brian cheung, thanks for being here. and that's going to do it for us today. same place. until then, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. k. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. so when minds grow, opportunities follow. ♪ always feeling like you "gotta go"? tired of pads? visit findrealrelief.com to connect with a bladder or bowel specialist who can help get your life back with axonics therapy. don't let leaks control your life! (vo) red lobster's new lobster & shrimp celebration ♪ (vo) three lobster and shrimp entrees for a limited time. ♪ as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways

we're working on getting the brian cheung posters ready to go.e with you. i'm ryan nobles in today for katy tur. and former president donald trump is back in new york today, taking a front row seat for one of the final defense witnesses in his $250 million civil

brian cheung luckily is with us now. o, what does it tell you about the economy, everybody is spending so much right now on holiday gifts, what does it say for our wallet? >> a lot of numbers. what you need to know is that prices are still going up, but they're going up at a slower rate than we had seen compared to last year. 3.1%, that's telling us how much more expensive things are in november of this year compared to november of last year. and a slowdown from the 3.2% we saw in the october to october period, significantly slower than the 9% inflation rate we had seen in the last year. where do we see the price changes? food and shelter costs did go up. we saw energy costs go down by 2.3%. these are monthly changes to the change in these categories between october and november. gas prices are going down. shelter costs, a big expenditure for most americans, that's very much in view. some prices that we're all facing at the store, these are changes from last year. you can see eggs down over a buck per dozen. gasoline pric

we'll have to see. >> brian cheung, thank you for that. >>> elon musk is now considering reinstatingx. jones was permanently banned from the social media app which was then known as twitter back in 2018 for violations of the company's abusive behavior policies. he filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge ordered him to pay nearly a billion and a half dollars to the families of shooting victims. nbc's laura joins us for cnbc on msnbc. here we are just a year ago, elon musk said he wouldn't restore jones' account and here's what he wrote. i have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame. so what changed? what do we know? >> hi, chris, it's a really good question. thank you. a lot has changed. so since elon musk took over twitter, he has made sweeping platform and policy changes there and he has been posting plenty of divisive tweets himself. the white house condemned him for an abhorrent promotion of anti-semitic speech. he apologized but he hasn't convinced everyone he's sincere. these things have already driven away the kinds of advertis

we're working on getting the brian cheung posters ready to go. ryan nobles hosts "katy tur reports" right now. >>> chris, thank you. good to be with you. i'm ryan nobles in today for katy tur. and former president donald trump is back in new york today, taking a front row seat for one of the final defense witnesses in his $250 million civil fraud trial. a trial that threatens to upend his personal fortune and real estate business. the former president could take the stand in his own defense on monday, but today the court is hearing from an accounting expert who described new york attorney general's letitia james' claims of fraud as meritless, saying, quote, my main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever for any accounting fraud. this is trump's first appearance since an appellate court reinstated a gag order barring him from talking about the court staff on social media. while the clerks are off limits, trump didn't waste time renewing his attacks on the judge arthur. >> a case that is absolutely 100%, there's not a judge in the country

nbc's brian cheung is here to break it all down for us. from this report. what stands out? >> yeah, look, we've avoided a recession so far in 2023, and as we end the year it still looks pretty good. 199,000 jobs added in the month of november, that's faster than the pace we saw in october. also above what economists had expected, and the unemployment rate went down to 3.7% in the month of november, down from 3.9% in october. so, okay, where do we see the job gains in the month? we saw it in these sectors, leisure and hospitality, bars and restaurants adding 40,000 jobs. health care, a faster pace than we had seen in prior months adding almost 77,000 jobs in the month, and motor vehicles and parts adding 30,000 jobs. i highlight this because the uaw strike ended at the end of october, this is the first report that reflects the resolution of that strike, so 30,000 people getting back to work. that was perhaps the reason why we saw some of the job gains overall. again, a big picture, it looks pretty good and the economy looking very strong sp

nbc news business and data correspondent brian cheung walks us through the biggest moments. >> reporterrbie. the economy steered clear of a recession, the biggest theme of all, worker power. across the country, over half a million teachers, pharmacists, fast food workers and more went on strike. the biggest ones targeting hollywood and the motor city. tv and movie production halted when the writers gild first walked out in may with actors and performers joining two months later. in fall, members of the united autoworkers forced stops at the big three automakers. >> an attack on a worker anywhere is an attack on workers everywhere. >> reporter: after months of shutdown, the question is who came out better on the other side? the hollywood stand still cost $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts. ford, gm and stellantis lost over $3.5 billion in profits together. pay bumps were significant with actors wages rising more than 7%. writers, up 12.5%. autoworkers, a whopping 25%. >> inflation is easing. >> we're still talking about inflation. >> annual inflation is slowly coming down. >>

brian cheung, thank you very much. >>> that is going to do it for me today. everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. i'm jen psaki in for nicolle wallace. right now a

brian cheung, thank you. >>> coming up in the next hour of "chris jansing reports," texas governor greg a record number of border crossings. we've got a live report from the border, next. t a live report fre border, next ♪(uplifting music)♪ along with significantly clearer skin... skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi 90% clearer skin and less joint pain are possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to skyrizi, there's nothing like clearer skin and better movement... and that means everything. ♪nothing is everything♪ now's the time to ask your doctor about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some wei

you can actually start right now. >> brian cheung is back, exactly the person we need okay december,gin to dig out some of those credit card bills >> yeah. and ahead of next year, you want to get your debt in order. start from largest to smallest or smallest to largest, whatever it looks like for you. when it comes to the types of debt, credit card debt is the big one this year. balance transfer cards are a good way to take credit card debt from one card and put it on another where you don't have to make interest payments for 18 months in some cases for everyone else, try to pay more than the minimum. lastly, try to give your lender a call it is a good way to see if you could get any type of help because they don't want to see you default. >> let's talk about interest rates if we can. obviously they went up over the past year. that could be good news for some of our savings also could middle age for challenges what does that mean for tax purposes heading into the new year >> yeah. the reason why debt is high is because interest rates are high. the good news that's associated with tha

nbc news reporter brian cheung looks back at the year and the eco economy. >> the economy steered clearssion, but the biggest theme of all, worker power. across the country over half a million teachers, pharmacists, fast food workers and more went on strike. the biggest ones targeting hollywood and the motor city. tv and movie production halted when the writers guild walked out in may with actors and performers joining two months later. in the fall members of the united auto workers forced stoppages at detroit's big three auto makers, further empowered by president biden's unprecedented visit to the picket line. >> an attack on a worker anywhere, is an attack on workers everywhere. >> after months of shutdown the question is who came out better on the other side. the hollywood standstill cost $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts, ford, gm and stellantis lost over $3.5 billion in profits together. pay bumps were significant with actors' wages rising more than 7%, writers up 12.5% and auto workers a whopping 25%. >> inflation is easing. >> we're still talking about inflation. >>

here to break it down is nbc's business correspondent brian cheung brian, it is nice to see you this morning a lot of people have been eyeing the housing market this morning hoping rates fall. what do lower means for those folks? >> maybe bring in the buyers from the sidelines into the market it's been a tough 2023 when we consider how high mortgage rates went as this last week. the average mortgage rate is 6.61%. that's down from almost 6.7% this week and down substantially from the 7.8% just two months ago. if you put this into dollar amounts, if you are talking about a $400,000 home, 20%, this is a savings of $255 a month this is really good news for people that have been looking on the sidelines and saying that mortgage rate is a little too high, good news for them when we look to 2024, what the federal reserve has been doing is talking about the potential for interest rate cuts that could mean mortgage rates might go down further from here. you could see 30-year fixed mortgage rates tied to what the federal reserve is doing perhaps going down to the low 6s this year. that could

joining us now is brian cheung for what this means for your wallet. brian, a lot of numbers there. what does the fed's meeting mean for everyday americans in. >> the federal reserve is looking at what's happening in the economy and saying, well, lot of people thought we would be in a recession now. the fed forecast coming from the central bank itself projecting that inflation could come down faster than they projected the last time they offered any sort of predictions in september, so the federal reserve now saying we might be in a place to start cutting interest rates next year the first time we've heard them say that since they began this journey of making borrowing costs more expenexpensive. >> so we're coming down to the wire on buying gifts right now for a lot of people, speaking for a friend, but thinking about people's spending and inflation at the moment, what does this mean for the holiday season? >> the big story for those who are shopping for the holiday season, things are really expensive when it comes to food, save money when you can get the best discounts you at the s

brian cheung is here with a guide to getting what you want. >> good morning.ned up, and in some cases, you might want to bring that stuff back. we'll have to do as you head out on the other side of "today. what's that? you need another four inches? do you work here? nope, i just saw you there and i thought i'd save you the trouble. nana! she's a human measuring tape. and she knows allstate is the right fit for her. it's not gonna fit. that's not gonna fit. what? steven? some people just know. well played. well played, my friend. those are the people who know you're in good hands with allstate. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. [music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it and fight. subject 2: it doesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other children. subject 3: as a parent, i

got over here the course of this year, we're going to nbc news business and data correspondent, brian cheung this last year. >> it was the year of picket lines, bank blow ups and barbie, the economy steered clear of a recession, but the biggest theme of all, worker power. across the country, over half a million teachers, pharmacists, fast food workers and more went on strike, hollywood and the motor city. the writers guild first walked out in may with actors and performers joining two months later. in the fall, members o. united auto workers forced stoppages at the big three auto makers, further empowered by president biden's unprecedented visit to the picket line. >> an attack on a worker anywhere is an attack on workers everywhere. >> after months of shutdown, the question is who came out better on the other side. the hollywood standstill cost $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts. ford, gm and stellantis lost over 3 1/2 billion dollars in profits together. pay bumps were significant with actors wages rising more than 7%. writers, up 12 1/2%. and auto workers, a whopping 25%. >> in

. >> nbc news business reporter brian cheung looks back at some of the biggest business stories that made headlines in 2023. >> reporter: it was the year of ticket lines and barbie. the economy steered clear of a recession, but the biggest theme of all, worker power. [ crowd chanting ] >> across the country, over half a million teachers, pharmacists and more went on strike. the biggest ones targeting hollywood and the motor city. tv and movie production halted when the writers guild walked out in may, with actors and performers joining two months later. in the fall, members of the united auto workers forced stoppages at detroit's big three automakers, further empowered by president biden's unprecedented visit to the ticket line. >> an attack on a worker anywhere is an attack on workers everywhere. >> reporter: after months of shutdown, who came out better on the other side? the hollywood standstill costs $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts, ford, gm and stellantis lost over $3.5 billion in profits together. pay bumps were significant, with actors wages rising more than 7%,

nbc news business and data correspondent brian cheung is us again. the fed's decision, how did they describe why they decided not to raise rates again? >> because the federal reserve has already raised interest rates so aggressively over the last two years, so we have to keep in mind that the federal reserve has been trying to make borrowing costs higher part of the reason why mortgage rates and credit card rates are so high. we can keep them at this level now, still high but let them sit there a and see if they can take more bite out of inflation. from 9% last year to 3% this year. federal reserve saying, look, this hasn't had the impact of sending us into a recession. lot of things that favor this economy continuing to chug along, what's interesting a about the decision, kate, even though they didn't do anything, there are projections that the federal reserve could start to cut interest rates for the first time since the pandemic perhaps some time next year, it depends on how the data looks. >> which affects our credit cards, home loans and mortgag

"today's" brian cheung explains, if you didn't get the gift receipt, there are steps you can take. >> if you don't have the receipt, one way to get around that is by going to the store and asking anyway. walmart can look up your order using just your credit card number. have your personal information on hand. have an i.d., because especially with return theft, they usually want to check your i.d. worst case scenario, you don't have the receipt, ask for store credit. >> best buy is extending deadlines for returns until january 13th for phones and tablets. apple is allowing returns until january 15th. now, for more tips, including some fees you might face when you return those items, be sure to tune into "today" at 7:00, right after us here on "today in the bay." >> will you be returning anything? >> i have to return some lights. >> like light bulbs? >> yeah, for a tree i never got. i did order it. a whole story, we'll talk about it another day. yeah, i'm returning the lights. keeping the ornaments. >> then you'll get the tree in february? >> right. i'll get prelit. that might be better

brian cheung is here to hopefully help us not do that. a distinction between fsa and hsa. two. >> squirrel money for any medical related expenditure. hsa is something you contribute to yourself, some differences with regards in how to use them. because we're getting to the end of the year. any sort of funds in a fsa as at the end of the year will be forfeited, anything in an hsa will roll over, that's understanding the distinction is very important. different contribution limits. fsa you can put more money in, hsa slightly less. >> speaking of those many billions what happens to that money that gets forfeited? does it go back to your employer? >> hsa rolls over. for fsa, the money gets sent back to your employer. one thing i want to draw a distinction with. hsas are things that can only be associated, sign up for one depending on the health insurance that you have. the fsa comes from your employer. >> that's your money from your salary that you tell your employer to hold for you. >> it's tax-free. in fsa. again, there are those rollover rules, by the way, there are some ca

bring in brian cheung. a takeaway from the report? >> add context. talk about 199,000 figure you just talked about. above pace seen added in october as well as above 190,000 estimates wall street had prior to this report coming out. important to note, 3.7% unemployment rate you talked about was actually the lowest we've seen, rather, 22nd consecutive month of that unemployment rate below 4%. talk about what industries, saw jobs gain in. check out leisure and hospitality adding 40,000. health care adding almost 77,000. gang busters number haven't seen in months. last motor vehicle and parts adding 30,000 over course of the month. a reversal of the uaw strike resolved between the october and november report. all perhaps the reason why we saw that number on the top line look so good. >> brian, december. the last jobs report of the year. so what does this report say about health of the economy right now? >> tells us the labor market is still looking good. again, the story is not really on jobs. really about inflation. federal reserve, by the way, a meeti

nbc news business and data correspondent brian cheung is here. brian, nice to see you. what is your take away from the jobs report? >> good morning, laura and peter. no signs of recession on the jobs market front. the unemployment rate a 3.7%, the 22-month of sub 4%. this is calling into the post-pandemic recovery. in healthcare and in the government and check out the auto workers industry. we have seen an addition of 30,000 jobs. reversal of the uaw strikes. that provided a boost to the top line. for the federal reserve which has been raising interest rates to deliberately slow inflation which is the side of the economy with the problems, that remains an issue. the expectation is they won't raise interest rates as the result of the data come wednesday in the next meeting. that doesn't mean credit card rates and mortgage rates are coming down. they are not cutting. >> we talked about the soft landing that everyone thought was impossible to find. it appears the recession is in the rear-view mirror. job growth at 35 consecutive months. brian, so many feel like the economy

nbc business and data correspondent, brian cheung, is here to break down what it means.t direction? >> yeah, we have to remember that prices are still going up and are just going up at a slower rate, and 3.1% is how much they went up from november of last year to this year. prices only went up by 0.1 of a%, and estimates were for no change at all, and depending on your interpretation, maybe this report was worse than expected. but we are seeing categories of brightness in the report with specifically, energy. these are monthly percentage changes you are seeing here, and food prices went up by 0.2 of a% between october and november. and shelter, this is the biggest cost for most americans, and inflation increasing from 0.3 of a percent to 0.4 of a percent, and it's something certainly watching for the months to come. >> thank you for those details. >>> now to exclusive breaking news we are getting out of the white house. i want to bring back nbc's monica alba joining us from the white house. what can you tell us? >> we are just learning president biden invited the family

. >> nbc's business reporter brian cheung is outside with our tree with the details brian, what's thef americans put up their tree right after thanksgiving for those that wait until closer to christmas, the grinch may have a surprise for you. a tree shortage means you might pay a little more this year. ♪ >> wow that's a big one. >> reporter: tis the reason for christmas trees. but finding that perfect tree may be a little harder this year tell me about what the christmas tree supply looks like this year. >> supply has been really tight for the last few years. >> reporter: farmers say supplies are down because of growing conditions in the last few years. that doesn't mean you won't have a fraser fur or blue spruce. >> do all retailers of christmas trees have the inventory they would like sadly for some, that answer is no but the second question is, does that mean consumers will go home empty handed the answer to that is not at all. >> reporter: according to the real christmas tree board, demand is skyrocketing for a real tree this year, including 20% who are planning to buy a real tree

brian cheung, great to see you.t to give president biden a second term. mike memoli has more. >> reporter: for president joe biden, 2023 began with democrats wondering will he run. as the calendar churns to 2024, they're now asking, can he win? he started the year with political momentum. >> he and the democrats have defied history. >> reporter: republicans took control of the house, but democrats won key senate and governors races in the midterm. in april, biden made it official. >> when i ran for president four years ago, i said we were in a battle for the soul of america, and we still are. >> reporter: but the month ahead took a political toll, with republicans seizing on inflation and record border crossings. >> every town is a border town. that's crystal clear to everybody but the white house. >> reporter: the supreme court striking down plans for student debt relief. ukraine's fight against russia stalled, and war erupted between israel and hamas. now the president's approval ratings are at all-time lows. some

. >> yes procrastinators will be rewarded nbc business correspondent brian cheung joins us with more.ls to be had. >> reporter: with 11 days until christmas, americans are trying to find out if those last-minute deals are naughty or nice. >> overwhelmed by these sales. it's been going on for days, and it's, like, each company is trying to outdo the other company. >> reporter: in the final days of the holiday shopping rush, retailers are pushing sales to reel-in shoppers same stress of mall crowds likely crushing your inboxes too. >> the holiday season has somehow reactivated email lists that you absolutely unsubscribed to >> reporter: after black friday, stores are still trying to woo consumers with further discounts. so, how do you wade through the sales? good news for those last-minute shoppers looking for presents for the kids -- prices are dropping for toys, and for some other popular items. >> the best deals will be in electronics, appliances, and toys we'll continue to see prices drop in each of those categories >> reporter: some electronics are more discounted than on black fri

brian cheung, thank you very much. >>> that is going to do it for me today. "deadline: white house" starts right now. >>> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. i'm jen psaki in for nicolle wallace. right now a jury of eight people in washington, d.c. are dealing with a very important question. trying to decide what price should be paid for telling lies that throwed a violent insurrection. eroing the fabric of america and through no fault of their own became subjects of a conspiracy theory. rudy giuliani's defamation trial sued by ruby freeman and her daughter shaye moss. the judge ruled giuliani defamed freeman and moss, now deciding how much giuliani will pay. started with the expectation he made himself that giuliani would testify on his own behalf. he vow yesterday to "give the whole story" in a bit of a dramatic press conference. once he conceded, the trial went to arguments. when that happened, the lawyer asked the jury to award them $24 million each. gottlieb said giuliani "has no right to offer civil servants up to a mob to win a general election." very

christmas is almost here the shipping rush, guys, is in full swing >> nbc's business correspondent brian cheungure our packages survive shipment, huh >> good morning, guys. it's no surprise that packages will go through the ringer on their way to your doorstep, but for the first time fedex is letting in cameras to their special facility where they purposefully try to break things we put them to the test t ourselves to see how ourselves to see how they're keeping your holidays in tact. about 82 million packages per day will zig zag across the country this holiday season with the major shipping companies finding new and faster ways to get items to your door, including ai and autonomous vehicles to help move packages and at fedex's 33,000 square foot packaging lab right outside of memphis, tennessee, experts work with amazon and wayfair to find out the best ways to keep things undamaged in transit. shaking, rattling, and rolling them i'm right to think of what to gift my mom for the holidays and decided to test out some options that might get to her in tact. with the help of fedex packaging, edwar

brian cheung is looking back on that and other top stories in the business world from throughout 2023er. across the country over half a million teachers, pharmacists, factory workers and more went on strike. tv and movie production halted when the writers guild first walked out in may. in the fall members of the united auto workers forced stoppages, further empowered by president biden's visit to the picket line. after months of shutdown, who came out better on the other side? the hollywood standstill cost$6 billion in lost wages and business impacts. pay bumps were significant with actors' wages up 7%, writers up 12.5%. >> inflation is easing. >> inflation is slowly coming down. >> still, high inflation showed signs of improving, dropping from 6% to 3% by year's end. gas, down 34 cents a gallon. prices on eggs over a buck cheaper per dozen. median rent is down 2%. hopefully affordability will improve next year. in 2023, it was high drama on wall street when silicon valley bank collapsed in march, becoming the biggest collapse since the 2008 financial crisis overshadowed it weeks late