report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. back in the black. stocks rally more than 1% pushing major averages into positive territory for 2015 as investors turn their attention now to tomorrow's employment performance. what a year it has been for general motors ceo mary bara. has gm changed for the better? republican house take first whack at affordable care act by changing definition of the workweek. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursd january 8th. >> good evening, everyone. i'm sue herera. the best day for stocks in three weeks. the major averages gained back all of the new year's losses and

more on hopes for more stimulus measures in the euro zone and encouraging data here at home about jobs. just one day ahead of the december jobs report from the labor department. so here's how the markets looked at the closing bell. the dow surging 323 points today with all 30 dow components making gains. the nasdaq gained 85 and the s&p up by 36 points with all ten sectors ending higher. more on the good news about jobs. labor department reporting first time jobless claims fell by 4,000 last kweek. now cover near 13 year lows. even though there were nearly 30,000 planned corporate payoffs in december, the outplacement firm challenger gray and christmas, overall, 2014 had the fewest number of announced job cuts since 1997. well the december unemployment report is due out tomorrow and expected to be strong. according to dow jones, economists expect to see job

gains of about 240,000 and the unemployment rate forecasted to fall to 5.7%. stewart hawkman joining us now for a preview and more details on what to expect in tomorrow's report. good to see you again, stewart. welcome back. >> good to see you, sue. >> do those numbers, the expectations in general on wall street do they match what you're looking for? >> yeah they do. hopefully that's not the change. we look for about 250,000 increase in payroll jobs. november was over 300,000, but if you're getting 250,000, that's a strong report. it will cap, you know, 2014. when you add them all up close to 2.8 million jobs. yes, i agree the unemployment rate likely to move down to 5.7 and buried in there, i think we'll see good data. full-time jbs, not part-time jobs and i think we'll see a

little better wage boost. maybe not the four tenths in november but two or three tenths with budding or wage gains for middle america. >> is there anything on the horizon, stewart, that could fly in the face of this good jobs momentum? basically what i'm asking what do you expect for 2015 the whole year? >> well we're actually expecting a lot of good things. we've got economic growth around 3.25% for gdp. we think we add jobs close to 3 million this year. we think we'll end the year with the unemployment rate in the low fives, instead of a high five it will be a low five. for the unemployment rate. your biz this week that could be some of an offset to economic growth here. but i'm one that thinks that the drop in oil prices is a big net win for the u.s. economy. there's winners and losers but i think it's a huge win for main street and pretty much a win for

most of wall street. >> you know, stu, one of the issues in the unemployment reports recently has been the participation rate. that some people who haven't been able to find jobs simply fall off the list and are not counted and the participation rate has been troubling. do you see any improvement on the horizon in that part of the report? >> i do sue. the rate levelled off at 3%. that's down. a demographic of retirement. likely to push the participation rate down for years to come. in the last year it's stabilized to declining and 10 11 12 and 2013. i expect to hold steady at 62.8%. we see the drop is not because people drop out of the workforce. that they're actually getting jobs and i think the so-called

underemployment rate will fall as well and that's a sign that janet yellin and the fed watch adds to how many of these jobs are full-time versus part-time and all last year and i think again in december i know there's a lot of talks about part-time minnie mouse jobs. but if you look at manufacturing services and the number of breakdown between full and part-time, the jobs we created last year and i think in december are more full-time better paying jobs. >> all right. stewart hoffman with pnc financial, thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. one big growth area for jobs, the app economy. apple helped create indirectly and directly more than 100 jobs in the apps industry. roughly two-thirds of those positions are developers creating programs for iphone and ipod device.

the most iconic consumer brands with soda sales falling, part of a cost cutting plan. and mcdonald's amid slumping burg sales. crude prices ended higher but not by much. up by 14%. and your international brent and 51 dollars a barrel andrew sorkin a number of businesses besides energy companies. morgan brennan has more on who else is getting squeezed. >> the collapse in oil prices is beginning to take a toll on other industries. the united states deal corporation is temporarily idoling two factories and laying off 750 workers, a direct result

of crude's dramatic crunch. supplying to oil and gas drillers is a key market for steel makers and up until now, a bright spot for the hard hit industry. but with expected to slash, capital spending by as much as 20% this year that means less steel. >> u.s. direct steel consumption into the energy market is about 10% of the market but energy related infrastructure that number bumps up to 15%. the weaker growth in oil and gas is driving down the steel consumption this year. >> reporter: the stronger dollar and oversupply expected to get worse. 2015 doesn't look good for the commodity but isn't alone. other industrial companies are beginning to feel oil's effects. general lek trek expects to fall this year. ge's business accounted for 20% of 2013's overall sales. with billions of dollars invested to expand that.

and after a year of stellar growth experts are watching railroad operators as well. >> as we see the potential for these lower crude prices to persist for a period of time in 2015 you could see some production drops. you could see crude come down. >> reporter: note that oil and related fracking supplies make up only a tenth of overall rail volumes. analysts warn the caterpillar, due to weakness and mining could come under pressure from oil. and may feel the pinch of cheaper ethanol falling as export demand weighs. but every company hurt by oil's downturn downturn many are benefitting. airlines realizing cheaper fuel costs and retailers that could at least in theory see a boost as consumers spend more on things other than gasoline. for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan. and speaking of gasoline prices the topic is attracting

attention on capitol hill. republican senator orrin hatch, the chairman of the senate finance committee, calms it a user fee and people who use the highways ought to pay for them. honda pays the largest civil penalty of its kind ever. the auto maker agreed to pay 70 million in fines for failing to report more than 1700 death and injury claims related to crashes involving cars with faulty air bags. hondas and others with the air bags made by takata corp. were later recalled. general motors knows a thing or two about recalls. faulty ignition switches linked to two or more fatalities linked to billions in costs last year. that was all just in the first year for the new ceo mary barra. general motors over the year

shares are down 10%. what's ms. barro's outlook for 2015? philip lebeau has that story. dedicated their lives to this country, it's hard to have our shortcomings laid out so vividly. >> reporter: including defending general motors ceo mary bara believes her company changed for the better. >> i hope you see gm moving in a positive direction and get to the core with the right brands and making the right decisions and i think you know me well enough now with the time we had the opportunity to talk last year that i'm a very results oriented person. getting by is not my idea of winning and i also hate cruises. >> reporter: bara admits there's no excuse for gm waiting years to recall defective vehicles but despite a year of headlines, gm sales last year increased by more than 5% and despite its

market share edging to all time low, gm is still number one in the u.s. market watchers believe bara weathered the storm that rocked gm in 2014. >> it does seem like she's made a lot of the right moves. she's shown they still have a commitment to customers. they still want to do the right thing. she admitted her mistake, which is i think, really big. companies have a hard time doing that. >> reporter: chief gaffe helps general motors with a strong in those categories and overall, selling vehicles at record high prices. as for the rest of this year bara expects industry sales to continue growing. >> in the u.s. we expect continue wal steady growth in the industry and believe it comes between 16.5 million and 17 million units and if you had to pinpoint probably in the middle of that range. >> reporter: the real test for 2015 can mary bara grow the

bottom line as bara herself said today, profitable growth is one of her top priorities. philip lebeau "nightly business report," detroit. still ahead, the question many are asking after the attack on the satirical newspaper in paris and what should be done in the face of ? some mixed messages today about the state of well known retailers before today's opening bell. american eagle, zeroaeropos l and others like jc pep knee krrks and

barnes and noble, not so good. bed, bath and beyond and gap reported lower than expected revenues and macy's announced restructuring plans that including cloedsing down 14 department stores. a breakthrough drug to treat one of the deadliest types of cancer may be closer to getting regulatory approval. phi sor began talks with the fda to finalize details about the prescription label for breast cancer drug, h pabloklibip. a powerful new antibiotic in an unlikely place which is being called a game changer for overcoming resistance for drugs. a class of potent antibiotics called taxibaken after uncovering strains found in dirt. the new antibiotics have been

used to kill an array of germs without becoming resistant to. the biotech industry in 2014 with a huge annual health care conference kicking off this monday, meg terrelle gives a preview of what's ahead this year in biotech. >> reporter: after the year biotech has had, all investors ask the same question: can it do it again? excitement over medical advancement and strong seams of drugs helped biotech outperform the market the fifth year in a row in 2014. this year it will set the stage for 2015. the j.p. morgan health care conference in san francisco. >> maybe the most important health care conference in investment bankingment certainly the first one of the year. it sets expectations at least for the first half of the year and it also gives us a sense of

sentiment. >> reporter: more than 400 companies present to thousands of attendes at a summit known as the woodstock of health care. the industry on a tear on all fronts. the nasdaq biotech index rose 20% in 2014 versus 15% for the s&p 500. hit record levels and to merck contributed to rising valuations. what could burst biotech's bubble? front lighter points to two main issues. >> a looming potential price war, we saw some evidence of that. there will be some discussion of other drug classes at risk of that. the concern over the supreme court and obamacare. >> reporter: the j.p. morgan conference can be a big news maker with volatile health care stocks. companies release clinical trial

data and announce deals at the summit. rec analyst michael yee said vertex are two important stocks to watch. >> there's a lot of wealth of data and smid caps as well but i think we come out of the conference with a bullish view and biostocks trading up on that. >> reporter: we'll let you know next week. for "nightly business report," i'm meg terrell. >> one of the most watched experimental drugs, and that is where we begin tonight's market focus. the therapy showed promise of being able to repair optic nerve damage and the hints that could help those suffering from multiple sclerosis. some results show it lacked clarity. the wholesale retailer costco saw its same store sales better

in november. with the positive results from the holiday shopping beardperiod rose to $125.56. family dollar earnings report out. the fiscal first quarter profit weaker than expected as it stepped up discounting and more sales of lower mor gin items. shares fell to $78.51. >> strong sales of caakoe corona fell. star board value renewed pressure on yahoo to buy aol sending shares of both companies higher. in a letter to yahoo's ceo, chief repeated it should improvement the profits. yahoo rose by more than 3%. aol up by 7.5%. shares of ford rose up after the auto maker hiked quarterly

dividend by 40%. the payout 15 cents a share and payable at the end of the month. lifted the shares up 2 pbt.5% to $15.42. the attack on charlie hebdo came after years and the fire bombing of the office. although the assault was unusual in deadly brutality, it's not uncommon for businesses large and small to be the target of threat or intimidation. hack the sony hacking story is another recent example. what can businesses do in the face of intimidation? toranzano. nice to see you. i think of the two recent incidents, one deadly and one highly disruptive. what units them they were perpetrated by individuals or countries that had a beef against those specific company. these were clear threats of intimidation. do you expect to see more of

this happening around the world and even here in the united states? >> well we don't -- no one really knows but you have to speculate and give it your best. i think that's what a lot of companies are doing. we've had more calls in the last few weeks in the sony attack in the last year on this subject. as a matter of fact i had to post poen an caribbean vacation because of that. you need to look at two pockets here. i'm generalizing a bit. chinese are stealing our secrets, propie tear information. and russians steal financial data and middle east have assassins. the risk world is looking at the world right now. this is far more than intimidation. if you look historically talk

about the red bigade and how they attacked business people. you have to sit back and look at your industry and your geography. look outside the box and what can happen here? one of the calls we're getting is they want an outsider's perspective we have people. >> do you find people with american corporations with a global footprint are prepared enough? major corporations looking at their safety their infrastructure. their cyber security. >> i think some are prepared and some not prepared. i think those with a global view about what's really been taking place in the world, the multinationals tend to look at these things whether you're in security or i.t., wherever you are. look at a global view and what do we need to do in this new environment? the call came out of sony and

the last 24 hours in paris. i think you have to take a hard look and say, could this happen here? and are we prepared? are we protecting our employees the best way we can? are our facilities secure the best way they can be secure? how are we looking at i.t. computers and web sites? >> you have to look at your vulnerabilities, pharmaceuticals, animals rights activists who have a problem with that. other companies have a vulnerability with stamps they may take on a political topic whether gay marriage or something else. >> if you look at the radar and look at what's been happening in the world, whether it's shareholder, activism or antipolice activism or the terror attacks in paris unfortunately or the sony there seems to be attack of a democratic way of life. one of the great things i saw in the french pamers this morning

was the way the french people responded. do not steal our freedom of speech. going back to the french revolution gave us the idea of free speech but i think there's attack against institutions in a way we haven't seen before and i hate to say it could accelerate but it can. you need a plan and prepare to think about it. >> a topic i know we'll be returning to. richard toranzano of the torazano group. how long is a workweek? 30 hours or 40 hours? that question is being debated on capitol hill and the answer could have major implications .

americans are borrowing more money these days. the most in fact ever. higher demand for auto and student loans offset the credit card use. borrowing rose by $14 billion in november from the month before to a staggering $3.3 trillion. finally tonight, the house of rep tod voted on a measure that changes the definition of full-time work. a full-time workweek that is when it comes to health care coverage. hampton pearson looks at the big battle of the congress. >> reporter: a challenge to the employer mandate triggered the new clash over the future of the affordable care act. republicans introduce legislation changing the definition of a full-time workweek from 30 to 40 hours per

week. claiming it will save jobs. this is the first year the employer mandate takes effect under the current 30 hour workweek standard. with 50 or more workers must offer health insurance or face fines of $2,000 to $3,000 per employee. >> guess what's happening? businesses are cutting workers' hours. they're keeping them below 30 hours to curb the penalty. obamacare 29ers. >> reporter: the mandate triggered 40 hours opens door for businesses to walk away from their obligation to offer employer based health care. >> this bill says this is the blueprint for business to shift all their employees on to the government. very simply close the building at 4:00. now everybody has only worked 39 hours, right? go home. >> reporter: small businesses

particularly fast food chainingss white castle said cutting hours is a necessity. >> without scheduling a 35% increase in our health care costs if we didn't modify in some way. so we had to take a precision to our scheduling. >> reporter: this particular cure could be worse than the disease. the analysis of data from the small business administration said 29 million employees at large firms work at least 40 hours a week. while only about 7 million work 39 hours or less. a 40 hour threshold puts fur times as many people at risk of having their hours cut and losing their health insurance. >> a better approach would be for congress to cut the employer mandate entirely. >> reporter: the bill is now headed for the senate where republicans have work to do. lobbyists supporting the bill say they don't yet have the 60

votes needed to bring the measure to the floor and the white house has served notice that the president will veto any legislation that changes the current standard. for "nightly business report," i'm hampton pearson in washington. that's going to be an interesting fight to watch right there. >> sure is. so many will be. >> absolutely. that's it for "nightly business report" to be the. i'm sue herera. >> i'm tyler mathisen. thank you from me as well. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

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