for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan. >>> good news about u.s. homeowner whose have been under water owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. the real estate website zillow said the under water homeowners fell with 1.4 million americans getting back above the negative equity line. >>> for the millions of struggling homeowners who remain under water, fast rising home prices may not be rising fast enough and with the housing market in recovery, one company is edging bets things could collapse again and it's offering what is called under water insurance. dianna al lia olick explains. >> reporter: in phoenix, arizona one of the hardest hit markets of the crash, home prices are up over 40% from the bottom of 2011. that cut in half the number of borrowers that owe more on the mortgages than their homes are worth. nationwide, millions are drowning in negative equity and some are asking could it all happen again? one company is saying yes and offering consumers insurance for that possibility. >> under water mortgage protection is the fir

courtney regan has the story. >> reporter: the magic of may see is contained to that. the expression going into the holiday quarter was absent in the executive commentary in the earnings report. they did exceed expectations by earnings by one penny per share but sales fell short and the forecast isn't inspiring. >> it's a cautious tone. you go into a holiday season where six fewer days, the sense of urgency is greater and level of promotions feel higher than ever. >> reporter: bill simon says unemployment and job stability tops the list of concerns and while gas prices have fallen, it's still a big piece of the budget for shoppers. is walmart's sale's weakness due to poor execution or the results of the shopper? a combination of both. >> there is limited dollars to go around that are reporting in the consumer business in a bigger way and that's definitely a more competitive space. it's the customer and environment. >> reporter: the company is encouraged by the mmomentum. the key now is making sure the trend continues. for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan.

for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan. >> are you going to do online shop sng. >> mostly online shopping and i'm not one that goes out on thanksgiving. >> me, either. >> you'll be tired, you're making dinner this year. >> 16 people, lots of pumpkin pie. >> thanks for watching, great being with you. >> always enjoy being here. i'm bill griffeth. have a great weekend. see you monday. >>> "nightly business report" has been brought to you by. >> thestreet.com, up to the minute stock market news and in deptd analysis. our quant rating service prov e provides objective independent ratings on over 4 300 stocks. learn more at the street.com/nbr. ♪ brian! say what you like about bob ruxton, but he never kept you waiting. he was a good man. always had time for a chat. and he always bought a round. the nights i've been on the hit-and-miss with him... that kind of behavior might account for his having been being suspended. it's a hard thing for a man to be publicly pilloried after a long and distinguished career. he's not being pilloried, jack. he's facing charges of negligence and i

for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan. >> are you going to do online shop sng. >> mostly online shopping and i'm not one that goes out on thanksgiving. >> me, either. >> you'll be tired, you're making dinner this year. >> 16 people, lots of pumpkin pie. >> thanks for watching, great being with you. >> always enjoy being here. i'm bill griffeth. have a great weekend. see you monday. >>> "nightly business report" has been brought to you by. >> thestreet.com, up to the minute stock market news and in deptd analysis. our quant rating service prov e provides objective independent ratings on over 4 300 stocks. learn more at the street.com/nbr. gwen: a presidential mea culpa on health care. lit stop the bleeding or cost him the credibility he needs on other issues like iran? tonight on "washington week." the president falls on his sword. >> ultimately i'm the head of this team. we did fumble the ball on it and what i'm going to do is make sure that we get it fixed. gwen: and his opponents smell blood. >> this wasn't a small mistake. this wasn't a scaling mistake. this was a monu

courtney regan joining us now with that. >> that's right.own set of economic issues that will impact consumers budgets for gift giving. this season is no different. we have higher payroll tax, lack of confidence in washington lawmakers, and higher health care costs all of that eating in to budget. adding into it confidence from continued uneaseiness about the job market and sluggish job growth. competition for consumer dollars is so intense that retailers are offering the best promotions in years and online shopping options have grown in number and ease. plus, home values are rising. the stock market continues to hit fresh highs. weather trends are favorable. and the lowest holiday season gas prices in four years make the nice lift quite jolly. consumers plan to spend $82 less. that marks the lowest spending expectation in four years. consumers sometimes say one thing and do another. so far retailers have issued mixed forecasts about the holiday season. a number say sales and traffic have been improving and there's a chance for a christmas m

let's get courtney regan. coal or some treat?season comes with its own set of economic issues impacting consumers budget for gift giving. this season is no different. weapon got higher payroll taxes, a lack of confidence in washington lawmakers and higher health care costs all cutting into consumers confidence. sluggish economic growth and that naughty list looks fit for a grinch. but competition for consumer dollars is so intense retailers are offering the best promotions in years. online shopping has grown in number and ease. beyond the retailers, home values are rising. the stock market keeps hitting fresh highs. weather trends are favorable. the lowest holiday season gas prices in four years makes the nice list pretty jolly. according to a new gallup survey more than 1,000 consumers are reducing their forecast for spending on christmas eve gifts to an average of $82 below their october prediction marking the lowest expectation in four years. while retailers issued some mixed forecast about the holiday season, a number say sal

. >>> now a "first look" at business with courtney regan. >> futures are a bit lower but that's how the dow closed at another record high it's 35th new high this year. investors will be listening into comments from two federal reserve officials today on the economy. walmart plans to open stores at 6:00 p.m. on thanksgiving day rolling out special holiday deals throughout the night into black friday. the retail giant will boost it's vin of electronics as well as big screen tvs and tablets. >>> thank you. what are tailgate parties and obama care have in common? we'll have the answer in scrambled politics. and our analyst will help break down the numbers from our new nbc news poll. >>> chris christie appeared on all four sunday shows to talk about how much he didn't want to talk about the presidential race. governor how inned are you in running for president in 2016? >> chris what i'm interested in doing is being governor of new jersey. what i'm focused on is being the governor of new jersey. for me i'm the governor of new jersey and my job is to run the state of new jersey. >> yes, he's j

courtney regan has more. >> reporter: if the rest of retail echoes the commentary in the quarterly earnings report, it's looking like a very merry christmas. they are reporting better than expected profit but the department stores encouraging guidance for the holiday season that sent the stock price to all time highs. co terry making a key statement in the earnings release saying quote, our business improved during the quarter with particular strength in october, so we are entering the fourth quarter with confidence. while last quarter macy's blamed the rare earnings miss on consumers facing head winds and says the strategy is to thank for the strong results. a key component of macy's strategy is the offering or the seamless experience across platforms from in store to online and most retail watchers across macy's leads the competition in that area. it's also the department store's merchandise and pricing that helped property the retailer above competition. >> it's things like estee lauder, clinique ralph lauren. >> reporter: will may see's holiday forecast be the exception or the rule? >>

for "nightly business report", i'm courtney regan. >>> hewlett packard was the best performing stock today and that's where we begin today's market focus. it rose after the dow component posted a profit reversing last year's loss as we reported last night but today the ceo meg whitman made it clear she's looking for revenues to stabilize in the new year but not grow. >> well, it is a pivotal year for hp and what we said at our security analyst meeting six weeks ago is you should expect revenue to stabilize, probably not grow in 2014 but stabilize and you'll see real progress in terms of our invasion, our operational excellence and our ability to deliver great products for customers. >> shared climbed in today's session up 9% to $27.36. >>> well despite the growing list of competitors, tvo added subscribers, the maker of digital video recorders beat estimates and saw the customer count increase for the ninth stra straight quarter. more people are turning to tivo because it has more access to netflix. stocks were down to $12.66. >>> cvs care mark will buy the specialty drug coram, trea

courtney regan has more. >> reporter: sometimes reporting a wider than expected quarterly loss again doesn't matter so much to wall street. it's all about expectations going forward, especially when forward is a high stakes holiday season. j.c. penney stock price jumped because the struggling retailer says sales and traffic trends are getting better. on the earnings conference call, the ceo says j.c. penney is quote seeing unmistakable signs and our turn around is on track. that may be true, j.c. penney has a lot of work left to do. >> j.c. penney lost 5 billion in sales and it's not going to be easy to get that back. the question is the time frame, how much they can get back and are they going todu liquidity, into 2015. >> reporter: they haven't turned a profit in years and they lost 10 million household shoppers. alman is trying to fix issues, he says 2/3rds have been addressed. online sales have shown improvement and j.c. penney achieved the best customer service scores in company history during the third quarter. the key to retracting shoppers is pricing. jc person knee turned to

for nightly business report, i'm courtney regan. >> for a list of store opening times, log on nbr.com. >>> toys r us is one of the retailers whose doors will open for the first time this year on thanksgiving night. richard berry is the chief merchandising officer and joins us now to discuss his expectations for this holiday shopping season. richa richard, welcome. i've got a lot riding on this interview because if my 8-year-old knew i was talking to the chief at toys r us, he would be crazy. what is the difference going to be this year compared to last year? >> as you mentioned, we have a very compressed holiday shopping season this year. we have the collision of the hanukkah holiday. we have thanksgiving and we only have a short period of time between thanksgiving and christmas. in fact, people are going to wake up on sunday morning and realize that it's actually december. so that puts a lot of pressure overall on consumers and at toys r us we think about how we can make some really great compelling offers for the customers and get them motivated to get the procrastinators out of the

now to a look a the new yor stocexchange wh courtne regan. courtney? >> macy's, walmart and other are offering incentives, overtimepay,iscounts and holiy meals throughout their ifts. >>> if your teenage sonr daughter is hoping to find an ad or iphone under the tree thisyear, neay 90% of teens want electronics and the latest iphone 5 a ipad air top their wish list followed by game conses. >>> shaken by comments by a top fed official who said the central bank could sta reducing economic stimulusext month, earlier than expected. richard, back to you. >> thank you so mu, courtney. >>> combined us airways and american merger stillas to ear a judge but it could be finalized by december. they have to agree to keoff and lding spots. a $1 billion tsa screening predure does not work. the approach uses observation techniques or basicay just tching how a traveler is acting. according to internet monitoring firman sandwine, dominated b nelix or youtube. >>> starbucks must p kraft foods for prematurely endg a contract, tt deal was for kraft to sell bags of starbucks