this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. susie gharib is on assignment. another massive winter storm is dumping snow and ice on much of the midwest and northeast, and affecting the bottom lines of businesses and local governments. airlines cancelled over 6,000 flights today, that's on top of 7,000 cancellations yesterday. the nation's big automakers canceled dozens of shifts at plants across the midwest as snow and ice closed interstate highways and stopped parts deliveries. from oklahoma city through the midwest and into new england, this storm brings with it high winds and now bone-chilling cold. but it's just the latest storm system to tax the budgets of local governments. joliet, illinois, city manager tom thanas says this storm has plowed through his snow removal budget for the year. >> we usually see an expense of about $60,000 to $80,000 for a typical snowfall of anywhere from two to four inches. this particular one will be well into the six-figure range as far as the cost and handling it, primarily because we've called in private contractors to supplement city crews. >> tom: the dangerous combination of snow, ice and high winds closed schools and shopping malls, erasing at least a day of business for many companies. in a struggling economy, can that business be made up? michael hicks is director of the center for business and economic research at ball state. he joins us from indianapolis tonight. >> tom: usually storms just delay economic activity. we we can't buy a house or a t-shirt today, we'll go out tomorrow when the stores reopen. why do you think this one is different? >> i think the widespread geography of this event really reflects a difficulty for supply chains so, if you think about this event affecting one in four households with perhaps one in 10 households actually snowed in right now, having ice on them, with interstate highways closed, the loss of supply chains across make lift and the mississippi river, -- lake middle of the and the mississippi river, this is something that's going to delay commerce and idle factories for several days. >> tom: what's the difference between delaying commerce and eliminating it? you're talking about this permanently being erased from the economy, aren't you? >> either that or there's going to be an enormous cost to make it up. if you think about a retailer who is selling clothing or a car that is just going to be delayed purchase. so they'll be able to make that sale in a week or so when conditions improve. the more difficult circumstances are the effect on perishable goods, because of very delayed supply chains, more factories that have to be idled not just because workers can't make it there but because spare parts are delayed either on the interstate highway or through intermodal facilities in a difficult area around chicago. >> tom: how may some of those costs wind up filtering through the system? we've seen the thousands of airline cancellations, we've seen transportation systems shut down, interstate 07 for the first time between missouri and kansas city shut down. but do these higher costs wind up being seen in wholesale or consumer inflation in the months ahead? >> i think certainly for airlines which are losing 2010135 and $170 million a day, this is going to translate into this very unpopular fare increases, and luggage costs. for the average consumer, we would hope that this isn't going to be something that reflects an inflation, but bottom line is making up this production at time and a half in a week or two from now, where the costs of spoil age or the times of things you can see in supermarket and retail facilities in the coming weeks. >> tom: let me ask you about the infrastructure costs, and i'm talking about the costs to the thawing and freezing cycle. we've seen massive amounts of snow, very bitter cold followed by some warmup temperatures throughout the past several months for the midwest. can the road system handle it? >> well, that has for the last couple decades been a problem with aging infrastructure. i think what we're seeing now is going to, as spring thaw comes about, cost local and state governments that are obligated to pay for intrastructure repairs to look closely at what this winter and the ice freezing cycle has done. i think we are are going to be surprised at the magnitude of the effect here at a time when local governments are really con strained in their capacity to afford fixes. >> tom: your forecast, though, is in nine months some health care systems may see a bump up in business, is that right? >> well, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that the birth rate boosts about nine months after these events, and you can look back historically to hurricanes and other big weather events and blackouts, so at least there's a bright spark at the end of the day for the health center. >> tom: the birth rate goes up in nine months after some of these indentss. thanks for the information, we appreciate it. >> good to be with you. >> tom: michael hicks of ball state university. >> tom: now, the other big storm we're watching-- the protests in egypt. big cities like cairo have been virtually shut down for nine days as protestors filled streets and kept businesses closed. the demonstrations turned violent today with supporters of president mubarak battling with protestors in cairo today. an estimated 1,500 people have been wounded. those protestors are still calling for mubarak to step down, not swayed by his promise to turn over power in september. many say they won't stop until the president is out of the country. here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: stocks were little changed as investors stayed focused on the situation in egypt. and the weather here at home. the dow rose almost two points, the nasdaq fell about as much and the s&p 500 lost three and a half. trading volume slipped a bit. the big board traded 934 million shares, the nasdaq two billion shares. well, a picture of robust jobs growth from payroll processing firm a.d.p. it says american businesses added 187,000 jobs last month, far stronger than expected. but a.d.p.'s job numbers don't always jive with the labor department's official tally, which includes government jobs. meanwhile the labor department says the job market was showing signs of life as 2010 came to a close. the unemployment rate fell or stayed the same in december for two-thirds of the nation's biggest cities. and the man overseeing claims in b.p.'s gulf oil disaster thinks the area will recover within the next three years. ken feinberg says he's basing all settlement offers on that time frame. so far, the fund has paid out $3 billion in claims. >> tom: still ahead, "street critique" guest hilary kramer's advice on cashing out a winning stock, and a new investment idea for the epic snowstorm. it's a business combination with more hype than barnum and bailey, more power than a black and decker hammer and with a sweeter payoff than a pint of ben and jerry's. at least judging by pre-release p.r. we are talking about the new team of apple, with its ipad platform, and rupert murdoch's newscorp. the product unveiled today is called simply "the daily." darren gersh reports on the high hopes this ipad newspaper will save the save the media business. >> new times demand new journalism. >> reporter: with that news corp's rupert murdoch announced the biggest media launch the newspaper world has seen since "usa today" introduced color three decades ago. based on the apple ipad platform, "the daily" is an interactive, multimedia innovation. but to media pros, its real promise is financial. "the daily" is not, repeat, not free-- selling for a subscription of 99 cents a week. >> one thing it may do is answer the question that everyone is asking which is "how do you pay for journalism in the future?" >> reporter: the knight foundation's john bracken says the connection between apple's itunes store and murdoch's newscorp has publishers everywhere hoping the free information lunch on the internet is coming to an end. >> because there are millions of people who have already given their credit card information to apple and are regularly used to paying 99 cents for a song, or increasingly $10 for a book, that one click is a relatively low way to invest. >> reporter: murdoch has already sunk $30 million into "the daily," and the world's biggest media mogul has a clear definition of success. >> yes, when we are selling millions. our ambitions are very big, but our costs are very low. >> reporter: and the payoff could be huge. 50 million news junkies are expected to have tablets by the end of the year. but whether "the daily" succeeds will come down to something old fashioned-- the quality of its stories, not the whiz bang graphics, says rafat ali, the founder of paidcontent.org. >> i think beyond a certain point, the form factor, which all of us are sort of in love with-- which is the tablet touch face, is a novelty for now, but it won't be in a year. >> reporter: the competition for eyeballs is fierce and it's being fought across different business models. sites like ongo bring together content from many outlets into one place-- easier for readers to find news, easier for advertisers to find an audience. founder and c.e.o. alex kazim says that's the difference between one channel and many. >> when you have content coming in from the ap, and the "new york times" and the "washington post" and all these places, you're getting hundreds of stories a day, you're really hungry for the news, so i am not sure "the daily" really meets that user base. >> reporter: not to be left behind, the "new york times" launched news.me for the ipad. google joined the fight, showing off a cnn app using a new tablet-friendly operating system called honeycomb. to paraphrase an old newspaperman, the death of journalism has been greatly exaggerated. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: a big day for verizon tomorrow. it starts taking pre-orders for the iphone. the carrier is breaking at&t's exclusive hold on apple. it becomes the iphone's second u.s. carrier. verizon also unveiled pricing plans today. basic voice will run $40 a month. add text and it's $60. email and the web? an additional $30 a month. and using your iphone as a wifi hotspot? expect a bill for another $20. >> tom: in washington, uncle sam's checks will be good a bit longer. the treasury department says the government won't hit its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit until the end of may. that's about two weeks later than originally thought. but the treasury says not to worry, there are lots of accounting maneuvers it can use to push that timeframe back. some house republicans have threatened to vote against raising the debt ceiling. the bonds uncle sam sells to pay off that debt were also in focus today. some of wall street's top banks are asking the treasury to think about adding an ultra-long bond with a 100-year maturity. one treasury official said while the agency might consider selling longer-maturity bonds, it's not ready to launch a century bond just yet. there are no current plans to change offerings, the longest of which tops out at 30 years. the major stock indices held onto most of their gains with some small moves. mixed market overall. let's look at tonight's "market focus." between the bad weather and the developments in egypt, u.s. stocks had a negative tone throughout much of the day, with the financial sector leading the losers. as we pull out and roll out, we will say insurance stocks were the biggest losers. genworth financial fell more than 8%. volume jumped fivefold. this company provides life and mortgage insurance. the mortgage business led to a fourth quarter loss. the company says it probably won't consider splitting in two until that business improves. other insurers were under pressure. hartford fell 3%. lincoln national was down 2%, as was unum group. after the close, unam's earnings were up overall. it also okayed another $1 billion stock buyback. there's an earnings we want to get to. visa. watch finance tomorrow after credit card giant visa turned in quarterly results after the close tonight. earnings came in ahead of estimates. an increase in consumer spending and credit card transactions helped. the c.e.o. calls it a great start to the new fiscal year. visa bucked the sector trend today coming into those numbers. shares were up 2%, but still well below their high of over $95 dollars per share last april. shares were down about 1% after hours. chief competitor mastercard releases its results tomorrow. share price moving fractionally higher. earlier data on holiday spending showed higher volumes, which analysts say is encouraging. shares remain below 52-week high. shares seeing some mild buying interest today. one area of concern for both is interchange fees-- what banks pay when accepting debit cards. new regulations limit those fees, and one worry is banks may discourage having consumers using debit cards. and that could pinch some of those processors. one bright spot was commercial property managers. c.b. richard ellis has earnings tomorrow. shares jumped 5% as volume tripled. this is a new 52-week high. volume tripled. it was helped by fellow commercial real estate manager jones lang lasalle. a 5% rally came as earnings were better than expected and revenue jumped as well. all positive news. technology was the best sector, led by buying of video game maker electronic arts. this is a six-month high after raising its guidance and a stock buyback plan last night. semiconductor maker m.e.m.c. electronic jumped 15% thanks to strong guidance. holding gains in check, broadcom fell 6%. after disappointing guidance. finally, with all the weather problems, transportation stocks were weak. this tranportation e.t.f. fell 2%. it's now down 4% from its high earlier this month. it's been trucking and airline stocks hurt the fund today. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: semi trucks full of stuff may be stuck on snowed-in highways across a broad swath of the country, but what all that stuff is packed in is what interests our "street critique" guest. she's hilary kramer, editor at gamechangerstocks.com. so, hillary, you like grife, not a household name, but an industrial packer, steel drums, other packing material. shares are up over 30% over the past year, so what's the catalyst? >> well, the catalyst here is the economy is improving, it's improving globally. with a lot of electronics being produced it all has to go into boxes, pharmaceuticals, household items, even a refrigerator comes in a box, and this is what greif does, and the key is that one of their competitors was just acquired at approximately a 30% premium. there's some real consolidation taking place in this sector with such high demand. >> tom: do you think greif cob a buyer or be bought? >> they've been a buyer. they have so far been rolling up but a bigger player will probably come in or someone who wants to are integrated will come in and take this paneling company away. remember they make plastic water bottles, charcoal, fertilizer, they're everywhere, so there's a lot acquisition potential here. >> tom: cardboard box toes steel drums. let's get an update on your previous picks. on december 1 you liked shire, up by lamb 14% and optical pharmaceuticals. up by 17.5%. do you still like these? >> both of them are strong buys, i have a lot of conviction around them and they're still in my portfolios. >> tom: your full list is on our website. we've got a few e-mails to pick from about zales, this was an early december pick of yours, and we'll take a look at a couple of the e-mails that came in. do you think it will rally given it pulled back, that's from kathy. peter asks where do you think it going from here. you liked it when it was just over $3 per share. we're looking at a 90 session start of zlc, the particular symbol, and it has moved up nicely from your purchase price. do you still own it and what is the price target? >> okay. my personal price target is $10 a share. but anyone who has made money, when i talk about a company, if you make 30% on a stock, take your money off the table, at least take some of your winnings off the table. it's very important to understand that equity can go in either direction, this is a risky play. they have to sell pagoda, their piercing business, they also have to get to earnings, so i want everyone to be careful and enjoy the money they've made. remember, pigs get slaughtered. >> tom: a good point. we've had a couple e-mails with so much talk about egypt and the emerging markets lately. joan writes, what global sectors do you see outperforming the markets this year? >> natural gas. i have williams, wmb, i've owned it in over a year and i just picked up more this week. wmb is a diversified natural gas pipeline company, you can't go wrong with this, there's even a dividend yield, natural gas, high demand, especially what we see in egypt, there's a lot of political tension and a lot of cold weather. we want to be in natural gas. >> tom: lots of supply, that's been one concern with the nat gas market. we also have an interesting note here from somebody who is, who writes, i'm an artist, i don't make money with any regularity. i want to start building an income producing stock portfolio. what stocks would you suggest? how about it for dividend plays? >> johnson and johnson, ticker symbol jnj. you can get a little more 4% here, but i think that's a good one because there's a pipeline of drug come out versus some of the other competitors who are struggling. johnson and johnson had a setback with some recalls, so you can pick this one up and ride it up from here. >> tom: a dividend yet of -- yield of about 3.5. any disclosures? >> yes, i own all these stocks except for johnson and johnson. you can follow the blog, nbr on pbs.org. you can email us, streetcritique@nbr.com. or you can send us a note via twitter at my feed, @hudsonnbr, or n.b.r.'s feed. and facebook too. we'll feature some of your questions next wednesday our guest on this evening's "street critique" is hilary kramer with gamechangerstocks.com. >> tom: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: quaterly results from kellogg, mastercard and merck. along with weekly jobless claims, december factory orders and january chain store sales. we'll see if there's any impact from the winter weather. also tomorrow, ben bernanke meets the press. the federal reserve chairman discusses the economic outlook at the national press club. standard & poor's cut ireland's credit rating by one notch to "a minus" today. that's four levels above non- investment grade. it gives ireland the same rating as portugal, turkey and cyprus. s&p says a further downgrade is possible as the irish government struggles to contain bank bailout costs. the downgrade comes as ireland prepares for elections in which the cost of bailing out banks is a major issue. >> tom: h.p. will give a refund to customers who bought personal computers that use a flawed intel chip. the world's largest p.c. maker thinks only a small fraction of its computers were affected by the design flaw announced earlier this week by intel. number two p.c. maker dell says four of its computers were affected, under its xps, vostro and alienware brands. dell will work with customers >> tom: when you're at work, do you see more women than men? you're not alone. in the "money file" tonight, manisha thakor has a lesson in shifting workplace dynamics. she's co-author of "on my own two feet: a modern girl's guide to personal finance." >> in 2010, the number of women in the paid workforce eclipsed the number of men for the first time. i call this trend "the rise of the sugar mamma." now, you may be thinking "what's a sugar mamma?" or... can she really talk about that on primetime tv? to me, it's rosie the riveter, part 2. the increased reliance of families on women's incomes has seismic social implications. to draw attention to this trend, i'm taking a term that has historically been very denigrating to women, i.e. "sugar daddy" and turning it on it's head-- reclaiming it in a way that is empowering for women and families. i define as "sugar mamma" as "a woman who is in the financial driver's seat of her life." the phrase is meant to stop you in your tracks and get you to rethink your core assumptions. so, how is the rise of the sugar mamma affecting your life? i'm manisha thakor. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for wednesday, february 2. i'm tom hudson. good night everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. 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