this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

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

i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone. you, too, tom >> tom: good night, susie. good night, everyone. i'm tom hudson. we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org woman: welcome to one of the most iconic parks in the world, new york city's central park. tonight, tens of thousands of new yorkers are gathered on the great lawn as they await to be serenaded by the international superstar, italian tenor andrea bocelli. i'm paula zahn, and, as you can see, the stage is set and the musicians are in place in anticipation of an evening that mr. bocelli calls his gift to new york city. and what a gift it promises to be. join us as "great performances" presents "andrea bocelli: live in central park." ♪

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: >> susie: good evening everyone. europe was put on notice tonight. after the market close, standard & poor's placed 15 european countries on "negative credit watch." that means the countries' credit ratings could be cut. tom, the warning even applies to the euro-zone's six aaa-rated nations, including germany and france. >> tom: susie, european government credit ratings may be cut, depending on how much progress european leaders make at their summit on friday. s&p cited several reasons for the warning, including tightening credit conditions in the region, continuing disagreements among european policymakers on how to resolve the debt crisis high levels of government and household debt and the risk of a recession in the eurozone next year. >> susie: joining us now with more analysis? bob doll, chief equity strategist at black rock. john what are the odds now of a credit downgrade after this credit watch warning that you issued tonight? >> w

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. one of the most sweeping fraud cases brought in the wake of the subprime mortgage collapse was filed today in washington. the securities and exchange commission charged six former fannie mae c.e.o. daniel mudd and freddie mac c.e.o. richard syron the collapse of fannie mae and freddie mac is projected to cost taxpayers $124 billion. are fighting the charges, which syron's attorney calls quote, "fatally flawed." >> reporter: s.e.c. lawyers say, around the time the housing bubble peaked, fannie mae and freddie mac executives used misleading definitions of subprime loans to hide the truth from investors. >> as they were driving up their market share, fannie mae, freddie mac and the executives sought to maintain the illusion that the business involved minimal and manageable credit risk. >> reporter: the sec says former fannie mae c.e.o. daniel mudd and former freddie mac c.e.o. ric

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. so much for all that optimism over europe's rescue plan. stocks fell sharply on wall street as investors doubt europe's latest plan will solve the region's debt crisis. tom, investors had a weekend to analyze that inter-governmental treaty and it looks like it got a thumbs down today. >> tom: susie, investors also reacted to new warnings today from two credit ratings agencies. both fitch ratings and moody's investors service warned the latest european plan did not reduce the risks of a recession in the region. as you recall, standard & poor's said last week it could soon lower the credit ratings of 15 european countries as the region faces a possible recession. all that added up to a broad sell off. the dow fell 162 points by the close. it had been down as much as 230 points earlier in the session. the nasdaq lost 34 and the s&p 500 was off 18. >> susie: many market strategists

i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone, and good night to you, too, tom. >> tom: good night, susie. i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. in the meantime, we leave you with the white house tree lighting. "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 >> be more. pbs.

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. my colleague tom hudson is off tonight. american consumers are feeling downright cheery this holiday season, the best mood they've been in in eight months. the conference board said today its index of consumer confidence spiked to 64.5 this month, better than expected and up sharply from a revised reading of 52.2 in november. the availability of jobs is what's putting people in better spirits. but is that optimism actually resulting in more spending this holiday season? joya dass reports. >> reporter: two days after d- day for retailers, and it appears shoppers are still going strong. streets and stores in manhattan today were filled. while it's too early to say how jolly a season it was, early indications are positive. >> what we've seen, certainly starting with black friday, was a pretty resilient consumer that was out there shopping spending money. and they really held their

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 >> susie: good evening, everyone. the nation's unemployment rate now stands at 8.6%. this is its lowest level in two- and-a-half years. the steep drop in the november jobless rate surprised economists. tom, they expected it to remain stuck at 9%. >> tom: everyone focused on that number, susie. but the other number in today's report was the number of jobs created last month. the american economy added 120,000 jobs in november led by new jobs in the retail industry. >> susie: out of work americans are now hoping that their job prospects have improved. suzanne pratt takes a look. >> reporter: from wall street trading floors to holiday shopperst the mall, americans are wondering if the latest look at the labor market is for real or a big fakeout. sure, the widely watched survey of employers showed 120,000 jobs were

my co-anchor susie gharib is off tonight. u.s. stocks followed the euro lower today as the currency tumbled to an 11-month low against the dollar. the reason? fresh data show eurozone banks are holding more money on their balance sheets, fueling worries of a liquidity crunch. the dow fell almost 134 points, the nasdaq lost 35 and the s&p 500 was down 15 points, and that was enough to put the s&p back into the red for the year. the losses came on continued light trading volume, just 538 million shares on the nyse and one billion moving on the nasdaq. so where's the much-talked-about santa claus rally? joya dass reports. >> reporter: since 1969, stocks have gained, on average, 1.6% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two days of january. for a number of reasons: there are tax considerations, americans investing their christmas bonuses, or maybe because all the pessimists are on vacation. with the exception of last friday, there's been little evidence here of the guy in the red suit. economist stephen guilfoyle sa

susie gharib is off tonight. merry christmas and happy holidays, congress has officially okayed the payroll tax cut. but the extension passed today lasts only through the end of february. the $33 billion two month tax cut was quickly signed into law by president obama. it means u.s. workers won't see a tax increase come january 1st on what they pay into social security. the bill also extends long term federal unemployment benefits, but also only through the end of february. and it addresses the so-called doc-fix, meaning there will be no cut in payments to doctors treating medicare patients. their fees could have been slashed by 27%. while today's measure keeps a return to the higher tax rate at bay. for now, the president urged congress to keep working after the holidays to extend the cuts through all of next year. >> this continues to be a make- or-break moment for the middle class in this country, and we're going to have to roll up our sleeves together-- democrats and republicans-- to make sure that the econom

susie gharib is off tonight. merry christmas and happy holidays, congress has officially okayed the payroll tax cut. but the extension passed today lasts only through the end of february. the $33 billion two month tax cut was quickly signed into law by president obama. it means u.s. workers won't see a tax increase come january 1st on what they pay into social security. the bill also extends long term federal unemployment benefits, but also only through the end of february. and it addresses the so-called doc-fix, meaning there will be no cut in payments to doctors treating medicare patients. their fees could have been slashed by 27%. while today's measure keeps a return to the higher tax rate at bay. for now, the president urged congress to keep working after the holidays to extend the cuts through all of next year. >> this continues to be a make- or-break moment for the middle class in this country, and we're going to have to roll up our sleeves together-- democrats and republicans-- to make sure that the econom

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: >> susie: good evening, everyone. my colleague, tom hudson, is off tonight. strong gains for u.s. stocks on the second-to-last trading day of the year. investors bought up stocks on fresh economic reports showing an improvement in the housing and job markets. an unexpected jump in pending home sales encouraged investors. the national association of realtors index of pending sales was up 7.3%. that index tracks signed contracts, not completed transactions. but still, that's a 19-month high. in the job market, new claims for jobless benefits rose slightly in the past week, but it was the fourth week in a row that the numbers remained below 400,000, a sign that the labor market is improving. now, all that played very well on wall street. the dow rose 135 points, the nasdaq added 23, and the s&p 500 was up 13 points. also moving in a big way today, but in the opposite direction: gold prices, down $23 to $1541. trader anthony neglia explains wh

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