crude oil. get short uso here. >> that does it for us. don't forget to watch at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. and as always, follow me on twitter. and please watch "power lunch" because it begins right now. "halftime" is over. "power lunch" and the second half of the trading day starts right now. >> indeed it does. we start with a ground-breaking decision at augusta national. first time ever women are being allowed in to that historic club. more than in just a second. apple just hit a milestone, as well. it is now the most valuable company in the entire world. in the history of companies. and we've been talking a lot about the vxx. today, a better explainer and some details to help you decide to play this sometimes very volatile etf. pros and cons coming up. tyler's on vacation so my partner is simon hobbs down at the nyse. good afternoon. >> good afternoon to you, sue. history in the making.

our top story, augusta national, home of the masters, finally allowing women in to the club for the first time ever. mary thompson has that story. a long time coming it should be said. >> it certainly is. 40 years, one month and 19 days after president nixon signed title ix in to law, augusta national allows the first women members. they long resisted women on the roster. the club's former chairman johnson famously or infamously responded to a 1992 letter asking them to open the doors to female members saying the home of the masters golf course is not forced at the point of a bayonet. 22 years after allowing the first african-american member and where women brought in a home of the medals at the olympics, augusta's ushering in the ladies. first two female members include former secretary of state con con. in a statement rice calling the

membership a very special opportunity. also admitted, south carolina financier darla moore, vice president of rainwater incorporated, a privately-held investment firm founded by her husband. billy payne calling the decision a joyous occasion marking a significant and positive time in the club's history. amen, corner, to that. sue, back to you. >> indeed marx ri. christine brennan is a biggest name in sports journalism. with "usa today" and joins us on the phone with more on this. great to hear you, christine. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you for having me. >> i think your headline you just yoet for "usa today" online says it all. finally. why did it take so long and why now? >> well, i think one of the reasons it's happening now is the chairman, sue. billy payne. this is a man who ran the atlanta olympics and the olympics previously known as the women's olympics until the london games which i was honored

to cover and just got back from. and billy payne is a much more modern chairman of augusta than anyone they've had before. this is the oldest of the old boy's clubs. this is the last bastion of supremacy and bring in millions of dollars of corporate money and had to happen. i think the trigger was jenny rametti the ibm ceo. the ceos traditionally members of augusta. she wasn't and the issue blew up in april embarrassing billy payne and the club. they realized they had to do something and they obviously did it today. >> do you think, then, that we can expect more women to join the club? does this move up the timetable? this was, what, a five year in the making decision by some accounts. do you think that changes the timetable of more women joining the club or not? >> i don't know. i don't want to predict much about augusta national because as soon as this happens billy payne's not talking about it

except for the press release. that's fine. that's, of course, his will to do that. kond rice isn't talking and it's absolutely within its rights to do that, of course. >> but i think -- >> i think, yes. in the next ten years asking me ten women members i would say the odds are yes to that. >> i think, also, you mentioned in your column and i got a chance to read it briefly but you make the point and i agree with you. this is bigger than just golf. it's certainly the main story in golf today but it says to young women, young girls everywhere that if augusta can welcome women, that previously closed areas of the economy of business should also be welcoming women. correct? >> absolutely. yes. augusta is much more than just a golf club. it is an iconic symbol of the corridors of power in the

country and golf is about much more an that. people play golf and they do deals on the course and shutting out women you shut women out of much more than 18 holes of golf so i really do. it sounds pollyanna-ish but i'm from toledo, ohio. i picture a 12-year-old girl next year watching the masters with her mom and dad sitting on the couch and when she sees a woman in a green jacket, codi rice or darla moore in a green jacket, more is possible for her. she believes not only a game is open to her but an entire lifestyle. and as i said, the corridors of power. i think that's a tremendous statement for augusta national, billy payne and the nation to be making and as is mentioned in the year of olympics, more women on the u.s. team than men. more medals by women than men on the u.s. team. the title ix olympics in many ways. a week after the london games ended, history will record this

as a very important summer for women. >> i couldn't agree with you more. good to talk with you. >> sthank you, sue. they can care. best buy, the board pushing back on a takeover offer of the company's founder with a new ceo. based on the stock price, investors are not that happy. down almost 8% on the trading session. hubert jolly, the former head of the company carlson is in and courtney reagan covers retail for us. the latest on that. >> hi. i feel like a spice girls girl power. that would be perfect for today. back to the boys. the soap opera continues at best buy. plot twists in the last 24 hours. late sunday said the funder is rejecting the offer for due diligence in exchange for certain protections of shareholders. he owns a little bit more than 20% of company shares and proposed a buyout.

this morning best buy named hubert joly as its new ceo to succeed interim best buy chairman and ceo mike mikan. he has experience in technology turnaround and eds and media company vavedi. hours ago the response of schulze saying best buy continues to face enormous challenges and needs a clear plan with proven leadership team with deep retail experience and knowledge of best buy to win back customers, inspire employees and reinvigorate the company. he said he's disappointed by the best buy board's abrupt public termination of our private discussions. the saga seems very far from over. >> that's an understatement, court. thank you so much. let's go to herb greenberg. there are a lot of layers to

this story. >> right. >> one of which is customer service. >> yeah, look. getting a guy from the hospit hospitality industry, what about customer service? >> exactly. >> will he do that? does it matter? i don't think it matters because some people want to look at this saying go to an apple store, walk through, take you. but remember. best buy is so many products and again we get back to the same old issue that's facing the industry. shy of having some great new product or platform out there, you have to have good pricing and if they have to really compete with an amazon, you end up with the really thin layer of margin and already at a thin layer of margin. >> where do you think this goes? the statement courtney read sounds to me anyway this is just the beginning of what could be a very prolonged fight. >> you can see it in what schulze said. he'll fight. he wants to create a public fight. look at the stock today, investors are saying the same thing. they were betting on him coming in, taking over the company. they weren't betting on a new

ceo coming in especially with no background in retail. >> right. you got your work cut out for you on this one. thank you. simon? sue maybe because it's the end of august but the volatility index is scloutly low, potentially dangerously low if you believe in complacency in multi-year troughs if you like. you see it there right the way through. check out the etf. vxx. that's how many traders trade volatility and as you can see historically lows. bob pisani is live with me talking about how to play volatility. bob? >> i like the vxx. here's the problem wit. it comes with baggage. you need to know that when you invest in it. in theory, it's kind of looking like it tracks the vxx but doesn't exactly. it doesn't because it's tracking slightly different subject matter. take a look at what the performance has been so far this year of the vxx and the vix.

down 39% and volatility low. the vxx down 68%. how do you explain that? simple answer is that the vxx tracks futures. futures. looking at the futures, every month buy a new vix future. very steep. the prices go up as you go out. they have to buy these at a higher price. means you losing money every month it doesn't change. it's still a very good way to change volatility short term. if you think volatility will go up, it's a great way to play it. don't hold on to it very long. there's the inverse. this is the best performing note this year. both exchange traded notes up 116% and the inverse. here, simon, essentially betting that volatility is low. you have the same problem. if this sudden spurt in volatility happens, that at xiv

drops quickly. >> what do i buy if i believe europe will blow up? >> vix betting volatility going to rise short term. >> let's bring in matt cheslock. where are you finding opportunity in this very low volume or low volatility market? >> good point. low volume, as well. one point and bob saying that if there's a reversal, won't happen on much. we are seeing huge outflows of u.s. equity funds and important to note, as well. so what i'm looking at, defensive as anyone else. etfs is a way to spread your risk and ai think that's one way to bray it. okay. bwm is interesting jumping in to the rental market on the west coast. in fact, starting today in the city of san francisco bmw is operating a share car service. might seem strange for bmw. phil lebeau is live in chicago. phil? >> reporter: this is a problem that bmw quietly launched about

two months ago and good reception in san francisco called the drive now program and essentially it works like any other car share program although obviously it's only luxury bmws for rent. specifically the active e electric sedans and looking at the drive now program, it operates very similar to other car share programs. there's an app. rent them for $12 for a half hour up to 90 days for the day if you're going 180 miles. earlier today on cnbc we had a chance to talk with a bmw board member believes that cities like san francisco are the perfect market for car share for bmw. >> we expect that here in the united states the city environment is really where it's going to see the growth and this, of course, is not something that we're in for, you know, a few months. we believe it's a long-term strategy for mobility solutions. >> the drive now program is wildly popular in germany in munich and berlin. 40,000 subscribers and this

comparison between bmw and zip car because zip car, remember, had to cut the revenue expectations for the remainder of this year. having challenges in terms of growing membership and that's really the one area, simon, when you take a look at the car share industry if there is one here in this country people say is the growth limited? bmw says it may be to cities but that's where it's focused for the time being. back to you. >> strange to share your bmw. okay. so bmw starts representing cars by the hour in san francisco today. our question, what would you pay per hour? go vote. finance.yahoo.com. results, sue, are coming up. now, to mary thompson with market flash. well, finally some good news for facebook shareholders. the company stock rebounding today after an all-time low, less than half of the ipo price of $38 a share. you can see right now coming off those levels with the sharp move to the upside, up 4%.

sue, back to you. >> thank you very much, mary. some lightning sparked wild fires are raging again in northern california. the fires are also burning in washington state and in utah. several homes in the west have already been destroyed by the latest round of fires and thousands more are threatened. in california alone, 1,200 firefighters on the front lines 170 miles from sacramento. coming up next, magnets and misanthropy. the man says they're out to get him. he has a new product and a way to make money. is it government gone fild? both sides straight ahead. five big monday movers on "power lunch" with american express count 1.5%. all energy development comes with some risk,

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reports of stirring british drink maker on a deal to buy a tequila maker. mexico's beckman family own it. the cost is reportedly in the $3 billion price range. diageo at the close in london

lightly higher. tequila is hot, hot, hot. ladies and gentlemen, let me take this moment to remind you, please, to drink responsibly. sue? >> cheers to that, simon. indeed. the government cracking down on buckyballs of magnets that look like beads. regulators say sales should stop immediately made from rare earth minerals and more dangerous than most magnets ingested. buckyballs says the government is going too far. joining us is co-founder craig zucker and rachel winetraub. welcome both of you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> as i understand it, this device is not labeled as a toy. and you already have warning labels on it, correct? >> there's five different warning labels on the packaging saying keep away from all children. it's in all retail stores. on the website. it's very hard to miss the

warning. these are to be kept away from children. >> miss winetraub what is your concern? you want sales halted immediately. has the company not gone far enough in your view, exa? >> exactly, exactly. labelings are not the answer to every product safety issue and not labels on the product on someone's desk or table or when a child finds them on the floor. the issue here is that doctors in an unusual move are calling out this product as being linked to severe injuries and that's what this issue is all about. >> mr. zucker, do you want to respond to that? >> sure. yeah. i mean, you know, we do have a warning on the product itself on the carrying case which people put the balls back inside of. and like she said, although there have been concerns of doctors, there are many product that is have a far greatere of the commission from cfa and the

recommendations are in fact warnings, educational campaigns, awareness. and all we share the same concern for safety, we just have a different approach as to how that should be achieved. >> sounds as though he feels he's being singled out and other things out there, balloons come to mind, that children come in contact with that can be perhaps equally as dangerous. and they're not targeted by the commission. this is not an issue of one specific company singled out. importantly, the fact that one product from one manufacturer is being compared to balloons which are prolific in the marketplace is incredibly significant in and of itself. this product has been linked to serious, serious injuries that children are having surgery. their intestines perforated. doctors are communicating to the public about this.

we need an intense and substantive and meaningful approach. >> are there other products you are going after with the same zeal? >> i'm a product safety advocate. there are numerous products and issue areas i work on with similar zeal, yes. and for all of those products, it depends on the issue. there are specific solutions and for this product, something that mr. zucker has not yet put forward is an actual change to the product. and that as a safety advocate is what i work on the most and advocate fitter. if you change the product, you will change the consequences of children. >> mr. zucker, your response to that? would you consider modifying the product? >> we offered a corrective action plan to the consumer product safety commission on tuesday, july 24th that included product changes, enhanced warnings, additional educational campaigns. by wednesday, july 25th we had read that the action plan is

rejected. the commissioners probably didn't have time to review it and voted on and we read about it administrative complaint filed against us at 10:00 a.m. in the "usa today" the next day so we have provided multiple solutions. we have offered to work with cpsc. we have been to improve the product, the safety. even though we have the most vigorous safety program in the industry and no back and forth conversation or dialogue with them. they said they wanted to put us out of business. >> perhaps you can use this opportunity to start this kofrs back and forth. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. mary thompson with a market flash. >> sue, we are taking a look at the home builders under pressure today. toll brothers, nvr and beazer cut. they think that the stocks are fairly valued, specifically toll brothers which is doubled recently.

they said they'd wait for a pullback before adding simon? >> thanks very much. next on the program, we're going to be analyzing the analysts on "power lunch." on the list today, merckel, jabil circuit and public storage. plus, jane is back on the farm. but this time, the drought isn't the reason, jane. >> reporter: simon, people talk about illegals flooding across the border. not happening so much creating a drought in california. $38 being sector facing a scarcity of people. that story when we come back. [ male announcer ] drive a car filled with

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they're optimistic of the underperforming units going forward. one thing to know is trading at 25% discount to its historical price to book and ample move to the upside. >> i think their price target is 4.75 from year. >> i would agree with this. >> let's talk about jabil circuit. they're noting large capital investments. we believe, they say, to support apple. could easily drive earnings per share upside. apple is their biggest customer and the shares pulled back 8% since april and been volatile over the last six months or so. >> this is a sector under some pressure. really unloved as we go forward. they had issues with rim earlier and finally fully disclosed and looking for an expectation of september. iphone 5 release. i think it bodes well for them. maybe a pop to the april highs of about 26. i would agree with that call, as well. >> let's just squeeze one more

in. downgrading public storage to underperform of sector perform on what they say is a question of premium valuation relative to comparatively limited external growth prospects. that is reit and phenomenal over the past 12 months up about 24%. >> absolutely. >> matt, i'm sorry. i have to interrupt you. the president just started to speak. >> a mammogram or other cancer screening at no extra cost. these are big deals for a lot of americans. and it represents two important ways that the improvements we made as part of the affordable care act strengthened medicare and helped seniors everywhere get better care at less cost. that's been our goal from the very beginning and i continue to do everything i can to make sure we keep our seniors healthy and the american people hell vi so with that, let me start off with

jim. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you for being here. you're no doubt aware of the comments of congressman akin on rape and abortion. wondered if you think nose views represent the views of the republican party in general. they've been denounced by your own rival and other republicans. are they an outlier or are they representative? >> well, let me first of all say the views expressed were offensive. rape is rape. and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the american people. and certainly doesn't make sense to me. so what i think these comments do underscore is why we

shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women. and so, although these particular comments have led governor romney and other republicans to distance themselves, i think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions or qualifying forceable rape versus nonforceable rape i think those are broader issues and a significant difference in approach between me and the other party. but i don't think that they would agree with the senator from missouri in terms of his statement which was way out there. >> should he -- >> you know, he was nominated by the republicans in missouri. i'll let them sort that out. nancy cortes?

>> yes, mr. president. thank you. your opponent recently accused you of waging a campaign filled with anger and hate and told "entertainment tonight" anyone attending the rallies can see they're not hateful campaigns. but the campaign said that mr. romney might be hiding something in the tax returns, suggested that mr. romney might be a felon for handing over power of bain capital and declined to condemn an ad of a top supporter that links mr. romney to a woman's death by cancer. are you comfortable with the tone of your campaign? have you asked them to change the tone? >> first of all, i'm not sure all the characteristics are accurate. nobody accused mr. romney of being a felon. when's true is if you watch me on the campaign trail here's what i'm talking about.

i'm talking about how we put americans back to work and sharp differences between myself and mr. romney in terms of how we would do that. he thinks that if we roll back wall street reform, roll back the affordable care act, otherwise known as obama care, that somehow people are going to be better off. i think that if we are putting teachers back to work and rebuilding america and reducing our deficit in a balanced way that's how you put people back to work. that's a substantive difference. when it comes to taxes, governor romney thinks that we should be cutting taxes by another $5 trillion and folks like me would benefit disproportionately from that. i think it makes a lot more sense and have put out a detailed plan for a balanced approach with tough spending cuts and asking people like me to do a little bit more. that's a substantive difference

in the campaign. whether it's wind energy or funding education. those are the those topics we're spending time talking about in the campaign. if you look at the overall trajectory of our campaign and the ads that i have approved, and are produced by by campaign, you will see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates but we don't go out of bounds and when it comes to releasing taxes, that's a precedent that was set decades ago, including my governor romney's father and for us to say that it makes sense to release your tax returns as i did, as john mccain did, as bill clinton did, as the two president bushes did, i don't think is in any way out of bounds. i think that's what the american

would rightly expect, is a sense that if particularly we're having a huge debate about how we reform our tax code and how we pay for the government that we need i think people want to know that, you know, everybody's been playing by the same rules including people who are seeking the highest office in the land. this is not an entitlement of being president of the united states. this is a privilege. we have to make our case. >> why not send a message to the top superpac supporting you and say i think an ad like that is out of bounds. >> so let's take that particular issue opposed to -- because you lumped in a whole bunch of other stuff that i think was entirely legitimate. i don't think the governor romney is somehow responsible for the death of the woman portrayed in that ad. but keep in mind, this is an ad that i didn't approve. i did not produce.

and as far as i can tell has barely run. i think it ran once. now, in contrast, you've got governor romney creating as a centerpiece of his campaign this notion that we're taking the work requirement out of welfare. which every single person here who's looked at it says is patently false. all right? he's arguing we have somehow d the welfare requirement, the work requirement in our welfare laws. and in fact what's happened was that my administration responding to the requests of five governors including two republican governors agreed to approve giving them those states some flexibility in how they manage their welfare rolls as long as it produced 20% increases in the number of people getting work. so in other words, we would

potentially give states more flexibility to put more people back to work, not to take them off the work requirement under welfare. everybody who's looked at this says what governor romney's saying is absolutely wrong. not only are his superpacs running millions of dollars of ads making this claim, governor romney himself is saying this on the stump and approving this. so, the -- you know, the contrast i think is pretty stark. that's, you know, they can run the campaign that they want. but the truth of the matter is you can't just make stuff up. that's one thing you learn as president of the united states. you get called in to account. and i feel very comfortable with the fact that when you look at the campaign we're running we're focused on the issues and the differences that matter to working families all across america and that's exactly the kind of debate the american

people deserve. jake tatum? >> thank you, mr. president. a couple questions. one, i'm wondering if you could comment on the recent spade of violence in afghanistan. your commanders tell you there's been an uptick. second, with the economy the focus of americans and out of washington with attempt to bring some more economic growth to the country. >> on afghanistan, obviously, we've been watching with deep concern so-called green on blue attacks where you have afghan individuals, some of whom are actually enrolled in the afghan military, some cases dressing up as afghan military or police attacking coalition forces including our own troops.

i just spoke today to marty dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who happens to be in afghanistan. he is having intensive consultations not only with our commander john allen on the ground but also with afghan counterparts. and i'll be reaching out to president karzai, as well, because we've got to make sure we're on top of that. we are already doing a range of things and we are seeing some success when it comes to better counter intelligence, making sure that the vetting process for afghan troops is stronger. and we have got what's called a guardian angel program to make sure that our programs aren't in isolated situations to make mem more vulnerable. we have to do more. there's been an uptick over the last 12 months on this. part of what's taking place is we are transitioning to afghan security. and for us to train them

effectively, we are much closer contact. our troops are in much closer contact with afghan troops on an ongoing basis. and, you know, part of what we have got to do is to make sure that this model works but it doesn't make our guys more vulnerable. in the long term, we will see fewer u.s. casualties and coalition casualties by sticking to our transition plan and making sure we have the most effective afghan security force possible. but we have to do it in a way that doesn't leave our guys vulnerable. so we are deeply concerned about this from top to bottom. and hopefully we'll start seeing better progress on this front. in terms of the economy, you know, i would love to say that when congress comes back they've got a week or ten days before they go out and start

campaigning again, that we'll see a flurry of action. i can't guarantee that. i do think that there's some specific things they could do that would make a big difference. i'll give you a couple of examples. first of all, just making sure that we have got what's called a continuing resolution so we don't have any disruptions and government shutdowns over the next couple of months. that's important. it appears that there's an agreement on that but we want to make sure that that gets done. number two, you know, we have put forward an idea that i think a lot of americans thinks makes sense. which is we've got historically low interest rates now and the housing market is beginning to tick back up but it's still not where it needs to be. there are a lot of families out there whose homes are underwater. they owe more than the house is worth because housing values dropped so precipitously. and they're having trouble

refinancing, we're going to be pushing congress to see if they can pass a refinancing bill that puts $3,000 in to the pockets of the average family who hasn't yet refinanced their mortgage. that's a big deal. that $3,000 can be used to strengthen the equity in that person's home which would raise home values, alternatively that's $3,000 in the people's pockets to spend on a new computer for their kid going back to school or, you know, new school clothes for their kids and so that would strengthen the economy, as well. obviously, the biggest thing that congress could do would be to come up with a sensible approach to reducing our deficit in ways that we had agreed to and talked about last year. and i continue to be open to seeing congress approach this with a balanced plan that has

tough spending cuts building on the trillion dollars worth of spending cuts we have already made. but also, asks for additional revenue from folks like me from folks in the top 1% or 2% to make sure that folks who can least afford it aren't suddenly bearing the burden and providing additional security to small businesses and families going forward. alternatively, they could go ahead and vote for a bill we have said would definitely strengthen the economy and that is giving everybody who's making $250,000 a year or less certainty their taxes won't go down next year. that makes a big difference. the republicans voted that down already once. it's not likely realistically to bring it back up again before collection day. but my hope is after the

election people will step back and recognize that that's a sensible way to bring down our deficit and allow us to invest in education to help the economy grow. chuck todd? >> mr. president, latest thinking of syria. and in particular, whether you envision using u.s. military if simply for nothing else to safekeeping of chemical weapons. i also want to follow up on the answer you gave to nancy. you said one of the reasons to see mitt romney's tax returns was you wanted to see that everybody is playing by the same set of rules. it actually goes to the question she asked which is the simply case, do you think there's something mitt romney is not telling us in his tax returns that indicates he's not playing by the same rules? >> no. there's a difference between playing by the same sets of rules and doing something illegal. in no way have we suggested the latter but the first disclosure,

the one years of tax returns they have disclosed indicated that, you know, he used swiss bank accounts, for example. well, that may be perfectly legal but i suspect if you ask the average american do you have one? and is that part of how you manage your tax obligations? they would say, no. they would find that relevant information. particularly when we're going in to a time where we know we're going to have to make tough choices about spending and about taxes. so, you know, i think the idea that this is somehow exceptional that there should be a rational or a justification for doing more than the very bare minimum has it backwards. i mean, the assumption should be

you do what previous presidential candidates did dating back for decades. mitt romney's dad said the reason i put out ten or 12 years because any single year might not tell you the whole story. and everybody's i think followed that custom ever since. the american people have assumed that if you want to be president of the united states that your life's an open book. when it comes to things like your finances. you know, i'm not asking to, you know, disclose every detail of, you know, his medical records. although we normally do that, as well. but you know? i mean, this isn't sort of overly personal here, guys. this is pretty standard stuff. i don't think we're being mean.

by asking you to do what every other presidential kand date's done. right? it's what the american people expect. on syria, obviously, this is a very tough issue. i have indicated repeatedly that president al assad has lost legitimacy. that he needs to step down. so far, he hasn't gotten the message and instead doubled down in violence on his own people. the international community has sent a clear message that rather than drag his country in to civil war he should move in the direction of a political transition but at this point the likelihood of a soft landing seems pretty distant. what we've said is, number one, we want to make sure we're providing human taryn assistance. we have done that to the tune of

$82 million i believe so far and we want to make sure that the hundreds of thousands of refugees that are fleeing the mayhem that they don't end up creating or being in a terrible situation or also destabilizing some of syria's neighbors. the second thing we've done is we said that we would provide, you know, in consultation with the international community some assistance to the opposition in thinking about how would a political transition take place. and, you know, what are the principals that should be upheld in terms of looking out for minority rights and human rights. and that consultation is taking place. i have at this point not ordered military engagement in the situation but the point that you

made about chemical and biological weapons is critical. that's an issue that doesn't just concern syria. it concerns our close allies in the region, including israel. it concerns us. we cannot have a situation where a chemical or biological weapons are falling in to the hands of the wrong people. we have been very clear to the assad regime, but also, to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moved around or utilized. that would change my calculus and equation. >> somehow under -- >> in a situation this volatile, i wouldn't say that i'm absolutely confident. we're monitoring the situation carefully. we have put together a range of

contingency plans. we have commune kated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us. and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons t use of chemical weapons. that would change my calculations significantly. so, all right. thank you, everybody. >> president obama in a very impromptu and wide ranging news conference that took place basically right after the white house briefing taking place every day. ality abo at about this time but the president made an appearance and took questions. john harwood joins us for analysis of that. he started out, though, basically planting the flag that he found the comments by respective akin offensive and then progressed to number of other key issues ending up with

syria. >> reporter: absolutely. that provided a very auspicious opener for the press conference by the president. one of the things planted the flag on today was rebutting the criticism of some in the press, some in the romney campaign, he is not accessible to the press and chose this at a moment when the hot political story of the moment is one that's very unflattering for the republican party to have a nominee in a major state like missouri make the kind of idiotic statements that representative akin made. you have had two sitting u.s. senators, ron johnson, fellow republicans, ron johnson of wisconsin, scott brown of massachusetts, call for him to quit the race. john cornyn of texas on the republican side said congressman akin needs to consider what's best for his family, for himself and the republican party. you can see there's a lot of heat on akin because republicans want to distance themselves from this and gave the president quite an invitation to come out

and choose this as the moment to hold his news conference. >> indeed. thank you so much. appreciate it. john harwood in washington. all right. we' we'll get you up to date on the markets in two minute's time. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

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immigration is likely to be a key political issue in the coming weeks, especially in some western states. for some, california farmers, the immigration crackdown is having a real unintended consequence. jane wells went up to piru, california, just east of oxnard. they're also dealing with, of course, a labor drought. hi, jane. over to you. >> reporter: hi, simon. it's drought of a different story. california's a nation's number one farm state but tougher immigration and an inadequate guest worker policy has farmers from wine grapes, peppers competing for fewer and older farm workers. sergio diaz trying to fulfill

contracts of growers. the western growers association says farmers report 20% fewer workers and wages go up, the people here making $9.25 an hour. some crops are going unpicked. do you have any locals coming out here applying to pick these crops? >> none. absolutely none. we're having trouble getting truck drivers and more skilled, what might be called skilled labor. we grow carrots, beets, turnips and we left behind turnips. we left behind the crops that paid less. so it's kind of a triage. you pick those that are paying. >> reporter: it's a fact of life. most pickers in california imlegal and the crackdown at the border is working. meantime, a lot of growers that left the industry to go to construction in the housing boom have not come back.

craig underwood would like farm labor to be an issue in the presidential race and said it's a global problem. he knows it won't and even if it's not picked you will still get your peppers. they'll be grown in another country. >> that's a very, very good point, jane. thank you very much. coming up next hour, which bun of these classic cars went for the highest price tag at this weekend's $260 million pebble beach auction? find out coming up. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line,

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after six straight weeks of gains we started the seventh week slightly in negative territory but behind the headlines some big churning going on. bob has more. >> quiet europe. that was good news. currencies are fairly quiet today and churning in the sectors. take a look at southwest air. when they raise fares, it does make a difference so they raised them $10 on short haul flights today and looking like other airlines go along with it and that's going to stick. that's helping some of the airlines. trying to offset they say the higher fuel costs occurring recently. home builders weak today. there was a downgrade of some of the major home builders