. >> reporter: i'm erika miller. forget about exotic wall street securities. sometimes the best investments are right under your nose, especially if you live in new york city. that's coming up on "nightly business report." >> tom: and later on with european debt problems under control and growth in the u.s. economy, we'll ask tonight's market monitor where you should invest. he's gary motyl of templeton global equity. president obama side-stepped congress today to help small business. today he signed two executive orders geared to spur economic growth. the first measure requires federal agencies to reduce the research time it takes to get commercial products to market. the goal is to help startups and small businesses create jobs and expand operations a lot quicker. president obama also okayed a new centralized website helping companies find information on federal services. the site, business-u.s.a., should be live within three months. meantime, visa wants to pay some companies to do business with it. visa is going after big customers, paying them to continue

erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: quarterly results from american express and morgan stanley. we'll also see the september reports on housing starts and consumer prices along with the federal reserve's beige book, a survey of regional economies across the u.s. also tomorrow, how recruiting women entrepreneurs could be the key to reviving job creation. >> susie: the nation's seniors will get their first bump in pay in three years this january. the social security administration is boosting its cost-of-living adjustment, or cola, by about 3.5%. most recipients get just under $1,100 a month, so the increase will add almost $40 a month. but for many seniors, that extra money will go to pay higher premiums for medicare. viacom could get a second chance to argue that google's youtube violated copyright rules and should pay the entertainment company $1 billion. it's appealing a judge's order to dismiss a lawsuit last year without a trial. viacom sued the web giant's video-sharing site for posting copyrighted content like "th

erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: u.s. crude oil wasn't the only energy source with higher prices. brent crude rose almost 3% to $102.73 a barrel. heating oil also jumped today, up 2% to $2.78 a gallon. as we mentioned, stocks traded higher in tandem with energy-- the dow rose 153 points, the nasdaq added 55 and the s&p 500 was up almost 13. better than 20 points. >> susie: despite that progress we told you about with plans to back stop european banks, greece was hit with fresh protests over that nation's tough new austerity measures. from airports to the acropolis, a 24-hour general strike by public workers virtually shut down the country. public workers there are protesting plans to cut an additional 30,000 state jobs and levy additional taxes. meanwhile, protestors marched on wall street again today, with an estimated 3,000 people participating. the group behind the protests, "occupy wall street," says the wide-ranging movement is gaining traction. >> tom: a big beef for those protestors is jobs, or the lack thereof. we

erika miller, "nightly business report," new york >> susie: also weighing on the markets today? europe and some mixed reports on the u.s. economy. in europe, a plan to tackle the region's debt crisis remains elusive. two european officials say the sticking points involve how to reduce greece's massive debts and how to boost the firepower of a bailout fund. leaders are trying to come up with a comprehensive solution for the region's debt crisis in time for a summit tomorrow. questions about whether european leaders will agree on a solution pushed gold prices higher. they spiked more than $48, or nearly 3%. gold closed just over $1700. meanwhile, americans are getting more nervous about the economy. consumer confidence plunged this month to levels not seen since the recession ended in 2009. worries about jobs and business conditions are to blame. the conference board says its consumer confidence index dropped to 39.8 in october. a reading above 90 indicates the economy is on solid ground. separately, a report shows home prices stabilizing in some hard- hit parts of the country. th

erika miller previews what retailers can expect for the season. >> if you are looking for the start of the uniqlo line. it's at 51st street and 6th avenue. >> reporter: long lines are a retailers dream. but don't expect this to be the norm this holiday season. today just happens to be the opening of the new uniqlo flagship store. on the whole, retail sales are expected to be lackluster this holiday season analyst john long says there's no way retailer's will beat last year's 5% increase. >> we expect that we're going to see, probably add 2% overall for holiday this year. >> reporter: many shoppers are reigning in spending, due to stock market volatility, a slowing economy and high unemployment. today's michigan consumer sentiment survey, fell to a three-decade low, another indication of americans' sour mood. >> but what shoppers say and what they do are often two different things. in many cases, people know they need to spend less. but they just can't help themselves. >> reporter: and because many people have been scrimping this year on big ticket purchases, retailers hope they'll be m

erika miller looks at what investors can expect for the rest of the year. >> reporter: there were plenty of reasons to feel scared on wall street today. even stock investors got frightened, sending market averages down sharply. but relax, strategist andrew burkley says. today's decline is natural after thrilling gains last week. >> the market is just generally digesting things. and, i think as we've gotten past the european solution-- or summit-- last week, i think people are still groping for a little bit more in terms of implementation, and exactly the details of the plan that are yet to be worked out. >> reporter: october has a reputation as one of the worst months for stocks, and the s&p 500 hit its lowest level of the year on october 3. but, surprisingly, the month as a whole turned out to be one of the sweetest in decades with a gain of about 11% for the s&p 500. market strategist jonathan golub says the other big factor helping stocks was improving third quarter economic data. >> you have an economy which grew at 2.5%-- not stellar, but almost double what you had the first half of

. >> susie: it's too soon to say what the post-jobs era will look like, but as erika miller explains, many people believe apple has a strong core. >> reporter: at this new york apple store and others around the world, fans of steve jobs paid tribute to his legacy. >> a complete stranger to me, yet it hurts so bad. >> he certainly is a genius, and there's no belittling him. >> reporter: steve jobs was more than a c.e.o.; he was an inventor holding more than 300 patents. he is among a handful of people credited with transforming industries, and he is sometimes compared to thomas edison and henry ford. many wonder who will become the world's next tech visionary. analyst david garrity has some candidates, including the founders of google, sergey brin and larry page. he also nominates mark zuckerberg, the creator of facebook. and finally, a name you may not know-- elon musk, the founder of paypal and tesla motors, which makes an electric roadster. >> they are in the position right now of bringing that technology further down market. moving it more into a mass market. and doing so in a way

we begin our reporting with erika miller on the u.s. economy. >> reporter: 2.5% growth is welcome relief the economy is not on the brink of recession. better yet, the data may be just the sign some firms need to start hiring again. >> 2.5% to 3% growth is strong enough for businesses to ramp up hiring. right now, businesses have been subdued-- one, because they're concerned about the events in europe; and two, we did have this first-half growth slowdown. >> reporter: the economy has been expanding for nine straight quarters. in the latest reading, stronger consumer spending was the key driver of the gain. consumers are responsible for more than 70% of economic growth. but economists are also pleased that businesses are investing more in equipment and software. >> corporate spending was strong. it looks like large corporations that have a lot of cash on their balance sheets are still deploying it, even in this environment of uncertainty. >> reporter: the focus now is whether the momentum in the third quarter will continue into the fourth

erika miller reports. >> reporter: a lot has changed in the world in the past decade, but not the price of microsoft stock. it was trading in the mid-20s back in october 2001, and it's about the same price today. part of the blame recent years is weak p.c. sales, as consumers line up to buy ipads and smart phones, instead. but many analysts on wall street believe now is a good time to buy microsoft shares. s&p has a $35 price target. >> why we like microsoft today, more so than we would have liked them years ago, is because of what they have in the pipeline now. most importantly, we think is going to be windows 8. >> reporter: although the new operating system isn't expected until the middle of next year, analysts are betting it will be used in dell and hewlett packard tablets. investing in microsoft is not without risk-- the biggest is slowing sales growth for desktop computers. but the bulls point to intel's better than expected third quarter earnings this week on the back of strong p.c. demand. and finally, there are rumors microsoft could make a bid for yahoo, something it first did

erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> susie: the banking industry is also facing much tighter regulations on high-risk trading. today, u.s. regulators released their draft of the "volcker rule," named after former federal reserve chairman paul volcker. the proposal ban's banks from trading for their own profit, and regulators are now asking the public for feedback on the best way to do that. washington bureau chief darren gersh reports. >> reporter: the volcker rule is supposed to keep banks from using taxpayer-insured deposits to place risky bets to boost profits. and in some ways, it has already accomplished its goal. >> many banks have already sold off their prop desk, have sold off their private equity desk. it's changed behavior-- before, it was even issued, it changed behavior. and banks are pouring over the proposals right now to see where are the lines-- what can we do for our clients, what risk management and asset management services can we still provide for our clients, and what can we no longer provide? >> reporter: one thing banks will have to do-- keep mu