. you can see the graphic portrayal there. more on nike. you look at the numbers, mary. how'd they do? what'd they say about the future, what's the take aiway? >> the numbers, bottom and top line good. but analysts focused on the growth number and it's not an exact measure of what revenue will be in the future but gives investors a guideline. 11% is what they are estimating. 11% future growth. that was below estimates. it was also the slowest growth rate in four quarters, that's what is pressuring the stock. what's behind that? weakness in the emerging market. inventory issues in mexico, brazil and volatility in brazil's economy. those are head winds going into

the current quarter. on the plus side though, strong future growth in north america is the largest market and a big increase in china which has been a turnaround story for nike. there's good news there as well. and those shoes are doing well too. >> and they're expensive. >> it is. >> i'll have them under the tree. mary thompson, thanks a lot. we begin tonight's market focus. the apparent of dunkin donuts issued weak sales guidance. outlook trailed previous estimates. it blames slow sales of packaged coffee in restaurants for that disappointing forecast. shares off by about 7%. they finished the day at $43.05. management changes at kraft foods that sent the stock higher. company's ceo is retiring later this month and its chairman will replace him as the velveeta maker tries to accelerate its growth. shares pop more than 6% today to

$63.38. and higher prescription drug sales helped rite aid increase the third quarter profit on that. the drugstore chain hiked the full year earnings forecast. the stock closed at $6.78, about a 12% move today. strong numbers and strong market helping there. acenture, the consulting and outsourcing company lowered the guidance for the year because of higher foreign exchange head winds but nvrds overlooked that. shares up $4.44 to $89.74. wynn bay goe did not participate. motor homes with a shorter profit, a key iowa plant hurt production. stock tumbled to $21.86. regulators decided metlife, the nation's largest insurance is too big to fail and therefore, extra oversight. the company is disappointed with

being labeled systemically important because the classification will harm competition among other things. shares, nevertheless, up 4% to $54.03. some big hollywood names are blasting sony pictures after it spiked the controversial movie "the interview" following unspecified threats against theater goers by hackers. the cost of the studio mount, is sony setting a dangerous precedent by giving in to those threats? julia boorstin has the latest. >> reporter: sony is not just pulling the interview from theaters but not on dvd or video on demand. posters taken down at theaters across the country while hollywood is reeling. >> i think it's really a very dark day not just for the movie industry but for america to give in like this. >> reporter: judd app tow said i think it's disgraceful to not show the interview. will they pull any movie for an

anonymous threat now? jimmy kimmel responded, i agree wholeheartedly. it validates terrorist actions. and steve krell tweetin tweeting, #feareatsthesoul. titled pyongyang. cost estimated $90 million. the film's budget about $44 million with estimated $45 million in global marketing costs and even if sony can sell tv ads, likely just shift the commercial time to the other holiday release, annie. >> i think what they're doing right now is they've realized that it's probably more financially advantageous for them to take this, do the insurance write-off and take a loss. even though this film would have probably been the biggest premium video on demand title in

history, it wouldn't have covered the 44 million dollars they spent and tens of millions of dollars they spent to promote the film. >> sony looking at $100 million in other costs from the hack including rebuilding network and three class action lawsuits. plus the cost of managing employees and former employees' stolen personal information including social security numbers and then there's the reputational damage to sony and executives. suffering from the leak of embarrassing e-mails. for "nightly business report," i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. now another dark side of technology. what's often referred to as the wild west of the internet. web sites that sell illegal drugs, guns and stolen credit cards. law enforcement is cracking down on these black sites but business is still strong. josh leadershipton looks at thi underground economy. >> reporter: those looking to buy illegal drugs no longer need to find dark street corners.

all they need now is an internet connection. there are web sites that sell every narcotic imaginable as well as firearms and services such as computer hacking. the sites can track hundreds of thousands of users and pull in millions of dollars in monthly sales. here's how these sites work. users first download and install a browser called tour. the benefit of this browser, it masks the identity of users. allowing them to search the internet in secret. once they're on the sites, the buyers, using the digital currency bitcoin, connect with dealers who ship narcotics in vacuum sealed packages. law enforcement is working hard to shut down these sites. just last month, a joint global operation involving the fbi shut down dozens of these so-called dark markets. but this morning, digital citizens alliance, a non-profit that tracks online crime,

released a report on the state of this underground market. bottom line? business is still brisk. >> it took a major blow. the total number of listings take a significant hit but it's growing and continue to grow and there will continue to be large players in this space and there will be new web sites that pop up offering the same types of drugs and services. >> reporter: there are still 52,000 items for sale across a range of these web sites. from cocaine to fake passports, according to the report. one site in particular is enjoying explosive growth. it's called evolution. there are 27,000 items for sale on that site with a large section devoted just to identity theft. it's unclear who runs these sites, but we do know they can make a lot of money. one site called so crow 2 appeared to generate $6 million

in monthly sales before was shut down. the u.s. government had a significant impact on these dark markets but remains to be seen what kind of long-term impact upg l sam is really having. the fbi did not respond to repeated requests for comment. for "nightly business report," i'm josh lipton in silicon valley. coming up, a classic toy will once again be made in the usa after being outsourced to china for decades. that story nex a sort of year end bonus for people looking to buy a home or

refinance their current mortgage. rates fell to the lowest level of the year this week. the rate right now on a conventional 30 year fixed rate low, 3.8%. like ships passing in the night, negotiator i sas they're no closer to reaching the 7 month slowdown at west coast port. resume today with dock workers and shipping lines, terminal from san diego to seattle but shippers say there's a wide gap in talks for a new deal with 20,000 west coast long shore men. a different story for deliveries through amazon.com. for an $8 fee for amazon prime subscribers, offering one hour delivery on items in some areas of new york city. you'll never make in the traffic. two hours, it's free. postal service, it's the busiest package delivery day of the year

thanks to a surge in online shopping and an aggressive campaign to take on its private sector rivals. will the postal service deliver the goods? morgan brennan has more. >> reporter: the u.s. postal service is on track for another record holiday season. with package volumes already exceeding forecasts. >> this is a lot. we've been working really hard over time and everything. just to get them delivered. >> reporter: the uspf expects to move 26 million parcels today alone. 12% more than previous package day in 2013. last christmas when an estimated 2 million ups and fedex shipments were late, the postal service didn't have the same issue. one reason? a sunday delivery partnership with amazon and key markets. >> thank you. >> reporter: this season, that strategy has been expanded with the uspf delivering amazon and own priority mail packages since mid november. >> it helps with the work load

before monday comes in and most people at home not coming from church, at least 90% delivered on sundays. >> reporter: typical sunday in december, in the newark/new jersey area, two delivery rounds a piece. volumes so high that u-hauls have to be rented to handle the additional capacity. packages have become increasingly important to the postal service that doesn't use taxpayer money to fund operation. it's a fast-growing business that's now offsetting the decade-long steep decline in first class mail. the most profitable segment in the industry. to grow its package business, uspf targets fedex and ups customers, slashing prices on priority mail services and capitalizing on its relative success last christmas. but it collaborates with them as well. in addition to its own priority mail service, the uspf said something called last mile delivery taking on the last leg of shipment for ups and fedex.

like its private sector counterparts, the uspf needs to get the season right even if it means deliveries on christmas day. >> it's a job but means something to me because i like customer servicing. and i like to see people smile and everyone loves to get packages. i feel like an elf. >> good morning. >> reporter: for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan in belville, new jersey. a beloved toy that's delighted kids on christmas mornings for nearly 100 years is now returning to the u.s. after being manufactured in china for the past six decades. being made in the usa boost sales and does where a toy is made really matter to consumers? courtney reagan has the story from the lincoln log factory in bur nah made. >> reporter: lincoln logs among the most american iconic toys but the last 60 years, the wooden toys have been made in china, not anymore. >> over the last four years

although we had some fits and starts, we moved the lincoln logs back to the united states with pride manufacturing in maine. >> we operate in a 152 mile radius pulling from ordering states. matched colors, we've got the speck rate, the strength rate. we're ready for 2015. prides ready and connection is ready. >> reporter: consumer reports say given the choice between a product made in the u.s. and an identical one made abroad, 78% of americans would rather buy the domestic version. they're also willing to pay more. but that's not an issue for lincoln logs. >> with us, we don't give them that choice. we make sure it's the same price it was before. it's on us to deliver the value and deliver the customer experience and to deliver the price value equation. >> reporter: many children made wish lists on apps like ipads,

connects said retail sales remained around the $22 billion mark over the last decade. and he believes there's still strong demand for non-digital imaginative toys like lincoln logs. at pride manufacturing, they said he's right. >> the iconic name lincoln log meant a lot to the people and the fact it's u.s. made again te families with discretionary income buying during the holiday season like ours and especially for young children love to buy things made in america and there is no more powerful brand in the world than made in the usa. >> reporter: for "nightly business report" i'm courtney reagan in burnam, maine. : a recap of a blowout day on wall street with the biggest one day gain in point terms in three years extending wednesday's gains after federal reserve indicated it was in no hurry to

raise interest rates. nasdaq up 104. the s&p rallied 48. and that will do it for "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm tyler mathisen. thanks so much for kwaching. have a great evening everyone and hope to see you back here tomorrow night. "nightly busines has thestreet.com and action alerts plus where jim cramer and fellow portfolio manager stephanie link share their investment strategies, stock picks and market insights. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr.

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