this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening, everybody. susie gharib is on assignment tonight. i'm joined by suzanne pratt. suzanne, earnings and europe battled for investors attention today. stocks rallied as optimism grew ahead of this weekend's summit of european leaders. tom, several big blue chip firms reported solid results. we'll get to those numbers in a moment. but first, the market: the dow rose 267 points, the nasdaq added almost 39 and the s&p tacked on 23. trading volume, the heaviest this week. 1.1 billion shares on the big board. 2.1 billion on the nasdaq. today's big rally helped the blue chip dow knock out their fourth straight week of gains. the dow rallied three days this week for a net overall gain of 164 points or almost 1.5%. the nasdaq went the other way, down in three sessions this week for a net loss of 30 po

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. is made possible by:rt" this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. stocks are back in the black. the dow and nasdaq rallied. so tom, stock market investors can say they finally broke even for this year. >> tom: but susie the s&p 500 index just missed that distinction. still, it was an upbeat end to the week across the board. the dow closed the day up 166 points, the nasdaq added 47, and the s&p 500 was up almost 21 points. this week, the dow checked in with big rallies three days for a net overall gain of almost 5%. the nasdaq went five for five adding almost 8%. and the s&p 500 tacked on almost 6% on the week. >> susie: positive news about the consumer spending and retail sales also lifted investors' hopes. retail sales jumped in september as americans spent more on cars, clothing and gas. some analysts are worried it's simply a one month blip, not an encouraging op

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. a bad end to a good month. stocks fell sharply today, but october was a stellar month-- the best gains since 1987. here's a look at the numbers. by the closing bell today, the dow was down 276 points, the nasdaq tumbled 52 and the s&p 500 was off 31. but looking at the month, the dow was up 9.5% in october and the nasdaq and s&p each added 11%. 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 pa

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. two tech titans out with two different earnings stories after the closing bell today. intel posted strong results and apple surprised investors with a rare earnings miss. this was apple's first miss since 2004. after back-to-back record quarters, apple posted results below analyst estimates. here are the numbers. it earned $7.05 a share. analysts were counting on $7.39. revenues also came in lower than expected, $28 billion dollars-- about a billion and a half below estimates. the problem? a drop in iphone sales as buyers waited for the new model that was launched last week. investors dropped the stock in after hours trading. shares tumbled more than 6% to $396. in the regular session, apple closed at a record high of $422.24. investors were buying

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. help is on the way for struggling homeowners. the white house rolled out an expanded plan to help americans refinance underwater mortgages. it's doesn't need a stamp of approval or a vote from lawmakers in washington. president obama announced the new program in las vegas today, and he's betting it'll a be a big win for homeowners and the economy. sylvia hall has details. >> there are still millions of americans who have worked hard and acted responsibly, paying their mortgage payments on time. but now that their homes are worth less than they owe on their mortgage, they can't get refinancing. >> reporter: the president is expanding his efforts to boost the nation's troubled housing market. so far, the home affordable refinancing plan, known as harp

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. stocks rallied today on a wave of optimism about the u.s. job market and some encouraging developments about europe's economy. tom, officials in europe are talking about propping up the fragile financial system by pouring money into european banks. >> tom: and susie, those hopes that the global economy might be recovering also pushed up oil prices. in new york trading, crude futures rose to $79.68 a barrel- - a $4 increase. it's a sharp rebound after months of declines. >> susie: there are pros and cons to higher oil prices. erika miller takes a closer look at what they mean for consumers and the economy. >> reporter: oil prices may be up sharply today, but it's important to keep perspective. crude is still within striking distance of lows not seen in over a year. at the pump, gasoline is a

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. amazon stunned investors with a big miss today. after the market close, amazon reported a 73% drop in quarterly earnings and the stock plunged as much as 20%. the company earned 14 cents a share, ten cents below analyst estimates, even though amazon reported strong sales of its popular kindle tablet. revenues surged 44% to $10.9 billion, but that was also below expectations. amazon also warned that the earnings outlook for the rest of the year will come in lower than previous forecasts. earlier in the day, 3m disappointed investors as well, saying sales growth will be sluggish in the current quarter. that warning from a dow component was one factor weighing down the blue chips. the dow tumbled 207 points, the nasdaq lost 61 and the s&p 500 dropped

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment tonight. europe and the u.s. economy-- those troublesome issues pressured stocks today. there were conflicting signals today on how close european leaders are on a deal to solve the debt crisis ahead of a crucial summit this weekend. investors are concerned that talks between france and germany have stalled. and in greece, one of the largest demonstrations as people protested a new batch of austerity measures. the greek parliament takes a final vote on the plan tomorrow. also worrying investors? a pessimistic report on the u.s. economy from the federal reserve. its beige book survey of regional economies showed weaker conditions for growth. all that led to a negative close on wall street. the dow lost 72 points, the nasdaq dropped 53 and the s&p slip

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. high hopes on wall street today. u.s. investors bought up stocks after european officials rolled out what's seen as the most credible plan so far to prop up european banks. tom? >> tom: susie, the plan was rolled out today by the president of the european commission, jose manuel barrosa. he called on european leaders to act quickly and agree at a meeting in two weeks. here's what he's calling for. european banks would be required to temporarily increase their capital reserves. that extra cash should come from the private sector first, then from governments. and as a last resort, banks would be allowed to tap into the eurozone bailout fund. that plan was one reason the major stock averages moved higher. the other? word that the federal reserve might be open to another round of bond purchases

i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone, and good night to you, too, tom. >> tom: good night, susie. i'm tom hudson. thanks for joining us. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org