On wall street today, investors bought up stocks on high hopes of deal after president obama said this afternoon a deal is in sight, and positive comments from Republican Leaders in the senate. Heres how the major averages closed on this last trading day of 2012. The dow surged 166 points, the nasdaq jumped about 60, and the s p rose almost 24 points. While wall street has already closed the books on 2012, washington still has a few hours to go before its new years day fiscal cliff deadline. Darren gersh has the latest. Reporter after a weekend of latenight negotiations with the Vice President , Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell said an agreement on the fiscal cliff was very, very close. Well continue to work on finding smarter ways to cut spending, but lets not let that hold up protecting americans from the tax hike that will take place in about 10 hours. Reporter the deal would raise the top tax rate for individuals making more than 400,000 and couples with more than 450,000 in income. Itemized deductions would be limited for individuals making more than 250,000 and couples making more than 300,000. The estate tax would rise to 40 . Emergency Unemployment Benefits would be extended for another year. The alternative minimum tax would be adjusted for inflation permanently. And, in an effort to boost the economy, Small Businesses would be eligible for another year of bonus depreciation when they buy equipment. The big hang up is what to do about the sequester 110 billion in automatic spending cuts in defense and domestic programs that begin at midnight. Democrats want to postpone the cuts for a year or more. Republicans for just a few months. I think there are some republicans who believe there is no other trigger that will force another full scale debate on spending. The president says taxincreases should. Cutting spenting next year. Ifif they think that is theformula for how we solve this thing they have another think coming. That is not how its going to work. We have to do this in a balanced and responsible way. And if we are serious about Debt Reduction then its going to be a matter of shared sacrifice. That outraged republicans that accused the republicans from moving the goalpost. The revenue that has beencampain on for now a year it is being used not to reduce deficit but to keep spending cogs that cuts that have been agreed to from not happening. Suessy it looks like a sourcethat told me they are negotiating right now to come up with a to 20 to 30 billion three need to move it back to two to three months and that seems to be going well. Talk us through the steps over the next couple of days. Lets assume we go over the cliff and there is a good chance of that. Can we assume that the democrats and represents republicans are close enough they are going to sign off in the next couple of days or has the dynamics changed. My new years resolution is tofix the cracks in my crystal ball. Glad to hear that. It will take a a lot. The sens 23,459 senate is coming together and they expect to have a vote by the time the ball drops or maybe just after. The house looks like its going to come back at 12 00 tomorrow. Thats the most difficult part. We are hearing that perhapsnancy pelosi may have to gleet get a lot of democratic votes to pass what whatever the central gnat Senate Passes tomorrow. If it doesnt come together tomorrow it will come together soon. Susie we are listening forweeks now for people at home listening to this drama. How serious is it if we do go over the cliff. What happens tomorrow and the day after. Its not tomorrow or the dayofafter if a deal is coming in the next days the markets may be fine and there wont be a big economickiceconomic impact. But if its dragging on to january it looks like the tax increases take effect and people see less money come into nare their paychecks. And is still potential for the fiscal cliff to do a lot of damage. Susie we are going to betalking about fiscal cliff for a long time darren you better goat that crystal ball in good shape. Im polishing it tonight. Susie thank you very muchdarren gersh our washington burp bureau chief. Still ahead the most iconicnew years eve set sill celebrations reporter still ahead, well take a look at the business behind the worlds most iconic new years eve celebration. Susie to the surprise of many investors, 2012 ended up being a fairly good year for the stock market. The dow rose over 7 , the nasdaq gained even more, up almost 16 , and the s p closed the year with a 13 gain. Erika miller takes a closer look at the forces driving stocks this year. Reporter many investors are asking themselves why the stock market did so well this year when the economy was so weak . The answer is the fed. You have to give them a good deal of the credit. They have had quantitative easing again and again. Bernanke has said he does not want us to sleep into that kind of economic coma that seemed to take over japan. Reporter and that support from the fed was enough to overcome worries about a weakening global economy, and a debt crisis in europe. But many small investors have missed out on the markets gains this year. On the whole, theyve taken money out of stocks, and put it into bonds. Small investors have become dubious of equities because essentially from 1999 until the beginning of this year, there was no return on equities. They feel theyre at a disadvantage to Institutional Investors and computerized trading. The economy has been lackluster. Reporter some of the most aggressive stock buyers have been Institutional Investors and hedge funds searching for ways to make money in a low Interest Rate environment. Many International Investors also bought us stocks seeing them as more attractive alternatives to investments in emerging markets and europe. Stocks won by default. It was the last remaining standing asset where you could get some dividend yield. Where you could get a little bit of Earnings Growth. And where Quality Companies could deliver you a higher return than just putting your money in cash or bonds. Reporter some of the credit for the rally also goes to u. S. Corporations. They bought back nearly 400 billion worth of their own shares this year. Thats less than last years total, but higher than the previous two years. Record dividend payouts have also helped stocks, because many investors reinvest their dividends. S p 500 firms paid out cash dividends of 281 billion this year, 17 higher than last year. But most experts dont think Retail Investors will have an appetite for stocks until the situation on main street more resembles wall street they look around and they say gee, my brotherinlaw is still out of work. And things arent going so well. Maybe i should save that money rather than investing it. Reporter erika miller n. B. R. , new york. Susie our market guest tonight expects stocks to do well in 2013. Hes sam stovall, chief equity strategist at s p capital i. Q. You heard about them talking about the deal and negotiations. Does that change your forecast for 2013. Well susie it confirms that ihave always thought that is congress could teach space shakespeare something about drama. The head winds have been withus for quite sometime. There is nothing new added to the equation its just when will the congress get its act together. And our belief is if they dont pass something tomorrow they will early in the new year. You have been predicting thea s p will be up 10 in the new year. Barring anymore drama for the fiscal cliff what is going to drive stocks higher. Most global economies willhave recorded their weakest quarter by 20 2012 and much of 2013 will be a recovery year. Also in the u. S. We are looking for 2point 2 growth and expanding in 2014. And in ant in an earnings perspective we saw the trough early this year and going into 2013 see a nine and a half percent increase in u. S. Earnings for the s p 500. That is encouraging becausethe earning you tally them all up when they all come out for the Fourth Quarter you are expecting them to be up to 3 and a half percent so nine and a half percent is a big jump. I can see why you are optimistic on stocks. Lets go over the sectors that you think could go well. You have selected three areas. Consumer discretionary stocks and consumer and healthcare. Tell us why. To continue with the story ofthe march coat in market in gent. We aregeneral wehave a three and a half percent discount. In terms of Consumer Discretionary and industrial we are in the favorable seasonal period i saul them call them the stocks do better. We are looking at relatively good Earnings Growth and from a technical persian perspective we believe the mope momentum still faveyors fave favourses the cycle. Lets look at mcdonald and nor nornorfolk southern and johnson and johnson. Why do you like these stocks is in a unified theme here. There is it. Each one of these companies has an above average track record of raising their earnings and give difficultdividends in the past three years. High quality stocks that are offering a dividend should not be avoided and they have recommendations by analysts. Mcdonalds here is a company with a increase in sales expect the for their value meals that could expand their market share. In terms of norfolk southern. They have added an investment in their knelt knelt knelt network and they have increased their capacity. And healthcare in a category that ask trading to the market. Johnson and johnson is a company that we would see would benefit from a recent acquisition and new product contributions. Lots of good information. Im going to have to leave it there. We are going to couple count on the you coming back in the new year. Before we leave you any disclosures to make about these stock recommendations . No disclosures i do not onlythem nor does s p. Happenhappy new year sam. Susie tonights word on the street alternative, as in alternative investments. Some investors want hard assets, like things you can hold in your hand. Heres the streets Gregg Greenberg with a look at investing in sports memorabilia. Stokes andstocks and bonds may be the Building Blocks of a diversified port feel yoportfolio. The wily willy mays and micky mantles they dont drop and they are higher in spice. Steiners is a sports collectible company. He built the company. You are in the business ofselling dirt. How much does dirt sell for. Dirt can sell from ten plucksto a couple of hundred bucks. We have football stadiums and im a big fantastic of it. Steiner has sold over 25 million of game used dirt and his goal is to sell 100 million. Investors home to see their collectibles rise in value because forgery is the industries dirty business. With all of the money printing in washington and inflation creeping up. Some say its smart to holding collectibles to your lineup to stay in the game. We need to gist distinguishbetween the hobbies and investments. And some of these can be rewarding particularly if we see higher inflation in the years to come. You can easily unload yourbat in the open knar market like you can for a stock or bond. There will be a healthy demand for the yankee slugger that built the house but now houses the dirt. Babe ruth went for record prices. He is the face of baseballand he is a name that stands up in time. Not to mention a good facefor your port port feel portfolio as well. John stocks would you mind signing this . Have you got a basketball . Susie on wall street traders popped open the champagne on hopes a fiscal cliff deal was imminent. Big board volume climbed to 730 million shares. Six stocks were up for each one that was down. Over on the nasdaq volume was more than twice as heavy at 1. 5 billion shares. On the sector front, we saw gains of at least 2 in technology, energy and materials related stocks. Financials were the Strongest Group this year, rising over 26 . Consumer discretionary stocks advanced over 20 as well. While the defensive Health Care Group added 15 . Those banking shares got an added boost today on word that banks could soon reach a 10 billion settlement with u. S. Regulators over foreclosure abuses. The biggest winner on word of a potential settlement, bank of america. Its shares added a quarter, to 11. 60. It was the biggest winner on the dow this year. Some positive analyst comments on facebook sent shares higher. B. M. O. Capital says its doubling its price target to 32 a share. It says facebook may benefit from a pick up in ad spending. Facebook added 0. 70 to 26. 60. It looks like apples mini ipad is a big hit in china. Apples stores both on the mainland and in hong kong are reportedly either out of stock or have tight supplies. Apple climbed nearly 4. 5 to close at 532. Some big changes over the weekend at zynga. The online game maker slashed 11 games from its library as part of its costcutting plans. Shares of zynga were up just 0. 03 to a little more than 2, well below their 10 i. P. O. Price from last december. Calmaine foods slipped nearly 10 after the egg producer reported a drop in prices and higher feed costs. Shares were down more than 4 to 40. Cliffs Natural Resource tacked on some decent gains on the back of some positive manufacturing data from china. Cliffs tacked on nearly 3 , or 8. 5 . And in the commodities corner oil and gold both posted some gains on expectations of a fiscal cliff deal in washington. Oil climbed a little more than a dollar to 91. 80, but Oil Prices Still logged their first annual loss in four years. For 2012, crudeoil prices fell more than 7 . Gold climbed nearly 20 to just above 16. 75 an ounce. For the whole year, gold finished higher by 7 . And finally four out of five of the most actively traded e. T. F. S rose on the day. But todays buying mood on wall street hit the ipath s p 500 vix e. T. F. It fell over 10 . And thats tonights market focus. Susie its not uncommon for companies to use celebrities and pop culture to market its products. But translating that into sales can be tricky. Tom hudson recently spoke to a top branding expert who knows how to strike the right note, when connecting with consumers. A branding and advertisingmedia company. Steve welcome to the program. You were the among the firstto introduce hiphop culture to corporate america. What opportunity lie in that bridge. Well i learned very earlyfrom running a Record Company that there was tremendous affinity amongst young adults and they would gather from different back grounds and graces and rewill i go religions and around music they would all come together. I felt it would be like a very Good Platform for fortune 500 companies to market their products. What greeting did you havewhen you tried to bridge that gap . Greeting . Well it was tough in the beginning, tom. You are basically trying to get a company of a Large Organization who was used to marketing a certain way to deal with a shipment. Shipment shift. A cultural shift. My biggest allies was when these ceos had teenagers in their household. The teenagers would be list ening to music or partaking in something that the parents didnt ugs and they ugs ugs understand and they would an affinity for. It was a lot of corporations that were suffering because they could not get the next generation to adapt and partake in their product offering. What is the opportunity outthere for a young he were con younger consumer for these not only Consumer Goods Companies and Financial Services companies that cuts across all industries. What is the opportunity . It was easy in the 70s and80s to use Network Television too speak to the large populous. But now you have everything stow so niche and broken up and the internet and social media its hard to grasp a audience and tell the same message. So using the understanding of pop culture and what are some of the cultural tenants that niece these young adults respond to is an opportunity for these brand to communicate their offering. What companies are seeing agood return on the this investment . One of our client is statefarm insurance. Its not only about using the music its understand being the senseibility of it. We took the jingle which was written by barry manilow. I didnt know that. You took that milk toasty low logo that everyone is familiar withdrewwiththrough out generations and did what . We couldnt tell tell contell porized. If you said that beginning jingle you would get service from the state farm agent. You can use older messagesand brand atribe attributes to make it popular. Its understandening the consumer and able to speak on their terms. Steve we appreciate the insight thanks for sharing it with us susie tomorrow on n. B. R. , the markets are closed for the new years holiday. So we bring you an encore presentation of made in america, its an n. B. R. Special edition looking at unique companies, big and small, building jobs and community. New yorks times square is best known for hosting the citys new years eve celebrations. Tonight, the countdown is on to 2013. Ruben ramirez braved the crowds for a behind the scenes look at the preparations. Reporter the new 2013 sign is up, the ball drop has been tested. The revelers are gathering. Its a celebration new york city style. Weve got neon trees, carly rae jepsen, taylor swift, jury from univison, the Million Dollar quartet. Reporter jeff straus is the president of countdown entertainment. The evenings festivities are part of a Publicprivate Partnership between his firm and the city of new york. Youve got our costs, youve got the cities costs, its a lot of money, but its also one of the biggest events in the world. The promotion that new york city gets from times square new years eve when the world is watching. Thats priceless. Reporter and, that means lots of eyeballs for marketers. The big sponsors tonight, nivea, toshiba, philips and the balls maker, waterford. First and foremost. This is a civic event and we needed partners who understood that the civic nature is the priority and if we could build there marketing goals into what is the tradition of the event then it works for everybody. Reporter tonights Star Attraction weighs in at nearly 12,000 pounds, is made up of nearly 27,000 cut crystal panels and is worth an estimated 1 million. But the celebration isnt just great exposure for the sponsors. After the Christmas Holiday people come to new york city to be part of this big event and they are going to be here having a great time and spending their dollars which helps all of us that live and work here everyday. Reporter about one Million People are expected to pack times square for tonights festivities and more than a billion people are expected to watch around the world. Ruben ramirez, n. B. R. , new york. Susie whatever you do, we hope you make it a safe celebration. Im susie gharib, from all of us here at nightly business report, happy new year. Well see you right back here tomorrow night. Captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org join us anytime at nbr. Com. There, youll find full episodes of the Program Complete show transcripts and all the market stats. Also follows us on our Facebook Page at bizrpt. And on twitter bizrpt