Plan and reversed course, but the move begs the question, how vulnerable are your retire the benefits . That and more tonight on nightly Business Report for monday, february 10th. Good evening everybody. Im sue herrera in this week for susie gharib. Im tyler mathisen, welcome everybody. We begin with news about an iconic company, the official restaurant of the sochi winter games, mcdonalds. Turns out the dollar menu isnt helping much in the u. S. And weighed on shares of the dow component today but things across the globe are looking better. People are ordering up big macs in europe, a key market for the company. In all sales rose more than 5 in the Asia Pacific Region where mcdonalds opened the first restaurant in vo restaurant vietnam and the ceo says hes investing in asia. Whether thats ma loasia, so co korea, were investing for long term. We have more on mcdonalds strategy in china and why getting it right there is so important. Reporter hamburgers on ice is on the menu in china to help the fast food giant beep up the business. Its growing so fast. 1. 3 billion people might eat and love mcdonalds. Reporter back home, mcdonalds is struggling as more Health Conscious americans shun fast food, yet to many chinese like edward, mcdonalds means more than just burgers. Its kind of learning from western people, just technology, not just the economy, but life. So i think mcdonalds is kind of good for chinese people, including for me. Reporter that status served mcdonalds well. The u. S. Company has nearly 1900 restaurants here, the Fastest Growing market, yet some believe mcdonalds is leaving food on the table. Its chief rival kfc has localized the menu and supply chain and now has twice the number of stores. Upstart chinese chains are also jumping in. Mcdonalds is being relatively slow to get to the point where they have been ready to adapt to localized to respond. Kfc was much quicker from the very early days they started to think how can we mix up the menu to meet needs . If you look at the big asian competitor, their menus are much more relevant to choir naes. Reporter for mcdonalds offering items like nuggets made of pork, a Favorite Meat here and bringing the mccafe coffee chain to china to keep up with young chinese. They want to invest in the exciting life and they are so keen to hold a cup of coffee and sit behind this glass and being seen by their friends who say, oh, im having a coffee has my afternoon tea break. Reporter a feeling mcdonalds hopes will keep them coming back. For nignightly Business Report in beijing. The dow, investors spend the day digegesting recent market gains and looking at Janet Yellens first testimony on tuesday on capitol hill. The dow raced eight and s p gained three and nasdaq up 22. One stock, sue, helping the nasdaq was apple. Shares rose almost 2 after carl icahn said he saw no reason to keep demanding the Company Increase its stock by back plans. In a letter said hes dropping the bid 50 billion a stock especially when the company is so close to fulfilling the requested purchase target. The move came after Advisory FirmInstitutional Shareholders Services recommended a vote against his proposal. Shares finished the day at 528. 9 9. Another delay to the Affordable Care act. Congress will exempt some companies from providing insurance to employees until 2016. Companies that have 100 or more will have to begin offering coverage next year. The additional time will help businesses adapt to that new requirement. House Republican Leaders are meeting tonight to consider what they want in return for increasing the governments borrowing cap. Time is running out however for lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling. The Treasury Department says by february 27th, it will exhaust its about to borrow billions of dollars to pay bills. John harwood is in washington for us tonight and john, what can we expect to emerge from the meeting this evening . Well, we expect, sue, is that house Republican Leaders and their members are going to agree on a strategy of what they are going to put on the floor to raise the debt limit. It is expected they will raise the debt limit this week, meaning they will be well ahead of the deadline and the senate would follow suit. The question is what goes along with it to sweeten the pot . What would the condition be, and do you expect it will be a condition democrats will go along with in the senate and down along pennsylvania avenue in the white house . This is what is different about this episode, tyler, from previous ones. They are not looking for a companion provision that democrats hate. They are doing something that democrats might be able to say yes to. One of them is resource 6 billion in cuts to veterans pensions that were made in that bipartisan budget deal, patty murray and paul ryan a few weeks ago. The other is some increases in the reimbursement rates for doctors under medicare. That may fall out of the deal, it may simply be the Veterans Benefits and they would have to find other cuts to pay for the change. John, it sounds like from what they are saying, they are not going to take this right down to the wall, thats what wall street is worried about. Once again it going to be a midnight deadline and everybody is on pins and needles. Thats the affirmative sign wall street can take. Its not likely to go up against it. Thats why they are having this meeting tonight. They are off for nextpresidens week. It is important for them to do it this week. Thats close to the headline. House Republican Leaders are trying to get it done this week. John harwood in washington, thanks very much. As investors wait for congress to act, some homeowners are waiting for lawmakers to step in. Billions of dollars in mortgage debt has been forgiven over the past six years and that helped millions avoid foreclosure but that help may be in jeopardy and foreclosures may once again be on the rise. Since 2007, 2. 8 million foreclosures averted because banks let borrowers sell their homes for less than they owed. Millions more borrowers saw the amount of their loans lowered thanks to legal settlements with the government and state attorneys general. That debt wiped away tax free. Normally you would have to pay taxes on that amount thats forgiven. Its considered income, and its taxable. Reporter but in 2007 Congress Passed the mortgage debt tax relief act. It expired six weeks ago. And while there are bills in congress to extend it, they are not moving. And the client did not qualify on their income alone. Reporter Real Estate Agent marky lemon is watching washington from chicago where she counsels realtors on alternatives that are shrinking. All its going to do is prolong recovery. We know these people cant afford these houses. They have to prove financial hardship, so if they dont have the money to keep a roof over their head, how are they going to be able to pay the ira . Reporter thats a question tony is asking. After three years of negotiations, his bank finally approved a short sale on his condo for 125,000 less than he owes. But it was a few weeks too late for the tax break. He could now owe the irs as much as 30,000, which he does not have. Now with this debt relief act not being extended as of yet, im really nervous now. So im staying up late at night trying to just cant sleep at night. Its causing a lot of stress. Reporter while the foreclosure crisis eased, there are 3. 24 million late loans and some in the foreclosure process. Added up 4. 48 million loans that could be helped by either a short sale or principle reduction. While there is broad support in congress and among state attorneys general for the tax relief. The bigger push to overhaul the entire tax code could leave smaller bills like this in the wake. If so, short sales would not longer be an option and foreclosures on the decline could begin to rise yet again. For nightly Business Report, im diana olick in washington. Still ahead, it started with a change to aols 401 k plan then the ceo put his foot in his mouth and reinstated the old policy. The move begs the question, how vulnerable are your Retirement Benefits . Wall Street Investors were cautious as they looked at the first Public Comments of janet yellen. Shes scheduled to testify before congress on tuesday and thursday. Lawmakers want to know how co committed ms. Yellen is. Ahead of her testimony tomorrow, bond yields traded in a narrow range today as investors wait to hear what shell say about the job market and the economy despite the small move. Yields have fallen dramatically from the beginning of the year. Back then, the tenyear note yielded around 3 . Sarah eisen is here with what the bond market is telling us. What is it saying, janet janet, ive already promoted you to become the second head of the reserve. Sarah, what is it saying. First they were saying stay away from bonds. We were all worried about higher Mortgage Rates and car loans, just the opposite happened. People piled into bonds and so the yields the Interest Rates actually came down. A few reasons behind it. Number one, when everybody is on one side of the trade, its bound to snap and surprise people. Thats partially what happened. Other thing is, the Global Economy didnt get off to a good start. Emerging markets became a huge concern. I did a number of pieces for this program how investors were selling currencies and worried about economies, so you go to the safety of u. S. Treasuries. A third reason is it hasnt been a straight shot up for the u. S. Economy in 2014. We had two disappointing jobs numbers, some of the Economic Data hasnt been a vibrant picture and therefore, youve seen this demand for bonds. A Global Economy is just stuck so you want to own treasuries you view to keep some in your portfolio and then the Federal Reserve isnt going to raise Interest Rates any time soon, so youre protected there. What about ms. Yellens testimony tomorrow . Thats the type of testimony that could move the bond market. Exactly. Everybody will be gued to what he says, it will be interesting how she characterizes the weakness, the turmoil in the markets because the fed is in shift mode and started to taper and scale back its kwaun kquane easing. The size of the taper, whether its going to continue on the pace that weve seen or pause. If she sounds a little worried, perhaps there will be a trade on that. The taper may not be baked in and that could be a reason to buy stocks. If she doesnt sound worried and says the taper is set to go on or suggest that, that could be a reason, as well. Sarah eisen here in the role of janet yellen. Thank you, i got really pumped up. All right. Yahoo is reportedly teaming up with yelp to step up the Search Engine and thats where we begin tonights market focus. At an employee meeting, Marissa Mayer revealed plans to incorporate yelps reviews into yahoos search results. Shares of yahoo were also up 1. 5 to 37 . 76. And toy maker report add weak third quarter. Investors slugged that off since the boys unit should turnover with spiderman and transformers coming up. The company upped the dividend. Shares jumped up 4. 5 to 52. 36, ty . Green mountain coffee reached a deal with krispy kreme. They are going to launch a kcup coffee line less than a week after news that cocacola bought a 10 stake in Green Mountain and the two companies are making a cold drink machine together. Shares of Green Mountain rose 3 to 110. 92, krispy kreme up 3 finishing at 17. 96. Reports on a restructuring plan. The casino operator is dealing with a hefty debt load. Cesars struggled to recover since the recession and has not posted a profit since 2009. The stock fell 3. 5 today. Aols chief executive had better days, perhaps. Armstrong found medical issues suffered by two employees children and an unpopular change to the 401 k plan and this isnt the first time hes been the center of controversy. Julia boorstin looks at the man at the top and whether the companys reputation has been damaged. After a controversy filled two days, armstrong reversed the decision to change 401 k benefits from a per pay period contribution to a yearly lump sum contribution. Armstrong reversed the policy over the weekend after listening to an outpouring of Employee Feedback about the 401 k changes and comments he made about two employees having quote distressed babies costing aol over 2 billion. Armstrong apologized and said he made a mistake. So a very good idea with leaders when they know they are wrong to admit it. You never look weaker by an apology. In pact, you can look stronger. Reporter the mother of a children mentioned by armstrong during the town hall says he apologized personally. She spoke to nbc nightly news over the weekend. I think what he was trying to do was explain his justification for cutting Employee Benefits with this rational that were spending this much on health care, it has to come from somewhere. And i think this was the wrong way to go about that. This all started thursday when armstrong said on cnbc the changes were needed in part because of 7 million in additional costs from obamacare. Aol says the change to a yearly lump sum was made in august and communicated in october based on the assumption employees would prefer it to Higher Health care costs. Jeffrey says armstrong needs to be more thoughtful. We took a little too long to respond and even so in responding, hes not showing that he understands why people are upset and also letting us know how hes not going to do this again. He has a pattern of doing this. So its better that he did this than nothing. Reporter for the 7 Million Dollar increase from october, we used aol for an accounting, they said they cant give a specific break down. Im Julia Boorstin in los angeles. Well, aols back peddle on the 401 k match is having people wonder how securery Retirement Benefits. For answers, we turn to david blanchett. David, good to see you. This does raise the question of whether such things as the 401 k match are now in the cross hairs as companies have to deal with more expensive medical costs among other things. Do people, employees need to be worried and on the lookout for this . Well, i mean, yes and no. One thing to be aware of, the 401 k match is a benefit like health care. In this case, with trying to justify changing the match schedule to based upon the fact Health Care Costs were increasing. Each company has a choice. They can choose to potentially change the match and make the employee pay more for health care or do the reverse. I think it will be a company by company decision. The move to give you a lump sum for the 401 k at the end of the year as long as youre with the company on december 31st, that may be the way some Companies Choose to do it but then youre basically losing out on 11 months worth of Investment Income, hopefully Investment Income and you end up market timing rather than investing on a regular basis on a monthly basis. You know, i dont see it as that big of a deal. Obviously its a problem for investors or participants who leave the 401 k plan during the year. Losing potentially 8 on the match isnt going to really affect someone that much. I think there is other things the company could do to potentially make employees more mad about changing the match schedule to increase contribution. But to sues point, it defeats the idea of dollar cost averaging in, which is something you believe in at morning star because as sue points out, if you get it all in a lump at the end of the year, youll put it to work at what may later turn out to be the wrong moment, so it does pose that problem, doesnt it, david . It does. Its obviously risky to put all your money in the market at one time. For most employees, the employer match is only going to be a half or 1 3rd or 1 4th of all contributions. So it is employee contributions throughout the year. What about the market itself, david . Thats another factor, if you got your 401 k lump sum at the end of last year, it would have been the end of a tremendously positive year for wall street, and we know by now that this new year is not shaping up quite as nicely for wall street. The pitfalls of market timing i think are something that most investors worry about anyway and if youre using your 401 k that way, i think it could be difficult for people, i would think. Definitely. I think that, you know, the fact that employee deferrals are invested maybe twice a month or once a month is a really good way to do the dollar cost average. If more plans do move to this arrangement, and the markets do move the wrong direction, a lot of people will be upset. One of the paradoxes of employee matches is the more people do what they are supposed to do, i. E. Save the more it costs the employer, correct i think go ahead. Go ahead, please. Thats a danger of employer matches. There is a big push in the 401 k industry to have participants and employees save more. That can have significant cost implications for employers because if they are matching 3 of employer pay and participation jumps 50 , that could be a cost. The bottom line is a 401 k match is a Company Benefit and Company Benefits can get cut, right . Correct, and so your money is always safe. The money that youve deferred out of your paycheck is safe but future employer contributions can change. A lot of Companies Made changes in 08, 09 because of the market and went down. It can always change. For the most part, companies are consistent with contributions. Have to leave it there. David blanchett. Massive over cast on the panama canal and disrupting commerce across the country. Which ports are feeling the pain and which might be a big gain . General motors announced the pay package for the ceo, 60 higher than her predecessor, ackerson who she replaced last month, from cars to ships, the panama canal expansion project is suspended because of massive cost over runs and thats having an impact on how ports across the country are doing business. Jane wells has the story. Reporter webcam pictures from the panama canal show the 5 billion expansion project dead in the water and allowing bigger trips to travel from asia to the east coast of the United States has been sidelined by more than a billion and a half dollars in cost over runs. Thats bad news for places like the port of savannah. Any delay in the canals expansion limits in the state of georgia g and in the United States east coast. Its about bringing better economies to scale and commerce. Reporter this port like those from miami to new york has been spending big dollars preparing for big ships bringing goods to them. The delay hurts gulf ports preparing to expert liquid gas to asia. Weve been spending about a billion dollars and will spent 1. 4 billion to handle commerce. Reporter the delay isnt seen as bad news for everyone. Hear at the port of los angeles, the big ships can come in and dock and unload and cargo can go by rail or truck to the midwest but they see the delay as temporary. The panama canal is going to finish whether its today, tomorrow, next week or next year. Reporter so the port is spending over a billion dollars to improve facilities to prevent a noticeable drop in business. Burlington northern is spending a half million to expand rail facilities but being sued over traffic and pollution concerns and more warehouses are going up along interstate routes out of california for trucks. Los angeles and long beach make up the largest port complex in the country but competition isnt expected just from the canal but every port from mexico to seattle. You got to be out there in front of it. Thats what weve done. We saw it coming, investing over 1. 2 billion in improvement. Its working with customers on their logistics, how can they get it to market as soon as possible . Reporter this weeks talk between contractors will resume to determine what will cover the extra costs. An arbitrator says a stoppage could delay the opening of the canal to 2020. The panama authorities vow they will open next year even if they have to finish the job themselves. No one may be watching more closely than ports in the u. S. From sea to shining sea. Jane wells, los angeles. This is something to like, Mark Zuckerberg gave the most of any american to charity last year. The chronicle says the founder of facebook gave close to a billion dollars to a nonprofit. He said the gift would go towards a childrens program. That is nightly Business Report for tonight. Im sue herrera, thanks for joining us. Im tyler mathisen. Thanks for joining us. 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