The issues that have powered so much of this years rally. Today the Dow Jones Industrial e advan 187 points to 23,458. Nasdaq up 87 points to close at a record. And the s p 500 added 21. Our bob pisani has more on what took stocks higher. Reporter stocks rallied big time today, reversing six straight down days. What happened . First, washington did something. The house passed its version of a tax reform version. The senate still has to act but any progress on tax reform say cause to celebrate. Walmart and cisco had big earnings beats. Procter gamble moved up because nelson peltz finally appears to have won a seat on the board. High yield bonds turned around. The high yields markets often considered a proxy for investor willingness to take risks. That market has been weak for a couple of weeks now. The weakness has been in Telecom Companies which have faced difficult times. Once they stopped dropping, high yield markets started to stabilize. Im bob pisani at the networks for nightly business report. As bob mentioned, walmart reported a strong quarterly result and raised its profit outlook. The shares hit a record, gaining more tn 10 today, that added 27 billion in market cap. The results were helped by strong online sales and as Courtney Reagan reports, some say that is giving amazon a run for its money. Reporter walmart may be solidifying its position as the Worlds Largest retailer, a key measure for walmart as it saw its biggest increase in eight years, marking 13 straight quarters of growth. The retailer says there is some sales benefit of consumers buying in advance of the hurricanes and to replenish or rebuild afterwards. Even without it, those sales would still be the strongest in years. These are great numbers. This validates what walmart has been doing. Clearly investment in ecommerce but more importantly, the stores look better. Better merchandise, cleaner stores, higher level of service. I think thats that walmart consumer. Reporter analysts largely agree walmarts commitment to better pay and training for store employees has translated into a better Shopping Experience for consu happy employees equal happy customers. That was the biggest problem. You can see the cultural shift in the stores. You can see it within a year, employees actually care. Reporter walmart may also be closing the gap on amazon. Amazonowned whole foods has been lowering prices on certain items. But walmart just posted its strongest Grocery Sales in six years. What i think is so critical about what walmart is doing is that on june 16th, when amazon bought whole foods, the world changed. You we either on the right side of the wall or the wrong side of the wall. Walmart was clearly on the right side of the wall. Reporter walmart acknowledges some of the bump is from hurricanecaused food spending. But options like order online and pick up in store have been steadily improving its food performance for years. Grocery is walmarts most critical category, more than half of sales and a repeat trip driver. You can go online, have them pull all your stuff for you and throw it in your car. Thats fast. That person maybe di back every week, theyre more interested in coming back. Reporter the ecommerce business is paying off. U. S. Online sales grew 50 year over year. Solid growth, but a still relatively small base. Ecommerce makes up just over 3 of walmarts total sales. All the parts together are working to push walmarts growth just in time for the holidays. For nightly business report, m Courtney Reagan. John brick joins us now to talk more about walmarts earnings. Taking on amazon, and what he sees ahead. He is retail Equity Analyst at morningstar. Welcome, good to have you with us, john. It was a lovely report from walmart today. Did the market, though, overreact . Is it as good as that stock reaction suggests . Yes, thanks for having me. First, i do think the stock is a little bit overreacted. I think d it before, the tax and the market helped the stock. More importantly, you can point to the headlines that really helped walmart stock today, the faster sales growth, but more importantly the 50 ecommerce growth is getting the stock working higher, not necessarily the long term competitive position, we think. They also managed to come in with this report by discounting as well, which a lot of retailers have not been able to do. The talk on the street is maybe they are going to be the Successful Company to challenge amazon. Do you thi thats th case or not . Obviously theyre challenging amazon. And theyre the clear number two player in the space. Amazon number one, walmart two, and you have target number three. So they are challenging them. Theyre challenging them on an ecommerce front. As you guys said, thats 3 part of their business. More importantly, they still have around 60 of their sales in grocery. When you think about the grocery space, you have big players like kroger still, and you have aldi expanding. You heard walmart lowering price prices. Thats not going to get less competitive. Walmart will face a tough hurdle in the consumer space. Amazon bought a fairly significant grocer itself not all that long ago. Lets play a game of would rather, john. As a stock investor, would you rather amazon or would you rather walmart . Yeah, listen, walmarts up 40 this year, four zero, thats a big number for the largest retailer in the world. I would not want to own walmart here. I would look to amazon. They have a lot of thin going. Theyre obviously dominant on Online Ecommerce front. They have a lot of other areas, web services, ai, and potentially a pharmacy down the road. I would stick with amazon over walmart here. What would convince you or change your mind and get you to choose walmart . Quite honestly, its probably more of a valuation play. Walmart started the year at 70 bucks a share. Its now at a hundred. If we can pick up walmart back in the 80s, maybe that would get me more inclined, because amazon is an expensive stock, for good reason. But i would start with the valuation. If we can get walmart back in the 80s, i would be more of a buyer of walmart than amazon. John, thank you very much, we appreciate it. John brick with morningstar. Meantime, the house today passed a monumental bill to overhaul the tax system for both businesses and individuals while republicans in the house were celebrating today, the outcome is less certain in the senate. Ylan mui is in w reporter republicans scoring a major victory today as the house passed its version of a tax reform bill. The final tally, 227205, a comfortable margin of victory for the gop. They had said they would get this done before thanksgiving. There was a lot of skepticism over that timeline. They were able to pull it off and speaker ryan said a lot of the s to President Trump. From the very start we said that failure is not an option and the president and his team worked so constructively every step of the way with us. Hes been a tremendous partner on this issue. Reporter there were a few holdouts, though. 13 republicans voted against this bill, many of them were concerned about the limits to the popular state and local tax deduction. No democrats voted for the bill either. The Ranking Member of the house ways and means committee, democrat r r neal, said this is a tax bill that would hurt middle class americans. State and local property taxes . Theyre going theyre going to pare back the mortgage interest deduction. All of this advertised on the basis of a middle class people at the bottom end are not going to get much from this tax cut. Reporter republicans also acknow there is more work to do. Attention now turns to the senate, where Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says his chamber is making Real Progress on its own version of a tax plan. The Senate Finance committee is expected to vote on that plan tomorrow. And then its expected to take it to the floor the week after thanksgiving. Now, there are some senators who are worried about linking the repeal of the individual mandate to tax reform. Theres also some concern about the expiration of the individual tax cut. Still some tough negotiations ahead. Republicans are counting today as a success and theyre thankful they can go home for the holiday with a big win. For nightly business report, m ylan mui in washington. Still ahead, it is all hands on deck. Reporter im Morgan Brennan in wisconsin, americas heartland, where shipbuilding is a big business. Coming up, were going to take you inside an active navy warship on nigh merger talk has helped power the market recently. And late today there were reports of even more. Comcast has reportedly approached 21st century fox to express interest in its entertainment assets including its movie studio, tv production, and its international operations. There are also reports tonight that verizon is exploring acquiring parts of fox. But thats in the very early stages. We recently reported that fox had held talks with disney about selling some of those assets. Shares of 21st century fox rose initially in after hours trading on that report. Comcast is the Parent Company of cnbc which produces this program. Meantime, the federal communicatn voted to loosen media ownership rules. Marking the most significant changes to media ownership rules in a generation. That roleback could lead to further consolidation as traditional media looks to better compete with digital companies. The changes are taking place as the sec considers whether to allow sinclair to merge with tribune media. The resulting company would reach 72 of the company. Shares of both companies rose today. The sec also voted to let phone Service Providers proactively block robocalls. Commissioners from both sides of the aisle hailed the move as a necessary step to protect consumers. The fcc receives 200,000 complaints every y about unwanted calls. Congress, as weve been reporting, is expected to increase the defense budget. That could mean more money for navy ships, even controversial ones. Morgan brennan was given rare access to a newly active warship in wisconsin [ bell ringing ] reporter the ringing of the bells is an historic tradition, still being carried out today on board navy vessels including this one. One of the fleets newest and most advanced. A Lockheed MartinLittoral Combat ship which will soon be commissioned as the uss little rock. This is where we fight the ship. Reporter where the action happens . It is. Reporter his crew of 50 have been conducting tests on Lake Michigan for six months. With the gun mount and with our Airborne Mission zone, the aircraft capability that we bring to the fight, again, navigationally and war fighting, lcs brings a lot of assets to the combatant commander, those unique capabilities and the fact that we can get it done with less personnel makes us a huge component of the future of our navy. Reporter these smaller ships operate close to shore in just 14 feet of water. They have the latest Navy Technology and can swap out the types of Weapons Systems on board. Cost overruns doubled the price to over 500 million. Schedule delays means the Littoral Combat ships have no shortage of critics, including senator john mccain. But the navy needs ships like th. This is a warship, built with american workers. It really looks to bring vertical launching systems, take advantage of a lot of what we develop. Reporter s ships are being built at the shipyard which is owned by a lockheed partner. The Companies Say production is running full steam ahead, with construction down to three years from five. Price various and ships are becoming more lethal thanks to new weapons like vertically launched mechanism lcs is still a fraction of the price of a destroyer or a cruiser. 29 ships have been purchased. Lockheed has 14 and alabama has the rest. A new 2018 budget would add three more. It isnt just about building up the military. More orders ensure that 2,000 workers for this community of 20,000 people keep working. Manufacturing jobs ie that helped President Trump win last years election. Workers say theres not a part of the community that shipyard doesnt affe. Its a fact that shipbuilding saved the world, maybe twice, during world war ii. Its a privilege to be a part of the industry that does that. Reporter Morgan Brennan, wisconsin, for nightly business repo Emerson Electric makes a third bid for rockwell automation. After failing to convince rockwell to engage in talks before, emerson is raising its offer to 29 billion. They say they hope rockwell will consider the benefits it says a merger would offer. Emersos shares fell fractionally. Time inc. Reportedly in talks again to sell to publisher meredith corporation. The Koch Brothers have tentatively agreed to back merediths offer with 500 million. The deal wouldster ad shares. The wall street journal says an activist investor of barnes noble wanted to take the bookstore Chain Private with the help of current shareholders and debt financing. Barnes noble responded to the proposal that values the company at about 650 million. It said a deal is not feasible. Barnes noble shares, though, rose more than 7 to 7. 10. Best buys total sales missed the mark. The Electronics Chain underdelivered on earnings and gave a weaker than expected outlook for the holiday period. Best buy shares off more than 3 on the session at 55. 25. J. M. Smuckers had higher cost for coffee beans and said a rise in sales in its pet food business helped results. Shares jumped 9. 5 to 116. 65. Viacom said stronger ratings for channels that include mtv and nickelodeon helped its ad revenue remain flat. The street was expecting a decline. But the company said it expects distribution revenue to continue to fall through next year as Cable Companies become more reluctant to pay for viacoms programming due to a weakening subscriber base. That sent shares down lower by nearly 4 to 23. 69. After the bell, gap reported its fourth straight quarter of positive samestore sales largely due to Strong Performance in the companys old navy business. Gaps Overall Results and full year outlook also outpaced street expectations. Shares climbed and ended the regular day up 2 to 27. 48. Williams sonoma reported better than expected revenue after the bell. That company said results were driven by Strong Demand in its pottery barn and pv teen stores. Earnings matched expectations. Shares initially lower in afterhours but they finished the regular day up a full 4 to 52. 87. Wynn resorts has taken a huge gamble thousands of miles from las vegas. It is building the Largest Private Development in the history of the state of massachusetts. Contest that brewer in everett tells us whether the reporter take a stroll around everett, massachusetts, and locals say the times are changing. Ive been in everett my whole life. Ive owned this business for 12 years. 12 years ago, the outlook in everett was grim. Reporter Richard Sasso runs the 810 grill. Nearby, the most expensive private development in massachusetts history is going up. 2. 4 billion. The excitement is palpable. I cant wait. I cant wait. Reporter a luxury casino rising like a phoenix above a gritty Industrial City at the edge of boston. Were thinking about this as an urban win. We located ourselves right in the middle of a major urban destination. Mr. Wynns vision was that wynn Boston Harbor would be a great example in america of how a business can change a neighborhood. Reporte the president of wynn Boston Harbor is charged with bringing that vision to life. Were standing on the main casino floor. Its surrounded by a tremendous amount of amenities. Reporter the cranes have lifted the soon to be hotel and casino to 14 of its 27 total floors. Workers this week began installing the glass. 4,000 empls work on this project. Most of them from massachusetts. All of them union. Wynn is snatching up Rundown Properties adjacent to the casino at up to four times market value to improve the local esthetics to match the wynn brand. Its not cheap. With the price tag of roughly 100 million. But locals approve. 86 voted to allow the casino. Skeptics might ask about residents displaced by rising real estate values. Wynn is helping them find apartments. Traffic congestion . Wynn is spending 260 million improving infrastructure, local roads and mass transit. And Environmental Impact . For us in everett, we were always told, dont go near the water, youll get sick. Wynn cleaned the entire site up. In everett its a huge environmental win. Reporter barges dredged toxic soil from this monsanto facility. Wynn is transforming the industrial waterfront to a living shoreline. The public will get access to the river here for the first time in more than a century. Wynns 25 million annual tax bill makes up about a third of the city tax base. Wynn feels confident its big gamble will pay out and no other casino touts its struggles. Everett seems to think its hit the jackpot. I would never bet against steve wynn. Reporter wynn Boston Harbor is scheduled to open in summer of 2019. So far its looking like a wynnwynn. Contessa brewer, nightly business r massachusetts. Coming up, a renaissance paintico we would like to remind you about a special program that were putting together. On thanksgiving, we will explore the retirement crisis, and different ways you can fund your future. We want to know how youre saving and some of the challe that you may be facing. You can tell us by logging onto our website, nbr. Com, clicking on contact us, or you can also post a comment on our Facebook Page or just tweet us. If you have a ques for our personal finance expert jean shatsky, send a short email to nbrmail cnbc. Com. Siemens will cut 6900 jobs, most from operations in germany and the u. S. , and will hit the units that provide turbines and offer services to companies to generate power. Siemens says the move is necessary to better compete. The worlds biggest Sovereign Wealth Fund wants to exit its oil and gas investments. Norways 1 trillion fund has proposed dropping its holdings to Companies Like exxonmobil, chevron and bp, despite norway being europes Biggest Energy producer. The fund would like to be less vulnerable to drops in oil and gas prices. A Leonardo Da Vinci painting considered by many to be the holy grail of the old master shattered records at an auction last night. The bidding for the painting started at 75 million. And it went much, much, much higher. Ro reporter its only 17 inches tall and 15 inches wide. It is damaged, dogged by controversy, and questions of origin. But Leonardo Da Vincis Salvator Mundi painting smashed all records last night when it became the most expensive painting ever sold. Auctioned at christies for slightly more than 450 million. The buyer is unknown. It went to a phone bidder after a 19minute bidding war that elicited shouts and gasps from the normally composed crowd. The piece is sold. ] reporter fewer than 20 of leonardos works survive. This is the last in private hands. The rest are in museums. Despite the paintings controversial history and condition, it has been painted over and restored several times, christies Marketing Campaign was considered a new model for the auction business. The painting attracted 27,000 people as it toured the world. Christies made several slick promotional videos starring Leonardo Dicaprio and other stars. It sold it at a sale that attracted big money, even though the painting is more than 500 years old. How did a painting that sold for less than 200 in 1958 now hit nearly a half a billion . Well, for centuries it was owned by different european royals, including englands charles i. Somewhere along the way it became damaged and repainted. It fell out of sight until 1958, when it sold at a sothebys auction in london for 45 pounds. It was then labeled a work of a student of da vinci. It disappeared again until an art dealer bought it at an estate sale in louisiana in 2005 for 10,000. Around for around 200 d and million but fail a buyer. In 2013, it was sold to swiss art dealer eve bouvier for 80 million. He flipped it to a trust owned by the family of a russian billionaire for 127 million. He sued his dealer, claiming he was overcharged. But after selling it last night for a 323 million profit, its going to be hard to claim he overpaid. For nightly business report, and finally tonight, fortune has named its businessperson of the year. Its not necessarily a household name. Jensen lang is the ceo and cofounder of one nvidia and that stock this year has been on a hot streak, up considerably in terms of percentage terms. The Company Started out making chips that power videogames. And today the companys vision has changed and now its considered a leader in Artificial Intelligence and augmented reality. Jp morgan chases Ceo Jamie Dimon was number two. Marc benioff of salesforce came in as number three. We didnt make the list again. And we didnt get that painting either. No, we didnt. Im sue herera. Thanks for joining us. Thanks from me as well. Im tyler mathisen. Have a great evening, everybody. This is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can find it here in aruba. Families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea