This according to auto data and that smashed expectations. Ford sales up 23 . Fiat chrysler saw a 13 1 2 rise. And gm posted a 12 1 2 jump. Phil lebeau tells us why sales are so strong at the big three. Reporter call it a sizzling september in the showroom. U. S. Auto sales roared to their strongest Monthly Sales pace since july of 2005. Most of the major automakers posted doubledigit gains, with some like General Motors doing far better than expected. What drove those strong numbers . Labor day, which is traditionally one of the busiest weekends of the year for auto dealers, gave september sales an early pop. Meanwhile, trucks and suvs remain red hot thanks to low gas prices. And the combination of strong Consumer Confidence and low Interest Rates is convincing millions this is the time to buy a new vehicle. Even volkswagen, which has been rocked by the diesel emissions scandal, pulled out a slight gain in sales last month. Impressive, since massive negative publicity and an order not to sell clean diesel models left many vw dealers struggling to bring in customers. Now, heading into the Fourth Quarter, the Auto Industry is on pace to have its best year since 2000. And after a huge september some are even talking about 2015 sales climbing to an alltime high of greater than 17. 4 million vehicles. Phil lebeau, nightly Business Report, chicago. General motors plans to cut 5. 5 billion in costs during the next three years. During an annual Investor PresentationCeo Mary Barra said the Company Seems doubledigit Earnings Growth in 2016. The nations biggest automaker will increase its return to investors with stronger Profit Margins and share buybacks. Members of the United Auto Workers have now rejected a fouryear contract that its leadership had negotiated with Fiat Chrysler. The tentative agreement was voted down by 65 of the 40,000 unionized workers at the Fiat Chrysler plant. This development could set the stage for some localized strikes against the auto maker. And from the auto sector to the labor market recovery, which so far has been solid. Even with todays slight increase in firsttime claims for unemployment benefits, the overall number of Weekly Applications remains below 300,000. The 30th straight week below that level. But on the day before the release of the Government Employment report theres news of possible job cuts at walmart headquarters. The nations largest private employer. Conagra also says it plans to cut 1,500 positions. And amd will cut 5 of its global workforce. This follows similar announcements from hewlettpackard, caterpillar, chesapeake, bank of america, and others. In fact a new report by challenger, gray christmas, which is a firm that tracks the job market, says the number of announced layoffs last month topped 58,000, up more than 40 from the prior month. So is the labor market at a turning point . Hampton pearson takes a look. Reporter ahead of the september jobs report tomorrow, cost currents from the economy. Headline weekly jobless claims up by 10,000 last week, topping 277,000, but the more closely watched fourweek moving average dropped to just over 270,000. A 15year low. But a surge in announced layoffs last month in energy and high tech is raising concerns the job expansion may be nearing an end. U. S. Firms announcing plans for nearly 60,000 layoffs, mostly in the computer sector, with hewlettpackard accounting for nearly half the job cuts. According to a closely watched private Sector Survey. But one of the things you start to see as you get near the end of a period of expansion but before it really turns su start to see major layoffs occurring, big mega layoffs like were seeing now. So the layoffs arent that heavy but they are on pace to be the heaviest since 2009. Reporter earlier this week a closely watched private Sector Survey says employers added 200,000 workers to payrolls last month, matching the Consensus Forecast for overall job growth. The author of that survey predicts a full employment economy by this time next year. Heres a prediction for you. A year and a half from now election day were going to have the problem isnt going to be unemployment. Its going to be a significant lack of labor. Reporter new data out today shows a slowdown in manufacturing, tied to a strong dollar and slowing Global Economy making u. S. Exports less competitive. But with Home Building leading the way, Construction Spending here in the u. S. Reached a sevenyear high in august, topping a trillion dollars. The domestic economy has been improving. The labor market has been improving. Weve been seeing a drop in the Unemployment Rate. Consumer confidence is stronger. The challenge we face is that theres weakness abroad and were importing that weakness. Reporter the september jobs report will be a key benchmark for the Federal Reserve when it meets to take still another look at Interest Rate policy at the end of the month. For nightly Business Report im Hampton Pearson in washington. Mark zandy whom you just heard from in that report joins us. Hes chief economist at moodys analytics. And last month he basically nailed the governments jobs report number. Mark, way to go, buddy. Lets talk a little bit about the thesis of hamptons report, that the labor market may be peaking based on some of the numbers weve seen just in the past few days. Do you buy that thesis or not . No, tyler, i do not. I think the labor market is very strong. I think the economys creating roughly 200,000 jobs per month. Its been doing that very consistently over the last two, almost three years now. I see no sign of slowing. Not at all. Just to give you a statistic, the number of job openings rose to 5. 7 million in the number of july pf up 2 million from two years ago. Thats the highest on record. Thats a pretty good leading indicator. I dont see any weakening at all in the labor market, not in the near future. Then what do these layoffs bit likes of hewlettpackard, whole foods the other day, caterpillar, chesapeake, what do they tell you if not something about the labor market about the overall economy . Because its a broad swath of industries. Yeah, you know, so theyre just anecdotes. You mentioned the Unemployment Insurance claims. Thats the real number. Thats the people who have lost their jobs. They go down to their Unemployment Insurance office and say hey, look, im unemployed, can you help me out and you get a check. That is a true measure of layoffs in our economy, and they are very, very low. Anything under 300,000 per week is about as good as it gets and suggests that layoffs remain very, very yeah, sure, there are some companies that theyve got their own idiosyncratic problems or restructuring. The Energy Sector of course is grappling with the collapse in oil prices. So its weak there. Some manufacturers are having some trouble with the strong dollar and weak Global Economy. So theyre changing things around. But you know, if you look at the economy broadly, its very strong. Lots of jobs. Layoffs are very low. I wouldnt read too much into it. More idiosyncratic than systemic. Lets turn then to the september jobs report. What are you looking for there . Terms of overall numbers, pockets of strength, pockets of weakness, and how the fed will interpret it . You know, another 200,000 job month. That was consistent with the adp number, the number we put together each month based on the payroll records of lots of companies. So i think thats a pretty good number for tomorrow. When you actually see the Unemployment Rate dip again, it was at 5. 1. I wouldnt be surprised if we hit 5. 0. And thats a pretty important threshold. That means the economy is closing in on full employment pretty quickly. Now, there are two key soft spots in the economy. One, as i mentioned, energy. The Energy Industry is really struggling with 50 oil. Since people are changing their expectations about future oil prices theyre marking them down. Were seeing more layoffs. And i suspect that will continue into next year. The other is manufacturing thats related to exports. Very, very weak. Fortunately, thats being offset by the other good news we got today, which you referred to. Thats the boom in vehicle sales, which is lifting vehicle manufacturing. But the export side of manufacturing is weak. Those are the two key weak sectors. Everything else is every other sector of the economy is adding to payrolls in a very strong way. And on that upbeat note we leave it. Mark zandy, thanks very much. Mark is with moodys analytics. And as the economy continues to strengthen there is one industry that cant fill jobs fast enough. Morgan brennan explains why the transportation sector is experiencing a shortage of muchneeded workers. Reporter the transportation and Logistics Sector is facing an unprecedented labor shortage. Just as companies ramp up hiring for the holidays. Thats according to a new study by cap Gemini Consulting penske and penn state. Experts say one of the biggest pain points is in warehousing. An industry featuring the labor crunch across the board. But particularly in recruiting temporary workers. The a of work that needs to be done is going up and thats really made worse by the fact that theres a shortage of labor. It might be the Unemployment Rate that has changed as thats gone down, either unemployment or participation rate. It could be some wage stagnation where people are willing to leave jobs for other lines of work that have increased wages. Reporter he visit twoday dozen warehouses in the last four months. He says forklift drivers, supervisors with management skills and temporary workers that can pick and assemble packages are in in short supply. Rinds kruting firm poll logistics says starting warehouse wages which have been stagnant for years have in some markets increased by 1. 50 to 3 an hour. Companies are also making schedules more flexible to better compete with uber and other share economy startups that target the same workforce. Its all expected to translate into higher operating costs. This year businesses are going to be Stuck Holding the costs because a lot of the promotions have already been set. Going into next year, if theres major rebudgeting done, i think a lot of that is going to have to be passed on to consumers. Reporter ups plans to hire 95,000 workers for peak holiday season. While fedex is recruiting more than 55,000. Both Delivery Companies say its too soon to tell whether this could be a headwind for their busiest quarter. But they like the rest of the industry are watching the situation carefully. And of course it all adds to a massive shortage already plaguing the overall sector. Truck drivers. The American Trucking associations estimate as many as 40,000 drivers are needed immediately just to handle current demand. That issue has helped fuel a series of multibilliondollar deals, including upss recent acquisition of Coyote Logistics and Xpo Logistics pending purchase of conway. For nightly Business Report im morgan brennan. Well, the Federal Reserve of course is paying close attention to the labor market, and according to one official, an october interest hike is still possible. The president of the richmond fed, jeffrey lacquer, told the wall street journal that the central bank will have more information by its next meeting, end of this month, and that policy makers may be convinced that the economy is Strong Enough to absorb a hike in rates. Meantime, Construction Spending climbed in august to its highest level since 2008. Up. 7 to more than 1 trillion. And that is the ninth consecutive monthly increase, according to the commerce department. But one Investment Firm sees Construction Spending advancing at a slower pace than last quarter, and that prompted barclays to lower its Third Quarter gdp tracking forecast to 1. 5 , down from more than 2 last week. It was a modest start to the Fourth Quarter for the markets, one day ahead of the jobs report stocks were mixed. But they ended well off their lows, and you can say that again. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 12 points to 16,272. It had been down as much as 211. The nasdaq rose nearly seven points. And the s p 500 gained three. So after a lousy Third Quarter, is this the month when stocks find a bottom . Bob pisani lists the five things that are needed to stabilize the market. Reporter youve heard this many times. October is traditionally the month where stocks bottom. Theres some truth to this. Since world war ii more than a dozen bear markets have ended in october. Now, thats the good news. The bad news is these are not normal times. So just because were going into a seasonally strong time of the year, it doesnt automatically mean were going to rally. What do we need for a bottom . Theres four or five key elements. First we need stability in china. We dont even need more stimulus. We just need a more stable economy over there. Secondly, oil has to stabilize. Oils become a proxy for global growth. So stocks and oil often trade in tandem. Third, we need clarity from the fed on Interest Rates. Its time to make a choice. Rate hike or no rate hike. Of course we need a stable dollar. And finally, continued job growth. And more importantly, wage growth. Now, this is a pretty broad wish list. But we dont necessarily need all of these things to happen for stocks toned the year higher. But we need a few of them. Right now were seeing job growth and theres modest stability in the dollar in oil. But both of them still have a tentative feel to them. Bottom line, we still dont have enough conditions to say that august 24th bottom was the real bottom. For nightly Business Report im bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. Still ahead, what republican president ial frontrunner donald trump told our john harwood about his plan for taxes and to grow the economy. Now to the race for the white house. Taxes will likely be a big issue for american voters. Almost always are. John harwood recently interviewed republican president ial candidate jeb bush about his plans for the economy. Now he talks to republican frontrunner donald trump about his proposal to overhaul the tax system. Jeb told me the other day that trumps strategy is to say things over and over loudly. Youre loud and you repeat something over and over again. You think that that turns it into truth. What do you say about that . Well, i hadnt heard his statement. I think hes a very nice person. Hes doing very poorly. He maybe will do better. Hes going to spend a lot of money. Did you see what jeb said about your tax plan . I did not. He said im very flattered, it looks like mine. He suggested you you copied his and just lowered the rates a little bit. He said but he should have tried a little fiscal responsibility. I didnt do that at all. Certainly the last person id want to copy is jeb. I think that our economy will grow of much faster with my plan. You talked about cutting expensive hammers and things in the budget. But if you dont touch medicare, medicaid, social security, and increase the military, there arent enough expensive hammers to cut. So a big part of my plan is to take all of these different Government Agencies which are totally out of control and to cut costs. Coupled with a very large tax decrease. And by the way, its not for the rich, although the rich will benefit especially if the economy takes off. They might be better off. Including me. Huge benefits to the rich in your plan. Benefits. Were getting rid of carried interest. Were getting rid of certain things that make it too easy for people youre cutting the top rate almost 40 . If my plan takes off even though were getting rid of carried interest because its always been unfairu know it and everybody else. Its tiny. Carried interest is tiny. But its psychologically very important. So what happens is this. My plan is best for the middle income, for the middle class, which has been decimated in this country. They built this country. They have been lost with our politicians for the last 25 years. And i think my biggest impact is to the middleincome people. I think were going to give them great incentive and i think its going to be a great plan. Watch more of johns interview with mr. Trump. Go to our website, nbr. Com. The epa unveiled new rules on smogcausing emissions. But the tighter regulations fall short of what Public Health advocates and environmentalists had urged. The new standard tightens the current standard on emissions on things like smoke stacks and tail pipes that have been linked to asthma and respiratory illness ppz business groups say the new rules lin crease costs and could jeopardize jobs. Dunkin brands has its worst day ever. And that, folks, is where we begin tonights market focus. As the Dunkin Donuts parent provided a disappointing sales Growth Outlook and said it will close 100 of its stores, the company citing volatile Commodity Prices and a spike in egg prices. The stock slid more than 12 to 43 a share. Nordstrom announces a dividend and buyback news. The chain will pay a special Cash Dividend of 4. 85 a share on october 27th and add a billion dollars to its repurchase plan. Shares at nordstrom initially rose after the close during the regular session the stock, though, was off a fraction to 71. 43. Shares of the Biotech Company illumina slipped in todays session. The companys competitor peck bio came out with a faster cheaper version of one of its systems. The firm was also downgraded at lirink swan because of uncertainty of fits future products. Shares there fell by 10 1 2 to 157. 21. Performance food group making its market debut in todays session. The firm, which says it is the Third Largest food distributor by revenue in the country, offered 14. 5 million shares at 19 bucks apiece. The companys ceo explains whats been driving business forward. The consumers doing better. Employments getting better. Whats particularly good for us is the twoincome family. Thats when eating out kind of goes from being discretionary to being a necessity. So we have a great outlook right now. Shares rose 1 to 19. 20. Experian announcing that one of its Business Units has been hacked, which has impacted tmobile. The breach occurred on a server that contained data on behalf of tmobile, since its one of experians clients. The data stolen includes personal information for about 15 million people. Shares of tmobile fell in initial afterhours trading. During regular trading the stock was up a fraction to 40. 13. The spice maker mccormick posting mixed results with earnings coming in below con senseus. The companys results were hurt by currency impact. It expects annual earnings to be at the low end of estimates. The stock was off more than 4 to 78. 68. California, the largest state economy in the United States by far. Eighth largest in the world if it stood alone as a nation. And there are some new reports out on the health of this states finances. Jane wells has our report tonight from los angeles. California has once again opened her golden gates. The state hit hardest by the recession has roared back. But as tech is booming, the stock markets have been busting and a slew of economic forecasts suggests the california economy may not quite go hollywood the next few years. Here are two things to watch. First, tax revenues in the nations largest economy could take a hit because california still depends heavily on the Capital Gains taxes of its wealthiest residents. So the stock market and other asset prices are critically important. Reporter a full 10 of californias Income Tax Revenues are from Capital Gains, which may have turned to losses with the markets this year. One forecast suggests californias recent Budget Surplus could be wiped out. We saw a bit of a hiccup a couple of weeks ago when peoples attention picked up. But so far so good. We are very much aware of whats going on in the market and very much aware of how much that can affect our revenues. Reporter still, palmer says state law now mandates a Rainy Day Fund to help hedge the market. The second issue, even though california is predicted to cannot adding jobs over the next few years and unemployment will continue to fall, good luck buying a house. We have an affordability drought. The median price for a home in San Francisco is now over 1. 2 million. Its close to a half million in l. A. And forecasters say its only going to get worse. More people are renting and spending more of their income on rent. Well, weve seen in terms of the construction statistics that theres been a greater increase in construction of multifamily dwellings as opposed to individual dwellings. And thats a trend that weve seen for a number of months. Reporter finally, aside from the economic forecast, theres the weather forecast, which is brighter. By that i mean wetter. Rain could ease the drought. And californias crops will grow, just as its economy will grow. Though housing costs and market losses could bring storm clouds nobody wants. For nightly Business Report jane wells, los angeles. And coming up, why Small Business owners have a lot to lose if they dont upgrade their payment system. Small businesses borrowed less in august than in the prior month. That is the second month of declines according to an index put together by paynet. Despite the decline, the level is still higher than a year ago. Reuters says the index has historically tracked ahead of u. S. Gdp by two to five months. Retailers are now required to have Payment Systems in place that accept the new chipbased debit and credit cards. As weve been reporting, those more secure cards go into effect today, and theres a big risk for retailers. Especially smaller ones. If they dont comply. Kate rogers explains. Reporter Small Business owner debbie ball is ready for a major change in debit and credit card systems nationwide to accept env, or chip cards that kicks in today. This meant upgrading her terminal to accept cards that contain a microchip intended to reduce fraud. But it also means that merchants, not card issuers, assume responsibility for fraud if they opt not to make that change. Ball owns the candy lady store in albuquerque, new mexico and makes specialty edibles including those used in movies and on tv. She upgraded her terminal earlier this year and found the process not only simple but cheap. They gave me a very sweet deal, particularly since i like to own my own machines. So i ended up with all the sxreebts a rebate from amex paying about 39. Reporter Major Credit Card Companies like visa say it will take time until emv reaches Critical Mass but that adoption among Small Businesses like balls has accounted for about 50 of the chip card on chipenabled machine transactions that its seen in the past year. However, jasmine strategy and Research Says the top reason Small Companies arent upgrading is cost because they believe an upgrade will be expensive. Reporter but with offerings from square to costco, two traditional terminal providers like heartland, the change can be as little as 40. And its well worth it as the cost of data breaches has increased significantly for Small Companies in recent years. In 2014 cyber fraud, which is one part of overall card fraud, cost Small Companies an average of 20,000 in damages, up from 8,600 in 2013, according to the national Small Business association. Any kind of fraud like that, especially for Small Businesses, if we lose 1,000, thats a lot of money. That could be our rent. And if youre working on a small margin, you cant afford losses like that. Reporter and thanks to the shift to more secure cards, hopefully Small Businesses wont have to. For nightly Business Report im kate rogers. And to read more about how accepting new chipenabled cards is affecting Small Businesses head to our website, nbr. Com. And thatll do it for us tonight. Im sue herera. Thanks for joining us. And thanks from me as well. Im tyler mathisen. Have a great evening, everybody, and we will hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. Kacyra it kind of was, like, the bang that set off the night. Rogers that is the funkiest restaurant. Thomas the honeywalnut prawns will make your insides smile. [ laughter ] klugman more tortillas, please khazar what is comfort food if it isnt gluten and grease . Braff i love creme brulee. Sobel the octopus should have been, like, quadripus, because it was really small. Sbrocco and you know that when you split something, all the calories evaporate, and then theres none. Whalen thats right