SUSIE GHARIB: It's the final countdown to Christmas, but retailers are seeing more red than green this holiday season. The last-minute buying frenzy failed to materialize despite all the special deals and mark downs. Erika Miller reports on why Americans are spending cautiously.

ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: There were green wreaths and green trees, but not much green at the nation's cash registers this holiday season. Many merchants are reporting the weakest holiday sales in at least a decade. Even all-out shopping marathons and heavy markdowns were not enough to rescue Christmas at many chains. Hoping to snag procrastinators, K-Mart (NYSE:KM) is keeping its doors open 110 straight hours through Christmas Eve.

KELLIE MARSALLI, STORE MANAGER, K-MART: We've had shoppers around the clock. We've had shoppers overnight, and we've had some good foot traffic.

MILLER: But K-Mart is expecting just a flat to 2 percent increase in sales over last year. Numbers are expected to be slightly better at Wal*Mart (NYSE:WMT) and J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP). But Federated (NYSE:FD), the parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, says sales will be down as much as 14 percent from last year. Forecasts for the industry as a whole range from slight decreases to about 2.5 percent gains over last year. Many shoppers kept tight hold on their wallets because of worries about job security.

DANA TELSEY, RETAIL ANALYST, BEAR STEARNS: With rising unemployment and lower consumer confidence, people don't feel like spending for the holidays this year as much as they did last year. If people are concerned about job security going into 2002, they're going to be much more cautious about their holiday spending.

MILLER: In addition, unseasonably warm weather slowed sales of coats and other winter merchandise, and a surge in auto sales driven by zero percent financing may have hurt sales of other products, but there were some bright spots.

MARSALLI: The items that we're selling are a lot of the items that you hear in the industry that are the trend items right now, a lot of household goods, electronics, comfort.

MILLER: On the flip side, luxury goods were a major disappointment, as were clothing sales.

TELSEY: Apparel was a tough category, given that the weather has been warmer all winter long. And there's lots of sweaters and outerwear for sale out there right now.

MILLER: Deep discounting this holiday is likely to put significant pressure on the bottom lines at many chains. Experts predict most retailers will see profits decline anywhere from 5 to 10 percent for the season. Erika Miller, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," New York.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/24/01: Corporate Bankruptcies On The Verge Of Becoming An Epidemic

JEFF YASTINE: This is shaping up to be one of the worst years ever for corporate bankruptcies. So far more than 230 public companies have filed for bankruptcy protection. That's a 30 percent rise over last year. And as Diane Eastabrook reports, there is concern that number will continue to climb well into next year.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: On December 2, Enron Corporation (NYSE:ENE) became one of the largest companies to file for bankruptcy in US history. It joined a who's-who list of corporate bankruptcies for 2001. The list includes Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG), Federal-Mogul (NYSE:FMO), Comdisco (NYSE:CDO), Bethlehem Steel (NYSE:BS), Sunbeam (NYSE:SOC), and Webvan (NASDAQ:WBVN). The reasons vary why so many firms wound up in bankruptcy court this year. For dot-coms, it was primarily their failure to ever become profitable. For steel companies it was too much foreign competition. And for others it was a troubled US economy coupled with too much debt. Industry watchers fear the current rise in business bankruptcies is far from over.

SAMUEL GERDANO, EXEC. DIR. AMERICAN BANKRUPTCY INST.: There's been over-expansion in a number of sectors, over- capacity, if you will. The falloff somewhat in consumer spending, consumer confidence effects industries such as retail.

EASTABROOK: Crisis mangers who help distressed companies reorganize say their jobs are tougher in this current bankruptcy cycle for a couple of reasons. They say some firms have far too much debt. Others have massive operational problems that were created through mergers. Experts fear getting those firms through bankruptcy reorganization may take more time than in past cycles and could result in very different companies.

BETTINA WHYTE, PRINCIPAL, JAY ALIX & ASSOCIATES: If you're in a troubled industry especially, you cannot continue to do business as you always have. Working harder is not going to get you where you need to be. You have got to completely redesign who you are and what you are going to be.

EASTABROOK: Attorneys say investors could be the real losers in this current bankruptcy cycle. They say if a company is reorganizing, its stock usually isn't worth much. And if a company is liquidating, equity investors are last in line to receive anything. But attorney Bob Fishman says occasionally there are exceptions.

ROBERT FISHMAN, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: If you have large institutional shareholders who have the leverage to keep themselves in the hunt for money. Now the public shareholders do get to come along for the ride and will be treated similarly.

EASTABROOK: Bankruptcy cycles typically run about three years, and industry watchers say this current cycle is nearing the end of its second year. But they caution this cycle could run longer if the war on terrorism makes it more difficult for the US to emerge from the current economic recession. Diane Eastabrook, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," Chicago.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/24/01: Why New Corporate Investors Are Training Their Sites On Amtrak

SUSIE GHARIB: The future of Amtrak is under scrutiny on Capitol Hill. On February 4, the "Amtrak Reform Council" will give Congress a blueprint for the railway's reorganization. Now one possible recommendation: breaking it up and letting private companies run it. Stephen Aug takes a look at some of the firms that might be interested in running a piece of Amtrak.

STEPHEN AUG, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Ever since the end of World War II, American railroad officials have said they could not make money on passengers. By the time they handed off passenger trains to Amtrak in 1971, the railroads were losing about half a billion dollars a year. Amtrak, which was supposed to run passenger trains at a profit, has proven it couldn't make money either. Now, its government regulator, the Amtrak Reform Council, is making plans to restructure it, and Congress faces the question of whether to break it up. Surprisingly, a few private companies may be willing to run at least parts of Amtrak, like Connex, a unit of the huge French conglomerate Vivendi (NYSE:V), the largest provider of public transportation in the world. But it's interested only in its core business.

JAMES STOETZEL, VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTRACT OPERATIONS, CONNEX: The commuter operations and the regional services, which in this country by and large are state-supported services. Now the commuter contracts, many of them, are already competitively bid and the state-supported services can be. And those are the two areas where we're really focusing our attention.

AUG: Herzog Transit Services, which already runs short-haul trains in Florida, Texas, and California, may also be a competitor. Herzog says it won all three contracts by outbidding Amtrak on the basis of both price and service. Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC), the huge Eastern freight railroad system, has had internal discussions about taking over parts of Amtrak. It and other big railroads already operate some commuter services, and they'd probably look at any Amtrak train on which they could make money. And that's the hitch outside of Japan, where the railroads carry a colossal eight billion passengers a year, no major passenger service in the world makes money. Lou Thompson, a railways adviser, says the only way passenger train operators make a profit is if they get government subsidies.

LOU THOMPSON, RAILWAYS ADVISER, WORLD BANK: The model for that that's emerging both in Europe and in Latin America is that the private sector competes for minimum subsidy, rather than maximum payment to the government, and then you get exactly the same result as if it were a privately operated corporation.

AUG: In other words, the railroad operator that offers the best service at the lowest cost to the government wins the contract. Thompson says the company then makes its money by being efficient and encouraging more people to ride the trains, like in the United Kingdom.

THOMPSON: Immediately after the concessioning, the quality and the timeliness of the service actually improved rather dramatically. And by late 2000, the British railways were carrying more passengers than they had carried since 1947.

AUG: But what about long-distance, the trains that wind through some of the nation's most scenic areas, offering passengers what amounts to a land cruise?

THOMPSON: Long-distance overnight passenger trains with sleepers and diners are very difficult to operate based on the fares that the passengers pay. Some of them are operated as cruiser trains, but generally the rest lose money.

AUG: At Amtrak, long some distance loses big money. In at least one case more than $330 on each passenger. Will anybody be willing to run those trains? As Connex's Stoetzel put it:

STOETZEL: That's really not our core business. We don't do that. Clearly, we'll watch the whole process as it unfolds and see just what opportunities come up, what competitive bid opportunities come up, but again, that's not our core business.

AUG: Sometime in the next few months, Congress will face the question whether the country really needs a subsidized nationwide passenger service, and if so, who should run it. The trend clearly is toward private companies running subsidized service. Think about it this way, in 1990, every passenger railroad in the Americas was government owned and operated. Today only three are: Amtrak; Via Rail Canada, and the National Railways of Cuba. Stephen Aug, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," Washington.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/24/01: Commentary: The True Value of Human Capital

JEFF YASTINE: Tonight's commentator says when it comes to wealth, human capital is what makes the difference. Here's Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University.

WALTER WILLIAMS, COMMENTARY: Our country is rich beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors. Part of that richness is seen in our abundant physical assets like buildings, homes, airplanes, cars, infrastructure, and you name it. Those assets pale in importance to our richest asset, human capital. Human capital is simply the skills and education held by our people. Go anywhere in the world and you'll see that the wealth and resiliency of a people depend on human capital. When companies have to employ English and math teachers to teach even college graduates how to write a memo or perform simple computations, that is a message saying there's a threat to our human capital base. The National Assessment of Educational Progress recently reported that nearly a third of the nation's fourth-graders can't read. For some population groups, the figure is as high as 63 percent. This is devastating. If one can't read and write by the time he's nine, he'll probably never catch up. What can be done? Surely, it's not more money. We've been doing that, and academic excellence has been in steep decline. I propose educational vouchers as a solution. That way parents can fire failing schools. That's precisely what we do if we have money invested in a poorly performing company. We fire it and put our money elsewhere.

I'm Walter Williams.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/24/01: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

JEFF YASTINE: A slow day for stocks, as you can imagine, with a trading session that ended at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, and most traders out for the holiday. Nevertheless, the blue chips made an effort to climb higher, but gave it all back by the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average starting off on a positive note, picking up where it left off late Friday, bouncing off the 10,000 level and gaining about 20 points in that first half hour of trading. On the big board, advancers held a slight lead on declining by a 6 to 5 margin on volume of about 1/5 of Friday's level. Still the Dow managed to squeeze into late morning. The NASDAQ Composite, though, weakened as the short trading session wore on. Trading in the big cap tech stocks was anemic to say the least. The main movers of the day were issues related to security and bomb detection technology spurred on by that shoe-bomber airplane that occurred over the weekend. The Dow didn't fare much better in the last part of the session, giving back its earlier gains and going on to close unchanged at 10,035. And the NASDAQ not doing - actually, doing a little worse, slipped about 1 1/3 points, settling at 1944 on the day

Volume today roughly a quarter of Friday's level.

And Transports edging up a fraction.

Utilities rising a little more than 2 points.

The Closing Tick bullish at +307.

And the broader market posting small losses. The S&P 500, 100, MiCap 400 actually made a gain today.

And the CRB gaining just a fraction as well.

The big board composite edging a fraction higher.

We see the Value Line and the Russell2000 each posting fractional gains.

And the Wilshire 5000 up nearly 4 points on the day.

Bonds also had a quiet day, but did close lower in an abbreviated trading session which ended early, about 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. The bond market showed little reaction from the weekend's shoe-bomber incident. Even Argentina's announcement that it is suspending payment on its 132 billion in dollar-denominated debt had virtually zero impact. Those few traders at work said the market had been anticipating such that announcement for some time. So most of today's activity was attributed to more end-of-the-year positioning activity by institutions.

Corporate and tax-free issues finished lower, and so did Treasuries.

The 5-year note dropping 5/32.

The 10-year note down 13/32.

And the 30-year down 21/32, the yield at 5.49 percent.

Finally the Lehman Brothers long bond index fell nearly 10 points.

Well, that news had a positive effect on some of the oils and oil service stocks. We'll see those in a moment. Meanwhile, the Dow going on to close unchanged today.

There are 543 more issues up than down, 94 issues setting new yearly highs versus only 26 new lows.

Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP) climbing $0.76. The drugmaker's follow-up allergy medicine Clarinex finally winning FDA approval. But the company could face fines of up to $500 million from manufacturing problems which caused the drug's delay.

EMC (NYSE:EMC) falling $0.48.

Solectron (NYSE:SLR) gaining $0.27.

Lucent (NYSE:LU) edged up $0.08 on the day.

Cendant (NYSE:CD) falling $0.61.

AT&T (NYSE:T) holding steady. Last week, the company, of course, securing a deal to sell its broadband assets to Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSK).

AOL Time Warner (NYSE:AOL) slipping $0.52.

Piedmont Natural (NYSE:PNY) gaining $0.25. Spokesmen characterized the activity as a dividend play. A number of institutions swapping stock for tax purposes.

AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE) did $0.09.

Calpine (NYSE:CPN) rising $0.50.

Among the Widely Helds, AMR (NYSE:AMR) slipping $0.70, down after the weekend's shoe-bomber incident. Delta (NYSE:DAL) and United (NYSE:UAL) were both 3 percent as well, today.

And here's an oil service stock, BJ Services (NYSE:BJS) rising $0.64, of course, on optimism about that OPEC oil cut in production.

The Dow's big loser was Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK), falling a little over a dollar.

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) gained $0.50 on the day. Another oil benefiting.

Phillips Petroleum (NYSE:P) rising $0.95.

Wal*Mart (NYSE:WMT) losing $0.44. The retailing giant saying it expects December same store sales to rise between 4 and 6 percent. That's at the low end of estimates.

Shares in NCH (NYSE:NCH) gaining nearly $4, that's a reaction to management's sweetened $52 ½ a share buyout offer.

IDT Communications (NASDAQ:IDTI) rising $1.30. Last week the company completed its acquisition of WinStar Communications (NASDAQ:WCII), which of course, is bankrupt, for cash and stock worth about $42 ½ million.

Dean Foods (NYSE:DF) up $1.70. This is the new Dean Foods. On Friday, Suiza Foods (NYSE:SZA) and Dean Foods completed their merger. DF is the trading symbol for the combined company.

Shares in Covanta Energy (NYSE:COV) tumbling $6. The New Jersey-based power company seeking possible waivers from bankers because of payment due from PG&E and SoCal Edison, which have not been received and could have an impact on its credit facilities.

A.C.L.N. Ltd. (NYSE:ASW) dropping $2.40. The stock in freefall on concerns about the company's fourth quarter profit warning and accounting practices.

Coastcast (NYSE:PAR) ended off 1. The company expects or is forecasting a substantial loss for the fourth quarter and for the year, about 3 to $4 million.

The NASDAQ Composite tipping a little over a point to close at 19.44. Volume very light as well: 561 million shares exchanging hands, 123 more issues up than down

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) falling $0.27.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) slipped $0.95. Over the weekend, an article in "Barron's" cast out on Amgen's bid for Immunex (NASDAQ:IMNX).

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) falling $0.08.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) dropped $0.39.

Concord EFS (NASDAQ:CEFT) rising $0.12 and it's in the middle of acquiring Logix Companies, which is a processor of electronic transactions.

Sun Micro (NASDAQ:SUNW) advanced $0.17.

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) falling $0.04 on the day.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSK) picking up $0.19, a reaction, of course, to last week's news of it buying AT&T's broadband assets.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) gaining $1.61.

Veritas Software (NASDAQ:VRTS) rising $0.64 on the day.

Now for InVision (NASDAQ:INVN), climbing more than $4. The company's bomb-detection systems are in use screening baggage at certainly some airports. The weekend shoe-bomber also sprung hope that an automated bomb detection system for passengers might be ruled out sooner.

J2 Communications (NASDAQ:JTWO) ended off $1.69. The company received a delisting notice from the NASDAQ, which says the company shares no longer meet the listing requirement.

And WatchGuard Technologies (NASDAQ:WGRD) down nearly - down more than 30 percent on the day, 3 ¼ to be precise. The Internet security company saying they will post a larger than expected loss of up to $0.29 a share for the quarter. And that is far more than the $0.04 loss that was expected by analysts.

More light volume here on the American Exchange. The Composite Index (OPRA:XAX) rising 3 ¾ points.

And here's another bomb and weapons detection system maker, American Science & Engineering (AMEX:ASE) rising nearly 2 ¾ points, about a 15 percent gain. The firm makes an X-ray body scanner that can see plastic knives, explosives and other weapons that someone might have under their clothing. So it's both plastic and metal devices that it can detect.

Titan Pharmaceuticals (AMEX:TTP) rising $0.73. No news and company offices were closed today and the company is a maker of various anti-cancer and research into anti-cancer drugs.

And finally the index shares all closing with fractional losses on the day.

That's the Wall Street wrap-up.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.