here's suzanne pratt. >> oscar weekend is usually a good one at the box office.earning 27 x*rs of rev view after getting cominated and additional 15% after taking home the golden statue. that's good news for sony which has money ball, and midnight in paris up for best picture. >> two disney vims also got the nod. paramount released hugo, and warner brrkts is behind extremely loud and incredibly close. the odds are favorite for best pictured is weinstein companies the artist, but the earnings have been small. >> 30 million in domestic box office. it hasn't had that big of a bump since the nomination. an oscar win would really help the movie. >> it's because newer moves are stealing audiences. and then there's a disconnect between the public and the academy. 20011 top closing vim. >> harry potter and the deathly hallows with a monstrous box office receipts of over a billion dollars. suzanne pratt, nightly business report, new york. >> susie: let's take a look at what we're looking at for next week. on monday billionaire warren buffet issues annual all right to hath

suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> susie: so how safe or risky are treasuries? joining us now with two different views? dan shackelford, portfolio manager of the t-rowe price new income fund-- a $15 billion dollar bond fund-- and james awad, investment strategist at zephyr management, which manages more than 20 investment funds. >> dan, thanks for joining us tonight. >> great to be here. >> dan, let me begin with you. is warren buffet right. are treasuries dangerous? >> i don't want to talk myself out of a job. but warren buffet made an important point along with the report that you had earlier, and that is basically, the fed is targeting an inflation right of around 2%, and as we heard earlier, inflation is running higher than 2% and above the current level of interest rate you can get on a terbry 10 year. so once the inflation eclipses the yield on the treasury bond, i would say it's getting pretty ricky. seam jim, what do you think, are treas reaps dangerous ?i.d that's the consensus now. and in all due respect to warren buffet. he's richer and smarter than i

. >> tom: today's toughest assignment went to our suzanne pratt. she spent the morning playing at the toy world's big annual event: toy fair. and, with sales down slightly last year, toymakers are toiling for the next furbie or tickle me elmo. >> reporter: toymakers sure would love a big hit this year. so, will it be the ipad look-a- like known as a kurio? it's a whiz with parental controls. or could it be perplexus? although i'm a bit perplexed by what it does. maybe it will be an entertainment tie-in, one that boy-toy giant hasbro is banking on. those are toys spun from upcoming movies like spiderman, g.i. joe and even hasbro's popular battleship game. >> with the amount of entertainment that kids consume on all screens-- not just television, but on mobile devices, on their laptops, and on desktops-- entertainment programming is clearly a driver in our business. it's not the only driver, but it's a powerful driver. >> reporter: as you can imagine, toy sales are fairly resilient. after all, who doesn't love to play? but analysts are predicting a f

suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: before trading firm m.f. global collapsed in late october and billions in customer funds disappeared, the firm's chief risk officer said he warned about the company taking too much risk. michael roseman told congress his warnings about the company's multi-billion dollar bet on european bonds helped cost him his job. darren gersh reports from washington. >> reporter: m.f. global's former chief risk officer says the futures broker had ample warning. well before m.f. global failed, michael roseman says he had cautioned former c.e.o. jon corzine about the risk the firm was taking on in buying european debt. >> the sovereign positions and the associated risk with those positions were very well- communicated, very transparent within the organization, and to mr. corzine and to the board. >> reporter: if m.f. global had not taken a huge $6 billion bet on european debt, roseman says, the company would still be here. roseman says his warnings helped cost him his job. michael stockman replaced roseman as chief risk offi

and, as suzanne pratt reports, there could still be time for investors to take advantage of the big move higher in big oil stocks. >> reporter: no matter where you pump, gas prices have been heading higher. and, that's bad news for consumers and perhaps the whole economy and it's fragile recovery. but, it's been good news for big oil companies or supermajors and their shareholders. so far this year, a closely watched energy sector e.t.f. is up 10% moving almost in lock step with the rise in oil and gas prices. the question is whether oil stocks have more room to run. some experts say the answer depends on what happens here at the pump. many factors fuel oil company profits, including costs and environmental disasters. but, a big move in oil prices plays the biggest role. one energy expert says what's most important is that crude oil prices remain close to or above $100 a barrel. >> a deep water well costs about 50 a barrel, $75 depending where you are. so, if you can sell your oil at $100 plus it's very positive for any of these companies. >> reporter: so, where are oil prices are headed

suzanne pratt takes a look at why that is and the outlook for gas prices this year. >> reporter: it may be tough to believe, but demand for gasoline in china is pushing up prices at the pump here in the u.s. american are filling up less as they typically do in the winter months. but consumers in emerging economies like india, brazil and china are driving more. on top of that oil traders are worried about a potential conflict with iran over its threat to close the strait of hormuz. >> we're not going to find our if any of these economic sanctions with iran are going to happened until july. and, then of course if israel takes any action against iran, that could happen at any time. so, i think the market is going to be on edge for that for quite a while. >> reporter: an edgy energy market has resulted in the most expensive january ever for gasoline. according to triple "a," the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas today was $3.50. that's 38 cents higher than a year ago. and, some oil experts say drivers should expect to pay even more this spring and summer. >> i see gasoline

suzanne pratt begins our coverage tonight. >> reporter: you may not know what facebook is or what it does, but i guarantee you soon will. even if you're not one of facebook's 800 million users, it will be hard to ignore the hype surrounding its initial public offering. many in the i.p.o. world are calling it the deal of the decade. >> the facebook i.p.o. is going to be the largest internet i.p.o. ever, and probably one of the top five u.s. ipos ever done. so, this is a major event in the i.p.o. market. >> reporter: a major event for the broader market, too. after all, reportedly facebook will be looking to raise billions of dollars. but, is the timing right for such a monster deal? that's a matter of some debate. last summer's stock market gyrations turned i.p.o. dates for groupon and zynga into moving targets as the companies searched for a more welcoming environment. and, those in the worried camp also point to last year's poor market performance of i.p.o.s. >> the ftse renaissance u.s. i.p.o. index fell 19% in 2011. this year, that same index has already gained 10%, outpacing the

suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom here at the big board all the traders have their eye on the index. it's just 50 points away, the dow jones industrial, 50 points away from that. psychologically important 13,000 level. a lot of optimism going into this long weekend. we'll see what happens next week. >> tom: that's whispering distance to that psychologically. you don't even have to shout to get to 13,000. >> susie: absolutely right. >> tom: let's get you rolling with tonight's market focus. blue chip stocks drifted higher ahead with tech stocks lagging behind. the dow industrial's goes into the long president day weekend just below the 13,000 mark. it's the dow's highest close since may of 2008. the top broad market sectors were consumer discretionary stocks, financials and telecommunications, but each gained less than 1%. while technology has a group was weak, intel was a stand-out stock to the high side. intel's 2% rally led the dow industrial average and the buying came as volume almost doubled. intel stock is at its highest price since late 2007. we saw spl

and, as suzanne pratt reports, apple is not alone. >> reporter: $100 billion dollars. that's what apple currently has in its piggy bank. that's a lot of moolah. so much that the company could buy ipads for a 100 million people and still have plenty left over. apple could also give back to its shareholders in the form of a dividend-- something wall street is clamoring for. but, apple isn't doing anything, at least not yet. analyst abahey lamba predicts that will change sometime this year. >> we think it's more likely that they do a sustainable dividend, starting at about $5 to $10 per share, and they also use some cash to buy back shares. keep in mind they still generate a lot of free cash flow, so its not only what's sitting on the balance sheet, it's an ongoing thing. >> reporter: internet search giant google and software king microsoft also have oodles of cash in the bank. so do lots of other large public companies, particularly technology names. quickly accumulating money on a balance sheet often signals a healthy company, and that's a good thing. but, some financia

suzanne pratt takes a look at one woman's quest for home, sweet home. >> reporter: dr. fernaz safi is happy, having just purchased this two-bedroom condo in cliffside park, new jersey. but her path to property ownership was bumpy. two years ago, she had wanted to buy a different place, but went through hoops when trying to get a loan from a large bank. >> it took about five to six months. finally, they said, no, we really can't get the mortgage. "you'll need this additional information, that additional piece of information. we'll need at least another two to three months." quite honestly, i didn't have that time, so i pretty much pulled out. ( laughs ) >> reporter: after taking a break from her search, safi tried again-- this time, with a smaller bank. >> from the time that i put an offer in to the closing date was 26 days. they approved the mortgage in nine days. >> reporter: north jersey community bank gave safi that mortgage and a better experience. but she is in the minority. many americans, no matter where they go for a home loan, now find they need a bigger down p