>> there's a world of investment opportunities out there. potting them takes experts on the ground, assessing potential firsthand. templeton, a pioneer in global investing for over 50 years. gain from our perspective. >> and by wells fargo advisors. this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening, thanks for joining us. susie gharib off tonight, suzanne pratt joins me in new york. 'tis the season for procrastination. just one full shopping day left until christmas and tons of consumers here still have not gotten started yet. >> and tom this is the final countdown, especially important for merchants. as much as a third of holiday sales take place in the last ten days before santa makes his global ride. >> very important. stores are now pulling out all the stops to attract those customers. erica miller went to the j.c. penney store in manhattan to see whether sales are humming or ho-hum. >> believe it or not, shirley and her daughter maria are just starting their holiday shopping today. >> i guess got lazy. >> things just got kind of backed up. and same reason, i really didn't realize that it was a couple of days away. and panic. >> two purse, one wallet, four shirts, two sweaters, four pairs of socks, two slippers, a scarve and set of pjs and with that they are all furnished. >> first place we went into and got everything done. other last minute shoppers will help make-or-break holiday sales. j.c. penney knows that and is offering coupons and promotions to entice consumers to spend. store manager says the end of the season rush feels bigger this year. >> our marketing is still pretty strong, focus on the hot gift items like sweaters in women's and mens, sephora gifts. so remember's getting them that way right now. which so far has been very, very encouraging. >> the real procrastinators will be hitting stores tomorrow. an estimated 23 million americans, 15% of the population are expected to buy at least one gift on the last shopping day before christmas. kids are likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries. parents were out in full force at the disney store in times square. a 20,000 square foot toy em poria-- em porio featuring a magic mirror and a station where kids with make their own cars. the head of disney stores says sales momentum has been building all season. >> it has been better than we expected. we're experiencing big increases in both traffic and sales. and our guests are really responding positively to the new store design and product. >> reporter: most retail experts are forecasting holiday sales will rise 3 or 4% over last year. a bit per be than-- better than many thought at the start of the season. maybe it's the stock market's 20% gain the past four months or the extension of the bush tax cuts. retail analyst jennifer milan says consumers are feeling more comfortable sprurjing. >> i think people are getting tired of being frugal to some extent. the holidays gives them a perfect excuse to spend, you know, on gifts for others but i think they are also finding deals when they are shopping and buying gifts for themselves. >> reporter: and that is just what retail irs are hoping for these final days before christmas. after all buying a little something extra is part of what makes the holidays magical. erica miller, nightly business report, new york. >> here are the stories in the nbr news wheeled. stocked finished mix, the dow rose 13 points, the nasdaq lost nearly 6 and the s&p 500 was off 12 points-- 2 points. trading volume fell to its lowest volume, 615 million shares changed hands at the big board, 1.27 billion on the nasdaq. oil prices continue to move higher. crude futures rose 1.03 closing at 91.51 a barrel, the highest price since october 2008. the number of people filing for unemployment benefits edged lower last week. the labor department said initial jobless claims fell by 3,000 to 420,000. and housing remains a drag on the economy. sales of new homes rose 5.5% last month but that's still down 15% from noef of last year. analysts expect the housing market to stay weak. and still ahead, the maker of fantastic, wind exand grade has been a family-run business for 124 years. now s.c. johnson wants to be known for more than household products. >> another step forward today in comcast's year long effort to buy nbc universal. fcc chairman july yation january cowski has given his green light to the buyout. the rest of the commissioners and justice department must okay it as well which could come early next month. jancowski wants changes in the deal though, among them ensuring comcast does to the interveer with rivals internet traffic over its own network and would like comcast to offer nbc programming to other on-line video sources. >> president obama will nominate economist peter diamond to the federal reserve for a second time next year. yesterday the senate passed on confirming the nobel prize winning professor, adjourning for the year before taking a vote. today the white house said it will resubmit the failed nomination. that could set up a clash with senate republicans who don't like his economic views or monetary policy experience. >> despite plenty of economic data today from durable goods, orders to new-home sales it was really a quiet day of trading before the long christmas weekend. let's get you updated in tonight's market focus. now the generally positive tone to the economic reports today didn't really inspire much trading activity but for the week we did see the major stock indices continue to drift higher. let's begin with the dow jones industrial average this week. it began the week on a down note but finished with three consecutive sessions of gains to add 7/150 of a percent to the gain since last friday. the nasdaq meantime fell a fraction today but otherwise gained 9/10 of a percent over the course of this week with. and the s&p 500 put in the best performance all week long among the major indices. up over 1% to over the past four sessions. and the markets of course are closed tomorrow for christmas eve. joanne stores may not be an obvious barometer of retailing but today it became just the latest to be the target of a private equity buyout in the space. it is a 1.6 billion dollar cash deal. joanne shareholders are to get 61 dollars per share that is an all-time high for the stock. this is the latest deal by private equity firm leonard green. it is the same firm involved in the buyout of j. crew which was announced to go private a month ago. as would you imagine, shares of jas jumped up 32% closing just below the buyout prifs 61 dollars per share. the financial sector was the worst performing area of the market today, lead lower by insurance stocks. we'll look at the leading trio to the downside. hartford financial services and aig each falling over 3%. now next week aig is expected to move forward with its effort to sell its taiwanese business. life insurancer lincoln fat dropped about 2% on the day. bank of america was the biggest drag on the dow industrials dropping more than 2%. as will you notice on this stock chart shares dropped below $11 per share as the 52-week low at the end of last month. since then up almost 20% even with today's drop of 2.4%. >> as grain prices have been rallying so have agribusiness firms like cf industries. cf makes fertilizer. today's move of almost 5% takes the stock to another 52-week high. it lead the material space today. during a day of light market volume, volume in cf was heavier than usual on this rally. corn has been moving higher thanks to global demand as well as bad growing weather in argentina, that's the world's second largest corn grower after the u.s. and they are in season. the exchange traded note jjg follows corn, soybeans and other grain futures, soybeans back in the teens, beans in the teens over $13 a bushel. on bed, bath & beyond better than expected eerntion last night, a big stock buyback plan pushing it to an all-time high, pop --% breaking out to this new high, and the breakout coming on heavy follow, triple its usual volume for bbby. and that is tonight's market focus. >> a $ -- $200 million deal for bug stray is getting a closer look by european regulator its. if approved s.c. johnson would be able to buy sara lee household insecticide business it could mean fewer options for consumers in five european countries. possibly leading to higher prices. s.c. johnson may not be a household name but it is an $8 billion global business. in tonight's all in the family series dianestabrook looks at whether the company can remain true to its roots while looking ahead. >> want the aisles of grocery stores anywhere in the world and are you likely to find something paid by s.c. johnson and sons. there is fantastic and 4 o 09, pledge, grade, raid and win desk. but this 124-year-old iconic company wants to be known for something else. >> can a company really have a heart? a conscience? a soul? it can when the company is a family. >> reporter: chairman & ceo is making himselfed face of s.c. johnson & sons. in advertisements both on television and in print he touts his family's long stewartship of the business and commitment to the environment. when i visited johnson at his office in wisconsin, he explained what drives him and the company. >> from day one in our company and in our family, you know, it's been about the greater good and making a contribution to the world, whether that's creating a great work environment, whether that is doing the right thing by the planet. >> the s.c. johnson story began in 1886 when samuel curtis johnson began selling floor wax he concocted in his bathtub as his business grew johnson was among the first executives to offer paid vacations to employees. he also donated generously to his community. his is on her better fisk took over in the early part of the 20th century expanding s.c. johnson overseas an establishing one of 9 facial's first employee profit-sharing plans. in the 1920s hf junior took over the $5 million company and adventurer and environmentalist, he lead an expedition to brazil in surgeon the carnuba palm used in johnson floor wax. samuel curtis, fisk's dad joined the firm in the 1950s. in the 1970est, years before a government man 2k5i9, sam voluntarily eliminated ozone defleeting cfcs from all s.c. johnson products. today fisk and his siblings are carrying on the family tradition. >> with the thing that my parents most wanted was each of us to do something with our lives and to contribute in some way to the good of the world. >> behind this flower is a powerful story. >> reporter: one way is by helping developing economies. the company is partnering with rwanda farmers to produce a plant used in pest control products. another way is through green energy, s.c. johnson powers some of its plants with methane gas from nearby landfills and wind energy. >> when we're confronted with an environmental problem that we want to solve, we work very hard at trying to solve that problem and doing it economically. but that's not always possible. >> going greening can win over customers but it can be expensive. a few years ago johnson challenged some of his researchers to come up with a way to take chlorine out of saran wrap but to do did in a way that was still economical to consumers. but it proved to be a daunting challenge. >> a year went by and they couldn't do it. and we decided to move forward with an alternative product that wasn't as good. and saran wrap is just about disappeared today. and we've pretty much sacrificed the brand for the sake of an environmental objective. >> johnson's latest effort is telling people just what's in its products includes fragrances and dyes. >> that is further than anybody in our industry is going. because right now you don't have to disclose your ingredients. and so we're going to get out there we're going to lay it all out there for public scrutiny st s.c. johnson is also getting the public to come to it. last january it opened a company museum at its headquarters. >> during the 1932 depression, hf johnson introduced a self-polishing floor wax glo-coat which game a success. >> it takes visitors on a tour of their history, there is even an replica of the plane used in the carnuba expedition. fisk and his dad through it to commemorate the trip to brazil. while the museum introduces visitors to five generations of johnson it reminded fisk of his responsibility to his family. his business and the global community. >> not only do i want this company to be healthy and vibrant and continue to do good in the world, but you know, the family has to continue to be proud-of-it. >> diannestabrook nightly business report, racine wisconsin. tomorrow the markets are closed for christmas eve so we will look at how other family businesses manage to survive and thrive. it's our nbr special all in the family, secrets of successful family firms. and monday we'll more out of work americans find jobs in 2011? we'll get the outlook for employment in the new year. the tax man will come a little later than usual next year for some americans because congress waited until the last minute to okay certain tax breaks. the irs says it could be late february before some taxpayers can file. that will give the agency enough time to get the guidelines ready to go. the breaks cover college tuition, state and local property tax and personal expenses for teachers. >> bhaern airlines is playing hardball with on-line travel agencies. earlier this week americans stopped selling tickets on the orbits web site saying it wants to cut out the middleman and cut costs. now on-line rival expedia.com has moved americans listings to a separate web page so if you search for flights americans don't come up first. the spat could reshape the on-line travel industry deciding who makes the most profit off passengers . >> one of the common strategies many of our market monitors have had this year is dividends. tonight's guests have a bit of a different way to get paid while holding investment. tomorrow as herzfeld is president of a firm specializing in close ended felds, erik is managing director, a father and son team we have tonight on nbr. happy holidays. >> thank you. >> tom, let me start with you, what kind of unique opportunities does the close end fund present when it comes to dividends? >> i guess the key advantage of the close end fund to the mutual fund is the close end funds can use leverage and because of that, they either borrow and or issue preferred stock and it enhances the yield. they also have the ability to pay long-term and short term capital up gains or even a return to capital to keep the high yield. >> tom: with that in mind, erik, how do you assess the quality of a dividend from a close end fund to a common stock share that. >> good question, if it is an equity fund and holding general equities usually the dividend will be a bit lower than a fixed income fund which can invest in leverage off their balance sheet a bit more so it really depends on what the underlying instruments or underlying fund is. and that depends also on how much leverage they can use. >> tom: so with this in mind, guys, tom what is your assessment of the environment for close end fund investors as we approaching a brand-new year in 2011? >> well, there are two sides to look at. the income investor and growth invest. but since you asked me first about income which is what i think many of your viewers are interested in, funds were paying out 10 and 11 and 12% yields because many had fixed payout policies. recently they have decided to reevaluate that and some of them have made dividend cuts to where they are paying out 9 and 10% yields which is still very attractive. but because of that the funds have sold off and are trading way below their net asset values and very attractive buys at present. >> tom: do agree with that, are there opportunities out there? >> most definitely. at the beginning of the year we had dividend, high paying dividend stocks paying 12, 15, 16%. and they could not maintain that high dividend. so unless they can maintain that dividend they're going to have to cut it management sometimes takes the initiative to do that. so when you get a dividend cut you tend to get incredible opportunity to buy. many times will you see the price drop in half. >> tom: you've brought along several picks, three picks. we're going to begin with alpine total dynamic closed-end fund, oa-- aod the ticker symbol. a discretionary play, why this one. >> we like this one because the landscape for the foreign investing is quite good. naturally if you can have a diversified close end fund i that has a lot more exposure to the foreign environment, then you have a lot better opportunity. so for instance, aod has their biggest holdings are european, necessarily, for instance, and also it has microsoft for american exposure. >> tom: first opportunity fund, fofi here, i want to take a look at this one. kind of an interested play because it had been concentrated on financial services but it is changing. >> sometimes when funds reinvent themselves they fall off the radar screens. and this fund started its life as investing in bank stocks. but with a change in management they are doing something which is very unique. it's the only fund to my knowledge which has started investing in hedge funds. and they put half of their assets in hedge funds managed by wellington. it gives the retail investor a chance to buy this fund at a discount to net asset value and the shares trade every day. he's now locked in and has a side door entry. >> the previous pick december 4th was the last time you were here. dca was the ticker symbol, total return fund. up 50%. this doesn't even include the dividends, tom. dow still like this fund for the new year. >> we have it up about 60 with the dividend. we like it very much. we have been adding to our position. >> disclosures, ownerships. >> our businesses is investing in close end funds. we spend our whole lifes researching them. if we like it, we own it. our clients own it, we own it. >> from one generation to the next. we appreciate it. >> tom: tom herzfeld and erik herzfeld, managing director. >> thank you. >> finally tonight our commentator has thoughts on overcoming tough times. he is alfred edmond junior senior vice president. >> a few weeks ago black enterprise founder and chairman earl gray senior reminded me of something that you i had either forgotten or was never truly aware of. the first issue of "black enterprise" magazine was launched during a recession. in fact, over the 40 years since that issue was published in 1970, black enterprise has survived a total of seven recessions including our most recent great recession of 2008/2009. mr. grave made his point. our company and our nation has seen tough times before. and we've always not only survived though not without casualties, but thrived to become a stronger, wiser and better in the process. 2010 has not been an easy year but we are in better shape than we were in 2009 and can make greater progress in 2011. but in order to move forward in our personal lives, in our businesses and as a nation, we must never su rebd their spirit of optimism and determination that is our legacy as americans. all we need to do is look over our shoulders at the past to see ample evidence of our ability to solve the problems and create the opportunities necessary for a better, brighter future. so as i deliver my last commentary of 2010 i want to leave with you the following message: enter 2011 with a spirit of optimism and do not allow the challenges of the economic recovery to rob you of your hopes. to paraphrase earl graves let's remember our glass is always either half full or waiting for a refill. wishing you a prosperous and fulfilling new year i'm al