captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. my colleague, tom hudson, is off tonight. it was talk, not a deal to tap into emergency oil reserves. so says the white house. the obama administration denied reports that it had reached an agreement with britain to join forces, tapping into government- controlled strategic petroleum reserves. the talk triggered a drop in oil prices. in new york trading, they tumbled almost $2 to the $104-a- barrel level, but then recovered by the end of the day, closing at $105. but president obama today addressed worries about high oil and gasoline prices. speaking in maryland, he laid out his plans for alternative energy. sylvia hall reports. >> reporter: president obama wants to change the way america powers up. >> we can't have an energy strategy for the last century that traps us in the past; we need an energy strategy for the future, an all-of-the above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of american-made energy. >> reporter: as it turns out, between wind, solar, and other resources, the country has its pick of ways to generate energy. the department of energy says renewables make up around 10% of electricity production, and by 2035, their market share is expected to grow to 16%. but which ones are most promising? last year, solar panel installation doubled, and wind energy production increased by 27%. both depend heavily on government subsidies, and in a time of tight budgets, that support could dim. >> every energy source has enjoyed subsidies in its development period. that was true of oil, true of coal, true of nuclear, and its now true of renewable energy. the question is, how quickly can you phase out that subsidy? >> reporter: while the cost of solar and wind energy has been dropping steadily, they can't compete with plummeting natural gas prices. >> so, while renewables have gotten somewhat more cost- effective, the bar that they're trying to chase has also gotten a lot harder to reach. >> reporter: over the long term, experts say its imperative renewables take a place in the energy market. but to do so, it's going to take a lot more investment and a lot more research. sylvia hall, "nightly business report," washington. >> susie: joining us now with more on energy prices, john kilduff. he's founding partner at again capital. hi, john. >> good evening, susie. >> susie: so despite all the denials from the white house, are we in an emergency situation when it comes to energy. and does it make economic sense to tap into those strategic reserves? >> well, i think it's certainly right and i'm heartened it say it is on the table, clarely it is being discussed. for starters, you don't want to snuff out this nash ent recovery that we're all enjoying right now because of 4, $5 a gallon gasoline. but secondly, this won't just be the u.s. and the u.k. this will be a coordinated global release of petroleum reserves like we saw last year during the libyan crisis that will put much needed oil on the market. it's needed. it's necessary and it will help. >> susie: and yes, talk a little bit about would it help. would those extra oil supplies really stabilize prices? >> they would. it will fill the gap. saudi arabia has stepped up and said they will make up any shortfall from iranian oil being embargoed, whether the your means don't buy it or whether the iranians themselves take it off the market. but they're going to be-- it's going to be tight. so what these barrels will do, what they did with the libyan situation was fill that ga, say a million to $2 million barrels a day which can be sustained for really several months if not a year or longer, if necessary. we have upwards of a-- barrels of petroleum reserves in the united states. that can go a long way. >> susie: in this outlook what is your outlook for oil prices, gasoline prices over the next couple of months? >> well, on the pure supply and demand numbers, i'm think these prices should be much lower and would be going much lower if it wasn't for the situation around iran. and that's because it doesn't get any more serious than this situation. it's the big problem is not just the iranian production but if they block off the strait of hormuz, you lose about 30% of the world's oil including most of the saudi arabian oil. and there will be no one, no other country, no other place to replace that oil. so that's item stakes here are so huge. but we're seeing china slow, in particular, the other emerging economies who are the most energy intensive slow. that should at least stabilize oil prices and get them lower. >> susie: well, give us number some-- some numbers. without the iranian situation, where would oil praises be. and if that intensifies in the middle east, where do you see oil prices going? >> to the upside for starters, we installed a high of about $110 a barrel if we get through that, then the high from just last year, during the height of the libyan crisis, $115 a barrel. that would translate solidly that a fat gasoline average of about $4.25 a gallon if we were to hit the 115 level. but if there can be a diplomatic breakthrough here on the iranian situation, and there are negotiations going to begun, although 24 will be the last shot at it, i believe, prices could quickly fall back low $1-a barrel and really should trade in the low 90s if not upper 80s well. were just at $75 a barrel in october. and then the economy started to clearly improve and prices were rallied a bit from there. so i think somewhere in that 85 to 95 dollar a barrel rang is really fair value at this point. >> susie: hard to believe we were 75 just a few months ago. john, thanks so much for kming on the program. >> thank you. >> susie: we've been speaking with john kilduff of again cap ta. >> reporter: i'm erika miller in new york at one of the 21,000 schools that participates in junior achievement. the program is almost 100 years old. i'll show you how the program is changing with the times. >> susie: a bigger-than-expected drop in new jobless claims helped wall street to solid gains today. the labor department reports new claims fell by 14,000 last week to 351,000. that helped the major averages to a new record. for the first time ever, the dow finished above 13,000, the nasdaq above 3,000, and the s&p above 1,400. the nasdaq and s&p got no help today from apple, although the stock traded above $600 a share for the first time today. but by the end of trading, apple lost $4 to closed at $585. apple stock crossed the $500 mark for the first time on february 13 and has surged 45% this year. the latest rally comes as the company's new ipad goes on sale tomorrow, and fans are already lining up to buy them. joining us now to talk more about apple's future, joe magyer, equities analyst at the motley fool. hi, joe. >> hi, susie sudz well, this momentum on apple stock has been just amazing. and you know, investors just can't seem to get enough of it. i know are you not as enthusiastic as most investors. tell us why. >> right, well, i love apple products, so do consumers. but i don't love the stock. and part of the reason is that everyone loves the stock right now. its market cap is equal to mac soft plus ibm. and only 2 out of 57 analysts rate it a sell. usually when everyone can agree on the stock market as something as a sure thing, that's usually when the total opposite happensment so i still think apple has a lot going for it and the new ipad will be a huge hit. i just think investors might be getting a little ahead of them sufficient -- themselves. >> susie: we heard that so many time, so many experts company on and say apple stock is so overpriced. >> it's true. >> susie: if you really listened to them investors would have missed out on a nice uphill rise. >> we said similar things in 1999 about tech stocks all the way up. right now we are saying this, these guys can't do anything wrong. that sult mately the point where usually something does go wrong. >> susie: let's talk about its new ipad. the early reviews have been pretty fantastic. to what extent do you think sales of the new ipad will propel apple stock and sales. >> i think it's already baked a lot into the stock pricement but i do think it's going to be really big for apple. the big challenge is et going people without already have ipads to upgrade. unlike the iphone where you have a repress cycle every two years with your phone carrier, you have to pay full price for an ipad this he are not low ticket y9s, they are really expense of. so making the jump from ipad 2 to the new ipad is a pretty expensive proposition. that said think he had will sell a ton of them, their tablet is so far outfront not just in terms of cost but in quality and the overall value that you get, then all their rivals. so i do think the ipad will be the clear winner for tablets for the next couple of years. >> susie: and the more that ale does retail and piles up more cash, investors are counting on a dividend from apple. when do you think c.e.o. tim cook will final leigh go for that? >> i think next quarter, probably about a month from now, when you get the next batch of results. tim cook is getting a lot of pressure. and the reality is they just can't invest that much money. they have $100 billion worth of cash. they don't want to make a slashy-- splashy acquisition and there is no reason to sit on it with interest rates this low. the smartest thing is to get some cash back to shareholders and they would be very happy. >> susie: good stuff, joe, any disclosures, do you own the stock. >> i do not. >> susie: okay, thanks so much, joe, appreciate it. we've been speaking with joe magyer of the motley fool. >> susie: broad-based buying meant lots of green here today, just two days before st. patrick's day. let's take a look now at tonight's "market focus." the s&p 500 was big news here at the big board. the index of large u.s. companies closed above the 1,400 milestone for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008. the s&p 500 is now up 11% this year. and those 500 firms are paying a record amount of cash in dividends to shareholders. dividend increases this week by banks such as j.p. morgan helped push the payouts to a new high. s&p's howard silverblatt predicts 60% of s&p 500 firms will up their dividends this year as the economy improves. financials were one of the hottest sectors in the s&p today. those fed stress test results continue to breath new life into the group. bank of america gained 4.5%. it was the dow's best performer today. citi and jp morgan both added about 3%, and wells fargo was up 2%. another sector also attracting big buying today, out-of-favor coal mining stocks. one analyst said the group may have finally bottomed and offers good value for investors. arch coal, alpha natural resources, and peabody energy each rose more than 5%. in merger news, cisco systems announced a $5 billion deal to buy video software maker nds group from news corp. news corp owns fox news and "the wall street journal." shares of news corp rose 15 cents to close at 20.43, while cisco lost 29 cents. it's the biggest deal for cisco in two years, and a reflection of its focus on video. in other big deals, general electric is taking a 30% stake in howard energy partners. howard is a natural gas pipeline operator in the booming eagle ford shale fields of south texas. the price tag was not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close next month. other investors include crosstex energy and quanta services. each saw modest gains, while g.e. rose nearly 2%. turning now to the busy i.p.o. market, cloud-computer company demandware got off to a celestial start. demandware, ticker symbol d-w-r-e, surged nearly 50% today. it offered more than five million shares at a starting price of $16 apiece. demandware is the fifth cloud- based software firm to go public in the last few months. ma-com technology solutions, ticker symbol m-t-s-i, also went public today. the company makes semiconductors used in automotive navigation systems. the shares gained a more modest 8% from the i.p.o. price of $19. and finally tonight, csx was the biggest mover in the s&p 500. shares of the railroad giant jumped more than 8% to close at $21.92 after the company's c.f.o. predicted record first- quarter earnings. csx is considered an economic bellwether, and executives credited the improving economy for their upbeat forecast. another economic bellwether got a fresh start today as an i.p.o. allison transmission, ticker symbol a-l-s-n, began trading here at the big board. it's a new chapter for the company that was once a division of general motors. it was bought five years ago by two private equity firms. the 100-year-old company makes automatic transmissions for heavy-duty trucks and buses. allison shares rose more than 1% from their opening price of $23 a share. it's the largest i.p.o. so far this year. when i met with c.e.o. lawrence dewey, he talked about what will drive allison's growth. i think certainly the improving economy in north america will give us a lift thenas we're working to gain new customers outside of north america. we're only 5% of the commercial vehicles the type wes sell into have automatic. so very low penetration. we think that represents a great opportunity for the share in those market. >> i know you are moving into markets like india and china. what kind of growth you can expect from those countries. >> it's going to be we think a solid growth story over a period of time. we have feet on the street and people calling on customers. so we would say certainly double-digit growth. midteens is what we target and we would like to even do better in some those developing countries. >> susie: now you made transmissions for things like school buses and sanitation trucksment how are those businesses doing given that you are working with states and municipalities that are drastically cutting their spending. >> we're starting to see municipalities, those seeing tax receipts come up, those that have a little stronger financial house in order, if you will, are starting to come back into the market. one the other late cycle plays will be construction which as you know is certainly still depressed and we see that as running ahead of us as well. >> you know wall street is working as the ipo as a sign of the u.s. recovery, a resurgence of american industry. from your perspective, is the economy really getting better? is it getting stronger. >> it is improving. however it is uneven. and so for us we focus on the various sectors. and some are coming along now. and others we expect in the next six to 12 months to see some level of improvement. >> are you going to be doing more hiring, adding jobs. >> we've been adding jobs for about the past year. in our factories as well as our offices so as we have grown the business we've been able to add people and offer them well paying jobs. >> what about oil and fuel prices. how big a factor is this in your business? >> well, it doesn't affect-- so much as it does our customers because that say significant part of their ongoing expenses. so it might cause them to think about the timing of their vehicle purchases. at allison, we're developing new technologies whether it's control, electronic controls to the existing products or new hybrid products to go with the hybrid transit propulsion systems that we currently market to give our customers the option of significant fuel savings, 25 to 35%. >> susie: looking at your stock, tell us why investors should consider investing into allison, an old economy committee company as opposed to foreipo that came here today, demandwear, which is technology and innovation. >> well, actually there is a lot of technology at allison. we do a lot of electronic controls that go along with the hardware of our products. allison is a solid financial company, we're profitable, generate good cash flow, continue to pay down debt which is accretive to the shareholders. and then a focus with our announced dividend on return of-- who are shareholders. >> susie: when will you have a dividend. >> we start second quarter of this year. >> susie: thank you so much to you, congratulations. >> appreciate it. thanks, susie. >> susie: the international monetary fund has approved a $36 billion loan for greece, but with a warning-- the money will be doled out over four years, and future payments will depend on whether greece lives up to the reforms it has agreed to make. a crucial test will come next month when greeks vote to select a new government. right now, polls show the two major parties that agreed to the bailout are extremely unpopular. >> so, you could have a government in greece that were dependent on various types of, you know, extremist-- whatever you want to call them-- populist parties. and such a government, i think, would have extreme difficulties in implementing what remains a very tough economic reform program. >> susie: concerns about greece's ability to implement those reforms were a big factor in approving today's loan package. tonight's commentator echoes those concerns. here's simon constable, columnist at "the wall street journal." >> today, greece got a big nod for its latest bailout. the international monetary fund approved its part of a 130 billion euro loan, the bulk of which is coming from the european union. so is greece out of the woods, and can we rest easy that the crisis won't return to give the markets the jitters again? well, in a word, no-- even the imf says so. there is no wiggle room on the greek economy, imf staff warn. what that means in english is that greece is still broke and its government is going to have to really knuckle down with implementing its spending cuts. add to that social problems we keep seeing across the adriatic country, and it's not difficult to envision the crisis returning in short order, and with it, a possible scary ride for the u.s. stock market. that's what most observers are saying. but i'd go further and say there is still a big chance greece leaves the euro, the single european currency. and believe me, when that happens, investors will have few places to hide. i'm simon constable. >> susie: and finally tonight, it's not easy teaching kids about money. but one organization is devoted to helping millions of kids learn how to manage money wisely. in fact, you probably know junior achievement from when you were a kid. erika miller visited one new york city classroom to see what the organization is teaching students today. >> entrepreneurs own the business. and entrepreneurship is you have the right to own your business through what system? >> reporter: it's 2:00 at this manhattan public school, and these fourth-graders are learning how to build a business, including capital resource allocation. they are participating in junior achievement, the organization that has been teaching students smart money skills for generations. c.e.o. jack kosakoski is a j.a. grad himself. >> i grew up in a very poor family, blue collar background, and i thought things happened to me, as a opposed to i could make things happen, that i could control my life. and that's what i gained through junior achievement. >> reporter: ten million kids in grades k through 12 participate in j.a. every year it started in 1919, and one of its founders was theodore vail, a former at&t president. you may remember junior achievement from when you were in school. but the program has changed with the times. yes, students still learn money management and entrepreneurial skills, but they also learn how to get a job after graduation. it's understandable many students are concerned about making money and getting a good job. but a recent j.a. survey found some depressing results: less than half of teens nationwide are "very confident" they will someday have their dream job. more troubling-- 71% would give up that dream job to make more money. >> as a parent, that's troubling to me that there's this focus on the financial aspect of it. >> reporter: whatever the student's career goal, junior achievement still relies on legions of volunteers to teach in classrooms. but it's had a tough time finding enough of them to meet demand. so now, j.a. has started recruiting high school students who have been through the program. >> i'm a strong believer that if you can explain something else to a student in a cohesive and a coherent manner, anyone can teach. and that's why i wanted to give back and teach students what i learned. >> being able to do this, i feel like i guide the students, especially in finance. and i'm really interested in finance and pursing that in my future. >> reporter: if your school doesn't offer j.a., you may want to check out the video games on the organization's web site. many teach real life lessons that are relevant to kids and adults alike. >> what is the first step you are going to take to learn about income expectations and opportunities? >> reporter: erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> susie: that's "nightly business report" for thursday, march 15. we want to remind you this is the time of year your public television station seeks your support-- support that makes programs like nbr possible. thanks for joining us. i'm susie gharib. we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> susie: join us online at nbr.com. there, you'll find full episodes of the program. you'll find complete show transcripts and all the market stats on our facebook page at bizrpt. and don't forget to