you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib goodnight, everyone. we hope to see all of you again next week. "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

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 and thanks for joining us. susie gharib remains on assignment tonight. some mixed news on the economy today. let's start with the good news. consumers spent more money last month, putting off fears of a recession. spending increased six tenths of a percent, that's three times what was spent in august. americans bought big ticket items like cars and computers. but, there is a flip side. and as darren gersh reports, consumers are spending faster than they save and faster than they earn. >> reporter: if americans have learned anything in the last few years, saving less and spending more is not a recipe for long run economic health, but that's what consumers were doing last month. >> wages are stagnant. people are not getting raises, people are not getting bonuses. so what's happening is that t

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 off tonight. i'm joined by suzanne pratt in new york. it's solid sales for microsoft in the company's most recent quarter. >> suzanne: tom, firms are buying microsoft's office and server software, and that business offset weak consumer demand for p.c.s. microsoft earned 68 cents a share in its fiscal first quarter, in line with wall street forecasts. revenues, however, were a bit better than expected, coming in at $17.3 billion. >> tom: microsoft shares traded slightly lower after-hours, despite the solid numbers. still, some wall street analysts think the stock's a buy. 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

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 p

i'm tom hudson. >> susie: and i'm susie gharib. from all of us at "nightly business report," thanks for watching. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> more information about investing is available in "nightly business report's" video "how wall street works". to order this dvd, call 1-800- play-pbs or visit online at shoppbs.org.

susie gharib remains on assignment. we have good news from both sides of the atlantic ocean today, pushing major stock indices into positive territory for the year. it was a big day of buying for shareholders. the dow rocketed up 339 points to close above 12,000 for the first time since early august. the nasdaq shot up almost 88 points. the s&p 500 rallied more than 42 points. big board volume spiked to just under 1.5 billion shares, while nasdaq volume surged over 2.75 billion shares. here's what sparked the buying. first, european union leaders agreed to cut greece's debt and strengthen their bailout fund to keep larger economies from suffering the same fate. then, we got welcome news in this country. the economy regained some much- needed momentum in the third quarter. but it's clear the recovery still faces challenges. 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 fi

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. 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 buyin

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 and thanks for joining us. a bad start to earnings season-- late today, alcoa posted a skimpy profit that was much lower than expected. the aluminum giant is the first dow component to report and, susie, investors are worried that this a is bad omen for upcoming quarterly results. >> susie: tom, investors were disappointed-- alcoa reported right after the closing bell, and the stock fell more than 3.5% following the earnings release. here's why-- the company earned 15 cents a share in the third quarter, up from a year ago, but seven cents below analysts' estimates. alcoa blamed it on a big drop in aluminum prices and slow economic growth. revenues came in slightly ahead of estimates, up 21% to $6.4 billion. joining us now to discuss those results-- klaus kleinfeld, chairman and c.e.o. of al

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. "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 otime. 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. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. google shares take flight after hours, jumping over $30 a share, susie, after the web giant crushed analyst estimates with its latest earnings. >> susie: tom, profits surged 26% and revenues posted an even bigger gain. here's how the numbers stacked up. google earned $2.7 billion, or $9.72 a share, almost a dollar ahead of analyst's estimates. revenues were also better than expected, up 33% to $7.5 billion. >> tom: joining us with more-- scott kessler. he follows google as senior director of technology research at s&p capital iq. with us tonight in new york. scott, how do you describe these quarterly results from google, blew estimates out of the water. >> yeah, tom, i would say having covered the stock for more than seven years, probably between good and great. g

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 sli

susie gharib is on assignment tonight. european leaders made progress today working to solve their debt troubles. they agreed to force their largest banks to increase their capital reserves. strengthening europe's banks is a crucial step to finally getting a grip on the debt crisis that has gripped the continent for almost two years. european summit leaders arrived to a red-carpet welcome in brussels for what turned out to be a long day of developing the euro debt crisis plan. today, leaders cleared a huge hurdle when the european central bank agreed to buy bonds of several troubled states. that opens the way for more cooperation among the nations. british prime minister david >> we need to have the greatest possible support for the most comprehensive solution possible, and that's what we'll be discussing tonight. >> reporter: leaders from the union's 27 countries now have to hammer out details of any solution. among the specifics to be decided? how much of a loss do investors in greek government bonds have to take. how th

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 and thanks for joining us. ben bernanke delivered a grim assessment on the u.s. economy today. speaking to lawmakers on capitol hill today, "sluggish" and "slow" were two words he used to describe economic conditions. >> susie: the federal reserve chairman promised that the central bank will be ready to act, if necessary. but he called on congress to do its part to help the economy, specifically coming up with a long-term deficit reduction plan. >> tom: bernanke admitted u.s. policy makers face tough economic choices, but added those choices cannot be "postponed." darren gersh reports. >> reporter: the key part of federal reserve chairman ben bernanke's message today came when he was asked about the impact of operation twist, the fed's program to bring down long-term interest rates. >> i th

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. it was all about europe again here on wall street. investors have new doubts that europe is close to announcing a definite plan to solve its debt crisis, and that led to a steep stock sell off today. a representative for german chancellor angela merkel said it would be impossible to resolve the crisis at a eurozone summit this coming weekend. so the major u.s. stock averages fell by 2% or more. the dow tumbled 248 points, with all 30 dow components in the red. the nasdaq lost 53 and the s&p fell 23. >> susie: also weighing on the markets? more concerns about the financial sector. some mixed earnings news from two of the nation's biggest banks. citi said it earned 84 cents a share in the third quarter, three cents better than analyst estimat

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 u.s. job market is perking up: american businesses added more than 100,000 jobs in september. tom, that was much better than feared given all the talk about recession. >> tom: but susie, it's still going to take more than that to power up the stalled u.s. economy. the labor department said payrolls grew by 103,000 and the unemployment rate is still stuck at 9.1%. it turns out this summer may not have been quite so bad for jobs are originally thought. the government now says 57,000 jobs were created in august. zero was reported previously. >> susie: as good as all that sounds. some experts say it's not enough to keep the u.s. out of recession. suzanne pratt reports. >> reporter: 103,000 new jobs in one month is an okay number. but, it falls way short for the millions of unemp