>>aul: world leaders are gathering in pittsburgh for the 20 summit. from econoc stability to imate change, we look at wha tops the agenda. >> suzanne: after ur straight months of gains, home sales stumble unpectedly. at leaves many people wondering what happened the recovery thoht to be underway in the housing market. >> they're n doing buy-backs, they're not doindividends, cap expenditures a down, hiring is most nonexistent. >> paul: and that's beuse s&p 500 companies are siing on almost $800 billion in cas coming up, what th're doing with a that money. suzanne: raspberries for th

mar of the popular blackberry smart phone,s research in motion'satest results dippoint. toght's "stocks in the news" looks at just hobadly the shares are doingn after-hours tring. i'm paulangas. suzanne: and i'm suzanne pratt. susie gharibs on assignment. this is "nightlyusiness report" for thursday, seember 24. "nightly busins report" isade possible by:

this program imade possie by contribions to your pbs station from vwers like you. thank you. captioningponsored by wpbt >> suzanne: good evening everyone. thgroup of 20 begins its two- dameeting in pittsburgh tonight with a search focommon ground and questions about h much they'll actlly get done. the leaders of germany and france continue call for ugher regulation of the financial industry. prident obama, who is hosting thgathering, is expected to push for a re-lancing of the global economy. joining us know with a pview of the g-20 agenda is washinon bureau chief darren gersh. welcom >> hey, suzanne, how are you.

>> good, thank talk about t rebalancing of the global enomy. exactly what does the u.s. exct to happen? >> wel, rebalancing is kind of a codword. basically what it means is that the united stat wants to g a new position where we are borrowing less from the rest of the worl and e chinese but also the germans and the japanese a buying more fr the rest of the world and specifically importing mo from the rest of the wor so that way we don't ve these massive glal imbalances that build up. as you mightmagine it's a little controversial with the other cntries volved athe g-20summit but it's imrtant to the united states. and treasu secretary timothy quitener just a little while ago ce out and said that wants see theollar preserved as the world global reserve curren and in order to d that w have toring our budget deficit down. but we also hav to accomplishhis rebalancing the world doesn't hav these huge financial mismatches. >> ds that mean that the doar is actually going to be on the agend at this meeting? >>. >> the dollar is kd of

always othe agenda whether formally or informly. sically the dollaris brought up because it can often be a proxy for how ade flows are going and in the past t haseen the case that the united stas wants to seether country asjust their currenci. so it may not explicitly talk about the dollaper se but it's in th background. it's measure ofow these imbalances are worki. how big they are andind of pressure in the global system to bring it more into alignment. >> in rms of financial regulatory reform what is it that the germans and the ench would like to have happen athe sumt. >> yeah, this is one of these little kurfluff els at kind of ce up right before these big meetings. the geans and the french were talking aut capping pay, basically capping bonuses for bank ceos. you cod say that its a incidence that the germans are goin into an elecon this weekend a that this issue happened tcome up. but bacally they are talking about cping pay

fo executive the united states esn't like this idea. we don like caps. we are talking more about governancehanges on how ceos pay i set. and there is discussion, there will be discussion about these ideas reigni in ceopay by havingclawbacks and somehow finding a better way to relate ceoay to the risks that institutionwill taking on so that ceos dot have an incenve to take on ge risk and they get paid if the bank blo up. >> it will be very interestinto see if any of these thgs actuly do get accomplished. thk you, darren. >> thanks. >> whaon bureau chief darren gsh. >> paul: sales oexisting homes fell uxpectedly last month afr four straight months of gains. les dropped 2.7% to just ove fiveillion homes. analys read the decline as evidence theousing market is relatively sble, but still frile. ecomist mark zandi says government picy is key to what happens next. >> i don't think the housi

maet will do well without significant coinued government pport. that meansontinued low mortga rates because of the federal rerve buying mortgage securitiesthat means an extension of the housing t credit; that meansn extension of higher conforming loalimits and other ings. i just think, at this pot, the market is still too agile. afr modest opening gains, wall street headed lower this mning as investors focus on those disappointing home sal numbers d ignored a drop of 21,000 i the latest weekly jobls benefit claims the dow gave up anarly 30- int advance and posted a 45- int loss at 11:00 a.m., with the naaq off 27 points. stockstayed broadly lower as a resuence in the dollar undermined cmodities, especily oil. the dow industrial avege closed down 41.11 9,707.44. the nasdaq fell .81 to 2,107.61. the p 500 lost 10.09 to

1,050.. the bond market, the ten-ye note rose 10/32 to 102/32, puttinthe yield at 3.38%. >>uzanne: the senate finance commite today continued debate over chaman max baucus' oposal to overhaul healthcar the committee s made slow progress ohundreds of amendmen to the measure, the last of five healthcare bis pending in coness. rlier, i spoke with ron williams, chief executive aetna, about reform of the nation's healthcarsystem. i began by askinhim for his assessment of thbaucus plan.

solid foundati for important prress. >> and in op ed that you ote bay year ago that appeared in the ft, you warned against tryg for the big fiwith health-care form. do you thi that the presidt is currently being too ambitious? >> well, i think i would say based on the president's recent commts that one of e things he's incorrated that i thinks important is really an expectationthat there be an indidual coverage requirement. at we expect that evyone would have insurance those who could afford it woulbuy it. and those who couldn' afford it wouldeceive subsids. and i thk one of theig debates that going on no in nate finance is what does that mea and what level of subsidy is both appropriate as welas what is affordable. >> beyond iversal reform, what else do you want to

see? what would y like to see in terms of health-care reform? well, i thi there are two crical elements. one is making ctain everyone getsccess. and i think have some very sol proposals o that. i think e other one is real making certain that weeform the health care delivery system. because while evyone is aware of the health insurae premium and what health insuran costs, what most peoe don't connection is the reason that healt care premiums gop is becaushealth-care costs goes up. and the premiums are flective of that. so bringing mor people into e system without really tackling how we t the system toreate more value anslow down the rate of increase w't really give all the rerm that we need. >> is ther anything in particular that would be completely ucceptable to you? >> well, think the thin that wve been vy concned about is this notion othe government plan. and it's really somethin that we tnk expands the role of governmentn a way that government is both a play in the health insurae business as well as a rulemaker and aeferee.

and we think that the are her ways to solve the problem. we thit's divsionary anwe should get bk to focusing on how we get and keep everyone covered d how do we really focus on the st of health car itself. >> americans are derstandably worried that reform equals higher premiu and or higher taxes forthem. how do we pay for reform if those two things dot happen then? >> well, i think en we look at the sena finance commtee propols, one of ththings that does reflect at concern is the fact that there would be a variety of taxes on alth surers. we in turn have no alternativt to pass those taxeon to o stomers. and we just encourage the senate finan and others to lookfor broad based ways so that th fincing of the healthare system really a broad-based responsibility r the whole country. >> uh-huh. i want to beg this next estion by saying that i'm not an et ma customer but i

do want to say or io want to share that my family's priums have gone up more th 50% in the last two years. do you think wh health-care refo m premiums arelikely to go up or dow >> i think your premiums willo up or down in corelati to health-care cost ielf. and mostealth insurer reallyook at the undeying rate of increase inechnology, hospitals, ysicians,pharmaceuticals and collect thatost, manage it as best they can, and then ps that cost on to the consur in the form of the premium. so i think the real question will be what happens with the health care delivery system. what about aet's profability as a result of reform. what do you expect that healthare reform will mean to aetna'sottom line? >> well, i think the answer is we rely don't kno think there a many people who believe tha the health industry will get lots of new custome. it'sot clear whether those customers wod be profitable custors or

customers ere we would actuallyake a loss on thos customers. so i tnk what we are doing now is really focusing on taking ce of the 19 milliocustomers we have in our medical business d the 36illion americans who have a relationship th us. and really focus on dng a good job for the each and every day. >> let's leave it there. thank you somuch for joining us today. >> tnk you. my guest ron williams, chairman ceo of aetna. >> paul: speing of health care, tonight, "nightly siness repo" is part of the pbs special report: health car reform." we're llaborating with other pbs news and public affairs progms like "now on pbs" and "tavis smiley." my co-anchor, susie arib, reportpart of this 90-minute, in-depth program tt looks at how forming the nation's $2.5 trlion health care system may change the way amecans live. check the local listings in ur area. >> suzanne: susie habeen busy.

she's ju back from saudi arabia, and morrow night, we'll haveer exclusive interviewith saudi arabia's oil minister ali al-naimi. he thinks $75 a barr will be e new baseline price for oil meanwhile, tay in new york trading, crudeil tumbled 4.5% to $65.89 a barr. w demand is pressuring price as weekly crude oiinventories rosegain. >> suzanne: rmer fed chairman paul voler today criticized president obama's plan to pose strict rules on systically risky firm volcker ys, even if the rules are adopted, we' still have

firms thatre "too big to fa." he serves as an outside onomic advisor to the preside, and suorts much of the administration regulatory refo plan. but volcker told conessional lawmakers the proposed rules could encourage en riskier behavi. >> suzanne: anwhile, volcker's former agency was to keep one of the tls it's been using to cope with the financial isis. the federal resee wants to make t term auction facility or t.a.f. permanent. at program's used to make short-term emergencyoans to banks. the central bank is scalinback the lending progras operations becausof the improving economy, buthe fed wants to ep it as an option. >> pau the last few weeks have seen a surprising incrse in merger and acquisition activy on wall street and fothe most part, the deals are being done wh cash, which

leus to wonder-- how much cash do companies have on hd, and what will they do witht? scott gurvey gets some awers. >> rorter: what will they do with all that money? ameran corporations are tting on stacks of cash. standa and poor's reports the companies its 500 index have piled up a record ount of nearly 800 bilon bucks. s&p's howardilverblatt says it's a rult of cost cutting. >> they'reot doing buy-backs, ey're not doing dividends, c expeitures are down, hiring is almost nonexistent. so t cash that they would have been spending on theconomy is mostly going into thr till. anthey're keeping the money close to their vest until ey decide it'safe to go out and use it. >>eporter: one of the uses will be to boost marting and production once consumerstart buyi again. but wall street has so been betting the cash will let some companies go on a buying see. and at's already underway-- big names like dell d pfizer have alrdy snapped up other firms. google says it's gng to. but stan selig of bank of

americwarns not every sector is ready to ay "let's make a al." >> you won't see deals at e moment in those areawhich are most impted by consumer disctionary spending. so, retailnd leisure-- in those industries, you've see very little deal activy, and i think yoll continue to see less deal activity. in those indtries that are moreefensive-- health care, food a beverage related-- that's whe you're seeing deals, a that's where i think you're going to be able continue, or you will ntinue to see traaction activity. >> reporter: some vestors are also hoping rporate cash will come theiray in the form of dividends. but exrts say that is unlikely until threcovery is firmly established. >> once they start a divend, they're going toave to continue i over theast year, year and a half, s been okay to cut your dividend. yourtock would actually go up becausyou were facing the situion, doing what you have to do. en they start paying it, the better keep payingt; otherwise, the's going to be a big penalty. >> reporr: it's not just cash sittinon the sidelines. there's stock in many a corporate treasury, too, athe

result of buy-backs ma when share pric fell. that stock is al available for rrency as business improves. scott rvey, "nightly business report," nework.

suzanne: twitter, the fast- growing micro-blogng web site, is close to securing arod $100 milln in financing. he wall street journal"

reports the deal vals twitter at a blion dollars. investors include mutual fun company t. rowprice, insight venture partners, and rrent twitter inveors spark capital aninstitutional venture partners. back in februa, twitter was valued at $250 million, ich means it quadrupled in less than a year. >> paul: tomorw, our friday "mart monitor" guest is mark leibovit, chief rket strategist at vrtrad.com. >>uzanne: september is shaping up tbe a bad month for auto sales, following the succe of cash for clunkers in aust. neral motors c.e.o. fritz hendern says sales have been way down. car shopping web site edmondcom forecasts a 23% cline from a year ago, and j.d. power and assoctes sees a 29% drop. auto makers release thr september sales numbers ne thursday. >> paul: wal-mart paying $3 million to maachusetts to settle claimit shortchanged woers by denying lunch breaks.

the state said forcing empyees toork without breaks violated labor laws. the giant retail has faced similacomplaints in other states. last yea wal-mart paid $640 million dollars to sete similar suits. the company sa it's pleased to ve resolved the matter.

>> suzanne: here's a lk at what's happeng tomorrow: the gust reports on durable gos and new home sales are released. we'll also see quarter results from k.b. me. when icomes to the recession and america'debt levels, do we have too much or not eugh? night's "two ways to play" says it depends on how y see it. here'sevin depew of minyville, and minyanville's kevin depew. >> evewhere we turn these days, we're bombardewith the same message-- namy, that there's o much debt. there are entire telision shows devod to this theme, and even seminars that, ironical, chge you an arm and a leg to explain exacy why you have too much debt. that's theonventional wisdom. but if we look at e u.s. debt load in a global ctext, where the u.s. is only aut a quarter of g.d.p., were acally under- leveged. keep in mind our return on assets is highour interest rates very low, and our ability to borrow d service bt is much greater than current levels if anything, we don't haveoo much debt; we ve too little. >> i disagree. wh is important is lending for

productive reasons for example, if someone we to invent airaculously cheap way to produce energ but it needed a vastmount of financing to implemen in the long run, it could be worth the irease in debt because future prodtion would pay foit. instead, were nancing unproducti assets like houses, condos and televisns. the market was going throu the painful process of destroyg this unproductive debt, whh would have bn a good thing, but massive government intervention stoppedt. now, were propping up wortess assets. it wont st, and with every tick higher in t market, risk isncreasing. >> paul: recappi today's market aion: stocks slump on worse-than- expected he sales report. the dow dropped 41oints d the nasdaq lost 23 points. to learn more out the stories inonight's broadcast, to watch our streaming video d to take part in our daily blog, to "nightly business reporton pbs.org. you can also email us at nbr@pbs.org. >> suzanne: and finalltonight, wod leaders meeting at the

g-20 summit are taking home some freebiewith a special pisburgh flair. the first thing you noti-- many items celrate the city's sports teams. ere's a pisburgh pirates baseball cap, hockeyucks from e penguins, and of course, t steelers' famed "terble towel." the bags also include a jers that says "oba" on the back. diitaries and journalists will also receive jewelry, towe and mugs that represt pittsburgh's fir points. thosswag bags also include cookies for the ng plane ride ho. paul? what kind of cooki is pittsburgh serng. i don't know, but cookies avel very well while they last. absolutely. >> suzanne: that's "nightl business repor for thursday, seember 24. i'm sunne pratt good night, evyone, and good nit to you, paul. paul: good night, suzanne. i'm paul kangas, wishi all of you the st of good buys. "night business report" is made possible by:

this proam was made possible by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. caioning sponsored by wpbt captioned media accessroup at wgbh cess.wgbh.org >> we are pbs.