that double digit return is stunning. now the main driver for the markets has been the fed stimulus. fed s been pumping billions per month into the economy all year. we learned a couple of weeks ago it s going to start pulling back on that. it hasn t spooked the market at all. the plan pulled back in stimulus shows the fed s got confidence that the economy can start to tand on its own and that is giving investors confidence too, reason we could be looking at the dow s 52nd record close of the year today. jim? all right. no question about it. they probably are due some exam passenger on wall street. not out of the question this time of year. alison kosik, thank you very much. we re about 11 hours away from the start of 2014 here in the u.s. the new year has already arrived in some parts of the world. last hour, bangkok, thailand ushered in 2014. fireworks exploded alongside a giant ferris wheel. it s a beautiful sight there. two hours ago, fireworks lit up
hello, i m jim accost ta in washington. wolf blitzer is off today. the obama administration confirms more than 2 million people have now enrolled in health care coverage under obamacare. that includes people who have signed up through the federal marketplace and the state-run exchanges. coverage begins tomorrow for people who enrolled by the december deadline. march 31st marks the deadline for individuals to purchase insurance or face a penalty. the surge in enrollment follows a disastrous rollout of the website in october. meanwhile, we re knocking on 2014 s door. with the new year comes new technology. you might see it at an airport near you. we re talking about robots that could end up replacing humans. tsa agents who check your boarding pass. of course, that begs the question, who is better at flagging at risk or risky passengers? such as terrorists? potential terrorists, man or machine? some airports are already experimenting with robots and our brian todd joins us now.
working to try to be able to figure out how to get access to technology. and what are apple and the nsa saying about this? i m sure they have something to say? the nsa is not commenting. apple released a statement this morning saying apple has never worked with the nsa to create a backdoor into any of our products, including the iphone. initially we ve been unaware of this alleged nsa program targeting our products. we care deeply about our customers privacy and security, jim. and it s interesting, evan, because i was at the white house the other day when the hi-tech firms were coming through, the ceos. a lot of folks were saying, most of them privately we re just as concerned about this as our customers. because a lot of people out there are hearing about these disclosures and saying wait a minute, maybe we can t do much about the nsa but we can direct our anger at these hi-tech companies. you know, the billions of dollars are the an stake here. you re talking about companies
educate yourself, know before you go. and, of course, experts always say make sure you wear a helmet and in addition to that inflatable backpack that you just saw in the piece, that esa device call the an avalung that allows to you breathe under the snow for up to 30 minutes, giving rescuers time to find you and dig you out. there s also something good to have on hand. you want to always check with the local avalanche center if you re going to ski off trail. ask them first about the conditions. jim? poppy harlow in new york, thanks very much. horse drawn carriages are an iconic part of new york city. but if the new mayor has his way, they could become a thing of the past. can you believe that? i ll tell you about it coming up next. a subaru.
put on the floor of the house a bill to fund the government to open it up without partisan strings attached, it would pass overwhelmingly. i think you know that s true. i think every member of congress knows it s true. and it reflects the simple fact that unfortunately, the speaker won t do that because he is responding to the demands of one faction of one party in one house of one branch of government. and everyone is paying the price of that decision. so that position of the president is pretty well-known at this point. so if he s not budging off of that what s the purpose of having the congressional leaders here? look, the president s said and he is true to his word that he would be having conversations with the leaders of the congress about the essential need to keep the government open or now in this case, to reopen the