Couple that with the start of the jewish holiday hanukkah, a special time. Time for investors to think about what to do with portfolios as this year draws to a close. So tonight, well look how the markets tend to behave the final weeks of the year and how that sets up for 2014. Well also look at the sector who that has a lot riding on these final few weeks, and that, of course, is retail. And that is where we begin tonight with retail. This year the list of major retailers and malls open for business on thanksgiving is longer than it has ever been. Many big names are staying open through black friday and the Retail Industry has a lot riding on this plan. Reporter for many americans, thanksgiving day is packed with traditions, tuning into watch the macys parade, eating a turkey dinner, watching football and shopping. Id say id rather go shopping, yeah, because normally thats a tradition of ours, we could go shopping thanksgiving. It excites us a bit. Once thanksgiving is over, ill be going shopping, probably macys. Reporter every year it seems the christmas creeps earlier and earlier. For many thanksgiving hours have moved from an experiment to a tradition. Kmart is opening at 6 00 a. M. On thanksgiving day and toys r us at 5 00 p. M. And target, macys, jp men knees, kohls and sears are opening at 8 00 p. M. Today and not locking them until late black friday night. Not every retail will have thanksgiving shopping hours and not every american loves the idea but many do. They got people who wouldnt normally shop to come out and shop. So mom stayed at home because she was exhausted after cooking but dad and the kids went out shopping. Reporter the National Retail federati federation says thanksgiving shoppers tend to be more 18 to 34 years old. Retailer haves seen foot traffic increase over the past couple years with the earlier thanksgiving hours, analysts say it doesnt add to overall sales. In some cases, it shifts the purchasing earlier in the weekend or spreads out spending over a longer period of time and this year, timing is everything. Thanksgiving falls on the latest possible date, shortening the traditional Holiday Shopping season to just 25 days, down from 31 days last year. There is a real sense f urgency retailers are trying to do everything they can to get people to spend early and often and late. Reporter plus, the beginning of the aday hanukkah sell brace begins today, the first time its coincided with thanksgiving in 95 years. The National Retail federation says while only 6. 5 celebrate hanukkah, the group intends to spend 5 more this year than the average. Retailers are trickling outdoor buster special deals throughout the weekend, in some cases offering big deal thursday geared toward the younger shopper and targeting moms and older shoppers friday and beyond. For nightly Business Report, im courtney regan. For a list of store opening times, log on nbr. Com. Toys r us is one of the retailers whose doors will open for the first time this year on thanksgiving night. Richard berry is the chief merchandising officer and joins us now to discuss his expectations for this Holiday Shopping season. Richa richard, welcome. Ive got a lot riding on this interview because if my 8yearold knew i was talking to the chief at toys r us, he would be crazy. What is the difference going to be this year compared to last year . As you mentioned, we have a very compressed Holiday Shopping season this year. We have the collision of the hanukkah holiday. We have thanksgiving and we only have a short period of time between thanksgiving and christmas. In fact, people are going to wake up on sunday morning and realize that its actually december. So that puts a lot of pressure overall on consumers and at toys r us we think about how we can make some really great compelling offers for the customers and get them motivated to get the procrastinators out of the homes, into the cars, and into the stores to get great deals. Richard, shoppers are addicted to discounts and sales and promotions. Are you doing more or less than last year or the same . Of course were doing more. We have a ton of really great offers. In fact, we have over 300 door busters this year compared to 200 last year. We have deals at 5 00, at midnight, at 5 00 a. M. In the morning and the whole weekend well have a series of really great deals including deals on our new toys r us Online Shopping channel that we launched. Our strategy here really is to make sure that we give customers the greatest option to enjoy the deals that we have and to really make sure that they can decide when they want to shop. So for those customers that want to stay at home, thats cool, too. So at 12 01 a. M. On thursday our. Com site went live and you can get to the store at 5 00 p. M. On thursday or you can also get that at 5 00 a. M. On friday morning. Whatever suits you, we got the opportunities for you. Lets talk about different categories of toys. Is there one must have toy this year . I realize that children of different ages and so what might work for a 3yearold isnt going to work for an 8yearold or a 14yearold, but what do you expect categorywise is going to be the hot area this year . There is a load of hot toys this year. Were excited about the invasion. For preschoolers, an incredible elmo this year, which is the first elmo that actually hugs you back and incredible. Its an item on the hot holiday toy list. I find that mindly disturbing, an elmo that hugs me back but ill go with it. Well get you one. Weve also got a really fantastic item called the uglies, its an animated dog. You put your hand inside the dog and it makes some really great sounds like farting and belching and in the video game space, great invasion thats come this year. So whether its sky landers swap force from active vision or disney infinity, those games allow you to take Action Figures and basically be able to play them in a video game and we got really fantastic offers. Those items are 50 off in the sale. One frustration for many parents and shoppers is getting their hands on those special toys. I mean, sometimes you just cant find them. Are you going to be well stocked and quickly, what kind of sales bump are you expecting from the promotions and being open on thanksgiving day . Were expecting a really great day. We have tons of inventory in the stores. And we have inventory arriving every single day. And in fact, the shortened holiday period plays to the strength of toys r us. We pride ourselves in having the widest acrossment, the greatest number of exclusives, having great products that you can only find at our stores, and we pride ourselves on our in stock position. So well have trucks rolling up to the stores right until a minute before we close on Christmas Eve to make sure that we have all those hottest toys in stock. Richard, i think ill pass on the dog you can put your hand into and makes those an Tom Mickelson sounds but when you describe them in the nice british accent, it sounded okay to me. Chief merchandising officer at toys r us. Cheers. Our next geuest is forecasting a not so Jolly Holiday sales. What you just heard, enthusiasm from toys r us, why are you so gloom my . Well, what is going to happen is hes right on the fact on thursday, youll see more shoppers go on thursday than last year. 50. 2 of america shopped before 6 30 on friday morning a year ago. 52 on americans shopped shopped and bought. In a store or online or both . Sto stores alone. 50 of them shopped on friday morning. This year those numbers could shift. I think youll see as high as a 37 increase of shoppers on thursday night and friday as you moverlier. That sounds like what well write about and talk about on monday morning, this weekend got off to a blockbuster sport. And retailers wont do any promotions after thanksgiving and they lose that momentum. The issue is no longer how many days there are between thanksgiving and christmas but how many days retailers are advertising 50 off. They have been advertising 50 off four to five days and they averaged a 2. 1 to 2. 5 increase. Thats why i think it will be weak again this year because the consumer wants deals and have to wait until the last week to get them. Okay. So is 50 off the magic moment . Actually, 70 is the magic number. Thats magic. That means you wait longer to get that 70 exactly. Closer to christmastime. I mean, who is doing it right . Who will be the winner and the loser . Walmart has the new wrinkle, which is early bird specials. Well have these 20 items in our store for the first hour after we open and we guarantee you can get them. Thats a new wrinkle in the black friday equation. The trouble is, susie, we could have a 30 increase in shoppers by not an increase in dollars because the rates are going down dramatically and thats the problem with retail today like best buy. They struggled because they sell more tvs but at lower prices. They will make money still at 50 merchants will make money at 50 and 70 off, lets not make a mistake but less revenue and less profit as a result. Exactly. What happens is keep in mind if a retailer gets a consumer to walk in the door on black friday weekend, there is a 70 chance they will come back two or three times to buy. If they dont walk in on black friday, there is a 40 chance they will come back. The early bird specials on thursday and friday are the retail momentum changer to get the consumer in the store time and time again. Talking about Consumer Spending and buying, what is the consumer mood . Is your take on how much they are willing to open wallets . Well, its hard to say. I want to say three things. One is consumers will buy more gifts for more people but here is what is interesting. Last year 35 to 50 was the number one gift range. Today this year its 25 to 35. They are buying more gifts but dropping lower and 20 to 25, it will be bigger. Very quickly, hot product is going to be . Computer. Tablets . 16 i ipads its 20 , tvs and one more point. The other question is how much will Digital Technology affect retailers because as you see, as people begin to click from the i you know, to the internet into their card, thats up 3,000 percent this year and as more retailers like target get in it, youll see 15 you see brits tie with the Christmas Pac pakage. Hes in the mood. Well, over the past decade, coming up, as we head into the final months of the year, what might the stock markets past performance tell us and our next guest will tell you what he thinks are the safest and riskiest things in the market . Naughty and nice for your money. Over the past decade, december has been kind to investors and with stock indexes at all time or multi year highs, there are high hopes once again for the end of the year. Dominic chu takes a look now whether stocks can deliver some holiday cheer. Reporter lets talk turkey or better yet, dancer about fulls because investing recent history shows being in the stock market has produced pretty plump returns. Over the past decade, the s p 500 posted up nine out of the last ten years. If youre looking for some of the stocks that did the best during that time frame, take a look at goodyear tire. They were up 11 on average and lennar up 10. 5 on average during thanksgiving and year end. And if youre looking for more fuel from the bullish camp, consider this, in audition to this year, there have only been four other times when the s p 550 500 have been up that high and the index finished the year with additional gains. Its one of the reasons why some experts believe that even with stocks at record highs, they are still worth buying. Between now and the end of the year, its still okay to come back into the markets. In fact, have a plan. Do it on a very much rebalancing basis each month into next year and into 2015. Reporter so making gradual purchases of stock over time is one way to go. This is the time of year investors look into invest in retailers, after all,ist shopping season. Its whether americans end up spending that hard earned money. I think it will be a challenging season. What is interesting to me, we might get the expectation is so low right now, we might get to the end of the season and realize things arent as bad as we thought and that could be the surprise. The market debate continues but there is optimism even if its of the cautious variety. For nightly Business Report, im codominic chu. Hes predicting the s p 500 index will reach 2020 in the new year. Her chief Market Strategist. Welcome to the program and happy thanksgiving. So tell us why you think that what is going to drive the markets in the new year . Well the broadening of the Global Economic expansion is going to go from a u. S. Centric only its going to broaden to the other developed markets but to the emerging markets and frontier markets, and i think thats very under appreciated. If you look at the trends over the past decade, the Global Economy has troubdoubled. Were up 33 on nasdaq and 27 for the s p, 25 for the dow. Can it keep going . I mean, thats just getting up there. Well, if you look at it, its been driven by alltime record profits in 2013 and my forecast for 2014 is more record profits. So its fund mentally based and i think the Earnings Growth can continue to propel this market forward. If you look at it, its still cheap up 14. 8 on next year earnings, thats compelling value and i think that investors are starting to capitulate to get into this market and i think it will further drive this market forward. I dont need to tell you, but one worry for investors is what is it going to be like once the Federal Reserve begins reducing stimulus at taper talk . So do you think that the fed tapering will work for or against investors in the new year . I believe its time thats come to start tapering back that its excessive and unconventional monetary policy. The economy is actually in really good shape, record hhig retail sales and time to remove that. Its discounted in the market and i think what it is is showing you that were getting back to normal and that we dont need the fed excessive stimulus. So i think its good news. Where could i eke out a little extra alpha as they say on wall street . Is it emerging markets . Is it mid caps . Small caps . . Well, i think you want to come down the risk curve, that is, getting into mid caps. You talked about that and because of this Global Economic expansion, we like pretty much anything global so emerging markets, frontier markets, global rates, as well, i think is an attractive place if were in inflation environment down the road, then our rates can really adjust their rent to almost as inflation hedge. Doug, we have half a minute. Tell us quickly sectors you think will do well. Ant name specific stock. I like Consumer Discretionary because they have been supported by the fed stimulus and its helped housing. Its helped the markets. As a malter of fact, with thewet, Consumer Wealth is an alltime record high and smart cap technology. Software and services and industrials, machinery, i think because of the Global Economic expansion that is going to be the Earnings Growth certainly will be there. So its a good fundamental place to be. Okay. Terrific. Thanks so much for coming on the program. Doug, chief Market Strategist of ing. With the stock market sitting at lofty levels, many may be feeling thankful and when they feel thankful they may feel charitable and giving to charity is taking on a new level of importance. Robert frank explains. Reporter with stock markets reach pg higing highs, wealth a giving are expected to grow from mid to single digits. The giving pledge that promised by billionaires to give away half their wealth by bill gates and warren buffet helped by entrepreneurs and more. Spanx founder given by 100. They dont want to write a check. They want measurable, accountable results. Matthew bishop says Impact Investing and social returns replaced old notions of just writing a check. I think there is a growing theme that what matters most in giving is not just the amount but the impact that you have. And i think we are going to hear more and more about impact, both on the giving side but also on how they invest. Reporter he said the arts may get less while education, technology and programs targeting poverty in the u. S. May get more. There is growing pressure and awareness in america that maybe more money needs to go to dealing with some property issues is at home in america, which have maybe not been as high on the radar in the past few years. Reporter its estimated to take five to six years before we reach the 2007 to 6 peak of giving. Im robert frank. Still to come, the start of the Holiday Season is the start of some very busy days on the roads, in the air and in the theaters. The yearend cost and competition for your dollars when we come back. This thanksgiving traveling to celebrating is serving up the usual busy days. Crowded roads, packed planes, long lines. Most americans will travel more than 30 miles and depending you youre traveling there is good news and bad news. Phil lebeau explains. Reporter there is good news and bad news for those traveling this thanksgiving weekend. Lets start with the good news. Gas prices 3. 3 3. 20 a gallon. People will travel more than when it was close to 4. I think more people will travel. I think for sure, but is it really cheaper . No, not that cheaper. Reporter the average amount expected to be spent on thanksgiving trips this year will be 465. Experts disagree about whether or not the overall amounts spent on trips will be the same or dip a little lower. For its part, the u. S. Travel association expects the amount spent on thanksgiving travel to be up 1 to 2 . When it comes to travel, people will travel to see families, to be with friends and that will mean a lot of congestion at the airports. Reporter the bad news for thanksgiving travelers is reserve for the 3 million who are flying. Travel os city says the average round trip is 415, up almost 7 , mainly because planes will be packed and airlines have few if any seats they need to discount. You may see fewer people in the concourses, but the planes are still going to be filled because the airlines have really got the supply and demand and pretty well can figure it out. Adding to the hassle this long Holiday Weekend is a winter storm moving across the country and bringing with it delays and cancellations. Meaning those who actually got where they wanted to be for thanksgiving on time truly had something to be thankful for. Phil lebeau, nightly Business Report. The box office is typically busy the last few weeks of the year with a slew of highprofile movies. So what is hitting the Silver Screen and how will ticket sales stack up . Julia boorstin breaks down the expectation for the box office and studios. Reporter this Holiday Season box office could be bigger than ever thanks to lines gate hunger games with the biggest november Opening Weekend ever and a range of other promising slicks in the pipeline like Warner Brothers hobbit seek well and anchor man 2. Its seven or eight weeks, dollar for dollar, just as important as the summer because it accounts for 20 of the box office compressed into the short time frame at the end of the year. Its extremely important. Reporter with a diverse mix of films from oscar fair like mandelas long walk to freedom and frozen. Films that appeal to critics like hustle, visitors to Universal City walk in los angeles are excited to head to theaters. Hunger games, definitely. There is better stuff around the Holiday Season because they hold it for when everybody has time and money. Makes you want to get to the movies every day if you can. The big question is whether this years lineup of holiday movies will help the box office surpass last year. Its now lacking but about 2 but has the potential to meet or surpass the 10. 8 billiondollar growth. Which studios will come out on top . Li lions gate is the one to beat and stars mr. Banks with tom hanks and frozen and the hobbit follow up, last year the hobbit, an unexpected journey grossed the most worldwide this is an important time as they release the film most likely to draw oscar buzz bringing home golden stood fews in february. Its a great time for Summer Movies mixed in with oscar caliber films. Reporter for nightly Business Report, im julia boorstin. That is it for this special edition of nightly Business Report for tonight. Im tyler mathisen, happy thanksgiving, everybody and for all of you who observed, happy hanukkah. Im susie gharib. Happy thanksgiving from me, as well. Have a great evening everyone. Nightly Business Report has been brought to you in part by. Thestreet. Com, up to the minute Stock Market News and in depth analysis. Our quant Rating Service prov e provides objective ratings daily on over 4300 stocks. Learn more at the street. Com nbr. Kevin today on ask this old house. All right, ive got an easy question for you. Whats this thing called . Sun beats down on santa fe, new mexico, almost 300 days a year, and this deck gets pretty hot. So were going to install a shade sail and make it a lot more comfortable. Woman oh, wow this is wonderful and ive got an efficient way to make plenty of hot water even for a house this big. And we have the traditional shower head and we have a rain head and some body jets. You have the car wash. We do, but thats not the only reason i wrote you. Kevin thats next on ask this old house. Or, on the wall. Ready . Lets take off