hole. >> shactman's down there with the cone in the belting rain and gleesman is in jackson hole. >> he's got a lot of coverage coming up. anyway, make sure to join us tomorrow. right now time for "squawk on the street." good wednesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with kelly evans live at the new york stock exchange. melissa, david, and jim are off this morning. look at futures. i think it was john brady this morning saying markets are stubborn and tightly wound around 1408. that's true. narrow ranges yesterday. we'll see if we get more outside action today. this week is a bit of a waiting game for bernanke on friday. europe got a few things going on. merkel meeting monte. we'll walk through all of that a

bit later this morning. first, though, our road map beginning in plaquemines parish where isaac left homeowners stranded on rooftops. we have coverage of the storm as it begins its inland path. >> draghi is the ecb chief building a new case for policy? >> revised up this morning. and will it impact bernanke's tone in jackson hole? >> and oppenheimer says a buyout of best buy is unlikely. the latest on the saga between the company and richard shultzi. but first the national hurricane center says the storm surge and flood threat are likely to continue until

tonight. scott cohn is live in new orleans. what's it like down there? >> well, it's raining a lot to say the least, kelly. there is a lot of activity going on. we've been reporting on this this morning. one thing that's promising is we've seen for the last hour or so a lot of utility trucks on the move. that suggests at least they can get into place for when things die down and they can start dealing with the power outages. with a big chunk of the city without power except down here on canal street. they never did lose power. that's a good thing. although the worst of this is not over yet. plaquemines parish is becoming a story here on the seven-year anniversary of hurricane katrina. they're talking about rescuing people off rooftops because the levee overtopped. the water overflowed over the levee creating some flooding there. they've had to literally rescue

people out of their attics and rooftops. as many as 60 people there. this is not part of the big flood control redo they did following hurricane katrina in the city of new orleans and the surrounding area. about $14.6 billion. this is plaquemines parish levee. and the parish president says though the flooding is worse in plaquemines than it was in katrina. the national guard is out. there's a presence here. they're now looking for people that may be in need of help. as of last night, about 3,000 people were in shelters in louisiana. there are thousands more in shelters in mississippi and alabama where they are also feeling the effects of this storm. what we're looking at today, is the storm passing more or less to the southwest of new orleans.

but the northeast quad that will hit us. it's a little bit calm now, but that's in between things. carl, you were here. i know exactly where you were seven years ago today. it's eerie. a different storm in a different city. >> it is amazing. the different characteristics these storms take on. this is about rainfall, really. and it does raise the question you bring up. not all new levees are created equal. some of these older lev vees will be the ones we're paying the closest attention to. >> that's correct. and it also -- the longer the water stays high. and we're dealing with a slow-moving storm. the longer they're dealing with water pressing up against these levees, the more of a test they're taking. the system is flood gates they closed for the first time this

system is most of it is now in place all but a fraction of it is done. so this is going to be the first full scale test. they felt pretty good about that. all levees are not created equal and all flood controls are not created equal and all storms are not created equal. >> the thought you haven't lost power downtown does that mean that a number of businesses have remained open as you can see? >> most businesses in the downtown area are closed. and they closed pretty much yesterday afternoon. there's a handful, but it's been pretty quiet. there was -- they were urging people to stay home. some parts of the new orleans area were under curfew. people seem to be heeding that. there's been sporadic reports of i guess mischief. i don't want to go too far to say looting, but that's what they've been alluding to it as.

that kind of thing is going to happen in a situation like this. but the one thing that we've noticed in comparison to the past is just the presence here. remember, it was days before we saw the national guard back with hurricane katrina. >> all right. r us this morning.in new orleans now let's get out for more from weather channel meteorologist todd santos. >> good morning guys. the setup here is the flood potential going forward. we are still talking about wind gusts topping around 60 miles per hour. the amount of rainfall still off the coastline with a slow-moving system is a big concern. quick look at the radar. you see that one active tornado there in southeast portions of mississippi. we'll continue to have that threat throughout the day. this bulk of rainfall curving its way into the areas which have recorded seven, eight inches worth of rainfall is a

real concern here. we're talking about a very slow-moving system. as far as the future radar is concerned, as we go into the rest of today and early tomorrow. the eye is close to the corridor and that's 24 hours away from now. that is going to keep these areas under the gun for the heavy rain potential. did want to mention the water rise. some of these have come down. shell beach has come down from a high of near 11 feet above the high tide area. there is some in effect. there's a look at current winds. you see the gusts in new orleans there up to 63 miles per hour. 66 at shell beach. we've had a couple of those on lake pontchartrain. it's going to be a very slow track and that's going to be a

flood potential going forward. >> thanks so much for that. todd santos giving us the forecast. dragi did take time to write an op-ed piece in the german weekly. he seems to calm germany's concerns about the policy course saying the central bank will do what's necessary to ensure price stability. drawing up a bond buy plan to lower borrowing class. kelly, interesting. we know what a good poker player he is and how he rescued the month of august some would say. after canceling jackson hole, now this op-ed, the idea he's building up to something is building steam. >> what this reminds me of is when ben bernanke took to op-ed pages when he was trying to explain and defend quantitative easing to the public.

there are questions in the hearts of the public. it's true in germany. >> no coincidence he did pick a german paper to put this up. and he says sometimes our mandate goes beyond standard monetary policy tools. which every in favor of more policy would like to hear. >> how important for the fed and central banks broadly speaking against the zero bound and looking for other ways especially in europe where it is about how can they structure relief. without the backing of a full political union. unconventional measures. >> meanwhile, italy today auctioning off bills. lowest rate since march. is that hard to make? >> we'll focus on auctions into september. spain is going to tap debt markets again. this is reminder of even though

we saw a lot of pressure on borrowing costs for these countries, they've been able to secure at auction relatively okay borrowing costs. even spain i think they're average yield is more in the range of 4% to 5%. the fact all the regions now need support. an additional concern. >> a lot of news out of europe this morning. back in this country, second quarter gdp up to 17 from 15. the burning question is what is bernanke going to say? deutsche bank's analyst and contributor. good to see you this morning. we're tightening into a range here ahead of what his speech is going to bring. what's he going to say? >> i don't think he'll say too much. perhaps leave options open. if the economy faulters any substantial way, the fed will be

there. as a backstop. but the practical aspect is they kbt do much more. i don't think the chairman wants to front run the fomc and announce qe3 as he did in august of 2010. i think he'll leave options open. they want to see the employment data for august before they make any decision. i think at that september meeting, the fed would do a verbal easing where they extend the language from 14 to 15 or perhaps tie in the exit strategy to some certain set of economic parameters. being below a certain level. i think that is a risk. >> is this really just a language game? >> yes. even the fed's balance sheet, these excess reserves, bank lending is picking up but it's not from excess reserves. it's from retained earnings. so i don't think the fed can do a whole lot at this point other than leave things alone. >> there's an interesting argument taking place right now

as to wlorpt the fed should cut the interest rate on access reserves. people say look if you're going to be consistent, a lower rate will force higher lending throughout the economy. what's your own view on that? >> i agree with that note, the fact it came from new york i think is important. president dudley has been one of the more active members. i think it would hurt the money fund industry. i don't think there's a clear benefit from doing so. >> should the money fund industry be protect -- meaning isn't that de facto standing in the way of what the fed should, you know, theoretically be doing? >> no, i don't think so. they're only paying 25 basis points. their research suggests even if you cut it in half, that's not going to galvanize lending. where mortgage rates are, this is not about the price of money. it's about the quantity of money or the desire to provide the loan. and more importantly for people

to want to take loans. the more problem we've had now is standards on mortgages are tight. >> and there is nothing qe3 or mortgage buying the fed can do to change that. just time. >> i think down four weeks even with rates where they are unbelievable. if it happens like you say, is it a disappointment? >> i think so. the idea is yields could get back up into the higher range. i think it's interesting. the equity rally stock yields went down again. i think ultimately higher yields are very good for subsidies. so short-term it's a negative for both markets but i think long-term it's very constructive if the fed stands back. >> and hopefully volume comes back next week and we get the fall off to the races. joe, thanks for coming in. when we come back, last night it was governor chris christie and ann romney creating buzz at the republican

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chris christie and ann romney spoke at the convention last night. tonight paul ryan will be in the splt. john howard joining us now to recap. morning. >> morning, carl. you had overlapping but distinct

messages last night. ann romney talked about love. chris christie talked about respect and casting the republican party as the one who will make the tough decisions to make a better future for the children. here's chris christie. >> i don't know about you, but i don't want my children and grandchildren to have to read the history book what it was like to live in an american century. i don't want their only inheritance to be an enormous government that's overtaxed, overspent, and overborrowed. i want them to live in a second american century. >> now, ann romney's message was softer. very much targeted toward women. and she used the power that she has as mitt romney's wife to communicate qualities about him that are relevant to solving america's problems and to try to tell swing voters especially women they can trust him. >> i can't tell you what will happen over the next four years, but i can only stand here tonight as a wife and a mother

and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail. >> and a whole lot of other messages tonight. rand paul, the senator from kentucky, son of the libertarian ron paul will speak. so will mike huckabee. a leader amongst social conservatives. then the cleanup speakers, condoleezza rice, she'll address foreign policy concerns. perhaps also like ann romney appeal to women. and paul ryan who's energized conservatives with his budget plan and presence on this ticket. >> in terms of ryan, i've seen a couple of headlines suggesting he'll talk about small town values. is that going to be the crux of it or will it center around the policy platforms he's known for? >> i would not expect paul ryan to focus on policy details. i would expect him more to tell his story. america's still getting to know paul ryan. the small town values message is

one that's very appealing, especially to small town and rural voters. that's a key republican constituency. paul ryan is somebody who's youthful, he displays energy. these are important qualities for the republican ticket. i think this is about developing paul ryan the person. >> i can't believe how many reports, john, today talk about how many times chris christie used the word romney in a speech. was this largely about him and can you explain that? >> it was about him. i talked to other strategists who are disappointed by the lack of focus on romney. the message was also christie's. it was not romney's. mitt romney's not running a campaign about saying no to voters or telling hard truths to american seniors, for example. chris christie made the point that seniors aren't selfish.

they're willing to step up. the romney campaign hopes that senior citizens don't think that that means that mitt romney is going to reduce their medicare and social security benefits. that's not his message. in fact, he's accusing president obama for cutting medicare. >> fascinating stuff. we'll talk to you later this morning. john harwood in tampa. when we come back, bill gross tells us what he wants to hear from ben bernanke when he delivers his jackson hole speech friday. lot more "squawk on the street" straight ahead. at u.s. trust, our expertise extends well beyond investment advice and research analysis. it includes proprietary offerings like our eldercare program, which helps provide for those who came before you. and our financial empowerment program, which helps prepare those who come next. resources like these have made us the number-one trust company. that's why generations of families have come to us to help build their own legacies.

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okay we're seven or eight minutes away from the opening bell. let's bring in the cnbc markets analyst. gordon, are people coming back to work getting worried about september this week? or reassured they might hear what they want from bernanke? >> i think we're in hurry up and wait mode here. jackson hole is where the action is. we'll see what the chairman has to stay. it's more than a smattering of announcements we're waiting on. the traders are going to be focusing on what they think will happen and trading out as soon as something does happen. the other thing we have to keep an eye on too is the storms in new orleans. seems like a non-event but could be repercussions in the energy field. >> looking to saturday and deeper into september for the more eu-driven sidelines. does that move people to the

sidelines you think? >> if they go more to the sidelines than now, they're probably shutting the lights down. >> they're out of the stadium. >> that's right. the fact of the matter remains people have been on the sidelines and cautious. we have the election season coming up. i think that's been somewhat understated. republican convention of course we'll get to see the vice president and the nominee coming up and what the nominations are there. >> have you heard any evidence that rebounds next week in a certain way? >> maybe it could start to happen, carl. the fed is starting to see a move in the vix. we're seeing activity indicate that investors are starting to feel some of the pressures that abound here. if we start to see some activity in the base and the indexes, etfs, those things, it will translate into stocks. meantime, corporates are being well received. at this point investors seem to

be comfortable at the moment. at some point they have to want to take more risk or get out of their positions. >> essentially their highest level ever. >> yeah, it's tough to say if that's enough to derail this thing. look. you have to sit here and say are we on a sustainable recovery or recession mode? i think that the gas price even at $4 at the pump is not something that's going to derail it. i don't really sense that people have been driven away because of that. as we get into heating season, that's something to focus on. at this point i think something more important is back to school events. >> read up on those tomorrow. thanks for joining us up here. >> when we come back, we'll get he opening bell and winners and losers this wednesday. don't go away. during mattress price wars at sleep train,

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close out the month of august. it's been a crazy month. bizarreo market as we like to say. the dow's had nine -- let's get this right. nine up day, 11 down days. still positive for the month. >> interesting. august continues the stretch we had going for awhile where mondays were consistently negative. >> yes. and the performance of august often influences the performance of september which historically has been weak for the dow. although a good number of septembers of recent years have been positive. >> it has to do with the jackson hole meeting, i would say. this time around if we don't get the big move from that meeting, perhaps we won't have quite as much. although we did get the rhetoric earlier than usual. >> true enough. we're going to talk some best buy in just a moment. oppenheimer out with a note saying this would be buyout with richard shultz is unlikely. no many investors are going to be interested in that kind of

business model. we'll be talking to brian nagel later this half hour. let's get the opening bell here at the nyse. at the big board, come ed corporation celebrating its 25th anniversary as a nasdaq listed company. what are you watching this morning? >> i think it's going to be a day where we focus. it's been all about the tropical storm, the hurricane. now it comes back to the debate we've been having. will they or won't they when it comes to the fed. actually some headlines out of china too. out of asia. i think drawing concern again to what the strength or weakness of what a strength is. when you focus on oil being the place of weakness. about how customers are taking longer to make mamts.

some of those jitters are emanating today. >> shanghai down a percentage point to a post crisis low. and you can see some of the officials there trying to get in front of the situation. the state run news agency quoting one official saying the growth has been stabilizing at a slower pace and some controls over housing costs are beginning to work. china's been in a rough place lately. >> it's interesting. cooper no doubt the other day just pointing out that china has not been a profitable place to invest. if you look at profitability generally speaking, the shanghai composite going nowhere. and now china life have disappointing earnings. it's a great longer term story, but how do you invest there? >> airlines the profits were down 89% in the quarter. keep an eye on yelp. we talked about the lockout situation yesterday. that happens today. we'll talk to franchesco guerra

about this. does yelp face the difficulties other have seen the past few weeks. we'll also watch heinz which forecasted their earnings yesterday and in fact 87 cents did beat by 6 cents over a quarter of those sales are fous candidate on emerging markets. and as consumption goes up, increase goes up in those markets. people are like ketchup. >> that's where things are headed. we saw it first with the big companies like yum brands. now with the packages as well. >> the journal basically coming out with a story today essentially looking at a couple that is going to be in transition now. stocks not performing too badly here. up almost 6%. one of the most high profile women in corporate industry

leaving. it's been a difficult run for her and the board has had enough. b of a, that conference call yesterday between investors and paulson. saying yes my performance has been lackluster. down 35% last year. down 13% this year. a little chattery about whether paulson is a manager who got very lucky once and has been unable to recreate that matchup. >> and how often have we seen this? this goes back to hedge funds with investing in general. you can be right or lucky. but to think you generate alpha, if i can use that term, is incredibly hard. it's those that come after the big moment who are most at risk. >> then hopping on the bank theme, the journal looks at banks saying be cautious. it looks like we're in a low rate environment for a good amount of time here.

and the benefit of the loan loss reserves is going to diminish over time. >> of course. as we've seen a little bit more lending strength, the smaller regional players. probably more acquisitions as people look to beef up profitability given the head winds they face. >> got a couple earnings tonight. pandora and tivo. we'll see how those perform during the session today. knight capital, another good one. looking at the board -- reviewing operations. do they want to expand their trading platforms into bonds and currencies? do they want to do anything with institutional sales? tommy joyce's contract is up. they're in discussions to renew it. he wants to stay. we know what that stock's been through and how much havoc it has wreaked. >> it'll tell you more about where investors and people on the market see.

>> bob pisani is on the floor. >> i get questions. what's going to happen? the stocks in september. everybody wants to know what i think. hopefully more than what happened in august. have you noticed 90% of the traders hate the rally. 90% of the guys i talk to are convinced there's going to be a 10% correction in september or october if it doesn't happen in september. have you noticed, i don't know if you have, but 90% of the people i talk to are underperforming the s&p 500 so far this year. i wonder if that's a coincidence or not. don't get me wrong. all these people who believe there's going to be a correction in september are duly protected. there is a steep tango in the prices futures. out one month, to months are much higher than in the front month we have here. that tells you in -- quite

simple, carl, the guy who are the option makers -- if you ask my opinion what matters, two things matter simply. you tell me whether or not the ecb is going to be able to articulate more details and a clear position on the terms of any rescue package that they're going to create in the european union. number one. tell me that, i'll tell you what the stock market does. number two, tell me what apple does. okay? everyone i talk to, app sl either their one, two, or three position. apple is up 67% so far this year. it is up 12% so far this month. i will tell you this. a 10% correction in apple is a far bigger event than a 10% correction in the s&p 500. if we knock down apple and it goes back down to the price, a 10% correction will bring us back to where we were a month ago. if that happens, you'll hear chicken squawking technical

analysts all over the place. there will be a lot of hand wringing around that. if apple stays up where it is now and we're in the third week of september, believe me, things are going to be a lot calmer. let me move on and talk about isaac. yesterday i ran through a bunch of stocks. the impact on the stocks are minimal so far. restaurants, energy, building materials, insurers, all the stock moves are fairly minimal here. the loss estimates, it's early. i saw numbers of 0.6 billion, 2 billion. that's going to be revised. so far no change of the insurers. there might be a modest impact on chemicals. depends upon how the electricity grid holds up here. finally the dragi editorial, guys. two things he said. this guy acts like he's running for the german parliament, not the ecb. he said to make the euro work,

we need oversight over the budgets. and number two, we need bank oversight. made a clear case for a supernational bank regulator. you can argue this is going to be hard to get. we're going to need to get democratic buy in to have that happen. and he acknowledged that in the editorial. i thought this was a well written editorial aimed squarely at the german electorate. back to you. >> thanks. a tough challenge on that front winning over the public. now let's get the impact of isaac and get over. >> we are seeing a limited impact on the energy sector on energy prices in particular. we are looking at oil prices that are somewhat muted in this session, somewhat lower. when you look where they were last friday, not much of a change where they were at that closing price. we do know there is about 1 million barrels per day in refinery. that is shut. it may take several days to get

back into operation. but this is not as bad as some traders had anticipated. and we're also getting data on supplies. the american petroleum institute last night if reported a huge increase in supplies last week when many analysts were expecting to see a decline. much of those supplies were located in the gulf. so that may be pressuring prices a bit. we'll get the energy department's take this morning. the focus has been the ksh traders now worried about what will happen at jackson hole and what will happen with quantit e quantitative easing. that's what will take oil prices from here. >> hurricane isaac did spare many of the oil production facilities in the gulf from significant damage. brian shactman is in new orleans following the storm. he's got the latest. >> hi, kelly. i can barely hear you. still no new news in erm thes of what's going on in the gulf.

no reports of major damage. although plaquemines parish which has had the bulk of the storms force water over the top levee. there are three refineries in that area. they were all shut down before the storm. we're trying to get an update on the status of any damage to those refineries. here in new orleans, basically it's not the storm surge is much as how long we to deal with the rain. we did a ride along with the u.s. national guard. we'll give you details in the next hour about what they're dealing with. they weren't here until well after katrina came through. the last thing i want to really point out is right there, that's where cruise ships come in. they're due to have a cruise ship with 2500 people come in tomorrow. there's a good chance that's not going to happen. a lot of them have their cars parked in here above where our camera man is. if they can't come in, they'll

have to find another port. they got to take care of all 2500 people to find a way to get them back here or get their stuff out of here. it's just an example of all the little problems this causes. 2500 people who come home from vacation to a bit of a surprise. >> brian shactman weathering the wind in new orleans doing a terrific job for us this morning. thank you so much. appreciate that. when we come back, an analyst at oppenheimer tells us why a buyout of best buy unlikely. back in a moment. how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted

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best buy's founders attempting to take the company private. the analyst brian nagel is out this morning saying a buyout is

unlikely. shares are down more than 1% now. here's the analyst making that call. brian nagel of oppenheimer. and a $17 price target. good to see you again. good morning. >> good morning. >> sounds like you've been hounded by investors asking you if you think this is going to happen. >> i think this has been one of the biggest questions now for the past few weeks. we've been getting calls daily on it. >> there's a way he's going to get due diligence. he's stubborn. why do you think this is unlikely? >> well, i think that's one of the interesting things we want to make clear in our report today. you look at best buy. there's no secret they've had a number of problems lately. with the competition and lack of product cycle. beyond that. this company is still in decent shape. they're generating a lot of cash. they got a sell a balance sheet. that would make a -- take private type deal feasible. we think it's unlikely. we think what's going to happen here is ultimately private

equity buyers would balk at what is in our view is no exit strategy. the team of best buy is line likely to balk at what they think is a low offer for the company. >> to that point, if best buy's future in two to five years time looks less rosy, isn't it in the interest to pursue other opportunities. >> best buy again and i made this point on your show. it still is the leading consumer electronics company in the world. they do have a new ceo joining the company in the next few weeks. with a history of successfully turning businesses around. it's not all bad for best buy. i think should be saying we have opportunity here to improve our business. >> brian, what starts to go wrong first? i mean, i'm thinking back to the circuit city situation where again cash flow was used as a net positive.

does that begin to dry up soon? >> well, it'll take awhile. if you look at best buy and probably the biggest problem you want to make it simple is that the company's had a difficult time selling full priced items. the sales should be stronger but it comes in the cost of growth margins. they suffer in sales. we've seen this for some time now. but all that said, look. the profitability of this company will hold in for awhile. given the underline strength. that may be the case, but what has been the number one thing this company could do to turn itself fortunes around. to inspire. >> look. i'll say this. it's obviously not easy. they've got a fix their real estate. right now best buy has roughly 1100 across the united states. a bink chunk of those are too big. they were built t at a time when

consumer electronics were bigger. there wasn't the competition on. got to reposition their real estate portfolio. that is not easy. all stores are susceptible to rent payments. some leases come um for renewal. that's what they have to do. >> how many stores do you think they need? >> hard to say. i would say maybe it's not a matter of how many stores they need. >> or how big they are. >> they need to be smaller. you look at best buy's larger box stores right now are 40,000 square feet in size. that should be around 20 to 25,000 square feet given the state of the cycle. >> it would help if we had a new cycle of pcs and notebooks and dvds and video games and flat panel tvs. none of those are on fire right now. >> that's true. those categories one of the biggest issues right now are entertainment software. there are very few people who

buy cds and dvds. that used to be a key traffic item. what's your view on that? >> it's hard to say. amazon is an online only retailer. i don't know if they'd want to undertake a big real estate portfolio. i don't have much of a view on that. >> is your target at 17, does that imply on offer that is lower than the one we're currently thinking? or an offer that never comes to fruition? >> more the latter. my $17 price target is fundamental. >> all right, brian. two times in a week you've made a controversial outside call. good to have you. >> i appreciate it. >> brian nagel from oppenheimer. meantime, some investors losing faith in wall street. we'll explore that later on this morning. look at some of s&p's losers today. joy global at the top.

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here's simon hobbs with a look what's coming up in the next hour of "squawk on the street." >> good morning to you. how can ben bernanke say

anything that's going to move the markets on friday if he doesn't know what the europeans are going to do next thursday? bill gross will talk about that from pimco in the next hour. and as paul ryan expects to take center stage in florida, former mississippi governor haley barbour will also join us. we'll also have the new york jets owner. it's a big hour. >> thank you. time for the global stocks to watch. joy global cutting its outlook citing slowing demand in china. a higher than expected first quarter profit after a surge in orders. and sealed air announcing its chief executive with retire in march. jerome pembare named his successor. two stocks where the ceo is leaving and popping. i keep thinking back to avon. another stock that popped when

its female ceo is fired. it's a legitimate question. what about stocks that move to the upside when they let go of their female ceo? >> oftentimes you see stocks move up when a ceo has been released who hasn't performed well. shares rally, people start to write notes about a turnaround plan and it doesn't pan out. >> hello jcpenney. >> i wonder if this isn't a time to sell in and whether people ratchet back ideas. >> mike ver due has left to start his own company. his resignation comes after the coo departed. the chief creative officer for a company that lives and dies by its creative output has got the stock down to $3. and we've obviously seen so many headlines that have been

detrimental to the share price. >> a lot of people bearish isi zynga. in advertising through gaming. that the interaction from users is perhaps leading to a greater use of advertising in some of these markets that could benefit a zynga down the road. >> and we'll keep an eye on yelp. my favorite story in the journal this morning looks at conference calls and -- >> yes. >> and the way analysts are phrasing questions, if they use positive terms in their questioning to the ceo or cfo. when their questions center around accounting, generally a good time to short. which doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. >> i'm going to call this the justin lahart series. this is what investors do with central bankers on a day-to-day basis. if you look at the analyst

commentary and use that as a proxy in the hint, why not? it makes perfect sense. >> interesting analysis -- because you can read the transcripts. >> i love reading the transcripts. >> you can search for certain words. >> control-f. it's your best friend. >> jcpenney and akman had headlines yesterday. talking about to what degree jcp has held back its performance. some tried to tie it for general growth to do a bit more. one of his major winnings. losses on jcp nowhere near the general growth. but jcp is going to be another one to watch. >> when we come back, breaking news on pending home sales and a lot more when "squawk on the street" comes back. at optionsxpress we create easy-to-use, powerful trading tools for all.

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i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ welcome back to "squawk on the street." our road map for this morning, we'll get haley barbour not only talking about the rnc convention

in tampa but the romney/ryan ticket as well. >> taking center stage at jackson hole this friday, so what does pimco's bill gross have to say? >> and levees topping in plaquemines parrish. we'll be joined by republican center roger wicker of mississippi. >> and wrapping up our big hour of big names, new york jets owner and cochair for mitt romney, woody johnson will also join us live from johnson. we also have breaking news on home sales with diana. >> impending home sales rose 2.4% from month to month and are up 12.4% from a year ago. that is well beyond expectations of a nearly flat reading. this is contracts signed to buy existing homes, not closing. it's a one to two month leading indicator on home sales. the index is at its highest level of april of 2010 before

the end of the home buyer tax credit. the pending home sales index was up .5% in the northeast, 3.5% in the midwest, 2.5% in the south, and down 1.7% in the west. remember, the west is where the majority of foreclosures have been and supplies of distressed homes there are very low thanks to big investor demand. the realtors are calling it an acute inventory shortage. >> thanks. now let's get back to the weather kovrn. hurricane isaac continues to move further inland. meteorologist todd gross joins us now from headquarters with the latest on isaac's path. >> thank you, kelly. let's look at what's going on. in terms of the radar which is very revealing. it shows the eye is actually moving more towards the west than towards the north. and that is important because it's keeping the storm over the marshes of southern louisiana. therefore not allowing it to

weaken as fast as it might have weakened. on the other hand it is moving away from new orleans, not directly towards it, but still the heaviest damaging winds are in the northeast side of the storm. if we really track this out on a map, you can see what's going on even more clearly. the storm center made landfall last night around plaquemines parish which did have that levee that got compromised. then itt continued to move acros the grand isle. to the south of huma. and now at 3:00 i'm projecting it will be just south of morgan city. and look what's to the west of morgan si. there's a bay outcropping there of water which could keep this thing rolling for another six to nine hours before it finally weakens to tropical storm strength. meanwhile, take a look at the winds in new orleans at 70 miles an hour in gusts.

we have footage from new orleans that shows the damage happening there. this is going on hour after hour after hour. unrelenting winds continuing to batter the city at this time. now, the levees are holding. there's not a problem in terms of that. they've had a six to ten foot storm surge. locally some reports of up to a 12 foot storm surge to the south of nsew orleans. it's acting to them like more of a category two than a category one storm. we're dealing with that continuing to go on and on. finally i want to show you one more thing. what to expect as we move forward. continuing for much of today today, the winds. the continued high water is going to threaten some of the levees south of new orleans. i don't think in the city itself after they've improved them. and then we have the flooding rains. now, when i showed you that track moving from east to west, it does appear that that is focusing the rain on

southeastern louisiana. a huge amount of rain. and that could cause flooding of not only streets but floodings of small streams, of rivers and whole low lying areas could get very badly flooded from the rain itself. we'll have to see how that pans out later today. we'll keep you posted as this continues to unfold. >> all right. thank you very much for that. let's link to scott cohn who is still standing strong in new orleans. what's the latest there, scott? >> a lot of rain, simon. you know, the pumps in this refurbished flood protection system in this city supposedly can fill an olympic sized swimming pool in three seconds. that's how powerful they are. they're getting a workout, i can tell you. imagine, if you will, two feet of rain which is what they're talking about. and as you heard from todd, the idea that we're going to

continue to see rains from this storm in new orleans possibly into friday and you begin to get a sense of what's going on. this is canal street on the edge of the french quarter which is over there. the mississippi river there, lake pontchartrain over there. seven years ago with hurricane katrina when the levees broke, this was under water. we're not expecting anything like that particularly because it's a less powerful storm and we assume that the flood protection is going to hold. but there is a large amount of water here. the thing that's good that we've seen because the winds still come and go, the storm -- the heart of the storm still many hours away, we've seen emergency vehicles able to move. we've seen utility trucks able to move. and we've also seen people heed the warnings. and as you can see on canal street, businesses are generally closed. people are not roaming around the streets. they know how to take a storm seriously nowadays.

and so that is certainly a help. again, we are just continuing to feel rain and wind and a little bit of misery here with hurricane isaac. back to you. >> we know you secretly love it, scott. you can't fool us. we'll come back to you later. hurricane isaac does make a second landfall on the coast of louisiana. joining us this morning former mississippi governor haley barbour, a founding partner at bgr group. good morning to you. >> thank you very much. glad to be with you. >> a lot of attention being paid to louisiana. we don't want to leave mississippi out of this because they are feeling the brunt of it too. the situation looks good in new orleans, but plaquemines looks tough. >> plaquemines is south of new orleans. for us we've had some storm surge because the rotation of

the storm, counterclock wise, pushes that water up into the corner where louisiana and mississippi meet. but it's not been serious unless you're right there. this is a large storm in size. it is not a powerful storm. mostly a rain event. there will be some flooding in lower areas. there will be some roads that get covered. i suspect a month from now we'll look back and say that the biggest damage at least in my state is going to be damage to the crops. we've got a huge soybean crop out in the field. worth $17 a bushel and a big cotton crop. they've cut the corn, but those crops are out there. if they get 20 inches of rain on them, it will do gigantic damage to the quality and therefore the value. >> unbelievable we were talking about a drought in the country two weeks ago and now too much water for crops. one more question on isaac, people are trying to draw

comparison to gustaf. had a couple billion dollars in damage. does that ring true to you? >> well, we'd have to see where it goes, how long it sits. but i think most of the damage here -- unlike gustaf we had a lot of storm surge. we had a 12 foot storm surge in mississippi way east of the storm that did real damage. most of the damage here i think is going to be about rain unless there are some levee failures which i think is most unlikely. >> okay. let's pivot here to the rnc where you are, governor. your take on last night? should governor christie have talked about romney a bit more and not just himself? >> i think what he did was set the tone right. that romney and ryan and our party take this election seriously. we trust the american people enough to tell them the truth. because americans are tired of happy talk. they want truth telling. they want to get the troubles and problems out on the table,

all the cards face up. and then they want to hear about solutions. and i think you'll hear about solutions from mitt romney. they look at a very liberal president today whose policies are failed policies. what they've tried to do simply worked. the obama policies have made things worse. now mitt romney after a look into his heart last night through the eyes of his wife ann, mitt romney is going to be talking and paul ryan are going to be talking about solutions. and i thought chris christie set the stage for that. >> governor, what do you want to hear from paul ryan tonight? >> again, when americans see paul ryan, not very well known, they're going to see a guy who's very thoughtful, very bright, and very serious about the problems facing this country. and unlike president obama who said in his first two years he was going to have an immigration

bill and never did. unlike president obama who had a simpson report about tax reform and ignored it. you'll see paul ryan is somebody who thinks the american people deserve leaders who will face up to the problems and offer solutions. that'll come through. >> but governor, how much truth do the people for example of florida really want to hear? that's a key state as you know better than most. absolutely on a knife edge. how much truth can ryan deliver about the degree to which he will cut spending and indeed ultimately cut medicare. it's a fine line, isn't it? >> the people in florida want medicare to be there in ten years, 20 years, 30 years. the actuaries of medicare tell us it's going bankrupt. obama said in 2009 it was unsustainable. and yet no solutions. the only thing obama's done is

raided medicare for $716 billion. taken that and diverted it away from medicare to his obama care program. doesn't help medicare one iota. americans want to know how to keep it solvent, keep it there, make sure our children have it. but also how are we going to make sure that -- i'll be 65 in october. and they've got a plan where people my age all the way down to 55 can choose to just keep what they've got. but we have got to start dealing with the problem. and people in florida know that. they probably know it better than the politicians give them credit for. >> governor, you mentioned florida. the journal today says if he's going to win, he has to win florida. that does not look that good right now. do you think tampa turns that around? >> well, i think this convention and whether it was in tampa or anywhere else, but we're tickled to be in tampa. great host city.

this convention is the first real look at mitt romney. let's face it, for the last five months the obama campaign and the left has spent $200 million trying to demonize, disqualify, and make mitt romney unacceptable. that's what most people have seen. and the fact this race is a dead heat today is a tribute to mitt romney but it is also huge commentary on the american people knowing that the obama administration's got a failed record, a failed policy. and that the american people believed it has made situation worse in america. so that where even today is encouraging, now people will see mitt romney directly other than through some fear and smear campaign by the obamas. >> you've been quoted on seeing some videos posted online in which you said that romney is not as conservative as you are. you stand by that? do you -- are you trying to drag him even further to the right

even though we generally see candidates pivot to the middle? >> he's not as conservative as i am. one of the remarkable things, here's the least conservative candidate for the republican party. and the republican is the conservative party. he wins our nam nation and in the first poll 90% of republicans have united behind him. they are united behind him today. and the fact is while he's not as conservative as haley barbour, he is a mainstream republican, moderately conservative. very much the kind of guy that can lead our country like ronald reagan did. but i'm not trying to draw him toward me. i'm very satisfied with what he's for and very convinced that he'll give america the leadership that has been so lacking from this administration and from this president. >> governor, good to have you

with us. thanks for covering two big stories for us today. >> thank you, carl. up next on the program, bernanke's day in the sun. jackson hole just two days away. the bond king bill gross himself will join us with a preview of what we're expecting from the chairman and how the markets could move. stay with us. [ male announcer ] while many automakers are just beginning to dabble with the idea of hybrid technology, it's already engrained in our dna. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. powerful trading tools for all. like our all-in-one trade ticket. we put strategies, chains and positions all on one screen. start trading today with optionsxpress by charles schwab. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath.

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bernanke's big jackson hole address on friday. what can we expect from big ben and how will it impact the markets? bill gross is co-cio, founder, and managering director of pimco and he joins us live. good morning to you. >> hi, simon. >> how can ben bernanke know which way he's going to move when things are finely balanced? how can he signal which way until the europeans have unveiled what they're going to do. the ecb president a week from thursday. surely that is the event from which everything else now flows. >> i think perhaps that's the most important, we would agree. to a certain extent policies have been coordinated on a global basis. interest rates have been lowered, reserve requirements have been lowered in china. and the ecb is about to act over the next few weeks. that's critical, but i don't think ben bernanke is dependent on what the ecb will do. he has his own open mind. he'll announce to come extent

what he's going to do at jackson hole. >> what do you think he will say? >> well, you know, this is a tough one. you know, could be a snoozer. could be a blockbuster. a snoozer from the standpoint of his -- if he discusses what happened in 2008 and the road for the monetary policy and handoff to fiscal policy which is what is discussed. then it'll be a snoozer. if it's a blockbuster like it was in 2010/2011, perhaps he'll give us a hint of new policies which have been hinted at in fed minutes. simple rules which was the first page of those minutes that hasn't been well discussed in the precedent that i think might lead to something like a policy related to nominal gdp targeting. we'll see. >> bill, do you think that he

should listen to what senator bob corker said yesterday in the financial times saying it's appropriate for bernanke to act with a sense of humility, arguably lose the jewel mandates. >> i think the dual mandate is critical. i know it's to a critical extent of paul ryan and now perhaps romney. but we've been with this dual mandate, this emphasis on employment and inflation for a long time now. perhaps for three or four decades. so to release that and to move back to simply looking at inflation like the ecb does, you know, i think it would be a drastic mistake. >> bill, as we wrap up the summer and look into the fall, what positioning changes are you looking at? >> well, we're looking at changes in terms of a potential for qe3. i think something like that is headed. minutes from the lad fed meeting spoke to many participants favoring a program if

sustainable growth was not sufficient. and to me that speaks to the real growth that's required to lower unemployment below the 8% level. i don't think we're near that. i think jackson hole or two weeks later at the next fed meeting we'll see policy work. checks written and balance sheets expanded. the effects of which grow weaker each and every time. i would know a dallas paper that's going to be presented at jackson hole which speaks to the negative aspects of these. >> where do you expect the tenure to be at your end? >> i think perhaps around 165. what the fed has done here rather masterfully is to suppress volatility. that's the reason we see stocks up 13% for the year. five t gold up 5%. and foreign markets up as well. what has happened is that volatility has been suppressed in terms of the potential for drastic action on the part of

the fed. and for drastic changes in the economic growth. because of that, we had volatility reflected in the vix. volatility reflected in measurements in the bond market where things don't change much. so i say 165 and that sounds rather boring and noncommittal, basically that's what the fed wants. they want things to stay exactly where they are. >> so, bill, when investors complain about a lack of volume or a lack of range, i mean, this tranquilizer gun that the markets have been shot with, you think that's bernanke's doing and do you think he's happy about it? >> i think he is. what we're talking about and what we talked about in terms of the equity and bonds is basically that income or dividends would be the dominant emphasis going forward. that prices in terms of those double digit price movements from stocks or the double digit movements from long bonds are a thing of the past. so investors have to be content

with the 3% dividends in the global height cap stocks. and a 3% type of yield from the bond market. add in a touch of high yield in emerging markets. low volatility, boring. perhaps that's the mode going forward. and i think investors should get used to it. >> what do you think is playing the better hand here. dragi or bernanke? >> i think they're going master full things. let's go back to draghi in what he's going to attempt to do. the efsf can buy bonds already. the german constitutional court will rule on that later than their meeting. i think both of them are basically buying bonds, writing checks, doing what they have to do. but let's be clear about this. there are negative aspects to it in terms of the liability

structures and low interest rates. >> obviously draghi would disagree. writing the german press today they're acting within the mandate. before we have to say good-bye to you, i'd like to ask you one last question. you said you're looking for the possibility of qe3. do you expect a strong rally on the stock market? there are a lot of diminish returns. >> i do not. the prior qes have been positive for stocks. they were 50% lower than today. with interest rates at 165 for the tenure and with influencing stock prices. i don't think there's much movement in either market. and there are increasing negatives as the dallas fed report points out in terms of the costs of business models in terms of the financial industry going forward. so we've reached not a dead end,

but an end point in terms of financial policy and monetary policy. and so fiscal policy as bernanke will point out in jackson hole has got to take over in this point. >> we'll leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and a quick programming note. be sure to catch confronting the crisis: the fed at jackson hole all day coverage tomorrow and friday right here on cnbc. meantime, the lockup period for yelp shares closes today. we'll take you live for a check in on that stock. as we go to break, take a look at the latest from hurricane isaac. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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a flood of yelp shares are hitting the market today. 52.7 million shares is about the number being freed up. standing by at the yelp post is our own gary kaminsky. what impact is this having? >> good morning. i'm here where they are the designated market maker for

yelp. as well as linkedin. look at what happened here. this is how the system is supposed to work. you had an opening cross at 17.51. the market maker matched the buyers and the sellers. look here if we could come in here. guys, look at this chart here. this is the last several months. what you see here is simple. this stock has reacted over the last several weeks in anticipation of these shares being locked up, being freed to the market place. you know what's happened here? it's simple. you had the anticipation. a lot of people were shorting into this. all these shares were going to hit the market, in fact they're not. you had that opening cross, if you look at the realtime sales rate here, you see 200 share lots going through. i would not be surprised to see this stock in the mid-20s right after we get back from the holiday weekend. anyone who's short of this thinking these guys would have dumped this stock, guess wla. they're not going to dump it. they got the shares free but that doesn't necessarily mean the shares are going to hit the

market. i think today's volume of 1.6 million shares, if you're short the stock right now i think you're a bit concerned. to put it mildly. >> interesting. why should this be much different than a facebook and groupon? >> two things. the insiders here have more confidence in the company in terms of not necessarily having to liquidate day one. you can read that through the tape. i think number two just the way this system works koun here at the new york stock exchange as opposed to the nasdaq in the sense they matched up an institutional buyer who had an interest in the stock at that level. you see it, the cross at 17.51 was the low print of the day. this is how the system is supposed to work. and additionally, carl, remember. a lot of people believe that facebook ipo is a secondary. i think this shows you secondary shares on what was a traditional ipo in the case of yelp. this is how that security should trade. >> it's amazing how we have this

conversation with lockups. trying to think about what capital gains taxes are going to do next year. a all sorts of things to consider. see you in a bit. let's get crude inventories. hey, sharon. >> we are waiting for the information from the data department. before the venezuelan fire and before hurricane isaac. and we are seeing an increase in crude supplies of 3.8 million barrels. an increase in crude supplies of 3.8 million barrels. this is not as big an increase as reported yesterday. but it is an increase. and many analysts were expecting a decline in crude supplies this week. we're also looking at gas supplies that are down by 1.5, 1.5 million barrels down. 1.5 million barrels for gas supplies. that's in line with expectations. and rising by 900,000 barrels in the last week.

up by 900,000 barrels. the price action we are seeing crude oil prices down by more than a dollar right now. we are in the 95 handle still holding by $95 a barrel. the key number a lot of people want to know is what's hang at the pump. $3.80 a gallon for the national average. >> inventories have never been more important than they are this week. the center of hurricane isaac moving inland now over southeastern louisiana. and all of southern mississippi with the potential of up to 20 inches of rain. when we come back, we'll sit down with republican senator roger wicker of mississippi. see how his state is fairing in isaac. back in a minute. this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars

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most of the gulf's major oil installations look to very spared by hurricane isaac though the storm did halt 90% of all oil production if the region. brian shactman has he assignment in new orleans. the professionals can only dream of, brian. how's it going? >> simon, it's going okay. we got a lull here, believe it or not. it's still raining but the wind has died down a bit so we'll take advantage of it. in terms of updates, louisiana still a half million outages. i want to focus on plaquemines parish. i have two specific updates. we had the water -- we're not

sure yet confirmed whether it was a breach in the levee or overtopping. but a tremendous amount of water got into the low lying areas. there were people there. rescue efforts are now underway. we even have situations where fellow residents are helping in the rescue efforts as officials try to get down there. the other thing to consider, carl and sharon talked about refining. there are three significant refineries in plaquemines parish. valero, phillips 66, and exxonmobil. they were all shut before the storm came. we are trying to find out if there's been no damage. if there's no damage, the start-up time would be much faster. if there's damage you don't know what it would be. also we have a dynamic so where at this point isn't a katrinalike event. so what is it for the insurance industry? half a billion dollar to 1.5

billion could be the onshore liability. for perspective you take a look at it, katrina was the big e insured loss event in american history. over $41 billion. a lot of people are comparing it to gustav in 2008 which was is $2 billion. we have a lot of rain, a lot of time to go. we of course can adjust those estimates. back to you. >> yeah. hard to put a dollar figure on it just quite yet. thank you so much, brian. brian shactman in new orleans. isaac's storm surge also leaving its impact on mississippi where many were evacuated. joining us this morning senator roger wicker of that state. he's at the republican national convention in tampa but keeping a close eye on the situation in his home state. good to have you. >> good to be with you. >> what are you hearing back home? >> i think what brian said for new orleans is correct also. this storm isn't over. it's an ongoing event.

and we'll see. right now what i'm hearing from people on the ground in the three gulf coast counties is we have a rain and flooding event. high tide is coming later on this morning. and we don't know the extent of the damage. but we certainly have dodged a katrina-type bullet. >> yeah. we had governor barbour on not long ago. might be about agriculture this time around. soybeans and cotton. made the point we were talking about a drought just a couple weeks ago. >> he made that point well. you know, actually mississippi farmers were by and large spared from the drought this year. the drought was over in louisiana, arkansas, missouri, oklahoma. they need the rain. we really don't. we're on course to have a real good crop year. but if we have a lot of rain and

can't get in the field and harvest, it's bad news. >> it's got to be --rying to find silver linings here -- helpful to the mississippi this year. that is a problem. >> right. that's true. it's not exactly my idea of a solution, but these acts of god, we don't have anything to do with. we just have to live with it. and i'll tell you this. i'm very proud of the way our people have learned to prepare for a storm to take care of themselves. we hear there were very few 911 calls last night. because people had taken precautions. we had two home rescues that had to be done. by and large, the people have been resilient and smart. >> senator, could you talk about the mississippi river and what condition it's in. it's such a major route for commerce. >> no question about it. it's an economic artery. and, you know, whereas last year

we had way too much water and flooding all up and down, this has just slowed commerce. fortunately we have the corps of engineers. they've worked with us. they've done some dredging and we're going to get through it. but it's not good for the economy. >> and given the storms that we've seen repeatedly batter the gulf coast region, the vulnerability to the systems there, is there a way to diversify that to other industries? >> of course we have diversified. my goodness. we do some of the most sophisticated military manufacturing on the gulf coast. and yes, we're very diversified. but we want the tourism and we depend on tourism. it would be crazy for a coastal state like ours not to put a lot of emphasis on tourism.

and we'll get it back. you know, we weathered katrina and the oil spill which was a big hit. i think tourism is going to be just fine after this tropical storm event. >> i was going to ask you about biloxi and how quickly you think they cannot just reopen and reestablish, but convince tourists there has been no lasting damage. >> i don't foresee any problems there at all. we have another day of this. then we can sort of reassess. but i think all of the tourism facilities, the casinos will be open in a day or two. that would be my guess. but that would be a bit of speculation based on the fact that this is mainly a rain and flooding event. >> senator, before we lose you, a word about where we are on the economic front. and obviously we await paul ryan addressing the conference today. would you agree as a member of the senate banking committee

with your colleague bob corker that as far as ben bernanke is concerned, he should approach with humility and the federal mandate of the reserve should be abandoned. >> well, i think yes considering that not only president obama but mr. bernanke have been the stewards of our economy, yes there should be quite a bit of humility. because what we've tried over the last three and a half years to me has been an utter failure. i think that will be one of the major issues of the campaign. i did not hear senator corker's specific comment, but i'm sure it was well reasoned. >> senator, good to have you with us. thanks for taking time. >> good to be with you. >> senator wicker from mississippi. stick around. up next we'll sit down with new york jets owner woody johnson.

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♪ romney campaign's been out fund raising president obama to date. raised a total of 185.9 million compared to the president's 126.9 million. we're joined by woody johnson owner of the jets and cochair for mitt romney. good to you back this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> if finance co-chairs were paid like ceos, i think you'd be due a bonus here. >> well, i've got a good team. >> how's this money going to get put to work where and when? >> well, that's up to the campaign. but we have -- our job is to raise the money.

and their job is to spend it. and it'll be spent over the next couple months. it's a lot of resource to spend and we're raising more now. our job's not done. >> does it feel to you like the wind's at your back when it comes to asking for donations. or not? >> yes, it does. each month has gotten better and better and easier and easier. i think september will be no different. particularly after this convention. i think it's going to be a lot easier and there's going to be a lot more enthusiasm. there's been a lot of enthusiasm. it ramps up in this part of a presidential cycle. this will be no different. >> when you're making a pitch to a would be donor, how do you get past some of the polls that suggests this is still going to be a tough climb, key states like florida are big question marks. is there an answer to that? >> yeah, i don't know if florida is a big question mark. i think florida's going to come for romney. i have no doubt about that at all. i think the -- you do a lot of

listening. when you talk to donors, you do a lot of listening. they're pretty much on board now. they know polls fluctuate depending on what's in the news that day. >> what's the vibe as you can put it? some said the acoustics are quiet. are you feeling energy there? >> a ton of energy. i've been coming to conventions since 1980, and i think this convention really has a powerful feel. i don't know if you saw the roll call, it's not everybody's favorite. but it was amazing to see the energy. last night during ann romney's speech particularly, i've never seen anything like that. it was absolutely ruckus and emotional for all of us. >> we've seen some poll numbers come out of the journal and nbc since paul ryan was added to the

ticket. 20-some-odd percent are more likely to vote because ryan oos on. a similar amount now less likely. as a fund raiser, is having that name on the ticket make your job easier or tougher? >> i think it makes it a lot easier. for a young person like paul ryan, he's had so much experience. he got into -- in congress he got into the congress when he was, i think, 27. so for a young guy he's had tremendous experience dealing with people, dealing with elections. i think he's perceived as pretty much nonpartisan. he was. i think he's going to be perceived at partisan now. i think across the aisle he's respected for his knowledge, hard work, and being a good player that can reach across the aisle. which i think is what we need now. >> woody, something a lot of hedge funds listening may want to know now, what's the number one trick you've learned? >> i don't think it's a trick. i think it's basically you're giving people an opportunity to participate in something that's totally american. and you do a lot of listening.

and to the extent it's not necessarily a long conversation of me selling something. it's basically listening to what people have to say and they convince themselves it's the right thing to do for them. it's all voluntary. >> you're in florida. the convention's in florida. you know who else is in florida? >> who else? >> tim tebow. >> oh, yeah. >> let's talk a little jets before we let you go. i saw a statistic the other day, three preseason games, 35 possessions, 174 plays, no touchdowns. is that going to change? >> yeah. yeah. well, we're consistent. you can say that. you can say we're consistent. yeah, we'd like to score a touchdown, that's for sure. and i think you'll see good things happen. i have confidence. i think the defense special teams look great. and the offense is just -- hasn't kind of clicked in the way we want it, but i've got tremendous confidence in sparano and the players we have. they're all great players.

i think we'll get the job done. >> do you think the answer lies in more tebow? i sound like i'm saying more cow bell. more tebow or less more tebow o tebow? >> i don't think you can ever have too much tebow. it is more than that. it is getting all the players, the offensive line and everything coordinated in the way you can establish a good running attack and also, you know, have our receivers healthy and ready to participate and contribute to the effort so, you know it a lot of timing and team work that we need. >> that's why they have a preseason, woody, as they say. iron out the kinks. have a great time in tampa. please come back soon. >> thank you very much. >> breaking news, hampton pearson is in washington. hampton? >> well, by a 4-1 vote, the securities and exchange commission has taken action that could pave the way for loosening restrictions banning private investment firms from advertising. back in april, congress passed the jobs act laying out a road map for the s.e.c. to follow,

the s.e.c., again, must vote a second time to make the rules in this proposal final after 30-day public common period. the jobs act instructed the s.e.c. to loosen restrictions for certain offerings requiring efforts to verify that investors are accredited investors. and those accredited investors must meet high income or asset thresholds and other ad restrictions by states, regulatory agencies remain in place, private investment firm act dates back to 1933. the second vote by the s.e.c. could come this fall, although some investor groups want regulators to take more time. but the s.e.c. is under pressure from congress, which wanted the ban lifted back in june. now, two commissioners who did in fact support today's proposal said they would have preferred to adopt an interim final rule instead of a proposal. much of that criticism headed in

the direction of s.e.c. commissioner mary shapiro, who said something this important you needed time for the public to comment. back to you guys. >> hampton, thanks so much. hampton pearson in washington. when we come back, we'll sit down with a gulf coast shrimper battening dow jones the hatches. what precautions is he taking and what is his plan after the damage is assessed. we'll get your small business take on isaac when we come right back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm so into it, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 hours can go by before i realize tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that i haven't even looked away from my screen. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that kind of focus... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's what i have when i trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...helps me keep an eye on what's really important to me. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 it's packed with tools that help me work my strategies, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 spot patterns and find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then, when i'm ready... act decisively. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with the exact same tools, the exact same way. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the reality is, with schwab mobile,

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when it comes to businesses evacuating for a hurricane, the timeline and conditions could be a little trickier and tougher for those dealing with big boats. all those days not working can add up to major revenue losses and that's exactly what captain mike moore is worried about. he's the owner of the biloxi cruise company and the biloxi shrimping trip and he joins us now on the cnbc newsline. good morning. >> good morning to you. how are you doing? >> we're doing well here, but how are you doing down there? >> we're doing fine. things are going better than expected. i imagine right here at my house we got about 60-mile-an-hour winds maybe, and, you know, i'm high and dry. i feel good. hopefully my boats are doing okay. >> you said you had already been hit twice by irene. explain where you've been affected and what damage you're looking at, if any, this

morning. >> well, last week we had to evacuate my boat down in the florida keys, strictly business in i'slam orada. the boats here we had to evacuate three days go to get prepped and make sure she's in safe harbor. hopefully everybody does well. what i'm seeing right now is we're catching a good part of the storm. i mean, you know, no storm coming at you is good, but right now it is not as bad as we thought it was going to be. and i think we're going to fare out just fine. hopefully this thing gets out of here tomorrow morning, midday tomorrow, county, crews and municipalities can get everything cleaned up and everybody down here can go back to work. >> and, captain, if that's the case, what will be the total impact on your business in terms

of kind of a monthly revenue or annual revenue point of view. how significant overall is the storm going to be for you? >> it will definitely show, no doubt about it. we are seasonal work. anybody in the tourism business, you got your seasons. this here is the big weekend, labor day weekend coming up. slower this thing moves, the less time we have to get ready for labor day weekend. it is very possible we may miss our labor day weekend. we hope not. i can promise you if you had travel arrangements to come to the gulf coast, people probably is already canceling them. so that will hit the gulf coast. every holiday weekend in the tourism business, everybody has got to make the weekends count. those are your big income weekends. we're going to feel it, we're going to feel it pretty good on that. the idea here is is to let everybody know we okay, that the world didn't -- that this hurricane didn't come and take out the mississippi gulf coast. and, you know, keep that perception that everything is okay, but let's see if that

happens. right now we're looking good. i'm pretty sure within three, four, five days after this storm is over, if we can get the emergency crews out there to clean up the beach and get the debris up, we can be back up to work probably within a week without a problem. >> all right, that's captain mike moore. mike, thank you so much for your time. joining us from biloxi, mississippi. >> is this bringing back memories for you? seven years ago you were the main nbc reporter atti katrina. >> one of a few. we'll see how the levees held up over the next several days. dao is down 21. back in a minute. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work

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that's happy! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. good wednesday morning. let's get a check on the markets this morning. dow, moderate losses here as we continue to wait for bernanke's speech in jackson hole on friday. dow is down 12. s&p 500 at 1,407, down 2. a gbig gainer on the s&p 500, ad zingia taking another hit following news the chief creative officer is leaving to start a new company, this after zingia lost its coo earlier this month after a top level

reorganization. hurricane isaac pounding the gulf coast, topping levees in louisiana, leaving half a million people without power. we have the very latest on the path of the storm. then the republican convention in full swing, big speeches tonight from condoleezza rice and paul ryan, the vice presidential nominee. we'll talk to mitt romney's senior economic adviser and the ceo of cke restaurants. ticket giant live nation out with never before seen data on the summer concert season. live nation's ceo will give us a look at those numbers first. and yelp gepi inggetting a thum from investors as some shares expire. is yelp the social media stock you should pet bet on? we'll discuss that and more in the next hour. debt in america, our mary thompson is back at hq. >> this comes from the new york federal reserve, second quarter report on household debt and credit and some good news from the report shows that households continue to pay down debt or continue to pay down debt in the

second quarter. and most delinquency rates improve. just quickly, household debt was cut by $53 billion to $11.38 trillion from its peak in the third quarter of 2008, house held debt is down $1.3 trillion. the decline in debt led mostly by real estate related loans. let's look at other highlights from the report. mortgage, credit card and auto delinquencies declined in the second quarter. there was an uptick in student loan and home equity delinquencies in the quarter. student loan an auto loan debt increased. credit card dlenk welinquencies the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2008. carl, back to you.

>> a lot of good and interesting numbers, mary. thank you very much, mary thompson at hq. hurricane isaac is hitting the gulf coast with high winds and heavy rains. question is, when can the area begin to expect some relief? bryan norcross tracking that storm as we begin to talk about some inland flooding as well. good morning. >> it is going to flood and it is going to continue to blow really hard, this relentless pounding. carl, it will continue through today. brand-new advisory from the national hurricane center, still a hurricane with 75-mile-an-hour winds but recording gusts of 90 to 95 miles per hour. that will continue over louisiana. 972 millibars as the pressure comes up and the intensity will slowly go down. slowly to the northwest, at 6 miles per hour, you can -- if you run, you can run that fast. that's how slow this thing is moving. here you see on the radar, where the center is, heading up that way slowly. these bands are where the strong winds are. that's all of the earn part of

louisiana, new orleans and spreading north now. watch on the simulated radar, future radar computer simulation, here it goes through the day today, there is tonight, and look at that, tomorrow, it is just moving out. so this is going to take the next 24 hours or so before they get relief and then it heads toward batton rouge, shreveport and points north back to you. isaac causing some severe flooding in louisiana, topping a levee on the outskirts of new orleans. scott cohn is live in new orleans with the latest. interesting to hear brian talk about a storm moving 6 miles an hour, and he's right, you can run that fast. >> that's right. and let me build on that with a little perspective. i'm hearing a lot of, oh this is a nonevent, this didn't turn out to be all that bad. let's hope that's right. because people are watching us presumably to make some

financial decisions on this, you want to make certain that it is in fact a nonevent. this storm is going at 6 miles an hour, still 45 minutes, the center of it, from new orleans, and then there is a whole lot of storm on the back end of that. and all along a lot of flooding rain. so it is not over yet, and that's something to keep in mind. the story of plaquemines parish, getting a whole lot of attention, we have amateur video inform the rescue operations there. we can show you some of that. there are 50 or 60 people now according to local officials in plaquemines parish that have been rescued from their homes and it is worth noting that this that was a mandatory evacuation area. so not everybody was heeding the evacuation orders or maybe they were feeling they could get through it, but with the floodwaters topping the levee, essentially compromising it, they bet wrong on this one. so, again, keep it in perspective. it is a big storm, with a lot of

rain and still a lot of wind and the worst still to come probably here in new orleans. back to you. >> scott, thank you for that. talk to you in a little bit. scott cohn in new orleans. paul ryan will accept the republican party's nomination for vice president this evening. his speech expected to touch on fiscal issues including the need to get the federal deficit under control. andy posner is a senior economic adviser to mitt romney and subcommittee chair on the economy, jobs and debt. good morning. we keep getting told, look, don't expect policy to be part of the speeches. conventions are about theater and biography. but to what degree to we actually touch on some details over the next couple of days. >> if you look for details, they'll be in governor romney's speech and paul ryan's speech. i don't think paul ryan can give a speech without details. he's very, very concerned about the economy and the debt as are we all. >> a lot of people who run think

tanks said sometimes they believe the president understands details more than we do. is this about spending, is this about taxes, a combination of a few things? >> a lot of those things. first thing is the debt. we have got a president who had $4 trillion plus deficits in a row. we have got the debt almost at $16 trillion. we had a credit downgrade. we got an opponent, we have mitt romney who came into a state with a $3 billion budget short fall. he did four balanced budgets, left a $2 billion rainy day fund and got a credit upgrade. a question for the american people is which person do you want in control of your future? which person do you want having to deal with the huge fiscal cliff coming up with huge debt? somebody who has done it and been successful or somebody who over four years just increased the problem? this is a real clear choice in this election, i think that will come out in the speeches as

well. >> to yesterday, the times does the story looking at just how moderate the governor was in massachusetts. proposing a minimum wage that is adjusted for inflation, using taxes to modify certain behaviors, arguing that even the government, state golf should invest in maybe longer term initiatives like energy. is that him or is it more the libertarian side of the party that we should be focusing on? >> i think you to look at the difference in circumstance. nobody ever regretted hiring mitt romney to f a problix a pr find a solution. he was running a state that is 13% republican. he had a democratic legislature. he had to get things done, he had to solve big problems facing the state. when he becomes president of the united states, it is a completely different situation. i don't think you can take what he did there and move it automatically to what should be done at the federal government level. he's dealt with a lot of different companies, a lot of different problems, the olympics, serving as governor, he knows how to adjust.

and i think what he's talking about here is lower taxes, lower marginal rate, flatter, fairer and more transparent. reducing the number of regulations out there. so the regulatory burden on businesses is re duced. open trade, open markets for american products and treating people who don't treat us unfairly, making them some consequences for that. setting up an infrastructure cooperation between the states and the federal government so we can make some progress on infrastructure and not give the states money for roads that they spend on something else. and then taking the educational and training opportunities the federal government offers, getting rid of the duplicative ones, getting rid of the ineffective ones and moving to a 2 16 21st century programs. we have a way to create growth, a way to reduce the debt, he'll deal with it at a federal level. it will be very successful if we give him the chance to implement it. >> last question, andy. we got jackson hole coming up on friday. if you're victorious in

november, does bernanke need to start looking for another job right away? >> that will be up to the president, and we haven't had any discussions on that. mr. bernanke is a fine man and we'll just have to see where this goes. >> hope you'll come back. everybody who watches this channel wants to hear from you. so good to have you. >> glad to do it. thanks very much, carl. >> andy posner from cke and the romney campaign. breaking news on john paulson. for that, kate kelly is at headquarters. >> some updates on paulson's gold funds which were talked about in the phone call yesterday with b of a clients and investors. actually note g gotten into too much detail. there has been a lot of talk about his flagship funds, the advantage and the advantage plus, down about 13% and 18% through the end of july respectively. the gold fund, which represents a huge bet on his part on the gold miners and then he also buys physical gold or allows

investors to invest through physical gold, that was the worst performer as of then. i'm told he's seen an upswing through the month of august. through the end of the day yesterday, that fund recouped 10% of its losses. so on a net basis, now down 12%. where as the flag ship funds are still struggling at more or less 13 or 18% down respectively as well. this is interesting, something that paulson touched on with investors and something that people are likely to be talking about, especially since b of a which organized this call yesterday very much framed paulson's funds in general as a way to play the gold minor thesis. >> kate, i'm going to ask you an unfair question. given what we know about last year's performance and this year, do you buy any of the chatter that paulson is a manager who got lucky very one important time? >> it is not an unfair question, it is a question a lot of people were posing.

a professor made this exact point. was he lucky or good? it depends when in time you're looking at the fund. they have seen a tremendous turn around. they peaked out at assets of $38 billion, now just down to $20 billion. you do have to wonder what his next act is, carl, after the success of the credit crisis he had. >> kate, thanks for that. good stuff. kate kelly at headquarters. gary kaminsky has not only moved the stock of yelp, but has an update on what he just said. >> just to remind people, look at the intraday. this is how a lockup, a secondary if there was a secondary, is supposed to work. if you go back and look at what happened early august, you had anticipation of what was going to happen today, the sellers saw the movement in the stock down from the high 20s, you had the opening cross at 17.50. i went over to the post, spoke to the marketmakers, they

crossed that stock at 17.50. two institutional borrows. there had been a lot of short selling into this name, and in anticipation of today, the seller is out at the beach, not worried about trying to put some sale orders in today. i think this is what happens when a transaction is done the right way. we knock bankers for doing things the wrong way this is as it is supposed to work for the issuer. >> is it true some of the specialists down here are asking you who you're going to yelp next. >> it is great to have the opportunity to go and see these guys. you rely on the research of others, you only know what they know. it is what they don't know is what hurts you. you get a picture of what it looks like. this stock is going up. >> good to have you down here. it is the world's biggest concert promoter and ticket seller and now live nation out with new numbers on the summer concert season. we'll talk to the company's ceo after this break. i'm only in my 60's...

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welcome back. i'm julia borsten. i'm joined by michael rapino from live nation. i understand you have new stats out from the summer concert season, projection through september 30th. what is the the bottom line? how is the summer concert season doing? >> it is shaping up to be a strong year. we're looking on a global basis,

tracking right now about 5% year over year growth. surprisingly europe is very strong. and we're having some bright spots. amphitheaters in north america are up 15%. festivals up 30%. electronic music 70%. >> so this is the concert season, june through september 30th. where is the strength coming from? >> globally it is surprising, europe is performing very strong. we're up 20% year over year, haven't had the resistance the economy would have projected. electronic music is on fire 20% year over year. festivals are growing the global business and amphitheaters are having a great year. >> a lot of weakness in the economy, especially in europe. what is the strategy with ticket pricing? how are you handling the prices? >> overall ticket prices are flat year over year. so i think the win is historically ticket prices creeped up 5%, 6%. it is an industry where we have gotten smarter on how to price the house, price the house at the beginning a little bit more, but make sure the back rows, the

tough sell, are priced lower. you're seeing the pricing staying relatively flat. >> are you seeing consumers changing their buying habits in this economy? >> i think the buying habits that are being change ready drive bin social media. social media is changing this industry in general. consumers are finding out about the show from their friends and one of the fundamental shifts in our business is going to help us get to that one number that 30% of consumers said, i would have went to the show, but i didn't know about t we're finding now they're finding out about it from their friends. that's going to change the business. >> you just struck a deal with nba to be an exclusive partner for ticketing and resale ticketing. how important is the resale ticket business? >> we think they're one and the same. we think right now our job is to say to a consumer, if you want to get to the show at live nation.com or ticketmaster.com, we have the solution for you. in you show up at 10:00 or

10:01, we want to make sure we have all options. >> how will you continue to compete? >> we're going to have probably our best year in terms of renewal. we have 102% renewal at ticketmaster. it is probably the highest it has been in many years. we think we have the greatest product in the world, we're spending a lot of money to make it continually better. >> michael rapino, ceo of live nation entertainment. thank you for joining us. julia, thanks so much. when we come back, we'll explain the real reason why the public does not trust wall street. options trading. xpret we create easy to use, powerful trading tools for all. look at these streaming charts! they're totally customizable and they let you visualize what might happen next. that's genius! strategies, chains, positions. we put 'em all on one screen! could we make placing a trade any easier? mmmm...could we? open an account today and get a free 13-month e ibd™ subscription when you call 1-888-280-0149 now.

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with some recent incidents like the one at night trading making headline, more investors becoming less comfortable with high frequency trading which leads us to wonder, is the traditional broker model the reason the public does not trust the street? joining us this morning here at post nine is elliott wisebluth, and gary kaminsky with us on

set. we were just talking about what an active month it has been, even in august for you, elliott. >> we lifted out a 700 million team from morgan stanley about a month ago and we have two teams, team number 35 and 36 joining us this friday. >> we know why people want to go independent. we know the reasons why they would join your firm and leave these wire houses, these big brokerage firms. what are they giving up? what is a brokerage team giving up and their clients giving up as they come to you? >> i think the one thing they give up when they join a firm like ours is they're used to having a traditional wall street name on their business card and they need that and they rely on that to get business. they're not going to have that when they come to high tower. they're going to get a new brand that stands for a different set of values, but they'll give up what they would have used historically to get new business. >> you think having that name,

you could say a specific name, you think that helps get business? i thought you think actually these names are tarnished and actually hurt the broker from going out and getting business. >> i don't think that, but i'm aware that some teams may think that, and we respect that, if they're still holding on to a legacy model, which we think is broken, we respect that and don't try to argue with them, but those are one of the things they would give up. as for a product, as for technology, as for service support, as to access to all the sophistication of wall street, when you come to a firm like high tower, you have more products at better pricing and no conflicts of interest. so it is significantly better for the client, but some people are still holding on to a legacy idea of some of the old firms. >> still grappling with some of the lessons from knight. have you gotten a few for us? what should we be thinking as the journal writes a review of their own operations going forward. >> there has to be a clear separation for what people view in the marketplace as though

firms that are providing a technology service, those femme that are providing trading services and those people like us providing fiduciary services. i think more of the incidents that come out, the greater the consumer will be educated as to what each of the firms actually does and what the risks are. we don't have any of the risks because we're a fiduciary service provider. >> the whole industry will be watching what happens on september 10th now where the value of the morgan stanley joint venture. any thoughts in terms of how that will -- what the outcome of that will be and who will be the victor there. >> i think the valuation process has already acknowledged that the integration has not been particularly efficient or successful vis-a-vis the technology platform. we're getting a lot of int intelligence from brokers that want to leave, especially the smith barney folks that view the morgan stanley systems as less sophisticated than what they had at smith barney.

you are a culture clash causing brokers to leave. inside the valuation process, as it relates to this segment we work with, you're going to see attrition of brokers leaving because the integration has not been particularly well -- >> just to clarify that is from the smith barney, city side, some have been frustrated with the technology platform that morgan stanley implemented, is that right? >> correct. and some of the morgan stanley folks, what they're seeing is the cutting of service levels because they're laying off a lot of people and you lay off service and support people, you cut the service to your clients, you have unhappy clients and those advisers are not talking to us. >> other culture clashes we can talk about too if we had time. elliott, thanks for coming in. european close coming up next. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar,

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the european markets are closing now. >> yes, they are. to help us get an understanding for what is driving the market there today, simon hobbs post nine. >> the expectations are really ramping higher that something big will happen in europe soon. probably at the news conference one week from tomorrow. today you had angela merkel meeting the italian prime minister. she spoke of an ambitious agenda over the coming weeks but says they have the necessary means to stabilize and to strengthen the eurozone through cooperation between the various institutions. mario draggy, the president of the ecb, taking the fight for hearts and minds of the germans to them today with an opinion

piece that he wrote in the german press arguing for sustained buying of italian and spanish debt, saying it was within the ecb's mandate, whatever the bundesbank may say to embark upon that and the market assumes that will happen or there will be an announcement on that as i say at that ecb meeting one week tomorrow, one week on thursday, september 6th. in the meantime, it is now one month and two days since draggy said he would do all he could to stabilize the eurozone. and you can see we have topped out the market. it is unable to make any real big gains from there. one of the major reasons for that is because of what is happening in china. you might not have seen this before. but it is actually a chart of the main benchmark for steel prices in china. and look at that precipitous fall we have got now coming through. a record low on steel futures. this is for the contractors you can see coming down there to levels we have not seen since november 2009 and that is playing out in europe with again the global minors.

look at rio trading today, you'll see in the uk, it is down almost 8% for the week. there you go. big miners are under pressure. as far as the bond market is concerned, not a huge amount of movement. in spain you were ticking slightly higher yesterday. we wait to see whether or not the spanish will follow through and ask for aid. in italy, tomorrow is the big test there. 6.5 billion euros of bonds to be at the longer end of the market to be auctioned. we'll wait and see if they pull that off. corporate news today, the oldest bank in the world came through senna in italy may have to give up slices of itself back to government to pay the interest on the debt that it got from its bailout. that stock is in negative territory today. french telecom is under pressure. brig is a big player there. they spoke about margins falling as a result of new entrants, even in defensive sectors from

iliad. the largest cosmetics company in the world today, laurel, disappointed on its margins, it is growing phenomenally well if you look at the profits. but the margins are under pressure. they have two big launches coming up that they're banking a lot on within yves st. laurent and lancome. let me show you a fantastic move we had. this isn't the year to date chart. it is theier to date chart. look at that almost up 20%. there is a strike tomorrow on lufthan lufthansa. if you're attempting to travel across the atlantic or into germany generally that will be tough. >> anyone with a ticket just said thank you, simon, for letting me know. appreciate that, simon hobbs. a check on energy with sharon epper son at the nymex. trying to keep one eye on you and one eye on the gulf coast. >> traders are doing the same thing, keeping one eye on the prices and assessing the daniel from isaac at the same time. we're looking at oil prices under pressure, off the lows of

the session we did see oil dip below $95 a barrel. the biggest increase came from the gulf coast region. and so that is somewhat comforting to know there is some supply there even if there are production issues. we seen the hurricane bypass the key oil production facilities, that's another reason why we're looking at oil prices under pressure. traders say. we also saw a decline in gasoline supplies and demand for week average was at the highest levels we have seen since september of 2011. this has more to do with the switchover and getting the gasoline to the refineries. in terms of assessing the damage, it is about flooding and the power out annual ages that that we're seeing in the region. that can have an impact on the refineries. >> as sharon said, oil is going to be affected by hurricane

isaac, of course. for more on that, we go to brian shactman live in new orleans with the latest on the ground. good morning once again. >> reporter: i want to play off of sharon had to say because we have an update. plaquemines parish the hardest hit area so far in the storm. there are three major refineries down there, one owned by exxonmob exxonmobil, one by have lara, philips 66. we just learned they do not have power at that refinery, but they're not yet able to assess whether they have flooding or whether they have any damage to. i also want to point out the river, because yesterday the wind and the water was going upstream, now we're on a different side of the storm, and it is completely shifted. i'm not going to play jim cantore of the weather channel, but you can see the white caps are heading back downstream. we had a chance to do a ride along with the national guard, which has a heavy presence here as we were told the city and

make sure everything is safe and orderly. we had a conversation with major lloyd. here is what he had to say. >> to be honest with you, we have been very blessed. we haven't had any major incidents so far. we pushed very hard to get down here. we were successful in our movement. and now we're -- we got three priorities of providing assistance with search and rescue. >> reporter: couple of things of note when to comes to the national guard. they're all staying at the convention center. they have been here through monday. they sleep basically in banquet halls, so a lot of them had issues with rest. their main mandates here, i can't hear you because i had some audio issues, is they want to make sure the search and rescue gets helped. they're here to be liaison and help other police and if there is any problems with local government, they're here to restore order, just with their classic mandate from when they were founded. they're here on the ground, covering hurricane katrina. they weren't right when the storm hit back then.

back to you. >> brian, thank you for that. brian shactman in new orleans. of course, it has been said this morning that as cat 1s go, this is as bad tass can get given how slow it is moving. bob posani is here. >> good points on yelp this morning. people wonder why did this thing move up? we have 52 million shares on lock. you see pressure on the stock and there was pressure going into t i got a few thoughts an what is going on. i put up yelp here. the important thing is two things, one about the stock, the vast majority of the 52 million share lockup, as far as i can see, most of that is held by executives and directors. these people tend to be a little more sticky than everybody else. there is not a lot of stock for sale. that's due to the nature of the people who are owning the unlock itself. second is the more fundamental comment on what is going on. it was announced some time ago by yelp that their entire product will be integrated into

apple's new ios 6 system. now yelp will be integrated into apple's new maps system. yelp will be integrated into apple's siri system. they'll have a new apple app, yelp app as well. i saw numbers through the roof. there is a lot of people very excited about that. and from a fundamental point of view, that may be another reason why people are not so easy to dump yelp shares at this point. there you see it moving around here and the mid-20 range. let me talk about a couple of other things. the global slowdown hitting us in the face again this morning here. joy global came out. >> insight into what the global mining industry is doing here. lower commodity prices. they cut their full year guidance, the real problem is very simple. cold demand, cash demand

downslide and slowing economy of china hits them right between the eyes. this is why i put up the chart. you see all the mining stock, coal stocks, this say three-year chart, we're sitting near three-year lows. a comment on what is happeni ii in september. everybody hates the rally. the most hated rally in decades. it is very simple. put up the victims futures. it is a very simple idea here. people are buying protect because they think there will be a 10% correction in september or october. look at the vices curve, much, measure higher cost to buy protection farther out. the marketmakers are saying you want protection, we'll give you protection. here is our price. it is expensive. it is costing them a lot of money to buy this. 90% of the traders underperformed in the market so far this year. maybe that's why they had these

kinds of problems. and these are not suit sayers. these guys are bookies, they don't have a magical view into the future, people come and ask for protection, they quote them a price and that's what the numbers are reflecting. they're not soothe sayers. >> i wish we could go back ten seconds and once again, say -- >> you want protection, i'll give it to you. >> that's my latte. not soothsayers. bob was just talking about september. earlier this week i thought we would have some fun and i said i did speak with the money manager and asked what are the six factor urz going to have your team focus on in terms of trying to position the portfolio in september. it came down to six different factors to be discussed early next week. u.s. elections, what is going to happen with the ecb, the fed meeting that will happen

tomorrow in terms of jackson hole, what is going to look like for revenue estimates and reports, s&p 500 over the third quarter. the lack of volume in stocks. and gold and silver. here is the -- here is what i want to tell you. i've gotten some phenomenal, phenomenal responses. i sthaut it was a little dangerous giving out my personal e-mail, but hit me up at gary.kamins gary.kaminsky. i read through most of them. i will tell you -- >> are they long, detailed? >> some people have given opinions as to why they have come up with their conclusions. not that i'm surprised. we have incredibly smart viewers that watch the show every day. well thought out and really understand what is happening behind us. on friday, i'll give you the results of -- the information i've been able to an taken in terms of what will drive that. it is people that choose to

respond. but it is a very strong consensus in one direction. >> of the six choices. >> of the six choices. one person who has written to me, 63 years old, first stock in high school, follows the market for years, he has asked me, will i be able to give a directional recommendation in terms of what you should do as a result of na. the answer is yes i will. i till tell people on friday, if this is going to drive equity prices, what you should done on friday, get ready for next tuesday. >> cannot wait. thank, gary. when we come back, yelp bucking the social media trend as bob and gary just said. up sharply on the lockup expiration date. opened lower. currently up by 19%. how do you play the stock? we'll tackle that after a short break. [ male announcer ] drive a car filled with

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he's 100% out of the stock market. and how to fight the fiscal cliff. we have the stocks you should own if nothing gets done in washington. and, trading oil after the storm, is today's dip in crude a buying opportunity? see you at the top of the hour. carl? >> good job last night. looking forward to seeing you soon, michelle, thanks. watchingspiking higher by more than 20%. take a listen. >> feels like the company is ready. we have got real revenues. we have got a great team behind us. and we're growing really quickly. it feels like there is a lot of things on the table that make it a good opportunity for investors. >> is the the online review site still a good opportunity? francesco guerrero is money and investing editor at the wall street journal. good morning. the journal has a blog, better safe than sorry.

experience would lead you that direction. why is today different? >> i think what we're seeing here is it is better safe than sorry team has been turned on its head. we have seen other than the other issues that we talked about, with yelp, we're seeing the potential short squeeze here. what happened was that people were shorting yelp in expectation of the fact that the shares would go down once the lockup expires. when that didn't happen, there was a massive rise -- rush to try and buy the shares because of that point the shares were losing money. that's what we're hearing today. it is a dangerous game because they have the potential to surprise on the upside, like for the apple operating system. and also because they have takeover target. someone could take them out as google tried to do in the past and the shares go up. >> we did report earlier that that's exactly what happened. expectation shares would come to market, they didn't, and buyers, you know, furiously began to cover the shorts.

the directors of this company are going to hold the shares, correct me if i'm wrong, but don't directors of companies that -- don't board members typically -- don't you want them to hold the shares? in a sense, is that a surprise or is that what as an analyst following this company you expect? >> it is a big surprise, particularly board members, directors, they do hold a lot of the shares. a lot of times you'll see secondaries post lockup from the shareholders. the fact we didn't see anything announced today, and we think some guys were shorting the stock ahead of the lockup period, you may be seeing some short covering today as francesca alluded to. >> aaron, walk us through the potential upside with this am news regarding yelp. how much is real there? >> wait and see to see how much is exactly integrated. yelp will be integrated no apple and siri. it could drive additional traffic.

yelp is not monetizing mobile for the most part on the app. once they start monetizing the mobile, it could help drive additional revenues for yelp. >> how much traffic could we be talking about? >> currently the mobile app already represents roughly 40% of traffic. we think that will get a lift. we won't be surprised to see over 50% of traffic in a year. >> as a result of what we have seen happen here, do you think this will influence other companies where the lockups may be expiring and some of those vcs and directors stay away from selling these shares? >> the key issue is whether the employees hold a lot of the shares that are about to expire. we have seen this in facebook. the employees tend to cash out because they're holding the shares for a long time. the executives and directors, the insiders so to speak are a lot more cautious because of the signal that sends. if you look at other technology

companies and try to guess whether shares go up or down upon expiry, look at how much the shares are about to expire are owned by employees. >> tough thing to model for any analyst. aaron, thanks for your time, good to talk to you. frances francesca, couple of good columns, thanks a lot. if there is a party happening in your area, chances are you can find tickets on event bright. we'll find out how this online service is selling millions of tickets and raising millions of doll dollars. .

political kepts acandidates startup eventbright has a presence on the ground and in both tampa and charlotte. kevin hartz is co-founder, ceo of eventbrite and joins us from san francisco. good morning to you. >> good morning, carl, thank you. >> i wonder why no one did this before. how did the idea start and what is it like taking german in a

year where politics is a big part of the conversation. >> we thought ten years ago maybe that technology would mean that we'll all be cooped up inside and living in this virtual world and what actually happened is that technology, social media is driving people together and gathering in groups offline. that's what eventbrite is all about. >> it is essentially democratizing ticketing, right? if i want to hold an event, i can sell tickets and fund-raise that way, how has it been best used so far, as far as you can see? >> we're all familiar with the traditional ticketers. we think of the large lady gaga concerts or the big sporting events. but what really is the essence of eventbrite and our mission and what we're doing is getting out there and making it easy for anyone to publish an event, in the case of politic, that's a fund-raiser, a dinner, a rally and we're seeing both sides of the aisles really using

eventbrite successfully. >> in june, i think we may have pictures of things happening in tampa so far. how do you make your money as a cut of that? >> we do. we always had a responsible notion in mind and we sell the ticket, help a customer sell a ticket or register someone for an event and take a small cut of that. >> angel funding so far, $78 million, i think, if that number hasn't changed too much. in your own experience, involves companies like pay pal and pinterest, is in the best bet you have going right now? characterize it in terms of the specter of ideas you're looking at. >> i've been fortunate to be an investor in a lot of great companies. pay pal back when it was getting started. some newer phenomenons like pinterest and ab and b from early on. and i am just absolutely excited about what is happening at eventbright. you're running that company and operating that and seeing the

talent we have below us is really exciting to me. again, we're taking a -- we're taking and gathering people through our online platform and bringing them together off line, whether a concert, whether it is a class, photography class or whether it is a political rally, be it the democrats or the republicans. >> we just had live nation on, a competitor, i assume, and some of their metrics are astounding when it comes to the summer concert season. how much of that business are you willing to take on because there are a couple of 800 pound gorillas in that room? >> well, we have a very broad mission. we look at eventbrite as a category business. entertainment is important to us, but we're in so many other categories, conferences, politics, as we're discussing now, classes. it is much like an amazon or ebay but for great, live experiences. this year alone, we have great

momentum behind us. >> we hope you'll come back, i have a feeling it is not the last we're going to hear from you. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> kevin hartz with eventbrite. final thoughts on today's market action, to the degree there is any. back after a break. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem.

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