for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan, washington, d.c. >> i wonder what she's going to do with that. >> hmm. >>>>> the price of oil may be higher today and fall at the pump. regular gas sells under 2 a gallon. where? oklahoma city. >> wow. >>> and finally tonight, a real surprise in the coveted pick for truck of the year at motor trend magazine. the mid sized 2015 chevy colorado and not the redesigned aluminum bodied ford f-150 pickup. which hits stores this month. cutting pounds from the truck but simply, quote, wasn't best in class and the chevy truck was. fancy that. >>> that will do it for "nightly business report" tonight. i'm sue herera in for susie gharib. >> i'm tyler mathisen. on behalf of your station, thank you for being here and we'll see you back here tomorrow night. "nightly business report" has been funded in part by -- thestreet.com and action alerts plus where jim cramer and fellow portfolio manager stephanie link share their investment strategies, stock picks and market insights. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr. explore new worlds and new ideas th

morgan brennan, thank you very much. jon najarian, any trade from what we heard from dom or morgan. >> still like [ inaudible ]. another 52-week high without the interest rates moving higher this year and nothing but billion dollar fines everywhere, xlf to outperform next year. >> 10% last week, misunderstood, he said 2015, with 1999. that's not meaning calling a top order, meaning he's looking for a positive market. nasdaq was up 84% in 1999. let's not talk about the following three years. russell up 19%, s&p up 19%. why? u.s. growth was exploding. that's what we're going to see and why the russell does well. >> and i heard what you say and i agree with you, misinterpreted by some, they took the headline without understanding the nuance. valuation was also a big part of his thesis, all stocks fairly valued here, 99, 30, 40 times forward earnings was hard to argue fair value then. >> first of all, that was leading to 2000 when valuations come. you have to be careful about citing p/es. what drives markets are earnings not

morgan brennan at the nasdaq. opening weekend online and in select theaters for the motion picture "the interview." did anyone watch it? jane wells has the story coming up. >> i'm busy watching it on youtube on my android phone. we want to hear from you. this was a legal purchase. there were plenty of illegal ones. do you think sony made the right move by releasing the movie online? go to cnbc.com/vote and weigh in. "power lunch" is back in two. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. >>> welcome back to "power lunch." we have seen the lowest levels of 2014. $52.90, a low so far in trading for crude oil up off the lows still down by about 2.5%. ice brent crude futures off by almost 3%. also interesting because we have the latest update to baker hughes rate account information, the number of active oil operating in north america. saying the u.s. rig count has fallen. also the canadian rig count is down 135 rigs to 256 active oil and gas rigs. it looks like as oil pr

morgan brennan has more at the nasdaq. that is a huge milestone if we can get it. >> it certainly is. don't expect it today. the nasdaq is moving lower. we are down about 32 points to 4,774 down about 0.7% right now. this is on relatively light volume because of the holiday. we are on track for a 14 plus percent gain this year. that's trumped only by one other index, the nasdaq up about 19% for the year. taking a look both tech and health care have outperformed this year. two of the top three sectors in the s&p in terms of industries. semi conducters have had a big run in 2014. the stocks is up 30% led by sky works solutions and micron. bio tech done even better. the ibb topped about 35% for the year. all the large cap bio tech names down by double digit percentages. the biggest movers here juno therapeutics. and a mover to the upside, american realty capital gaining about 6% after activist fund management disclosed a stake in the real estate investment trust. taking one last look at the nasdaq down about 0.7%. back to you

for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan in louisville, kentucky. >>> congress delivered good news late last night averting another government shutdown with hours to go before a deadline, a deeply divided house narrowly passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government up and running at least through next summer. despite internal battles from democrats about loosening up a bank regulation, president obama supports its passage. >> this, by definition, was a compromised bill. this is what's produced when we have the divided government that the american people voted for. there are a bunch of provisions in this bill that i really do not like. >> after approving a two-day extension of current funding, the senate bedated the same bill today and as it passes, the president said he'll sign it into law: coming up, the stocks our monitor said could make you money thanks to the big drop in oil and the prices of energy companies but up next, real life drama playing out in hollywood and the ripples being felt throughout. >>> probably hurst corp. behind good housekeeping, and othe

morgan brennan has more on how the companies are gearing up to christmas crunch. >> reporter: as online shopping surges, u.p.s., fedex and the u.s. postal service are bracing for another record season. the national retail federation expects online sales to grow as much as 11% this holiday season. with more than half of consumers shopping digitally, while cyber monday's still a big day, many people are waiting even longer to make purchases. a trend expected to impact shippers once again this year. >> i think it's reasonable to expect a last-minute spike in demand. the bottom line is people shop and they delay purchases, they look for price, they look for deals, and to be candid, the online retailers and fedex and u.p.s. are to a certain degree the victims of their own success. >> reporter: last year a late surge in demand combined with bad weather caused u.p.s. and, to a lesser extent, fedex, to miss christmas deadlines for some 2 million packages. this year the companies have planned accordingly expecting their busiest days later in the month. for u.p.s., december 22nd, just three days

morgan brennan has more. >> reporter: the u.s. postal service is on track for another record holiday season. with package volumes already exceeding forecasts. >> this is a lot. we've been working really hard over time and everything. just to get them delivered. >> reporter: the uspf expects to move 26 million parcels today alone. 12% more than previous package day in 2013. last christmas when an estimated 2 million ups and fedex shipments were late, the postal service didn't have the same issue. one reason? a sunday delivery partnership with amazon and key markets. >> thank you. >> reporter: this season, that strategy has been expanded with the uspf delivering amazon and own priority mail packages since mid november. >> it helps with the work load before monday comes in and most people at home not coming from church, at least 90% delivered on sundays. >> reporter: typical sunday in december, in the newark/new jersey area, two delivery rounds a piece. volumes so high that u-hauls have to be rented to handle the additional capacity.

morgan brennan has our story. >> how long have you been on the farm? >> my family started it in 1961. >> reporter: he is having a good year. the price of raw milk, cheese and butter all hit new highs in 2014. after production slowed in every major mim milk production in the world, except the u.s. dairy grew to the highest value and with larger feed prices, the windfall farmers have seen is allowing them to re-invest in their operation. >> it's an amazing updating on some of our equipment that maybe didn't get to be updated when the prices weren't as good. we will have some money stored so we can work off of that and not have to go back in debt. >> and that's important. because production levels have been returning in other countries. coin put its dairy purchasing program on hold and perhaps more importantly the u.s. dar has rallied to ament-year high, making american milk more expensive overseas. >> exports have a large influence on the price and it's a very good period for the united states in terms of exports and wisconsin exports have grown signific

i'm morgan brennan. >>> wells fargo is now the most valuable u.s. bank ever. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. the firm surpassed citigroup's 2001 market record. with a market cap of more than $285 billion. the company, which counts warren buffett as its largest shareholder has doubled in size since 2008 with its purchase of wachovia. shares were off a fraction. >>> vail resorts says sales of new ski pass grew. the company also announced a $50 million investment plan. part of that will fund a connection between two of its utah locations to create what it says will now be the biggest single ski area in the u.s. despite that vail was down sharply today at 89.12. >>> sony was hit by another cyber attack today. the playstation online store hacked leading to a two-hour outage. sony says it's investigating the cause. the studio was hit by a massive attack that shut down its network for more than a week. shares slumped today about a dollar. they finished at 21.15. >>> shares of clubcorp also lower after the company says it won't convert into a reit or rea

the bad weather affecting so much of the country right no for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennanyork ci. >>> well, it's a merry christmas at apple headquarters. that company's market cap went up by ab $160 billion this year so far, at least. some perspective, though. only 24 companies in the s&p 500 have a total market cap of $160 billion. to put it another way, apple's $660 billion market cap is more than that of facebook, google, cisco and amazon combined. not too shabby, huh? apple shares up about 40% in the trading this year. >>> up next. how the gift of giving could help save lives. we'll explain coming up. >>> some older patents used in mobile devices apparently are still worth a lot of money. namely, nearly $1 billion. a consortium including apple, microsoft, blackberry, erickson and sony sold off about 4,000 technology patents they acquired a few years ago from the telecom company nortel networks after it went belly up. a patent management company called rpx corp. paid $900 million for those patents as for the group of tech titans, they are known as the rock star consorti

morgan brennan takes a look at some of this year's winners and losers. >> reporter: it's been another strong year for stocks. the russell 1000 which includes the largest companies traded in the u.s. has gained more than 12% in '14. the biggest winner skyworks solutions. the chipmaker has risen 150% this year thanks in part to strong demand for the apple devices it helps supply. investors say it was a perfect mix for many of the biggest tech stocks. >> intel, nvidia cisco, oracle these are all stocks that we own in the technology space did well in 2014. primarily because they were really undervalued heading into the year. >> reporter: airlines also had a good year both southwest and american airlines more than doubled, as fuel costs have fallen and ticket prices have risen on stronger demand. in pharma companies including intercept, allergan posted strong returns as well. helped by attractive dividends. but what about the biggest losers? >> energy stocks have been battered and bruised. we actually like energy heading into 2015 because the stocks have gotten to be so inexpensive. >> rep

morgan brennan has that story for us. >> reporter: this is the distribution center for wine.com. it is about 1 million bottles of wine shipped via fed ex. this is one of many e commerce companies contributing to an expected record peak for the shippers this season. fed ex and ups have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into network upgrades and more operating days. this season ups expects to ship 585 million packages with 34 million on the busiest day. and fed ex 290 million packages with nearly 23 million on its busiest day december 15. for both of those shippers that means double the number of packages versus an average day. so what does it take to get your last minute purchases on time? fed ex is giving us a behind the scenes look at its express shipping service. over the next 24 hours we will track a wine.com shipment across the country from here in california via fed ex overnight to washington, d.c. there is going to be six stops including this one where it is getting packed a little later today. five cities, final delivery tomorrow morning. i got to tell you i'm takin

cnbc's morgan brennan has more. >> reporter: the u.s. postal service is on track for another record holiday season. with package volumes already exceeding forecasts. >> it's just a lot. we've been working really hard, overtime and everything just to get them delivered. >> reporter: the usps expects to move more than 26 million parcels, 12% more than its busiest package day in 2013. last christmas when an estimated 2 million u.p.s. and fed ex shipments were late, the postal service didn't have the same issue. one reason, a sunday delivery partnership with amazon in key markets. this season that strategy has been expanded with the usps delivering amazon and its own priority mail packages every sunday in major markets since mid-november. >> it helps us get the workload out and most people are home or not coming from church during the day. >> reporter: on a typical sunday in december the trucks here in the newark, new jersey, area make about two delivery rounds a piece. overall peak volumes are so high, in fact, that u-hauls have to be rente

what say you, morgan brennan? >> i think this is an interesting federal case in much the same way uber cases have been interesting. tech crunch specifically hit the nail on the head. they said this is an example of the idea that the more you try to hide something and keep away the unwanted attention the more attention it gets. if you actually go to skip lag website there is a note on it saying that they are experiencing significantly higher than normal traffic. this has really gotten a lot of attention. i think people are really jumping into this and checking it out. >> i went on trying to use it. thank you for suing this guy because now i know it exists. they are overwhelmed. as long as it is legal united airlines, if you are going to gain me i'm going to game you. >> apparently it is against the rules. jane, i am coming to l.a. at the end of january. >> we will drink and have a burger. >> i am jumping oen that flight with you. maybe we book it on skip lagged. >>> so simon we are watching some leaders in the s&p

morgan brennan is live with more. >> reporter: we are inside the distribution hub for wine.com whichon bottles of wine this month alone. those shipments will go out through fed ex. that is hitting an all-time high today after bank of america upgraded it on benefits of lower fuel and the company's profit improvement plan which directly addresses costs in that segment. you still need to get through peak holiday season with a record 1.3 billion holiday packages expected to move. those private sector shippers have made huge investments in their networks. they hired more workers and are cautioning on realistic shipping options because of last year's fiasco with packages missing christmas deadlines. the rest from ups. this is especially important because of last year's issues. those cut into fed ex's bottom line by $125 million and ups by 200 million. it will be interesting to see how the ramped up volume from companies like wine.com play out on those networks this year. >> you see boxes addressed to the household in chicago while you are there? >> a lot of them. >> reporter: i am taking r

morgan brennan is in washington tracking one shipment.it all the way across the country. >> reporter: that's right. we shipped this wine.com package across country via fed ex express overnight delivery to see how the parcel carrier's network is operating during peak holiday season. this journey started yesterday. >> that particular bottom currently retails for almost $4,000. >> picking the wine. as you can see there is a lot oo choose from. we settled on four bottles from california carefully packed up to get them there safely. so now our wine which is in this box is ready for 2,800 mile journey across country overnight. off to fed ex in oakland where it hits its first round of sorting. >> it will be loaded into a container and depart on our outbound priority overnight flight. >> reporter: this facility is busy but nothing compared to the next stop, memphis. middle of the night but no sleeping here. ground crew greets the cargo. this facility is known as the matrix, miles of conveyer belts, millions of packages a day. most fed ex express

and morgan brennan down on the farm today. >> i was going to milk this cow today but unfortunately it is actually a very tough process and this is a precious commodity. udderly precious. more on that after the break. female announcer: get on board for better sleep! it's sleep train's interest free for 3 event! get three years interest-free financing on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort, even tempur-pedic. plus, get free delivery, and sleep train's 100-day low price guarantee. you'll never find an interest rate lower than sleep train's interest free for 3 event, on now! ...guaranteed! ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >>> we are back. good for stocks today. not so much for gold. bouillon sinking on the strong jobs report. >> that's right. the report this morning pushing gold under 1200. and it happened coincidentally at the dollar was strengthening on the back of that report. brian sutland, all signs point to this dollar continuing to strengthen here. so does gold go lower? >> yeah jackie. it's all based on that currency. the strength and separati

back to you. >> thanks so much, morgan brennan at the nasdaq.p next, trying to draft the next nba super star, just by looking at his face. we will take a closer look at facial coding and see if it's really the future of sports it technology. "squawk alley" is back in a minute. l your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had a liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. new car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base liberty mutual policy. and for drivers with accident forgivness,rates won't go up due to your first accident. learn more by calling switch to liberty mutual and you can save up to $423. for a free quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. >>> finding t

. >> coming up from zero to hero, morgan brennan hunting for deals.me of the worst performers be stocking stuffer trades. she's going to name names. our interview with the ceo of celgene. his take on consolidation in biotech and what's leading his stock to the top of the s&p today. halftime show back after this. >> the halftime report with stock stoths wapner is the place for market moving interviews. >> bull markets don't die from old age. they die from excesses. >> real money. >> what makes things cheap is unkerts are certainty -- uncertainty. >> zero rates actually slow down the economy. >> the most profitable hour of the trading day. >> i don't think the qe trade is over. i think the qe trade is evolving. >> the halftime report week days at noon eastern. ♪ music ...the getaway vehicle! for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. the holidays can be an especially difficult time. everything's different now. sometimes i feel all alone. christmas used to be my favorite. i just don't expect anything. what if santa can't find me? to he

morgan brennan explains why it's under so much pressure. >> reporter: retailers aren't the only ones risking profits for this holiday reason. wireless doing the same and stocks pay the price. at&t warned steep competition could result in more subscribers leaving its network this quarter. verizon cautioned holiday promotions put short-term pressure on its wireless market sending shares notably lower. veriz verizon's announcement set off warning bells. >> there's a concern on pricing pressure in the marketplace and the potential impact it can have on the overall sector. when you've got sort of one of the industry stalwarts indicating margins are blow anticipated levels for the fourth quarter, that's sort of impacting the overall view and sentiment on the sector today. >> reporter: and competition is fierce. announced price cuts to millions of at&t subscribers coming off contracts this season and leading in subscriber gains. there's another factor as well. capi spending. t mobile tumbled on the proposed public offering to raise money more more investments and ongoing auction of wireless

morgan brennan has more details on how much they spent. morgan? >> thanks. that's right. u.p.s. and fedex were able to deliver the vast majority of those last-minute express shipments. that means they avoided a repeat of last year when both of the parcel carriers missed their guaranteed christmas deadlines on millions of packages because of a combination of bad weather coupled with a spike in last-minute online shopping. so according to tracking software developer ship matrix, u.p.s. and fedex both drastically improved their on-time performances for those last-minute packages delivered on christmas eve. taking a look at those numbers, u.p.s. got more than 97% of its express orders out within the promised time frame. that's compared to 83% in 2013. fedex, nearly 98% versus 90% last year. and taking time commitments out of the equation the performance was higher. it was 99% for each of those companies. so of course what made all of this possible hundreds of millions of dollars worth of network upgrades more automation, more workers, more operating days more aircraft and del

we have sent morgan brennan to wine.com's distribution hub in northern california to find out. the stuff we make you do, morgan. >> reporter: hey, guys. well, that's right. we are inside wine.com's berkeley distribution hub an they can experience ten times the normal daily volume and they ship a million bottles of wine this month and four you can see is ours from california. why? fed-ex which is what wine.com uses for shipments is giving us a look at the express delivery network and our wine.com package one of 290 million expected to ship via fed-ex this holiday season and to put it in greater expect, nearly 23 million packages handled in 1 day, double the normal daily volume. that is very busy time for of year for the carrier and under more scrutiny after an estimated 600,000 fed-ex packages missed the deadline in 2013. this year, it's added more workers and sorting centers and operating on sundays and we'll see how all of that action plays out over 18 hours. we'll track our wine.com package from here in california to washington, d.c. it's shipping overnight fed-ex express. and

and later morgan brennan brings us her moving experience with a cow named elena.k and technology on the farm. "squawk" returns in a moment. hey what are you doing? i was thinking about taking this speed test from comcast business. oh yeah? if they can't give us faster internet or save us money, they'll give us 150 bucks. sounds like a win win. guys! faster internet? i have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. does he even work here? don't listen to the naysayer. take the comcast business speed test. get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business. >>> let's get down to the new york stock exchange where jim cramer joins us now. we don't need, you know, it was -- they're still okay, still fine. i think. i know, i know, i know, i did see -- didn't see the whole game but one really nice pass from sanchez. but you know, when you play really tough teams you've got to expect you can't win them all, though it was at home, wasn't it? >> that's pretty much what chip kelly said after the game. look, we got bea