Today, the move was sharp. Domestic crude went from a loss of nearly 4 , to a slight gain. The reason for the turn, a smaller than expected build in crude inventories last week and Strong Demand for gasoline. And by the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 53 points to 16,484. It had been down more than 26 0 points. The nasdaq rose 39. The s p 500 added 8. As Brian Sullivan reports from the Energy Summit in houston, industry executives are navigating their way through what may be a new normal. Reporter if you want to understand the mood of the oil and gas business right now, investor charlie lakam sums it up this way. This is unquestionably, i think, one of the most, you know, devastating periods in the industry. This will be the First Time Since the mid 1980s where youve had 2 successive declines in most Commodity Prices as well as activity. That pretty much sums it up, as the mood in major oil and gas conference here in houston remains tough, the reality of lower for longer Oil Prices Sets in. But ceos arent paid to complain. Theyre paid to manage through difficult situations. And the ceo of Pioneer Natural Resources says the industry is going to use this time to try to get smarter. Industry always does best in the downturns. We draw better prospects. We have our best people working on them. We cut expenses. Service costs are down 35 , 40 . And eventually we all know the oil price is going to go back up. Thats when the best time to be drilling is during a downturn. So you get your best return on equity. You get your best return. That may be cold comfort, though, for many investors who lost money invest in oil and Gas Companies recently. For those investors, there may be good news on the horizon. Longtime former ceo of bp, lord john brown surprised us by saying this. During the long downturn of oil prices, the returns on capital were higher for the Large Companies than during the boom years. And thats the view we havent heard before. That as painful as the past year has been for oil and Gas Companies and their investors, the industry might come out of this a little bit smarter and a little more profitable. For nightly Business Report in houston, texas, im Brian Sullivan. The once booming oil business in deep financial trouble now and fallout from low oil prices being felt, which Energy Companies will likely survive and who will not in a potential wave of consolidation . Maybe even bankruptcies. The ceo of Pioneer Resources doesnt see Major Oil Companies buying up distressed companied just yet. Majors dont want to buy these companies that are distressed because their debt, they got to pay 101, the debt will be put to them and they got to pay top dollar for the debt. Joining us to talk about the oil and stock market, Founding Partner with again capital and kenny, director of oneal securities. Gentle he gentlemen, welcome to both of you. John, let me start with you. You heard the ceo of pioneer. He was broadcasting the probability at a certain point in time of major, a large number of bankruptcies in the oil business. How many of todays players do you think are likely to go into distress maybe even bankruptcy within the next year to two . Well, im going to piggyback on a report from deloitte, said 75 of the companies could go distressed yeah, 75 , bankruptcy, restructuring of debt at the least, or that winds up at the worst. Are they at that point yet or is there an oil price at which the pain becomes too great to endure and their debt then becomes unmanageable . If i could use a football analogy, were in the red zone, okay, and were about to go over the goal line here for that actual pain play. No doubt about it. Let me go to kenny and find out when he agrees with that because there are some, kenny, who think maybe were starting to form a little bit of a base in oil and then there are others like john who thinks were going lower. Where do you stand on that . I actually think that oil is trying to build a base right in here. That being said, that doesnt mean youre not going to have these bankruptcies because, listen, a lot of companies cant operate at this level. Hes absolutely right. Youre getting to that point. Thats going to be the silver lining. Once they start to restrekture, once they go into bankruptcy, thats going to be the company for bigger companies. One way or the other, it feels to me right in between 28, 32, oil is trying to build a base right in here. I think its going to end up doing that. John, i think we can guess who some of the buyers might be at that point of distress. Theyll be the big majors, the exxonmobils, maybe some of the chinese oil companies, maybe the gentlemans Pioneer Company might be one of them. Who will the sellers be . Who will be the who will be the road kill in this . Well, i think the road kill, for sure, first of all, the rich are going to get richer as a result of this. The family of companies you just enumerated, for sure, but Companies Like chesapeake, unfortunately, i think, is among the road kill. Goodrich petroleum, lin energy are names to look out for. Insellers, i could have put these in the road kill or seller tragedy. Hess is going to be one of those in my view as well as newfield exploration. I think bp becomes the supermajor that gets bought up or merged in some way. Whoa. Go ahead. Before i tgo to kenny and as about the correlations in the markets do you stand by your projectionou made on nightly Business Report we may contest 18 . 100 . Were definitely going there. This has been a prelude, the saudi stance this week. Youre starting to see the refineries go to maintenance, operating below 85 of capacity. Oil is going to back up bigtime in the system here. Kenny, first of all comment on that. What does that mean for stocks because theyve been so correlated to the price of oil . Well, listen, analysts, investment banks married this story, supposed weakness in oil to the Global Economy, to global growth. Wh that mean for Global Stock Markets and u. S. Stock markets . In fact, i think the problem is not lack of demand. I think its huge oversupply and the saudis have said it. Listen, theyre willing to sell oil at next to nothing as long as they wipe everybody else out. Listen, if oil goes to 18 a barrel, its going to get really tough. Im not sure that im in that camp, but i do think that, you know, the saudis are not going to put up with it unless people start unless some of these countries start to freeze or pull back on production, then theyll just keep producing until they wipe everybody out. At that point, then, i think, you know, that is when the market will disconnect. So, kenny, what im hearing you say is theres a narrative that has been woven by the investment banks, by the media, that oil and stocks are joined at the hip. Thats right. At some point, something breaks that narrative, right . And so i think what breaks it i think is when you find oil stabilizing. I tend to be i guess more optimistic. I think its going to stabilize, in it does, the macrodata gets better, youll see the natural separation between how the market is operating versus how oil is operating. Right now theyre so connected because theyve married the story so much that everybody watches every little tick, whatever oil does, oh my god, whats the stocks going to do . Its ridiculous. Left hand gestures go to kenny with oneal. John. Again, appreciate it always. Thanks. All right. John mentioned chesapeake. Well, oil and natural gas Producer Chesapeake Energy lost more than 14 billion last year on the downturn in Commodity Prices. The number two u. S. Natural gas producer more than halved its annual Capital Budget and said it would sell more assets this year to help pay off debt. Chesapeake also warned that production could fall by as much as 5 this year because of those asset sales. But those cashconserving steps eased investors concerns a bit and the stock actually rallied more than 20 . Sue, the shale gas revolution created a lot of supply and changed the global gas market as we know it. Theres been a big push to build the infrastructure so that excess can be exported which could benefit the economy and the labor market. Getting it from here to there and converting it into liquified form to transport it more efficiently has been a challenge until now. Jackie deangeles reports on the Energy Market milestone set today in cameron, louisiana. Reporter one of the advantages of fracking, unlocking more natural gas than we know what to do with here in the United States. And now for the first time in history, Cheniere Energy exporting the first shipment of commercial lng out of the lower 48 u. S. States. Its a very important event for cheniere. Something weve been waiting for, obviously been under construction for a number of years. Our investors are obviously very excited to see the first cargo, first commissioning cargo go out. Reporter this ship will carry 3. 6 trillion btu of liquid natural gas to brazil. South america is a big market for u. S. Natural gas. So is europe and also the far east. Not only is this a massive undertaking for the company, but a groundbreaking initiative for the industry. A shift from building import terminals in the past when it was believed that we would need product, to the shale boom now where weve unlocked product and need export terminals to move it out. Were really changing how the market looks. There will be a more liquid Market Going Forward in lng because we dont have destination clauses. This lng could be traded or taken anywhere in the world. Reporter one of the concerns when exporting commodities is what it will do to prices at home. Cheniere said studies have shown natural gas is so great over the next 20 years prices should not be impacted much. Cheni chen cheniere is two years ahead of the company. First mover advantage in the space is likely to position it well as the Energy Revolution fuels forward. For nightly Business Report, im jackie deangeles in cameron, louisiana. The federal reserves vice chair Stanley Fisher said the decline in oil and Commodity Prices suggests that inflation will remain lower for longer than previously expected and as low oil prices weigh on overseas economies, fisher says it is too early to tell whether the global volatility will impact the u. S. If the recent Financial Market developments lead to sustained tightening of financial conditions, they could signal a slowing in the Global Economy that could effect growth and inflation in the United States. But we have seen similar periods of volatility in recent years, including in the second half of 2011, that has left very little visible imprint on the economy and its still early to judge the ramifications of the increased market volatility. His colleague, jeffrey lacquer, the president of the richmond fed, says he sees no evidence of a recession on the horizon and the case can be made for raising Interest Rates further. The Central Bank Next meets in three weeks. Still ahead, madison vallywood. The National Security project that Silicon Valley, hollywood, and the Justice Department are working on. Apple ceo tim cook in his first interview since the court order came down last week to used by one ofne the San Bernardino shooters said complying with the order would be bad for america. In an interview with abc news, cook said it would set a legal precedent that would offend many americans. I think safety of the public is incredibly important. Safety of our kids. Safety of our families is very important. The protection of peoples data is incredibly important. And so the tradeoff here is we know that doing this could expose people to incredible vulnerabilities. This is not something that we would create. In your quiet moments, do you have any concern that you might be able prevent a terrorist attack by breaking into that phone . David, some things are hard and some things are right and some things are both. This is one of those things. Apple has until friday to respond to the court order which it says it will fight. Weakness in printers and pc sales pressured hps results. The company met wall street expectations of 36 cents a share in the first quarter. Revenue fell about 12 , though it came in just slightly better than estimates. The company did reaffirm guidance for the current year sending shares slightly higher initially in afterhours trading. But given the softness in pc and printer demand, why invest in an oldtime business . Josh lipton outlines the reasons for and against. Reporter hp ink is cheap and boasts a 5 dividend yield. Thats the good news according to analysts. The challenge, the shrinking pc market. Pcs are about 60 of the companys revenues and thats a market that continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Research firm idc says pc shipments dropped nearly 11 last year, that was the worst year over year decline in history as the pc market remains pressured by competition from mobile phones and tablets. In addition, printing contributes 40 of the companys sales and about 75 of its profits. Thats a market thats also declining. Well, theres less and less consumers buying ink jet printers these days as consumers kind of continue to migrate toward mobile devices and rely, id say,less so on printers in the households. Despite cheethese challengesf the people rank the comeny a buy. The companys commitment to capital return and a bet that the pressures in the pc and printer markets will moderate. N aging pc got infrastructure, you see just better comparables on a yearoveryear basis following the magnified declines weve seen in recent years. I think some of the headwinds weve seen on this side over the last 12 months that will start to dissipate as we head into the second half of the year. Zeno highlights the risk to his calm including more competition from rivals such as lenovo and dell. For now, though, he ranks hp ink a buy. For nightly Business Report, im josh lipton in san francisco. Targets results reaffirm its turnaround that it is taking hold. The retailers Quarter Sales topped analysts and it expects its fullyear prost fit to be better than expected. Thats pretty good and sent shares 4 higher today. Jane wells read on the consumer might be right in the bullseye. Reporter Consumer Confidence may be down. The stock market is volatile and retail giant walmart pretty much expects no growth this year. But people are still buying stuff. And some retailers are doing a better job of figuring out what stuff at what price. We think the middle income consumer and the lower income consumer are in a slightly better place given lower gas prices, lower unemployment, as well as rising minimum wage. Reporter over the holiday target saw sales grow nearly 2 at stores which have been opened at least a year. Online sales accounted for most of that growth. Rocketing up 34 from last holiday. But Free Shipping and steep discounts brought in sales and profit figures below wall street expectations. And the ceo told analysts that while the strategy helped target take business from competitors, how low can prices go . Were always stepping back and analyzing promotional effectiveness, looking back at our playbook and as we plan for next year, well continue to enhance and refine and make sure that we have very broad, very simple, and very effective offers that continue to drive traffic and promptly grow our sales. Reporter then theres the Earnings Report from tjx which owns chance like t. J. Maxx and marshalls. Unlike target, tjx has very little online business. The vast majority of sales come from people going into the stores. And they did just that over the holiday. Traffic was up so much that even though individual customers spent less on average, total sales and profits handily beat expectations. People really love the inventory at tjx, when you come to the store youre seeing something new, fresh and different every time. Reporter tjx gave Earnings Guidance for this year which was very conservative, lower than what wall street expected and blamed a lot on higher wages. Meanwhile, targets forecast for this year was better than estimates and said low gas prices are, quote, always good. Both Companies Think they have the consumer figured out, at least mostly. As targets cfo said, the consumer is consistently inconsistent. For nightly Business Report, jane wells, los angeles. Well, a warm start to the winter helped sales at lowes. Thats where we begin tonights market focus. Revenue was better than expected in the Home Improvement companys later quarter as consumers purchased more outdoor items. Much like rival home depot lowes was helped by customer spending on renovations and profits fell in line with analyst expectations and the Company Issued an upbeat outlook for this year saying it expects revenue to rise 6 . Shares up 1 to 6862. Missouri Court OrderedJohnson Johnson to pay 72 million in damages to the family of a deceased woman who sued the company after alleging baby powder with talc caused her ovarian cancer. A Johnson Johnson spokeswoman says the Company Stands by its belief that talc is safe to use in products and j j will be evaluating its legal options. Despite the news shares were up 1 to 10496. Honeywell is looking for a buyer for its Building Solutions business. The deal could be worth between 3 billion and 4 billion. The news comes after honeywell said yesterday it held talks with United Technologies over the past year regarding a potential merger. Shares of honeywell fell fractionally to 10330. Shares of avis fell the most in more than seven years after last nights earnings missed estimates on both the top and bottom lines in the latest quarter. The Car Rental Company also gave a downbeat outlook for the year citing expected impact from currency ranks investments intended to better the business shares crushed down more than 26 . Thats more than a dented fender. At 2204. The Cloud ComputingCompany Sales force beat the streets revenue estimates. It was in line with profit targets. The company said it expects earnings for this year to top expectations and what happened . Shares popped initially in afterhours trading but the company did close the regular session down more than a half percent at 6252. Hollywood and Silicon Valley are signing up to help the white house fight isis. Together they want to develop strategies to beat back isis messaging online and in its media. Its being called the Madison Valleywood project. Eamon javers is following that story from washington. Good to see you, eamon. Who was at the Justice Department today . Reporter yeah, hi, sue. That nickname they came up for this project Madison Valleywood, madison avenue, silicon executives at the department of justice meeting for three hours to go over strategies to combat isis recruiting on the internet and also in the media generally. The idea is theyre going to come up with brainstorms to push back on what isis has been doing. Already weve seen Companies Like twitter cracking down on isis accounts. Earlier this month twitter eliminated 125,000 accounts on that service they said were linked to isis, sue. How long have they been working on this . Theyve been working on this for a few months. Earlier in february we saw secretary of state john kerry go to hollywood and meet with top studio executives out there in a oneonone session around the table again brainstorming ideas. The United States is very good at media. Very good at technology. But for some reason isis has been better at social media than the United States in terms of its recruiting and getting its message out. This is an effort to try to turn those tables. All right, eamon, thank you very much. Eamon javers in washington. Coming up, as the ranks of the gig economy grow, theres one benefits company that many are turning to. More people are entering the socalled gig economy. Recent study by the Jpmorgan Chase institute estimates more than 10 million americans earned income through webbased Companies Like uber and air b b. As part of the economy grows so does the need for access to benefits. As kate rogers reports, theres one company many are turning to when it comes to health care coverage. Reporter the battle over better working protections in the sharing economy space is as hot as ever. Uber is facing a classaction lawsuit over the Employment Status of its drivers which are currently listed as independent contractors. Rival startup lyft recently settled a similar suit with several drivers. While its drivers werent reclassified as a result, better protections were put in place. But theres one company that uber and more are turning to as these developments unfold. Stride health. The benefits platform launched in 2013 acts as a modern day Insurance Broker helping individuals find the right Health Insurance plans for their profile with a personal forecast via a proprietary algorithm. Individuals not the startups cover the cost of benefits. We also look at quality and convenience and access to care so we make sure you can keep using the doctors that you love and you want to keep, and weve got a team that supports you all year round. So if you ever have an issue you need to resolve with your insurance company, we take care of that on your behalf. Reporter the Company Raised more than 50 million from investors including the mayo clinic and makes money by taking a commission from insurers on the plans, itself. Stride health is free for individuals and available in all 50 states with more than 230 insurance carriers on its platform including the big five. Aetna, united health. Cigna, humana, and anthem. Competitors include ehealth. Com and even healthcare. Gov. The sharing economy which has grown in popularity due in part to an uneven recovery postrecession, allows americans to work part time as freelancers, connecting them with available jobs. Task grab it was among the first startups to partner with stride for its taskers who complete jobs from hanging televisions to cleaning homes and food shopping on demand. Their taskers are also listed as independent contractors. The numberone thing our taskers want is flexibility. They want to work part time. They want to use task grab it as a way to supplement their income and the current model of independent contractor is the model that really supports that. We just want to add to it. We want to enhance it. We want to offer training. We want to offer benefits. We want to offer ways for them to increase and grow their skills. Reporter as the debate about better working protections rages on, it seems startups and workers can agree on the importance of flexibility and benefits. Its just a matter of who foots the bill for the latter. For nightly Business Report, im kate rogers. Beijing now has more billionaires than new york. The Chinese Capital added 32 to its ranks last year bringing the total to 100. Thanks to a number of new listings on the stock market. New york city has 95 billionaires according to the latest reports latest global rich list. Moscow rounded up the top three with 66. And finally tonight, a unit of the google parent company, alphab alphabet, developed a humanlike robot. The video shows the robot opening doors, picking up boxes, and taking a stroll in the woods. It likes the outdoors. Its also resilient. Able to get up when knocked down. Ive fallen and i can get up. The humanoid robot is called lets watch this its called atlas. Hes a little slow, though. Thats okay. Thats nightly business im sue herera. Thanks for watching. Thanks from me as well. Im tyler mathisen. See you tomorrow. Find out how the return of a feared predatort. Is altering a vast wilderness. Wirsing we live in a world where big predators are largely missing. Sethi . Why a movement to save seeds helps safeguard our food supply. And how a photographer captures the wild spirit of a changing landscape. Forsberg everything is connected to everything else. Announcer major funding for quest is provided by the National Science foundation. Sethi for nearly two centuries, scientists have been assembling collections like this one