Implications for both u. S. And global business. At the same time a coalition of private investors led by microsoft cofounder bill gates is launching a Research Initiative that will put billions of dollars into clean energy. Gatess Breakthrough Energy coalition is made up of tech ceos like facebooks mark zuckerberg, hps meg whitman and alibabas jack ma. Along with Investment Fund managers, philanthropists and national governments. Steve sedgwick reports tonight from the u. N. Conference on Climate Change in paris. Reporter in paris at the cop21 key Climate Change talks. There was a very determined mood on monday as World Leaders gathered. 150plus World Leaders gathered in paris to discuss what has been seen as a make or break set of Climate Change talks. There were questions about whether leaders would be in somber mood, in distracted mood after those devastating terrorist attacks on the 13th of november that left 130 people in the city of paris dead. But actually perhaps theyd come here with a more determined mood, to get a deal because of the aftermath of those attacks. Very interesting that president obama, president xi, president putin were all here talking about the need to get some form of deal and to find some form of pragmatism. There are very big issues, though, about getting a deal, who will finance a deal, whether the indians and other developing nations will be able to wean themselves off coal and other hydrocarbons and adopt a cleaner future as well. And who will pay for this as well. The kind of money were talking about, 100 billion a year needed for developing nations from developed nations from 2020 onward. So some Big Questions remaining here in paris at the cop21 talks. But a lot of people seem very optimistic at this early stage of getting a deal. This is Steve Sedgwick for nightly Business Report in paris. And with bill gates and a number of tech ceos pledging to take on Climate Change, what role does the private sector play . John harwood has been following the story for us from washington. And john, its kind of an intersection of the private sector and the government. Absolutely, it is. And there are a couple of different tracks that theyre moving on. One is the u. S. Government is agreeing to double its research into clean energy from 5 billion a year to 10 billion a year. And it is encouraging other nations to agree to do the same. Theyre looking for a total Global Investment of 20 billion a year. At the same time, private businesses are committing to reduce their own energy use and look for ways to use alternative energy, emit less carbon. Now, parallel to that youve got this effort led by bill gates, mark zuckerberg, Kleiner Perkins the Investment Firm out in california to try to put private capital into applications of clean energy research. The government does basic research. But how you can apply that and turn it into scalable Business Models is what theyre looking for from the private sector and the administrations hoping that the momentum internationally with the private sector and with investors is going to produce the results theyre seeking. We have a dozen, scores of International Leaders on the scene, but usually what happens is theyre there for show but the real dough gets delivered later on when the talks go back behind the curtain. What can we expect to happen and who is going to bear the brunt of whatever reductions in Carbon Emissions might be called for coming out of these talks . Well, certainly the traditional fossil fuels industries, oil and the coal industry, are going to be the most adversely affected by this shift to alternative energy. And thats reflected in our political debate here and the lobbying by affected interests. The hope is that once they catalyze the kind of investment and alternative Technological Innovations that would speed the use of clean energy that would create a Virtuous Cycle of companies having an interest in switching to cleanerburning fuel that will also be less expensive and financially competitive. What weve seen over time is we have gotten some advantage from natural gas, which is cleaner than coal and which has been injected in a major way to the u. S. Energy supply. But youve also seen technologies like solar and wind become more financially competitive. This is a hopeful atmosphere at these paris talks than weve seen in the past. I was there in 2009 in copenhagen where they failed to get a global deal. The real breakthrough was when the u. S. And china came to an agreement, and once those two economic world powers joined together that sent a signal you may be able to knit together the interests of companies at all different stages of economic development. All right, john, thank you so much. John harwood in washington. Well, the head of the worlds second largest economy, chinas president xi jinping, was also in attendance at the climate conference, and today the International Monetary fund underscored that countrys growing role in the global economy. The agency gave chinas yuan the elite status of reserve currency. Sara eisen explains what that means and why it is such an important step. Reporter chinas currency is now officially on the world stage. Imf chief Christine Lagarde saying the yuan, or renminbi, will be added to the fcr, its basket of reserve currencies, next october. Handing the worlds second largest economy a major vote of confidence and acknowledging its growing power and influence. The imf reserve isnt a currency itself and doesnt serve any practical purpose but it is used in lending to crisisridden countries and can be exchanged for the currencies that make up its basket. Thats why this is more of a symbolic move. There be any nearterm economic or Financial Impact but it is a nod to the many reforms chinas made to open its markets and its economy. So the imf did acknowledge theres a lot more work to be done there. Heres how the new lending reserve will look. The dollar is still kinging making up 42 of imf reserves. 31 is the euro. About 11 will now be the chinese yuan. And the japanese yen and british pound will make up about 8 each. Basically, chinas taking the number three spot in terms of the worlds most important currencies. The political reaction here could be key. China will celebrate and the u. S. Is a Voting Member in the imf, so the administration is officially on board. But china and its currency tend to be a political punching bag on u. S. President ial campaign trails. So wash for some backlash. For nightly Business Report im sara eisen. Stocks closed lower on this last trading day of the month. Retail stocks weighed on the major averages as brick and Mortar Stores faced some difficulties during the thanksgiving shopping weekend. Well have more on that shortly. Heres the roundup for you. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 78 points to close at 17,719. The nasdaq closed 18 points lower, and the s p 500 slipped 9. The major averages posted their second straight month of gains for the First Time Since may. To the economy now. A report on manufacturing and overall Business Activity in the chicago area. It fell in november. The chicago pmi barometer dropped into contraction territory for the sixth time this year. New orders fell to their lowest level since march. Pressured by Weak Oil Prices and a stronger dollar. Pending home sales or contracts to buy existing homes rose just. 2 in october. High prices and low inventory kept potential home buyers on the fence last month. According to the National Association of realtors, pending home sales rose the most in the northeast and saw gains of 1. 7 in the west. In the midwest and the south those pending sales fell. Today kicked off a very eventful week for Economic News and comment. Midweek fed chair janet yellen testifies on capitol hill. The European Central bank meets thursday and could decide to pump more juice into the euro zone and on friday the november employment report will be released by the labor department. Steve liesman reports on the big week ahead for the economy. Reporter heres the good news. By the end of this week, which teems with fed speeches and critical economic data, we should have a very solid idea about whether the central bank will hike rates later this month. The bad news its only monday. Tomorrow well hear from fed governor Lael Brainard whose dovish speech in october argued against prematurely hiking interest rates. The question is whether she remains more dovish than the rest of the committee who appear ready to support a december rate hike. That same day a much followed survey should show the Manufacturing Sector just barely growing in november while auto sales remain strong. On an 18 million annual sales pace. Rens brings the private Payroll Company avps estimate of what the friday jobs report should look like. The fed will release its socalled beige book, the collection of economic anecdotes are from around the country. The highlight of the day will be fed chair Janet Yellens speech where she could make clear the fed is ready to act later this month. This has been the most anticipated fed rate hike in history, and to some extent i think investors around the world are wanting the fed to just rip off the bandaid. And you may very well get some type of relief rally after that. Reporter yellen testifies on thursday in front of the joint Economic Committee and fed vice chair Stanley Fischer will offer his thoughts on financial stability. The big event of the day happens in the morning. The europe. Central bank will make its Monetary Policy decision. Theres strong expectations in the market for some further easing. Cue the trumpets for friday and the november jobs report. Wall street economists are looking for the Unemployment Rate to come in unchanged at 5 but for strong job growth of 205,000. Its the most important piece of data for the feds decision, and many economists think only a very weak report, below 125,000 or 150,000 could derail that quarterpoint rate hike. So its a great week if youre a data geek or a fed head. Which is to say im plenty excited. For nightly Business Report im steve liesman. Well, speaking of the federal reserve, today the fed reserve board approved a rule that would end emergency loans to failing companies. Any future lending in emergency situations will address larger market problems and not specific banks. The change was demanded by congress after the central bank bailed out aig, citigroup, and others. Still ahead, clicks versus bricks. As more people shop online, what will happen to all those malls . What does the future of retail look like . Sales numbers from the weekend are starting to come in and so far one thing is very clear. More people are shopping online. Mastercard says Internet Sales grew double digits and above the forecast. Shoppertrack says consumers spent about a billion less in brick and Mortar Stores this black friday than just a year ago. And the National Retail federation says 103 Million People had or had planned to shop online this weekend and that was more than the number who shopped in stores. Those reports sent a number of traditional retailers lower today. With online sales strong heading into whats become known as cyber monday, amazon, a leading internet retailer, is making sure the company is ready. Courtney reagan reports from its Fulfillment Center in robinsville, new jersey. Reporter in years past cyber monday was the day the online retailers offered web buffetters to draw shopper excitement like stores do on black friday. But in todays retail world shopping event days like black friday and cyber monday have become blurry, with many retailers offering black fridaylike discounts in the days and weeks before thanksgiving. Plus, consumers no longer need to wait to get back to work for highspeed internet connection. What were seeing is that black friday is becoming more cyber. Meanwhile, cyber monday is becoming more physical. As we look at cyber monday, most retailers including us at saks on 5th or lord taylor, we ran ads in the newspaper, physical ads, saying come to our stores and get Cyber Monday Deals or go online of course. Reporter the National Retail federation says retailers have been successful when it comes to pulling holiday sales forward. Which may have accounted for a muted black friday weekend. A Record Number of consumers began their Holiday Shopping before november 10th. Still, the Group Estimates 121 Million People will shop online today. Though thats down slightly from last cyber monday and below the 151 million americans who shopped in store, online, or both over the thanksgiving weekend. Amazon is counting on Fulfillment Centers like this one to be busy today. The online behemoth says total units sold for black friday surpassed last year and while last cyber monday was its peak shopping day of the year with 43 Million Units shipped worldwide, amazon says it can beat it this year. For tuesday continues to be a season of deals and black friday and cyber monday are the two par peak day of that season of deals. Reporter while final holiday Sales Numbers wont be known for some time ibms early online sales data shows record growth over last year making amazons goal of booking yet another record more than just a possibility. For nightly Business Report im Courtney Reagan in robinsville, new jersey. So what does the strong pickup in Online Shopping mean for the future of traditional retailers . And mall operators . Jan niffin is ceo of niffin enterprises. Always good to see you. As i look around my parts of the country it seems i think of two things. Weve got too many stores. And if more and more people are shopping online, what is going to happen to the big malls and big mall operators . How many more malls do we have than we need . A lot. We have about 1,100 in closed malls in the United States and i assume we need somewhere between 550 and 700 of them depending on how well they can adapt to this new world. And that new world basically means people are coming there for experiential events, not necessarily to shop. A mall operator said to me just the other day, you know, they used to come here to shop and then theyd get something to eat. Now they come here to eat and then they do a little shopping. And i think thats a big change in the consumers attitude. Were seeing especially the Millennial Consumer really more concerned about going out to eat with their friends than buying apparel or other kinds of products. So its just a big change in the mindset and thats probably not going to change given the ability to buy whatever it is you do need online to get it delivered to your house and to be able to get the very best price because pricings so transparent on the internet. It certainly is. You also point out the fact that amazon seems to be firing on all cylinders. Courtney reagan just did her report for us. But you liken amazon to some of the other retailers that you like at this point. What is it that amazon is doing so effectively that is addressing some of these issues that you just raised with the millennials, with the experience of shopping . Well, i compare amazon to walmart all the time, and i basically say when walmart was 20 years old they had about a 3 market share in retailing and they were getting half of the growth in retailing. Well, amszons about 20 years old and theyre getting about a 3 market share of total retail but theyre getting about half of the growth. So they look a lot like walmart looked in 1985. I believe thats mostly driven by price and having one of the best websites in the world that is very sticky especially once youve signed up for amazon prime. So its not that i think the experience on amazon is so great. I think what people go to amazon for is complete wide choice. Theyve got everything you might want. And theyll give you the best price. They go other places for the experiences. And i think thats what the mall operators are going to have to capitalize on, those that are left. You know, theres 300 great malls in america. Theres 100 aplus malls. Theres 50 fabulous malls. And theres 10 that just knock your socks off. One, for instance, would be Garden State Plaza in new jersey. One would be Roosevelt Field on long island. One would be king of prussia in philadelphia. Those are the kind of malls im talking about that can knock your socks off, continue to afford to continue to be able to afford to expend money on them and build experiential parts of the mall that you can go do something besides just shop. All right, jan, thanks. Always great to see you. Jan niffin with j. Rogers niffin world wide enterprises. Vtech maker of childrens gadgets says 5 million accounts were impacted by a data breach. The data that was breached contains names, emails, passwords, and also included information on kids including birth dates. The company says, though, the data base did not have credit card information or Social Security numbers. And sue, itc surges on reports of a potential sale and that is where we begin tonights market focus. The Electricity Transmission Company is looking into selling itself according to bloomberg. The firm is reportedly working with advisers. Shares rose more than 9 . They finished at 36. 88. Regulators reportedly preparing to block the planned merger between staples and office depot. According to the new york post, the federal trade commission may delay its decision on the deal once again because it is seeking more concessions from staples. Staples down nearly 2 today to 12. 07. Office depot 2 lower at 6. 59. And the Brazilian Mining Company vale said toxic materials were found in river water after a dam burst at a mine it coowns with bhp billiton. Multimilliondollar lawsuit against those companies. Bhp off 1 . Vale off 5 1 2 to 337. Ford will book a 600 million charge in the Fourth Quarter because of signing bonuses paid to Union Workers under its new contract. Still the automaker says the deal limits labor Cost Increases to 1. 5 . Shares were off by more than 1 , 214. 33. Morgan stanley announcing it will cut up to 25 of its fixed income jobs. Thats according to a report from bloomberg. The cuts will be across all regions and will come in the next few weeks. Shares rose 1 1 2 to 34. 30. And a mattress merger to tell you about. Mattress firm is buying the owner of sleepeze which is privately held in a deal worth about 780 million. The combination will give Mattress Firm over 1,000 stores. Shares rose initially after the close. During the regular session the stock was off almost 3 to 49. 36. Coming up, a lawsuit, an aging media mogul, and the future of two storied companies, cbs and viacom. A lawsuit against Sumner Redstone is raising questions about the future of his media empire. Hes the Controlling Shareholder of both cbs and viacom. As we reported last week, a former girlfriend has filed a lawsuit challenging his mental competence, saying the 92yearold can no longer make decisions for himself. Julia boorstin has more on whats at stake for the Media Companies redstone controls. Reporter exgirlfriend alleges hes incompetent. That could open up viacom and cbs to lawsuits for failing to disclose material information. And with viacom shares down 34 in the past year its under the microscope. Anytime youre sitting with losses on a stock leek weve seen with viacom over the past year, theres a lot of room for people to be angry, for people to be litigious. Reporter herser alleges redstone is unable to speak other than brief grunts and responses and is fixated on having sex and eating steak despite doctors telling him not to. Redstones attorney rejects her claims as riddled with lies. Submitting a response to the filing that quotes viacom ceo felline dolmon, calling redstone engaged and attentive. Now there are questions of what happens if hersers suit is found to have merit. Not only is redstone chairman of viacom and cbs, he controls both companies through national amusements. He owns 80 of the holding company, which owns 79. 6 of both cbs and viacoms voting shares. If redstone steps aside or passes away, seven trustees will take control of his shares. His daughter sherry, her son tyler, domon, along with a cbs director, and three longtime lawyers for the family are trustees. Analysts say without redstone at the helm those two media giants assets, viacom in particular, could be up for grabs. Previously we had a situation where sumner wouldnt sell or wouldnt be able to engage, and now you might have somebody like a liberty or like a time warner go in and try to start to engage for these assets. Theres a lot of people who are in the Network Business that would look at what viacom has and think that they could program it better and operate it more profitably. Reporter at viacom we could see a battle for the chairman role between domon and redstones daughter sherry. At cbs we expect Ceo Les Moonves to take on the role of chairman. For nightly Business Report im Julia Boorstin in los angele and late today a judge called the legal complaint not urgent and scheduled a january hearing. And finally tonight, heres a festive way to track inflation. Pnc Wealth Management released its annual christmas price index, which calculates how much it would cost to buy the gifts in the Christmas Carol the 12 days of christmas. So here are the items that are more expensive than last year. A partridge in a pear tree costs about 215. Thats a 3 1 2 increase. Two turtle doves, 290. A nearly 12 price hike. 10 lords aleaping costs just over 5,500 bucks, an increase of 3 . And the total of all gifts comes in at 334,000. The most expensive item, seven swans a swimming total cost 13,125, unchanged from last year but im not getting you seven swans. Go on amazon, buy it. All righty. Thats it for nightly Business Report im sue herera. We want to remind you this is the time of year your Public Television station seeks your support. Im Tyler Mathisen and we thank you for your support. Well see you back here tomorrow. Announcer explore new worlds and new ideas through programs like this, made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [applause and cheering] [applause and cheering]