This year. Wrapping up a twoday policy meeting and speaking at a News Conference in washington, yellen insured investors the u. S. Economy is doing well enough for the fed to make further cuts but not Strong Enough to seek consistent Growth Without the Central Banks help. Investors loved hearing that, and stocks took off. The s p 500 index closed at a new record high of 19. 57, the dow, which was in the red before the fed announcement at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time shot up almost 100 points and the nasdaq rose to 25 points. Steve liesman was at that News Conference and has more on what yellen said and what it means for the economy. Reporter was it an upgrade or a downgrade . For the fed today and the u. S. Economy, it was actually a bit of both. The Federal Reserve upgraded the u. S. Economy in the Statement Today saying it was rebounding from the severe Winter Weather swoon. At the same time because of the economys contraction, in the first quarter, much stronger than expected, the fed had to downgrade its forecast for the full year, by 7 10ths of a percentage point to 2. 2 . Still janet yellen said she saw gathering strength in the economy. I think there are many good reasons why we should see a period of sustained growth in excess of the economys potential swrech potential. We have a highly accommodative policy, the fiscal drag, we have using credit conditions. We have households who are becoming more comfortable with their debt levels. We have raising home prices and rising equity prices and an improving global economy. At least in high estimation, too. I think all of those things ought to be working to produce above train growth and for a number of years which admittedly growth has come in at a disappointing level, weve still seen the labor market broadly improve, and i expect that to continue. Reporter at the same time, yellen said shes not worried about recent levels of higher inflation. She said it would not be an immediate factor to hike Interest Rates any time soon. The evidence weve seen abinstructing from the noise suggests that we are moving back gradually over time to our 2 objective, and i see things roughly in line with where we expected inflation to be. I think if you look at the projections that were submitted this time, you see very little change in inflation projections of the committee. Reporter the market liked what it heard, a little better growth. The fed gradually reducing the stimulus in the economy through tapering bond purchases and still on track to raise Interest Rates but not until next year and then only gradually. For nightly Business Report, im steve liesman. And david kelly joins us to talk more about the fed. David, welcome. Stock investors seem to see what janet yellen said today and did today as green light. Did you see it that way . It was a positive report on the economy and the economy is picking up through the Second Quarter of the year and will pick up, there is a chance it will grow above trend pace. Whey thought was interesting, longterm Interest Rates came down today and the bond market is complacent here. The fed, although, changes the forecast, it didnt change much what its doing in the short term but said the individual members said they thought shortterm Interest Rates would be higher in 2015 than 16 than they thought before and ought to push longterm Interest Rates up and didnt. There is something of a bubble in the bond market at this stage. There isnt a huge bubble, but there is a bubble there and Interest Rates are too low given the outlook. David, i want to follow what you said at the beginning of your answer to tylers question, this is a positive, good for investors. What is going on in the economy and what janet yellen said, if youre an american out of work and if youre someone who has a job but your paycheck isnt growing much or youre trying to sale your house. What does her comments and forecast mean for those people . The story in the economy is Getting Better on all fronts. What were seeing, not so much the economy strengthening but the labor market tightening. The unemployment rate, the last forecast has come down to 6. 3 . The Federal Reserve regards 5. 4 or 5. 3 with employment. Were within 1 of that and as unemployment comes down, thats helping some people with longterm unemployment and pushing up wages. Weve seen real wage growth, thats good and home prices, because were not building enough homes and the low economy and expanding, home prices continue to go up. This stuff is improving. It doesnt improve faster because of what janet yellen said but its on the mend. What would you have like to see or heard from the fed that you didnt, and how do you grade the yellen fed so far . Admittedly, its a short stint. Yeah, i would like to see a more determination to bring Interest Rates back to a normal level over the next few years. I think all this quantitative easing and very low Interest Rate environment is a double edg edged sword. It threatens inflation but it isnt really building the productive capacity of the economy and i want a normalization of Interest Rates more rapidly, which i think can get people back to more normal investing because this is still a very extraordinary policy for an economy that clearly is on amend. Everybody talks about Interest Rates, what is the timeline end of this year, next year, the year after, but what about where Interest Rates are going to be . Is the number . Are you expecting 4 , 5 , 6 higher . Can you put a number on it . By the end of this year, on a tenyear treasury bond will be between 3 and 3. 5 and by the end of next year closer to 4 . I think Interest Rates will go up, but one of the other things in this statements today is they have pushed down their longterm estimate and that really in the long run the American Economy will grow. Longterm Interest Rates in the end wont be like before. Thank you for being with us this evening. One big American Company seeing a pick up in business and doing well in the economy, federal express. Shares shot up to 6 , an alltime high after the Company Reported quarterly profits that more than doubled, mostly thanks to a boost in Online Shopping and shipping. Morgan brennan has more. Reporter fedex revenues are up by shipments by freight and ground grew the most powered largely by Online Shopping. Were seeing growth on the e commerce side, so a lot of business from amazon and other players on the e commerce side thats driving the domestic side of the business and the International Side is picking up as the economy is growing steam. Reporter fedex thinks business will be better in 2015. Shipping volumes are increasing as the economy continues to improve and consumers spend more and starting in january, right after the holidays, its introducing a price plan for ground packages, charging according to box size and not just weight. Yesterday ups announce add similar plan and this was a hot top pick on the earnings call. The new pricing structure will drive revenue and increase margins for fedex. The company has instituted a dimensional weight pricing scream which is incentives to use smaller boxes because they will get charged if its a small item in a big box. As they get shippers to reduce the size, they will get more space in trucks and planes and thats good for everyone. Reporter in other words, fedex could see the best return not from higher prices but from helping customers like amazon and other e commerce sites, package shipments for efficiently but there is one wild card ahead for fedex. Fuel prices. Fedex bullish 2015 outlook doesnt take that into account, despite the fact recent events in iraq pushed the price of crude oil higher. Fuel is uncertain. The company assumes flat fuel every year. We cant predict where the fuel prices would go. Spiking prices would be a head wind. Investors were cheered by the numbers sending shares to an alltime high earlier today. For nightly Business Report, im morgan brennan. Switching to the crisis in iraq where sunni muslim insurgent are battling with Iraqi Government forces for control of an oil refinery. The target of militia groups, exxon mobile carried out what it called a major evacuation of workers from iraq while british bp evacuated about 1 5th of its workers and earlier today, president obama met with a Bipartisan Group discussing possible u. S. Military options in iraq, air strikes, drone attacks and u. S. Special forces to help train iraqi troops. The violence worsens as Iraqi Security forces battle sunni militants. More from northern iraq. Reporter iraqs largest refinery, the scene of heavy fighting today. Video clips posted on the social media website purported to show smoke rising from the instillation after the rebel swept into the facility this morning. Trouble at the refinery, one of the causes of these, long lines for gasoline, hundreds and hundreds of cars throughout iraqs region. Were supposed to live in the country of oil and gas, and suddenly, we learn yesterday there is no fuel. Reporter and still, the islam make militants press on. Were here in northern iraq, home to an enormous amount of infa talk tour, one of the largest three oil fields and large natural gas facility. Were told fighting is happening several kilometers down the road between the military thats had to take over this city because the Iraqi Military just appea d appeared. They are fighting islamic militants. If the militants could take over, it could be devastating to the Oil Infrastructure here in the north part of the country. The governor is in charge of trying to keep his province safe. He says the slide into anarchy isnt caused soully by extremists. Iraqs problems are much deeper. Difference is between shiites and sunnis, its not just difference, its very deep hatred, actually. I mean, cant any longer believe people say well, thats not true. Its a group of fanatics and all that. Its not. Reporter governor kareem lived in exile in the United States for decades where he was a successful neurosurgeon in the dc area. He was a resident at George Washington university in 19 81 and a Junior Member of the team of the recovery. He returned to his homeland after the fall of saddam huss n hussein. After the dictator is gone, he has too many powers. Here i cannot appoint a police officer, a local police officer, it has to be from baghdad. Fy want to fire him because he is not doing his work or her work, baghdad has to agree on it. And you cannot run a country like this. Reporter the governor, like many, believes strong federal is m could save iraq, that means a lot more power to the regions within it and a lot less power to the Central Government of baghdad. For nightly Business Report, michelle cabrera, northern iraq. West texas intermediate fell to 105. 97 while brant crude was up to 114 a change and there was good news regarding Energy Production in the u. S. Nk north dakota is producing 1 Million Barrels of crude every day thanks to the oil found in the shale formation in the western part of the state. Hold the phone, why is amazon a leader in e commerce jumping feet first into the very, very competitive smart phone market. Two senators have proposed raising the federal gasoline tax for the first time in more than 20 years to help congress pay for highway and transit repairs. Chris murphy of connecticut and bob kosher of tennessee would like to raise the 18. 4 cents a gallon federal gas tax along with the 24. 4 cents a gallon tax on diesel fuel by 12 cents each over the next two years. Also in washington today, lawmakers had a tough time believing testimony from the ceo of General Motors about how shes changing the auto makers Corporate Culture in response to the recall of millions of def t defective cars. Shares of gm ended a fraction lower today. Phil lebeau has the latest on g ms own investigation into the ignition switch recall. Reporter back on capitol hill to answer questions about faulty ignition switches and the recall of 2. 6 million cars, g ms Ceo Mary Barra maintained her company is changing. This is not another business challenge. This is a tragic problem that should never have happened and must never happen again. Reporter for barra, there were few moments where she was on the hot seat but time and again they are skeptical she can remark the Corporate Culture, to focus first on safety. Why the foot dragging . Is this typical of g ms investigation sbointo a product concern and how do you intend to change this . We have it the way were working through recalls today. We change that process. Its expedited and the most senior levels of the company are involved and i dont want to do recalls, well do what is right for customers and demonstrating it today. Reporter gm says 13 people were killed in 54 ceaccidents. While the auto maker is creating a program to compensate victims, friends and families say gm as a whole should Face Criminal Charges for the recall scandal. I was convicted of a felony when gm was the true criminal. I know accountability will not bring amber back but accountability will give the future amber a chance. Reporter it came after gm recalled 3. 1 million cars to fix keys that could slip and leave cars without power, similar to the cobalt ignition switch recall. More than 20 million vehicles this year, the Company Sales in the u. S. Have actually increased in 2014, and gm stock has held relatively steady since the recall scandal started. From a recall perspective, investors are relatively immune, it appears the stock has been less volatile with respect to each subsequent recall headline over the past few weeks. Reporter for mary barra, that this hay not be the last time she testifies on capitol hill. By then, General Motors will have a Compensation Program in place and will have a better sense how much the auto maker expects to pay victims of the faulty ignition switches. Phil lebeau, nightly Business Report, washington. In the meantime, General Motors got slapped with a 10 billiondollar lawsuit from car and truck owners who say they should be compensated for the lost resale value of their vehicles after the auto maker recalled nearly 20 million cars this year. General motors may not be the only auto maker with ignition switch problems. Federal investigators are now looking into reports of defective ignition switches in some chrysler vehicles. They are focussing on the key moving out of the run position and disabling air bags after contact with the drivers knee. It includes the 2005, 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2006, 2007 Jeep Commander and Dodge Journey cross overers from 2008 through 2010. A takeover offer and that is where we begin tonights market focus. The latest price is 53 billion in total the come neen is offering shareholders 72 cla 72 cash and 8. 3 for each allergan share. The botox maker says the board will review the charge change. Unless extended, shares down slightly with 118. 43 and allergan rose. Shares of conagra tumbled. The maker of hunts tomato ketchup says it will lower sales and weak profits in private brands group. The stock was down more than 7 , it closed at 30. 47 and hertz might be looking to team up with uber. The Car Rental Company wants to broaden its business and could allow its cars to be rented using uber. A controversial startup with a smart phone application. The buzz drove shares of hertz up almost 5 to 28. 33. Some of citi groups biggest investors want the bank to go to court rather than pay as much as 10 billion to settle an investigati investigation accordtology a report in the financial times. It is facing charges that it cheated investors by selling risky Mortgage Backed securities. Citi shares up a fraction. Shares of air products and chemicals surged after the Company Named a new ceo. The Industrial Gas producer is activist investor bill ackman is holding the ceo to take the top job. The stock closed at an alltime high up 7. 5 to 130. 72. Shares of amazon. Com moved higher today, up nearly 3 after the nations Largest Online retailer unveiled the first ever amazon branded smart phone. The big question, what is amazon after with this new product. Josh lipton has more. He doesnt shy away from a fight and today in seattle, amazon ceo picked a big one as he announced that the e commerce giant is pushing hard into