erika miller, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: that brings us to the end of the "n.b.r." special edition and our look at the foodie craze. happy july fourth. we hope you all have a fun and safe independence day. and tom, good luck with the grilling. >> tom: good night, susie and everyone. we'll see you online at www.nbr.com and back here next time. "nightly business report" is brought to you by: captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> join us anytime at: www.nbr.com. there, you'll find full episodes of the program, complete show transcripts and all the market stats. also follow us on our facebook page at bizrpt. and on twitter @bizrpt.

. >> reporter: i'm erika miller. many consumers started buying store brands as a way to save money. still ahead, i'll tell you why they're still remaining loyal to them, even as the economy gets better. "nightly business report" is brought to you by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: a disappointing read on new home sales. they fell to their lowest level in five months. sales were off almost 8.5% in june, to just 350,000 units. analysts expected a gain of nearly 2%. meanwhile, median prices on new homes fell just over 3% in june to $232,500. >> tom: strong earnings from two big dow components: boeing and caterpillar helped offset disappointment over that drop in new home sales. as did hopeserhe will soon take action to stimulate the economy, more on that in a moment. the dow closed up 59 points, the nasdaq fell almost nine points, and the s&p down a almost half a point; weakness in apple shares weighed on both the nasdaq and the s&p. >> susie: as tom just said, there's a lot of speculation that when fed policymakers meet next week, they will announce new steps to rev up the slu

erika miller, nbr, new york. >> reporter: i'm diane eastabrook. still ahead--i'll tell you how the weber company is still keeping the grilling industry on fire after 60 years. "nightly business report" is brought to you by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: "whatever it takes to preserve the euro. with that phrase, the head of the european central bank helped spark a stock rally, and added to expectations central banks in europe and the u.s. may act next week to help their struggling economies. those expectations led to higher stock prices today. the dow rose almost 212 points, the nasdaq added 39, the s&p 500 up 22. e.c.b. president mario draghi's comments today came after borrowing costs for troubled european economies had climbed to dangerous levels. spanish and italian government bond interest rates shot up earlier this week over worries about those countries' ability to pay their bills. on tuesday, the spanish government ten-year bond interest rate was 7.59%. it dropped just below 7% today. a lower interest rate means lower borrowing costs

erika miller reports. >> mobile is a huge opportunity for facebook. our goal is to connect everyone in the world. and over the next five years, we expect four billion or five billion people to have smart phones. >> reporter: finally, investors got a chance to hear facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg discuss his company's business strategy. he told investors that the social network now has 955 million users, a near-30% increase in just one year. facebook's biggest challenge is figuring out how to adapt to the growing use of mobile technology. nearly all of facebook's revenues come from advertising, and that's more difficult with smaller screens. that's part of the reason facebook shares have gotten crushed-- they're down nearly 30% from the offering price of $38 in may. but some analysts still think the stock's a "buy." >> i think making money on facebook ultimately comes down to their ability to monetize mobile. it's almost binary. if they figure out a way to make money, the stock will be very successful; if they don't, then the stock will underperform th

as erika miller explains, so is financial confidence. and that may be a worrisome sign for the economic recovery. >> reporter: for many, the worry is savings. >> the past few years i really haven't been able to save up. i've been using some of the savings. but i haven't saved up much. no. >> reporter: for others it's rising expenses. >> i pay more on pension and i pay more for my health benefits. >> reporter: for a variety of reasons, americans are growing more worried about their finces. a new bankrate.com survey shows 28% of americans believe their financial situation is worse now, compared to a year ago. just 23% feel better, which is the lowest reading since march. but don't blame the lousy job market. >> it was interesting to see that job security was actually the one area of financial security that consumers note is actually most improved over the last 12 months. so people no longer feel like they're going to imminently lose their jobs. that's a step in the right direction. >> reporter: the problem, he says, is stagnant wages. >> u

as erika miller reports, the deal will have a wide impact on consumers and other healthcare firms. >> reporter: there are two major government healthcare programs: medicare for the elderly, and medicaid for the poor. americans who qualify for both programs are a major target of the wellpoint amerigroup merger. officially, these patients are lled dl-eligible and because they tend to be plagued with medical problems, they're very expensive to insure. the flip side is that they are among the most desirable patients for managed care firms: >> the dual eligible expansion opportunity is tremendous and was a driving force for this transaction. recent estimates have indicated that approximately nine million people who are dually eligible for both medicare and medicaid today account for approximately $300 billion in annual healthcare spending. >> reporter: the federal government covers the cost for medicare, but it splits the cost for medicaid with the states. so states are desperately trying to reduce their healthcare costs and ey'rturning to private, managed care firms like amerigroup for he

erika miller, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: the slowing chinese economy is just one of many risks for investors and businesses. as we continue our series on the outlook for the second half of 2012, we check in with david gordan for his forecast. he's the head of research at the eurasia group. >> david, let's just pick up on the whole china story. what is your take on the china impact on the u.s. over the next six months? >> i agree with the report that i think that china impact is not going to be that bigot u.s. economy. china is slowing, but it's not slowing very fast, and it's not that much of the u.s. external picture. i think from a u.s. perspective, the real challenge externally is europe. that's one we're going to have a pay a lot of attention to. it could have a much more serious negative impact. >> susie: tell us about the negative impact. you said it's one of the top risks over the next six months. >> i think the euro crisis -- the euro zone crisis sent going to get resolved quickly. i think over the rest of this year, there's still going to be a lot of squabbling in europe a

this week on "n.b.r.," we are looking at regional banks beginning with erika miller and a look at the outlook for the stocks of these small and medium size banks. >> reporter: it seems like there's a chase, bank of america and citibank on every corner. so it's easy to forget that there are more than 80 other publicly traded banks in the u.s. many of them are community and regional banks and strategists say their investment outlook is bright. >> a lot of things are different about than them. number one they don't have a lot of the big risks that people are concerned about: europe, derivatives, and those issues. number two, regionally, banks are growing they are lending again. and that's a good backdrop overall for the regional banks. >> reporter: plus, the smaller the bank, the less vulnerable it is to stricter regulation from washington. but regional banks still face hurdles, including growing pressure on net interest margins. that's the difference between the interest a bank earns from loans and what it pays depositors. >> the ten-year and longer term interest rates have come down, b

erika miller has some other options for people relying on their investments for income. >> my husband passed away about eight years ago, and i was left dealing with money, and i really needed the interest to live on. >> reporter: at first, ivy sommer could support her family on the interest from her bank accounts. but when rates started falling a few years ago, that income stream dried up. >> i was just afraid that i would run out of money. >> reporter: across america, investors are nervous about the weak u.s. economy and crisis in europe, so they are putting their money in savings accounts and bond funds. unfortunately, that strategy also carries risk. >> at this point, if you are keeping your money in the bank or in cds, there is no way that you can live on it or keep pace with inflation. >> reporter: financial planner cary carbonaro has been helping ivy sommer and others boost the income from their investments. banks are paying next to nothing on cds, money market, and checking accounts, often less than half of 1% a year. and then you have to factor in the bite of taxes and inflati

erika miller has a closer look on what a new foreclosure wave could mean to the housing recovery. >> reporter: the surge in new foreclosures is not just bad for homeowners facing eviction. it's bad for the neighborhood. when distressed properties hit the market, they tend to drag down prices of other homes for sale. fortunately, this time, there are also offsetting factors, like an improving job market and low interest rates. so, there probably isn't much room for prices to fall further. >> on a national basis, you are tiarting to see stabilization in home prices. that's an encouraging development and a different nature of what we've seen so far in the recovery. >> reporter: make no mistake, the foreclosure problem is serious, and it will likely take years to clear-out the backlog. in new york, for example, it takes roughly three years to complete the process, the longest timeline in the country. the number of homes in foreclosure is also startling. in the u.s., over a million properties had a foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year. that's one out of every 126 homes.

erika miller reports spain's troubles now include the country's regional governments. >> reporter: valencia, spain has long been known for two things-- paella and its large port. but lately spain's third largest city has garnered unwanted attention as the first spanish region to seek a bailout. six others are in danger of following suit. >> it's worrisome, in the sense if they start to line up for bailout money from the national government, which is itself very strained, financially, then there could be a bailout needed from the european partners sooner than expected, previously. >> reporter: and that's why spanish borrowing costs have shot up to record levels. the country's ten-year bonds are yielding 7.5%, raising the risk it won't be able to afford to borrow in public markets. if spain needs a bailout, there will surely be ripple effects around the globe. >> it affects the eurozone economy. and the eurozone is a very large trading partner of the united states. so, if you are a u.s. investor, the problems in europe are going to have an affect on your returns and we're seeing that in weak