Program: Friday, November 25, 2005

Retailers Are Seeing Green This Black Friday
One On One With Pat Curran, Executive Vice President for Wal-Mart Store Operations
How To Stay Solvent During The Holiday Shopping Season
"Market Monitor"-Bernie Schaeffer, chairman of Schaeffer`s Investment Research
Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Market Stats

11/25/05: Retailers Are Seeing Green This Black Friday

JEFF YASTINE: It`s called "black Friday," one of the busiest days of the holiday shopping season and traditionally the day retailers hope sales will send them into the black. Last year, almost 10 percent of all holiday sales were made on the day after Thanksgiving. Erika Miller braved the crowds at one of the busiest stores in New York City.

ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: At the Macy`s flagship store in New York City, shoppers jammed the aisles starting at 6:00 a.m. Cashmere sweaters, jewelry, hats, coats and other items for cold weather were snapped up fast. The head of Federated, which owns Macy`s, says he is encouraged by today`s heavy turnout.

TERRY LUNDGREN, CHMN. & CEO, FEDERATED DEPT. STORES: The word I would use is "cautiously optimistic," Erika. It`s a great start this morning. We had over a thousand people here at Macy`s Herald Square this morning at 6:00 a.m. on a cold morning as the doors were open. And so, I think that`s a very good sign relative to prior years.

MILLER: To entice shoppers, Macy`s gave away $1 million worth of free gift cards. Other stores, like Target, offered free wake-up calls, and K- Mart actually opened on Thanksgiving Day. Experts say the moves reflect retailer`s nervousness about holiday sales this year in light of high energy costs. But energy prices have been coming down in recent weeks, prompting the National Retail Federation to boost its holiday sales forecast to a gain of 6 percent.

SCOTT KRUGMAN, V. P. PUBLIC RELATIONS, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: If you look at the performance of holiday sales over the last decade, we`ve seen an average increase of 4.5 percent. A 6 percent increase in holiday sales this year would be above average.

MILLER: The nation`s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, is expected to fare much better than last year, when it made the mistake of keeping prices too high, driving customers away. For weeks now, the chain has been aggressively discounting merchandise hoping to lure customers. At this Wal-Mart in Orlando, Florida today, a scuffle broke out after a man allegedly cut in line to get a discounted laptop. But discounters are not expected to be the only big winners this year.

DANA TELSEY, RETAIL ANALYST, BEAR STEARNS: I think the luxury space will continue to do very well , and the luxury space overall -- don`t forget, rich people are rich -- they keep growing at least at a mid-single digit rate here in the United States and the customization of products really has lead to higher sales.

MILLER: The holiday season is crucial for retailers. Analysts say it typically represents up to 45 percent of annual sales and an even greater percentage of profits. Stores like Macy`s say today is often a good predictor of the mood of consumers.

LUNDGREN: It`s very important, but it`s mostly important for an indication of whether or not they are going to be coming back. That`s the important thing.

MILLER: For all its fanfare, the day after Thanksgiving is not the biggest shopping day of the year for retailers. In recent years, the top honor has gone to the Saturday before Christmas. 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. Copyright
(c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.


11/25/05:One On One With Pat Curran, Executive Vice President for Wal-Mart Store Operations

JEFF YASTINE: This year, few discount retailers have been more aggressive than Wal-Mart in trying to attract holiday shoppers with cut-rate prices. That`s quite a change from last year, when the company was faulted for not being aggressive enough and losing sales to arch rivals like Target. We talked with Pat Curran, executive vice president for Wal-Mart store operations about the change and asked whether it appears to be working as "black Friday" winds to a close.

PAT CURRAN, EXEC. V.P. STORE OPERATIONS, WAL-MART: Actually, so far this morning we`ve had almost 10 million customers go through our buildings, which is in itself, rather exciting for us. So just looking at the numbers of people, how the sales have been going, we`re pretty pleased with it, but just a reminder to you, this is not an indicator of the holiday shopping season. We still have many more days and weeks to go before we hit the Christmastime.

YASTINE: So there`s no predictability, just because turnout was great today, doesn`t mean that it always -- amounts to a -- just an astounding holiday shopping season.

CURRAN: It does not. When you look at black Friday, it`s really kind of a couple of hours condensed in on that particular day, so it`s really not a full day of sales business for you. So hard to say, but that`s an indicator for the remainder of the season.

YASTINE: One thing--

CURRAN: And we`re very optimistic.

YASTINE: Sure. One thing that`s been in the media a lot is talking about how aggressive Wal-Mart has been towards attracting holiday shoppers this year, and I`m just curious whether that was borne out of last year`s situation, where the company seemed to take a different strategy at the start of the season and then switched and did get very aggressive in the last few weeks of last year`s holiday shopping period.

CURRAN: No, I would tell you that that -- it`s not because of last year. Really what we did was we came out with a whole strategy going forward. We had an analyst meeting in October and we really talked about what were the things that we were going to concentrate on. What were we going to be more aggressive on and that was the key point, that we were going to be much more aggressive in our merchandising. We were going to be much more aggressive in our pricing, in marketing, and all of that, and I would tell you the reason for that is because we want to be much more relevant to a wider range of consumers in today`s -- when you`re looking at it versus how we have been in the past. So we really want to, from a marketing aggressiveness, really show our customers what great new merchandise we have in apparel, with our George and our Metro-7 line and -- .

YASTINE: So this is as much about sort of waving the Wal-Mart flag to consumers and letting them know that the company and the strategies is relevant, as much as it is to the actual sales period itself.

CURRAN: Absolutely. Think about, this is the time where we`re really able to get a large number of customers into our buildings, and if you look at it this morning, they were shopping the entire store. In past, people will hand pick the items that they come in to or that they`re looking for. But they were in apparel. They were in home decor. They were in all of our new lines and house wares, so that was really exciting for us.

YASTINE: A couple, three months ago all I kept hearing about was how high fuel prices for gasoline and now for heating oil would be a real deterrent for consumers and that they would spend less. Obviously, that question is still out there right now. Is that still a concern for Wal- Mart, again because you still have three and a half weeks or so left before the Christmas finale.

CURRAN: Right. Interesting this morning, as I was talking to somebody this morning, I came in to work, the gas was the lowest it had been -- actually, it was under $2, but still a concern for a lot of our customers. But, you know what, they`re still coming to us as their primary shopping place, and that we`re excited about, to have all of that range of customers come through. So is there a concern? Yes, but are they still coming to Wal-Mart as their primary shopping? Yes, they are.

YASTINE: How do you keep -- I got about 30 seconds left -- how do you keep this sort of momentum up and continue to drive shoppers into your stores, now that we do have this lull between now and the final part for Christmas?

CURRAN: I still -- I think you have to do it in great advertising, which I think we`re going to do. You have to stay relevant to all of the shoppers out there that come into our stores, great prices, great shopping experience and they`ll continue to come back.

YASTINE: Miss Curran, thanks for your time, I appreciate it.

CURRAN: Thank you very much.

YASTINE: Our guest, Pat Curran, executive vice president at Wal-Mart Stores operations.

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. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/25/05: How To Stay Solvent During The Holiday Shopping Season

JEFF YASTINE:It`s one thing to get bargains this holiday shopping season. It`s quite another to be solvent at the end of it. Financial planners say you can save a lot of money and a lot of aggravation by thinking first and spending later. Darren Gersh reports.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: For Patricia Manke, Christmas lasts 12 months out of the year. As the top horticulturist at Behnke`s Nurseries, she begins buying decorations in January. So it may come as no surprise that Patricia does her personal Christmas shopping all year round.

PATRICIA MANKE, HORTICULTURIST, BEHNKE NURSERIES: It`s taking advantage of sales and whereby then you`re saving money.

GERSH: Manke does just what the experts suggest. She sets a budget and sticks to it. She says many of her friends do the same.

MANKE: It`s funny when we get together because you`ll open something and they`ll say, I bought that six months ago. We were traveling through wherever and it`s kind of nice that they were thinking of you at the time.

GERSH: Yes, Patricia does what we`re all supposed to do when it comes to budgeting our holiday spending, but most of us are more like Patricia`s coworker Sandy.

SANDY FREDERICK, CASHIER, BEHNKE NURSERIES: I`m still one of those last minute shoppers. I mean, I try to pick bits and pieces as I go along where I can. If I see it`s a good deal, I`ll get it then. But there`s always one last two or three gifts that, you know, I`m at the very last minute trying to get.

GERSH: Experts warn it is that last-minute and impulse buying that gets holiday shoppers in trouble.

MARK JOHANNESSEN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: And there`s a sense that, you know, they want to make people happy during the holiday. So of course, they`re going to reach into their pocket, spend the money now and then have to deal with the consequences later.

GERSH: So what can shoppers do now to avoid those consequences? Financial planners say with the holidays still a month away, there is plenty that consumers can do to keep within their spending limits. Make a detailed budget including spending for parties, travel and decorations. Then take Santa`s advice and make a list and check it twice or more. Maybe you can send a card instead of a gift. Also consider creative ways to get more from your spending, maybe offering to cook dinner for someone or tapping frequent flier miles for gifts.

STEPHEN BROBECK, EXEC. DIRECTOR, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA: Most people can save a fair amount of money by putting more thought and planning into the purchase of the gift and then spending less money. And the recipients will probably be much more appreciative.

GERSH: Experts recommend using the Internet and catalogues to comparison shop cutting down on gas and time spent in traffic. Finally, use cash or a debit card to avoid those massive credit card bills in January and February.

BROBECK: Few people will become financially insolvent if they overspend by $100 or $200 or $300. On the other hand, that $300 in additional credit card debt, especially if they`re paying penalty rates of 30 percent, is going to be very costly.

GERSH: The average American household already carries a credit card balance of more than $9,000. With energy prices still high, experts say you should tell your family if this is going to be a tough year. Remember, debt is not a good gift to give yourself. Darren Gersh, 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. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/25/05: Market Monitor-Bernie Schaeffer, Chairman of Schaeffer`s Investment Research

PAUL KANGAS: My guest market monitor this week is Bernie Schaeffer, chairman of Schaeffer`s Investment Research and publisher of the "Option Advisor" newsletter. Bernie, welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.

BERNIE SCHAEFFER, CHAIRMAN, SCHAEFFER`S INVESTMENT RESEARCH: Great to be here, Paul.

KANGAS: You know, the stock market just completed its fifth consecutive week on the upside in what everybody is calling the traditional year-end rally. The question is, will it continue to advance beyond the end of the year?

SCHAEFFER: Well, it is deja vu all over again with 2004 and another widely advertised year-end rally that is coming to pass and it strikes me, there is a lot of positioning in derivatives, a lot of short covering that is supportive of this rally carrying through year-end. And, yes, there is a question, a concern about how far this is going to carry. When I was on the show last in May, I was postulating a potentially big hit that the market could take, which of course did not come to pass and in making such predictions I kind of set myself up for looking foolish. I guess in general, I think there`s a general environment, sort of like the hurricane situation. Southeast United States is vulnerable to hurricanes is a safe thing to say, but when you try to predict when it`s going to happen and where.

KANGAS: I understand.

SCHAEFFER: So I think there`s a vulnerability here. The volatility indices, as you well know, are making multi-year lows, and --

KANGAS: Were, but now as an options trader, you must welcome this recent pickup in volatility.

SCHAEFFER: The thing you welcome as an option trader, Paul, is volatility that resolves itself in one direction or the other, and, yes, that`s what`s happening. And options being cheap, there are opportunities if that directional move continues, to make some good money.

KANGAS: OK, what are your upside targets for the Dow, for example?

SCHAEFFER: Well, I think we could quite possibly put on another 5 percent before the year is over. I think it`s going to be another -- one of those grinding higher type situations. I don`t think we`re going to explode to the upside, but there is on a day-to-day basis certainly an upside bias.

KANGAS: OK, now on your last visit with us in late May, the 27th, as I recall, you recommended the purchase of two call options and one put option. Let`s see how the stocks involved performed. General Motors you wanted a call there. It went, first of all, it went into a profitable position, got to around 35, 36 and did you cash in, or are you down on it now?

SCHAEFFER: One of the consolations there is when you trade options and you pay say, three or four points for an option, if the stock drops 10, you`re only liable for the three or four.

KANGAS: That`s right.

SCHAEFFER: It`s a little bit of a consolation, not a heck a lot.

KANGAS: Well, Winnebago then was $32.88 and I think it was about a $300 premium on the call option and it got to $40, so it was in a profitable position. Did you take a profit?

SCHAEFFER: I was in too long an option to take out a profit at the target I was looking for, but anybody who traded shorter term could have taken some nice profits.

KANGAS: All right and the third recommendation was a put option on Tyco and Tyco hasn`t done much since then, so I guess the option just expired.

SCHAEFFER: Correct.

KANGAS: OK, how about some new recommendations.

SCHAEFFER: OK, what I`m looking for is in the smaller and mid cap space. Number one, call options on Costco, which is a stock that I own. This is my favorite in the retailing sector. I love their earnings growth, their same stores sales growth. Wall Street -- 88 percent of Wall Street analysts rated a "hold" or a "sell," despite the fact the stock is making new highs. So I think it`s kind of underappreciated on Wall Street.

KANGAS: How long on the option?

SCHAEFFER: I`m looking at options to July of 2006.

KANGAS: And the premium.

SCHAEFFER: Pay a 9 percent premium for those options.

KANGAS: OK, quickly now, we just have less than a minute.

SCHAEFFER: Western Digital, I`m looking at calls. This is a stock that once traded at 65. It`s been recovering nicely, earnings are growing substantially. Stock is still only back to 15 or so.

KANGAS: OK.

SCHAEFFER: And I`m looking at July 2006, call options, with a 13 percent premium. It`s a volatile stock.

KANGAS: OK, now, do you have a put option recommendation?

SCHAEFFER: I have a put option. I`m going with Tyco again. This is a company that is, in my opinion, a legend in its own mind. It`s not experiencing much in the way of sales or earnings growth. They`re make noises about shareholder value. I don`t think they`re going to be able to pull it off, 7 percent for a July 2006 put. I own puts on Tyco, and I also own Western Digital.

KANGAS: OK, clear enough, very interesting, and thanks for your input once again, Bernie.

SCHAEFFER: My pleasure, Paul.

KANGAS: My guest, Bernie Schaeffer of Schaeffer`s Investment Research.

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. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/25/05: "Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News"

The most active big board issue and it wasn`t very active at all, 6.7 million shares, General Electric (GE) moving up $0.26.

Followed by United Microelectronics (UMC) with a $0.04 gain.

Pfizer (PFE) edged $0.03 higher.

Then a major loser, XL Capital Ltd (XL) down $6.32. The company learned that it could report an $830 million fourth quarter loss as a result of its acquisition of Winterthur International of Winterthur Swiss insurance company and that prompted Merrill Lynch to downgrade the stock from "buy" to "neutral," prompted Sandler O`Neill brokerage to downgrade it from "buy" to just a "hold."

Lucent Technology (LU) fell $0.08. That was fifth in big board volume.

Ford Motor Co. (F) losing $0.11.

Liberty Media (L) dropped $0.02 a share.

Then Citigroup (C) moved up against that trend, up $0.18.

Nortel Networks (NT) a nickel loss.

And then tenth in volume, Wal-Mart stores (WMT) was down $0.08 a share.

Best Buy Co (BBY) on the other hand, moving up $1.63 on hopes for a very busy Christmas shopping season. Retailers were fairly firm overall.

A number of Canadian stocks were sharply higher today on the Canadian government`s plan to end double taxation on dividends. Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) doing very well. Let`s look at some of the other in the sector.

Bank of Montreal (BMO) up over $1.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) up nearly $1.

BCE Inc (BCE), Royal Bank Canada (RY) and Telus (TE) all nice gainers on that news.

Phelps Dodge (PD), the world`s largest copper producer, up $5.59. The company has received Kosovo`s first copper exploration license and the company says it`ll invest $587 million in the project in Kosovo.

Offshore Logistics (OLG) down $1.86. The company is going to restate its financial results for fiscal years 2000 through 2004 as well as this year`s quarterly report so far and the SEC has turned an informal inquiry into an investigation.

Alltel Corp (AT) rose $1.44. The "Financial Times" reported three telecom companies are in negotiations to acquire a collection of vocal access lines from Alltel for as much as $10 billion. The potential buyers are Citizens Communications, Valor Communications and CenturyTel.

Volume leader on NASDAQ Google (GOOG) another new closing high with that gain of $5.76.

Intel (INTC) $0.17 gain.

Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.16.

Apple Computer (AAPL) up $2.23. It looks like iPod sales so far looking very strong.

Yahoo! (YHOO) down $0.37 a share. That was fifth in dollar volume.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) an $0.11 gainer.

Applied Materials (AMAT) up $0.35.

EBay (EBAY) a $0.07 gain.

Dell (DELL) rose $0.02.

And Sirius Satellite (SIRI) showing no change, although Bank of America says because the promotional environment is worse than expected, the company`s revenue guidance could be at risk.

Then over on the American exchange, Archipelago Holdings (AX) up $2.60. Citigroup analysts have found the New York Stock Exchange`s proposed acquisition of Archipelago to be financially fair to members of the New York Stock Exchange.

Those are the stocks in the news tonight.

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. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/25/05: Market Stats

                                      NET    PERCENT
                         CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE

DOW CLOSE             10931.62     +15.53       + .1
HIGH                                        10955.48
LOW                                         10914.49

NASDAQ COMP.           2263.01      +3.03        +.1
HIGH                                         2264.13
LOW                                          2256.45

VOLUME                                         541.9
PREVIOUS                                     1,453.7
UP VOLUME                                      332.2
DOWN VOLUME                                    198.2

DOW TRANSPORTS         4179.14      +3.06       + .1
DOW UTILITIES           404.01      +2.16       + .5
CLOSING TICK                                    +295

S&P 500                1268.25      +2.64       + .2
S&P 100                 583.24      +1.23       + .2
MIDCAP 400              742.70      +1.56       + .2
REUTERS/CRB             314.67       +.29       + .1

NYSE COMPOSITE         7747.52      +4.18       + .1
VALUE LINE              415.27       +.53       + .1
RUSSELL 2000            683.58       +.44       + .1
DJW 5000              12702.41     +23.54       + .2

U.S. TREASURIES
5-YEAR NOTE 4.50%
Nov. 15,2010         100 24/32      +6/32       4.33

10-YEAR NOTE 4.50%
Nov. 15,2015         100 17/32     +11/32       4.43

30-YEAR NOTE 5.375%
Feb. 15, 2031        110 17/32     +25/32       4.66

LEHMAN BROS.
LONG BOND INDEX        1752.69      +6.46


DOW CLOSE             10931.62     +15.53       + .1
ADVANCES                                        1854
DECLINES                                        1245
NEW HIGHS                                        116
NEW LOWS                                          33

                                      NET    PERCENT
NYSE MOST ACTIVES    4PM CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
GE    GE                 36.20       +.26        +.7
UMC   United Microelec    3.23       +.04       +1.3
PFE   Pfizer             21.67       +.03        +.1
XL    XL Capital Ltd     67.42      -6.32       -8.6
LU    Lucent Tech         2.89       -.08       -2.7
F     Ford Motor Co       8.32       -.11       -1.3
L     Liberty Media       7.71       -.02        -.3
C     Citigroup          49.52       +.18        +.4
NT    Nortel Networks     3.01       -.05       -1.6
WMT   Wal-Mart Stores    50.49       -.08        -.2

NASDAQ CLOSE           2263.01     + 3.03       + .1
VOLUME                                         652.2
PREVIOUS                                     1,623.0
ADVANCES                                        1454
DECLINES                                        1369

NASDAQ ACTIVES
GOOG  Google            428.62      +5.76       +1.4
INTC  Intel              26.81       +.17        +.6
MSFT  Microsoft          27.76       -.16        -.6
AAPL  Apple Computer     69.34      +2.23       +3.3
YHOO  Yahoo!             42.13       -.37        -.9
CSCO  Cisco Systems      17.55       +.11        +.6
AMAT  Applied Matl       18.30       +.35       +2.0
EBAY  eBay               46.71       +.07        +.2
DELL  Dell               30.33       +.02        +.1
SIRI  Sirius Satellite    7.13      unch.      unch.

AMEX CLOSE             1707.72    - 18.20      - 1.1

INDEX SHARES
DIA   DIAMONDS TRUST    109.33       +.23        +.2
QQQ   NASDAQ 100         41.89       +.09        +.2
SPY   S&P DEP.RECEIPTS  127.13       +.10        +.1

STOCKS IN THE NEWS
BBY   Best Buy Co        50.63      +1.63       +3.3
TD    Toronto Dominion   52.85      +2.01       +4.0
BMO   Bank Of Montreal   52.48      +1.32       +2.6
BNS   Bank Nova Scotia   40.28       +.88       +2.2
BCE   BCE Inc            24.96      +1.16       +4.9
RY    Royal Bk Canada    77.09      +2.23       +3.0
TU    Telus              38.85      +1.45       +3.9
PD    Phelps Dodge      134.70      +5.59       +4.3
OLG   Offshore Logist    30.64      -1.86       -5.7
AT    ALLTEL Corp        67.44      +1.44       +2.2
AX    Archipelago Hldgs  61.10      +2.60       +4.4