Issues. Ill ask you to complain after i go through my ill let you explain. At least understand these are complicated questions. Let me at least explain them otherwise theres no point in shooting them all at me and i dont have the ability to respond. Reporter mnuchin also said something were not accustomed to treasury secretaries say when he was asked about the u. S. Dollar. He didnt give that reflective explanation that the United States prefers a strong dollar instead he offered a more nuanced answer on that and several other points. The u. S. Currency has been the most attractive currency to be in for very, very long periods of time. I think that its important and i think you see that now more than ever. I think when the president elect made a comment on the u. S. Currency it wasnt meant to be a longterm comment. It was meant to be that perhaps in the shortterm the strength in the currency as result of free markets and people wanting to invest here may have had some negative impacts. I will commit to absolutely work with the congress, the house and the senate so that we dont get to the last minute and run out of money. Is that a yes, passing a clean debt ceiling . I dont know your technical issue of what a clean debt ceiling let me be clear, i would like us to raise the debt ceiling sooner rather than later. Thats clear enough for me. Reporter i had a chance to talk to mnuchin after the hearing. He said it was terrific to be in front of the committee. I also talked to orrin hatch. He said he thinks he will be confirmed. They think that could happen as soon as next week at the earliest. They feel confident the republicans do they have the votes. For nightly Business Report im a mon javers on capitol hill. In another hearing room rick perry faced some tough questions on issues like Climate Change and budget cuts and Nuclear Waste disposals. The serious confirmation hearing had some moments of levity. The third one, i cant, sorry. Perry forgot the department of energy in a 2011 debate and triggered a thousand comedy routines. No one would have imagined hed have fay confirmation one day to become a secretary. He had one today and it went smoothly. The former Texas Governor showed the political skills that got him elected to three full terms. He disarmed critics but reannouncing his past smoert and disavowed the trumps Transition Team to identify energy staffers. Perry said he believes Climate Change is real and partially caused by human activity. He reduced Carbon Emissions in texas by supporting natural gas and wind energy. Im asking if you agree with the Scientific Community that Climate Change is a crisis and we need to transform our energy system. And senator, i will respond that i think that having an academic discussion, whether its with scientists or whether its with you is an interesting exercise, but do i have a record of effecting the climate in the world and in this country and the answer is yes. Reporter he suggested he would defend the department from severe budget cuts that were floated in a news story shortly before his hearing. He also showed a bit of humor that helped break the tension that some of president elect trumps have faced. Thank you so much for coming into my office. Did you enjoy meeting me . I hope you were as much fun on that dieis as you were on your couch. Well may i rephrase that, sir . Please. Please. Please. Oh, my lord. Oh, my lord. Well, i think we found our saturday night live sound byte. The goal of course is winning confirmation votes in both the Energy Committee and on the full senate floor. At the moment there are no obstacles in site. Nor nightly Business Report im john harwood in washington. President elect donald trump has also promised to roll back regulations in the Energy Industry in his first 100 days. This in an effort to help businesses grow and create jobs. Critics say looser regulations could be hard to implement. Jackie deank lus is in marmora, new jersey. Reporter Donald Trumps ad to lift the Obama Clinton roadblocks and allow vital Infrastructure Project like the Keystone Pipeline to move forward on his first day. While federal government has jurisdiction over a few big projects like the keystone because it crosses International Borders and the Dakota Access pipeline because it crosses federal lane, most Infrastructure Projects are local and residents have strong opinions about them. Look at this electricity plant. It needs a pipeline attachment but the root of the proposed attachment would cross over environmentally sensitive lands in new jersey. Propoe nents of the project say it would create vital jobs, opponents including four exnew jersey governors, the build out is potentially hazardous. This power plant will hurt jobs longterm because its a big polluting plant right across from ocean city which is one of our major tourist area. It impacts fisheries. It kills millions of fish a year in super heated water impacts the fisheries in the bay. By moving towards offshore winds and those jobs we can create many better jobs that are lasting by basically going backward with the fossil fuel of the past. But because of the tension surrounding it a public hearing will be held on january 24th to further investigate. In a letter supporting the project the new Jersey Chamber of commerce said the pipeline will provide the electric generation plant with the natural gas supply it needs to stop burning coal and become one of the cleanest power plants in the state. But even if they get all those approved that wont get this pipeline built. For nightly Business Report, im jackie deank list in marmora, new jersey. On the eve of the president ial inauguration the dow closed lower for the fifth straight day as treasuries slumped and the dollar weakened. Financials were lower in part because the no, maam will any for treasury secretary mr. Mnuchin did not advocate throwing out tough regulations during his Senate Confirmation hearing. The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 72 points to 19732. Nasdaq lost 15, the s p lost eight. Dow component ibm reported his 19th consecutive quarter of falling revenue. Big blue has been trying to transform itself by relying less on its older business units. Mortgage latest quarter earning more than 5 a share helped by demand for its cloud busy. The revenue was off nearly 1 . And the stock was volatile in after hours trading. Deed dra bosa has the one big take away from big blue. Ibm tries to pivot itself a modern business era as some prosecute hoping and that brought shares of big blue lower in after hours trade after initial pop right after earnings. Its important strategicive perative units which include watson, Data Analytics and cloud that makes up more than 40 of total revenue. However its not yet enough to ghettotal revenue growing for ibm. Ibm notched the 19th consecutive quarter of declining revenue though it continues to reward shareholders. The company says that in fiscal year 2016 it returned almost 9 billion to shareholders in dividends and growth share repurchases. For nightly Business Report, im deed dra bosa in san francisco. February dow kpoepts American Express saw its profit fau. The credit card increased marketing to better keep with rivals. It did earn 0. 91 a shower. Revenues off 4 coming in at about 8 billion. The stock which has rallied since the election fell initially in afterhours trading today. Drama on the rails the ceo of one rr company is leaving the station but in a twist hes stepping down so he can shake up a rooil company with the help of an activist. That railroad is csx which saw its share soars. Morgan brennan has more on this unusual turn of event. Reporter call it a railroad shakeup. Spurred a big rally in rail stocks today. Harrison a highly regarded railroader is stepping down forfeiting 89 million to, quote, pursue opportunities involving other class 1 railroads. He says hes in talks to teamup with halul. After parting ways with bill ackmans perching square last year. Harrisons to lead a turn around as that company. The two men are setting their sites on csx. Hunters has a long history of improvement at every railroad hes been. His last target would be an Eastern Railroad and csx looks like its the one. Theres a big opportunity for him to get into that company and improve margins for them. I think thats whats going on with the stock today. Reporter in response to all the talks, csx saying it will quote, active evaluate his views and look forward to discussing his growth strategies. But wall street may already be pricing a Management Change into the stock. Sending the share price to new highs and feeling renewed hope from a merger. I do believe that that is optionality that we might see play out over the course of several years. I think the near term opportunities improve the margins and the operations of the business but over the course of the next several years we could be talking about mergers more. And the industry may already be bracing for that possibility. Incoming canada pacific ceo told the Investment Community just last night that he believes consolidation will occur in the industry, possibly as soon as next year. For nightly Business Report im morgan brennan. Union pacific saw its profits rise thanks to an increase in energy prices. Favorable like its rifles though Union Pacific was challenged by a decline in coal freight has utilities switched to cheaper natural gas. Shares of Union Pacific rose more than 2 on the day. Still ahead well take a trip to the u. S. mexico border. Im jane wells in americas southern border where theres already a wall. Border patrol says plenty of people still jump it but the new president of the United States wants to build a bigger and better wall to keep people there over there. Thats coming up on nightly Business Report. The department of defense is reportedly nearing a 9 billion deal with lockheed martin. Negotiations have been focused on bringing down the cost of the f 35 fighter jets below 100 million for the first time. The f35 is the costliest military programs history in and has been criticized by the president elect. Donald trump made his last cabinet pick former georgia governor sonny perdue has been nominated to led the department of agriculture. Mr. Perdue earned a doctorate in vet tri nairry medicine. It was perhaps the most iconic campaign promises. We are going to build a great border wall. But that promise may now turn into reality and its prompting cheers and engineers along the u. S. Mexico border. Heres jane wells. Bob malpen is focusing on the end of america. No really. Hes patrolling the physical end of the United States. Its southern border where malpins ranch is just a stones throw away mexico where a wall and a fence have not stopped tres passers. Malpin has spent an estimated 20,000 over the years repairing damage to his party caused by illittle immigration. Theres also this imagine, shoppers from mexico spending money in american stores. People who have legally crossed the border to buy better quality goods without tariffs. Upwards of about 95 comes from mexico. Reporter sales are off double digits since the election in large part to the devalued pay sow which some blame on the incoming president. Cars are lined up all day to come through the crossing. Every year more than 27 Million People cross over to ca lexco and west of here its an even bigger deal where trade between san diego and tijuana is a multibillion dollar industry. These are mexicans coming in. Theyre coming across the border with money. Theyre buying goods here. Theyre money is employing people here in the u. S. Whats the problem . Recognizes that immigration is a problem but he says building a wall is not the answer. Rancher bob malpin could not disagree more. He wants an even better wall to slow down traffic and he will continue his own Border Patrol calling authorities when he finds a trespasser. As an american im protecting the country as best i can on my property and the way i feel if you dont think thats right why dont you go live in cuba. Jb hunt posts arrive in profit and revenue and thats where we begin tonights focus. The Trucking Transport company and dedicated Contract Services divisions helped results. The company benefited from a nearly 10 million aftertax benefit but the earnings missed wall street expectations and hunts fail more than 3 to close at 94. 36. Bank of new york melon saw its profit rise. The bank also posted a gain in revenue but a strong dollar and outflows resulted in a drop in assets under management. Shares fell 3 to 44. 84. Panasonic says it wants to expand its partnership with tesla by working with the automaker to panasonic currently makes batteries for some of teslas cars. Separately the u. S. Government closed an investigation into a death involving teslas auto pilot feature and said it will not issue a recall. Tesla shares rose 2 to 243. 76. Apple supplier sky works reported earnings and revenue after the bell that beat expectations. They gave up beat guidance for the Current Quarter and said it will launch a new 5 million Share Buyback programs. Shares initially rose but fell. Shares of rent acenter continued to get hammer today after the Furniture Rental company warned late yesterday of disappointing quarterly results. The company says it expects to post lower in sales. Rent acenter is expected to report results in february, the shares plunged 18 to 8. 31. New Home Construction increased more than expected in december. According to the Commerce DepartmentHousing Starts rose by more than 11 . Of that increase came from a rebound in multilevel units. Big shift in mortgage lending is raising concerns about one area of the housing market. The wall street journal bonds back some nonback lenders by quicken loans and others who lend to borrowers whoant get loans have topped a trillion dollars. They did so for the first time in november. Ralph, welcome, good to see you. Give us background here. It used to be that you went to a savings and loan or conventional bank to get a lone. There are knots of nontraditional lenders in the marketplace how big are they in the percentage of mortgages written . They are certainly playing a more Important Role in lending. If you look at just say fha lending for example, their share is grown from about 9 or 10 from mortgage originations to about 60 over the last four or five years. They are starting to play a much more Important Role in lending. On top of that some of these nontraditional lenders are offering products that are more attuned to younger generations. So for example, sofi does everything on line. So they are starting to cater to different generations and younger households that cant afford a big down payment theyre increasingly getting into fha loans. We mentioned that these nonbank banks the amount outstanding cumula actively topped a trillion dollar for the first time ever. The worry is that were going to see a replay of the housing crisis of a few years back but you dont seem to think that is a possibility or problemability perhaps . Truly were not too worried about it, at least not yet. Ill tell you why. Theres really two reasons were not worried about that. Number one, the general economy is very healthy, jobs are growing solid little and so are wages and those are two conditions that really arent ripe for increasing defaults. So in that first case the economys doing well, dont have to worry about defaults just yet. Number two even if the faults were to start rising any fha loans borrowers have to pay mortgage insurance and that goes into a fund held by the fha that is used to ensure against defaults. Theres not much reason to think of there being a problem just yet, but that said, if defaults really start to rise and they get greater than the capitalization that fannie fha has in their insurance pool which is about 27 will billion will then we might start seeing a need for taxpayer bailouts. We think thats unlikely and very, very far down the road if its going to happen at all. We leave it there. Good explanation. Coming up the costly mistake both investors and companies can make. There is a new study out that shows that Small Businesses are slow to hire. In fact, just 20 of Small Businesses added more than two fulltime positions in a year. The study conducted by j. P. Morgan chase analyzed 2015 payroll records for more than 45,000 small firms and highlights the challenges that these employers are facing. You might be concerned about threats from outside your company like hackers but what about your own employees or the person you vest your money with. Companies do not do their Due Diligence and that can be a costly mistake. You need to do reference checks and often times the hr departments at companies dont have the manpower to do it and they say, we want the background check done yesterday. Reporter and its that pressure t