monday with a $6.5 billion deal. we talk with new c.e.o. ursula burns. >> susie: on wall street, that deal and others push stocks to their best levels of the year. today's merger mania has the blue chips inching closer to an old friend... dow 10,000. >> paul: the head of the world's largest oil company says oil prices need to be low enough to keep consumers spending, and high enough to keep company's drilling. coming up our exclusive interview with saudi aramco ceo khalid al-falih. >> susie: then, if you thoug your doctors office was crowded, just wait. health care reform could have some 30 to 50 million uninsured people joining the system. tonight, we get the physicians' perspective. >> paul: i'm paul kangas. >> susie: and i'm susie gharib. this is "nightly business report" for monday, september 28th. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> susie: good evening,

everyone. a flurry of mergers and deals today from some of the nation's largest companies. xerox, abbott labs, johnson & johnson, and others announced transactions worth $13 billion. the most talked about one today: xerox. it's paying almost $6.5 billion in cash and stock for "affiliated computer services," a provider of computer services for businesses. the acquistion is xerox' biggest in its 103-year history, and a bold move by the company's new c.e.o, ursula burns. when i talked to her a short while ago, she explained why the merger is a "game changer" for xerox. >> a.c.s. is the world's largest diversified business products firm in the world. xerox captain largest document firm in the world. these two sets of capabilities put together makes us a powerful match for anybody out there with a leading company for document

and business-process management in the world. >> ms. burns, as you look out five, 10 years, will xerox be more of a services company and less of a copier company? how will xerox look? >> it's a beautiful question. i love it. it's great. xerox's strategy all along -- before we bought a.c.s. -- was to become -- not even 10 years out, even closer than that more of a services company. we are growing -- a document-services business is now about $3.5 billion of revenue. most of those services are around print and copy infrastructure. a.c.s. and xerox together allows that vision to become more of a reality significantly sooner. >> your competitors are getting into the services side, dell computer announcing acquisition, hewlett-packard -- whose market share are you going after? >> if you look at dell computer and hewlett-packard and even

i.b.m., they're at a space -- it's called i.t.o. -- information-technology outsourcing. they're at the server, computer kind of infrastructure space. that's not where we play at all. we don't do that type of service. we provide a service right above that which is called document services. all of those services, i.t.o. services go to work people do. we take the document -- unstructured documents but even structured documents -- written pages or typed memos or even a bill, for example, could be unstructured in a lot of ways -- photographs and the like -- and we manage that. >> as companies become more vertically integrated from hardware to software to services, does this create new conflicts and new issues for your customers? how are you going to address that? >> actually, our customers -- we don't actually think it creates conflict at all. it actually helps them to go to

one person -- we call it sometimes one throat to choke. they can come to one person and get a whole vertical slice of a business taken care of but most of the solutions' complexity comes in when you try to do a solution on a horizontal basis. >> ms. burns, you became c.e.o. of xerox three months ago and today you're announcing the biggest acquisition in xerox history. what is your overall strategy for the company? >> to be the leader in document -- in solving document-intensive information-based issues for our clients and our customers around the world, so we focused on document-intensive business processes. we started with managing this biggest process was replicating or duplicating something so we start by inventing a technology that did that. we moved that up and moved that up and now we're moving a little bit away from the equipment side -- equipment is very important -- and expanding it to the services side. >> do you think that you are going to have to do some more

acquisitions to round out the strategic plan? >> this is a big acquisition, so we have to make sure we manage our excess cash carefully, pay down debt first -- that is the most important thing, but after we do that, which we think we will be able to do in a reasonable amount of time then we're back into acquisitions again, smaller ones that fit into the b.p.o. space and fit into distribution. >> xerox stock sold on today's news. what do you think you need to do to get investors on board with what you are doing? >> communication, communication, communication. it's about clarity and having them understand the message -- by the way, i have been doing it all day, my team has been doing it as well. we didn't expect a reaction on the stock -- most deals have a downward pressure on the stock. this deal in size -- it's kind of large and it actually bills out a b.p.o. kind of instantly, something that has been strategic for us but not clear in the present day. this is communicating with investors to make sure that they

are clear -- become more clear about how this fits in the strategy and i think that as you go forward and we start to -- as my c.f.o. says all the time, "put numbers on the board" we'll get more and more investor buyin. >> a pleasure talking to you today and i hope to do a follow-up with you soon. >> i would love to do it with you, suzie. >> paul: xerox and today's other deals got the blue chips fired up. the dow jones industrial average finished up 124 points today, or more than 1%, snapping a three day losing streak. with just two trading days left in the quarter, the dow is closing in on the magic 10,000 mark. as scott gurvey explains, it wasn't supposed to be this way. >> reporter: traders were apparently out of the room at the beginning of the month when the pundits declared a major sell-off was likely in september. strategist steve wood says he's not surprised the prognosticators got it wrong. >> i'm not surprised by anything in the markets in the last two years.

i think you had a market that was priced to absolute perfection two years ago. you had a market that was priced to the end of the world in march of this year. and now what you're seeing is a lot of rather brisk, but consistent growth. and we're beginning to see a global recovery. >> reporter: the change in market psychology now has forecasters anticipating a test of the 10,000 mark on the dow industrial average. strategist nick colas says that doesn't mean much to the pros, but it means a lot to individual investors. >> i think it is an important pat on the back for investors who have been you know obviously slammed by the market over the past eighteen months, who've seen their investments whipsaw around. getting back to 10,000 would be one of those signs of things getting back to normal. >> reporter: but normal will not mean all shares will rise. steve wood says investors need to shift their focus from earnings to revenue and look for companies which can grow their top line. >> you're going to need to look for strong balance sheets, strong cash position, low debt positions and where you have competitive advantage, where you can actually drive sales and maybe take out some competition

and gain market share. >> reporter: but watch out for that sucker punch. the markets are vulnerable to bad economic news. the key september report on employment is set for release friday. scott gurvey, nightly business report, new york. >> paul: wall street came out swinging today after logging its steepest setback in months last week. buyers were encouraged by the revival of merger activity and the recent pickup in successful i.p.o.'s. in a steady advance, the dow rose 146 points by mid-day with the nasdaq up 46 points. the comeback convinced more investors to come off the sidelines and helped stocks hold most of their gains into the final bell.

>> susie: oil prices rose today to $66.84 a barrel. in new york trading, november crude futures jumped 82 cents. a lot of that oil comes from saudi arabia. specifically "aramco," the biggest oil company in the world. recently i met with aramco c.e.o., khalid al-falih, in saudi arabia. and began by asking him whether world-wide demand for oil these days is up or down. >> oil demand continues to be very sluggish in the west, north america and europe. we see an uptick in china, but

not significant to offset demand loss that we saw with economic and financial crisis the last year or so. it will take time to make up for millions of barrels of demand that we experience, but ultimately it will come. >> susie: one of the biggest worries for american consumers and american businesses is that the world is going to run out of oil. what is your response to that? >> the world has 9-10 trillion barrels of oil, conventional and unconventional, that need to be -- that are available for science and technology and industry and global society to exploit in a responsible way over a long period of time. >> susie: the fear is discoveries are not going to keep up with production. it's just a matter of time that the supplies are just going to -- >> if we only look at history. if we look at history, the industry has been able to

replace all of the oil produced, and more. recoverable oil as oil of the world has been growing. we recently at aramco, although we are the largest producer, we have been more than replacing our production, and our expectations from technology, both in discovery and recovery oil are very, very bullish. >> susie: as you know, president obama is pushing really hard for the u.s. to become less dependent on oil and to come up with alternative energy solutions. if that happens, what does it mean for saudi arabia? >> i think realistically it's going to take decades for the united states or any developed country, for that matter, to shift energy mix in a meaningful way, but the time to start is certainly now. i don't dispute the need to start responsibly putting

resources -- especially science and technology to find technical solutions, but i believe political pronouncements about shifting oil from oil are counterproductive. >> susie: american consumers are lining up to buy electric cars, they're becoming more -- they're cutting back on their energy use. what does that mean for saudi arabia? >> where is the electricity coming from? if the objective is -- electricity is increasingly coming from coal. coal is the highest polluter in terms of carbon emissions and i would advise people in general to look at the total picture of the energy mix, where it's coming from, what are the costs to society both environmentally as well as economically. >> susie: any economist would tell you that the best way to make people fuel efficient is to raise prices, so are high oil prices good or bad for saudi arabia? >> i think it's not a question

of what's good for saudi arabia or not. we have the highest -- the largest resource base, the highest production capacity. we certainly can survive on much lower prices than others. but we look at it from a long-term responsible standpoint. the prices need to be high enough for long-term growth and supply base, for investors to invest not in saudi arabia but in the deep seas of the gulf of mexico, also brazil and other places, so we believe prices -- there is a happy medium above the fact that we have seen but certainly below the feverish prices we saw last year where consumers will not be hurt but producers and investors will invest for the capital investment that will be required to bring energy supplies up and sustain the existing supplies as

well. >> susie: mr. falih, thank you so much for your time. upon >> susie: you can watch the entire interview on our website, "nightly business report" on pbs.org. >> paul: now let's take a look at some stocks in the news tonight...

>> susie: one of the goals of health care reform is bringing

the 30 to 50 million americans without health insurance into the system. it's a move that will certainly increase demand for services. massachusetts has already required health coverage for all residents with mixed results. for one thing, patients are spending a lot more time in doctors' waiting rooms. as the health care debate continues, doctors are already warning about supply and demand. stephanie dhue reports. >> reporter: it's busy now at the offices of fairfax family practice. the 16 doctors, 16 residents and two nurse practitioners here see about 250 patients a day. health care reform would surely add more. dr. winston liau says, while it will be a stretch, the practice will adjust. >> we have different scheduling techniques we can use, and we try and extend our hours so we're open nights and on weekends, so that people can be seen when they need to be seen. it would definitely strain our resources, but there are definitely ways to cope with the increased demand.

>> reporter: even without adding the uninsured, a predicted shortage of doctors will likely stress the health care system in the coming years. that already has doctors experimenting with new, more efficient business models. some are looking at medical homes, which use a teams of doctors, nurses, other health professionals, and new technologies to treat patients with chronic disease. but for that coordinated care to happen, dr. sam jones says reform needs to change the way doctors are paid. >> they are talking about care management fees, and that would be a huge step in the right direction, to hire either the nurses, nutritionists or other members of the health team that can help manage these patients in ways other than that one-to- one doctor/patient relationship. >> reporter: lawmakers are also considering boosting reimbursements to primary care doctors by 10%.

but to pay for that, reimbursements to specialists would be cut. orthopaedic surgeon dr. marc rankin worries that could reduce patient access to specialty care at a time when demand for procedures like joint replacements is increasing. he says ideas like medical homes to treat chronic disease may come with unintended consequences. >> being able to manage patients to keep them out of difficulty and keep them healthier is a great goal to shoot for, the question is will that happen, and will the... we would certainly hope that the managed care would not replace the old gatekeeper of the early '90s of the h.m.o.s, where it was sometimes, in fact often an impediment to achieve specialty care. >> reporter: how much more crowded the system becomes will depend on the prescription for reform, including just how many of the uninsured get coverage and how providers will be compensated to meet the new demand. stephanie dhue, nightly business report, washington. >> paul: tomorrow, when it comes to mutual funds is newer better? our "of mutual interest"

commentator has some answers. >> susie: a financial adviser in michigan is facing fraud charges for allegedly targeting seniors in a $250 million ponzi scheme. the securities and exchange commission says frank bluestein was at the heart of an investment scam operated by his firm "e.m. management." court documents accuse bluestein of encouraging retirees to re-finance their mortgages to fund their investments. bluestein's lawyer has not commented. >> paul: another former enron executive is headed to prison. joseph hirko used to run enron's broadband division. today, he was sentenced in houston to 16 months in jail. he also agreed to pay $8.7 million in restitution. prosecutors say hirko promoted enron's broadband division to analysts, while knowing the system couldn't do what was being promised.

>> susie: here's a look at what's happening tomorrow. the s&p case, shiller home price index for july, is released. also tomorrow, quarterly results from darden restaurants, nike and walgreen. >> paul: recapping today's market action, a day of deals brings buyers off the sidelines.

to learn more about the stories in tonight's broadcast or watch our streaming video and to take part in our daily blog go to "nightly business report" on pbs.org, you can email us at nbr@pbs.org. >> susie: a new assignment -- captain sully you'll recall that sully is the pilot who maneuvered u.s. airways flight 1549 to a picture-perfect landing on the frigid waters of the hudson back in january. everyone on board survived. today the airline announced that sully is returning to work as what's known as a management pilot. that means he'll be back in the cockpit, and working as what he calls a "safety advocate. and paul, that's something he knows about first hand. >> susie: he was amazing. let's hope he can teach that skill to a lot of other people. >> paul: that's for sure. >> susie: that's nightly

business report for monday, september 28. goodnight, paul. >> paul: i'm paul kangas wishing all of you the best of good buys. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible

by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org