Top Business Stories of the Year
PAMELA BROWN: Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for being here with us on this Christmas Day. Well, the Dow surging past the 18000-point milestone of course is a great holiday present for investors, but the markets' strong showing was not the top money story of 2014. CNN's Richard Quest and Christine Romans tells you what was in their top 10 countdown.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Number 10: Pressure from protesters. Fast food workers take to the streets in cities across America demanding higher pay and better rights. It's working. Four states have voted to raise the minimum wage in 2014, and in the heart of Hong Kong's financial district, pro-democracy activists shut down schools, banks and businesses. That sent the Hang Seng stock index down nearly 6 percent in only one week.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Number nine: U.S. companies turn in their passports for new headquarters overseas and a lower tax bill. The Treasury Department and President Obama fight back.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not fair. It's not right. We don't want to see this trend grow.</s>ROMANS: The administration issues new rules to stop these so- called inversions to stem the flood of U.S. companies cashing in on the tax loophole. The new regulation slowed some deals already in the works, but real tax reform is likely needed to close the loophole.</s>QUEST: Number eight, IPOs and mergers, they're back. The king of 2014 is China's Alibaba, going public on the New York Stock Exchange, and becoming the largest public offering in U.S. history. Nearly 300 other companies went public in 2014 and mergers and accusations came back roaring. The two biggest deals for U.S. consumers, AT&T's agreement to buy DirecTV, and Comcast merging with Time Warner Cable.</s>ROMANS: Number seven: the taper is terminated. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen closes the fire hose that pumped billion into the economy through a bond-buying program. That Fed stimulus lasted six years with the final measures tapered down in 2014. The Fed says labor and housing markets have improved, risks of inflation have diminished. The big question now, when will the Fed start raising interest rates?</s>QUEST: Number six: Apple gets its oomph back. A new line of products including record breaking sales of the iPhone 6, new iPads, the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, they all refresh the company's product line. Its stock price hits a record high in 2014. And Apple's chief exec Tim Cook becomes the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He wrote in an op-ed, "I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me."</s>ROMANS: Number five: jobs are back. The labor market hit two milestones in 2014, first, the economy gained back all the jobs it lost during the recession, 8. 7 million jobs. It took four long years to do it. Second, 2014 marks the best year in job creation since 1999, averaging about 240,000 jobs each month. The jobless rate now below 6 percent.</s>QUEST: Number four: this is the age of the hack. An exclusive CNN Money report finds more than half American adults had their personal details hacked in 2014. Mostly through retailers including Home Depot, Michaels, Neiman Marcus and Target. Celebrities became victims as hackers exposed private nude photos. The year ends with a giant hack in Hollywood. Sony Pictures is infiltrated. Movie screeners and embarrassing corporate e-mails -- they all hit the web.</s>ROMANS: Number three, an auto safety crisis. GM recalls 30 million vehicles in 2014, the largest issue, faulty ignition switches.</s>MARY BARRA, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: I am deeply sorry.</s>ROMANS: GM is compensating victims as it tries to revamp its reputation. Another crisis later in the year, Japanese parts maker Takata ignores calls for a nationwide recall following several incidents of exploding air bags. Initially, one million cars are recalled by five automakers. Federal regulators say that's not enough. Two words tell this story: Record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average racked up more than 30 of them in 2014. It's even more for the S&P 500. A brief pullback in October couldn't stop the bull run. The market has now gone more than 1,100 days without a pullback of more than 10 percent. Investors will be looking for one of those in 2015.</s>QUEST: And number one: the top money story of the year, oil's dramatic drop. After holding steady for the first half of the year, global concerns pressure the oil market and prices plunge. They dropped more than 40 percent from June.