like a gain of 0.8%? a gain of 1.7. not even .2% gain. 1411 for the s&p 500. we are waiting for bernanke on friday. you get more "money" at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. "halftime's" over. the second half your trading day begins now. >> indeed it does. today on "power lunch," what niece a name? we start with isaac. is that hurricane on shore pounding new orleans. some levees in the region will be topped. live to the impact zone. and then mario. ecb president mario draghi without with an op-ed piece today saying the your ro's original set-up pretty much flawed. what happens now and how will the markets rean act to that? and ann. ann romney. will shep help her husband connect with women voters or did she set the bar too high?

simon hobbs is my partner today and standing by at the nyse. hi, simon. >> good afternoon, sue. when the markets are in wait and see mode, we begin with hurricane isaac. made landfall in southeast louisiana with torrential rains. we have team coverage, meteorologist todd gross is tracking the storm. brian shactman is in new orleans. and sharon epperson is at the nymex with the impact the storm is having on oil prices. brian, let's begin with you. when's the latest where you are? >> reporter: well, simon, where i am, we have settled in to a consistent and constant rain here in new orleans where a majority of the people reman without power. in all, louisiana has about 500,000 plus outages but this sort of not necessarily a lull but a chance to reassess of what's going on, turns to oil and gas situation. there are reports offshore, no major damage to rigs and platforms and the department of energy just released its latest count in terms of refinery

shut-ins. five shut in worth about a billion barrels a day in terms of capacity. there are several others, four of them, that have reduced rates and don't know exactly they are. phillips 66, we learned a little bit ago, they told cnbc that they do not have power at their plaquemines parish facility and the focus of everyone's attention now in terms of damage. we know they had a lot of spilling over a levee there and scott cohn will tell you about half an hour about the rescue operations going on there, sue. not a lot of information coming out of that area. officials are still trying to get down there. we have had reports of other residents and citizens trying to help get people out. scott will have details in 30 minutes. >> thank you so much. great work. stay safe. meteorologist todd gross as you can see is right here with me,

tracking the storm minute by minute. it is on shore as we have just heard and doesn't mean this is over, far from it. >> it's stalled and that's, of course, of great imbakt the rainfall that we have been discussing. first of all, i want you to know there's an enormous amount of damage already and estimated by the company that does that kind of estimation, they expect $1 billion worth of damage from this monster which is, of course, only a category 1 hurricane, isaac. but on the other hand, it's moving very slowly and at the last minute it did strengthen. so the $1 billion is for the offshore damage and $1.5 billion onshore damage and of course a storm that continues to unfold with heavy damage estimates already. the power outages as you know, of course, in new orleans and most of the area, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, especially louisiana, has amounted to a great, great number of people

out of power now. 600,000 people total. keep that in mind. the satellite and radar, very interesting in that the storm seems to have stalled now right around huma. that's, of course, southwest of new orleans. but it is just close enough to new orleans so that it is still causing the rain to just keep going over and over again. let's check out how much rain we're talking about since the story's starting to shift in that direction as this will become a tropical storm later this afternoon. up to 12 to 20 inches of rain which is a huge amount causing additional flooding problems, expected. wouldn't you know it? in the new orleans vicinity and points to the south and east. that's how it's shaping up. watching it, of course, throughout the afternoon. >> you know, the ground has been so dry that a lot of it is not absorbed and run off and have flooding. >> that's right. they have had a drought and of course impacting that part of the story. >> it is. todd, thank you very much.

appreciate it. >> you bet. the hardest sector is oil production and refinery shut down. sharon epperson is tracking it for us today at the nymex. sharon? >> a lot of rigs shut down as a precautionary measure but we have seen oil and gas installation spared from severe damage and that is very helpful. that is part of the reason why oil prices are lower. add to that an increase in weekly supplies, a big increase in gulf supplies, as well. that's pressuring the wti contract. we're also seeing lower gasoline prices today. again, flooding as todd mentioned, the rains. that's really key in assessing the damage due to the refineries and power outages and we'll get to see when they restart. natural gas is a good story today for traders turned around after four days of losses. simon, a big sunrise about when those rigs will restart operations and seeing a lift there in the natural gas price. >> indeed. thank you very much for that.

two upbeat economic reports today. first u.s. growth came in better than initially thought in the second quarter but the pace of growth is still slow. the economy growing at an able rate of 1.7%. banks just slightly stronger, consumer spending and more imports. economists expecting 1.5%. mark zandi is bullish about the u.s. economy and joins us in a few minutes to explain why. the second upbeat note, more signs of hope in housing. signed contracts to buy existing homes rising 2.4% in july, more than expected and the foreclosure numbers are falling. in part due to the recent settlement over robo-signing. first the first progress on the big banks. more from diana olick in washington. diana? >> reporter: that's right. the $25 million mortgage serving agreement in march and now getting the preliminary from the monitor. march 1st to june 30th.

the five largest have so far given $10.6 billion in consumer relief to nearly 138,000 bar borrowers. 8.7 billion for short sales. bank of america led with over half of those. as for principle forgiveness, this is the sticking point. on first liens, primary mortgage, about three quarters of a billion in principal wiped out. citi was leading there but there's a lot more in the trial period and more, of course, on second liens and a sticking point of bank of america's because the monitor said they did no principal modifications. spokesperson says that's because of a three 46 month trial period and said as of the third week in august it reduces principal on over 3,800 loans with 23,000 more trials approved for principal reduction and also tells me they have wiped out

31,000 second liens, that is second mortgages, worth $1.7 billion. the monitor's report at 769 liens -- second liens extinguished. b of a had the largest price to pay, of course with country wide and the bad loans. looking toward november for more numbers and see if the banks ramped up. sue? >> thank you. last night it was ann romney and new jersey governor chris christie. tonight, paul ryan gets his moment in the spotlight at the rnc convention. it will be the biggest speech of his political career and john harwood is at the convention site in tampa. mr. ryan follows two very dynamic speakers tonight. >> reporter: absolutely he does, sue. the most important mission last night is ann romney to humanize mitt romney for a broader national audience, especially for the women who may be swing voters in the election. ann romney wasn't subtle but

republican and some democratic strategists said she was effective and repeated that message here for a breakfast for women in tampa. >> i said last night, you can trust this man. i also said he will not fail. and i say that for a very good reason. because he's developed the skill set in his lifetime that are so unique to this particular situation and challenge that this country faces at this moment. >> reporter: now, paul ryan has already arrived in tampa. he has become the intellectual leader of the republican party and still not well-known by a national audience. advisers say it will tell his personal story as a smalltown kid whose father died when he was in high school. trying to connect experiences of tax cutting and smaller government. he'll be proceeded by condi rice who with larry kudlow reinforced

ann romney's message from last night. >> i think we could see through ann romney just a glimpse of what we had all seen in small glimpses. if you are good in your personal relationships and you are good to your family, it portends well for being someone who will be a good leader for our country. >> reporter: now, that full interview with rice will be on "the kudlow report" with larry tonight. i'm on that show. does that make me an all-star? >> yes. a phenomenal lineup. >> reporter: great news. >> thank you. thank you very much. what a headache today for united airlines. it's flights and operations back up and running after a costly computer glimp late yesterday afternoon but the airlines' image is still taking a beating. cnbc's fill lebeau in chicago with details on that. hi, phil. >> reporter: hi, simon. plenty of complaints of yesterday. here's an explain from the airline. they say that it was a communication equipment failure,

that it failed to communicate with some of the other equipment in the network and as a result at united's command center a lot of things to worry about yesterday. united computers down for two hours on tuesday and that meant a lot of people waiting in long lines at airlines or airports around the country. united grounded planes at knew ark, houston, san francisco, altogether they say they canceled nine flights, delayed 580 and people on the canceled or delayed flights they took to twitter. some of the comments today, this is horrible, united airlines. shame on you. another tweet that we saw, done flying united airlines. using my miles and finding a different airline. and finally, from the editor and chief at yahoo! finance. pilot says united computers coming back online and there was great rejoicing in the cabin. well, may have been rejoicing in the cabin but investors this morning after a dip the shares coming back a little bit, sue, but trading lower. the bigger issue, sue, the latest glitch with the united

computer. we have seen since this sense the merger with continent l and they say they're working this out but how many people say i have to endure this again in the future? >> a lot of turbulence in that relationship so far. thank you, phil, very much. the stock down better than three quarters of a percent today. a bit of an image problem for zynga, as well. another top executive leaving, this time the chief creative officer. shares are down 3% at $2.90. the stock is down better than 68% year to date. cnbc's julia boorstin is looking at what lies ahead for the embattled firm. hi, julia. >> reporter: well, sue, zynga suffered from a number of high-profile exits recently which makes this departure look particularly bad and considering the fact that chief creative officer was the quote creative conscious of the company, there are concerns about filling his void. but they're both stressing he is

not leaving because of the falling stock or the slowing growth but to start his own game company and the ceo says that zynga is investing in. his departure after zynga pushed out the chief operating officer restructuring for mobile games and lost a handful of managers of games like citiville and mafia wars 2. the fact that verdu is starting a gaming company speaks to growing competition and also speaks to the potential that zynga says becoming a platform for all of social games as it tries to move away from its focus on facebook. simon, back over to you. >> julia, phenomenal moves there from 10 to $3. thank you very much. up next, the u.s. economy is still struggling, of course, to accelerate off europe certainly if a big mess and big fears of china, as well, today. why is the influential economist mark zandy bullish? he'll join us soon to explain why. here's the widest held

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welcome back to "power lunch." let's get you up to date on the treasury markets right now. we had the 5-year note auction go off the board.

they came in at an average queeyield of 0.708%. the bid to cover 2.92%, that matches the 10-year average of 2.92%. we did see a little backup in yields today compared to yesterday f. you welcome at the 10-year, 1.66%. yesterday at this time we were at 1.64%. and a 30-year at 2.75% yesterday. some of the economic news was more encouraging than traders were expecting this morning. you are up to date on the bond market today. simon? >> thank you. ecb president draghi out with a provocative op-ed piece today in a german newspaper. he says the euro's original set-up pretty much flawed an enthere's no going back but he does say there are ways to fix the currency such as stricter central oversight and scrutiny

of banks and must employ exceptional measures at times to fulfill its mandate of delivers price stability and says that germany needs to remain the anchor of a strong currency. draghi trying to basically calm german fears of the central bank's policies and the ecb we believe is coming up with a new bond buying plan to lower the borrowing cost facing spain and italy. mario draghi expected to detail the plan after a september 6th policy meeting. we hit a high of $1.2563 but you can see we're fallen back. the german chancellor is raising expectations that action is on its way. angela merckel tells a news conference with the italian prime minister that the euro zone has an ambitious agenda for a few weeks but the necessary means she said to stabilize and strengthen the euro. but with us now, mark zandy,

chief economist of moody's analytics. mark, welcome to the program. it is nice to see you again. >> thank you, simon. thank you. >> where are we positioned then for what will come out of europe? do you think it's likely to disappoint the markets or we could rally substantially here on the new york stock exchange depending on what they do? >> well, i think it's going to be determined over the month of september. there are a number of big events. you mentioned next week the ecb meets but the german supreme court has to rule on the bailout from the ecm. this's the week after so there's number of events to occur before the markets get a good sense of what the europeans have planned and how aggressive they're going to be. i think they have made it pretty clear. mario draghi an now merkle and some of the other policymakers

to do what's necessary to keep the eurozone together and keep the economy moving forward so i'm confident when all the data points are in at the end of september the markets are going to be feeling good about how things are going. >> interesting. we haven't mentioned greece. let's not go down the greek alley but are you suggesting therefore american investors can ignore europe, that it is actually now ring fenced by policymakers? >> yeah. i wouldn't ignore it. i mean, certainly things could go wrong and one of the key reasons is politics are involved and that was one of the key points of draghi's op-ed today, to get germany on board and make sure that politically that they're committed. so things could go wrong and so we should keep our eye on it but i think fundamentally what draghi told us over the course of last few weeks and hearing from the policymakers is they're all in, fully committed.

eu eu eurozone doing what's necessary and good for the global economy an our own economy. >> mark, we are coming up on the jackson hole meeting and disappointment mr. draghi isn't meeting and tell me what you expect and whether or not more qe is coming either as a result of jackson hole or further down the line. >> you know, sue, i'm not expecting much out of jackson hole. i think they have told us a lot in the minutes which we got last week. they were also the federal reserve members also quite clear that the economy is going to have to improve for them not to qe. so we're going to have to see stronger growth, more jobs, unemployment moving south in a very consistent way. if we don't see that, we get more qe. given all the fiscal issues, my sense is that we're probably getting another round of qe. won't be in september but after the election when we're dealing with the fiscal problems late this year, early next. the economy weaker and at that point more qe and the new there

is is the key news is that the federal reserve is all in and going to qe until the economy is moving north in to a consistent way. >> is that what accounts for your optimistic view longer term? as i look at the statistics, you think that we are going to grow as we move in to 2014 at a 4% rate. you know, we're obviously not going that right now. so you are extremely optimistic longer term. >> yeah. i'm optimistic. you know, i do think policymakers in europe and here are committed. they're going to do whatever it takes to keep it all together. we need the fission call policymakers, president and congress, to come together to address the fiscal cliff and treasury debt ceiling and reasonably do so so by next year at this time, i think the market will hit the stride and american companies have done a lot of hard work, they have gotten the cost structures down. their profit measures never wider. they're raring to go. we nailed down the fiscal issues

and i think those good fundamentals will start to shine through and i think the growth -- the surprise will be how strong is economy's growing. >> i hope you're right. i really do. mark, thanks so much. >> i do, too, sue. >> yeah, indeed. good luck with the book. appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. confronting the crisis, investors gearing up for fed chief ben bernanke's big speech at the end of the week. the question is, is more qe coming? we have coverage and a variety of opinions on that all day thursday and friday. do you think you will work past the age of 65? that's the finance.yahoo.com poll today. the results are coming up later on "power lunch." i know i will have to, simon. >> 65? i'll be lucky. crickey. find out if today's wall street upgrades and downgrades are the right calls on the list. a stock to benefit of hurricane isaac. yes, benefit. plus, best buy and angie's

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chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. time to analyze. i'm here with ed ponzi. good to see you again, ed. >> good to be here, sue. >> citi commenting on potential losses of hurricane isaac stating, quote, isaac dominate it is headlines and unlikely to be a capital event. the firm also noting that the personal line writers like

allstate and travelers could see primary impact and let's look at the stocks right now. allstate up half a percent. fractional up for travelers. what do you think? >> both of the stocks hit multiyear highs last week and very good news that the damage estimates are coming down. those stocks are probably going to be going up again. they have come down just a little bit on the news. i would buy both. i think they're good stocks for long haul and of course just because the damage estimates are going down it doesn't mean there's not a lot of danger out there. be careful in that area. >> all right. indeed. well said. oppenheimer is saying a best buy buyout is not likely. the firm thinks, quote, potential private equity buyers will ultimately balk at a deteriorating business model. that's not good news. past two years shares have been slashed nearly in half. how do you feel about it now? up 1.25% today at 18 bucks. >> i have to agree with this call. this stock best buy is in a

secular decline. and these big box electronics retailers i consider them an endangered species. to be taken out, someone has to put up billions of dollars. remember, radioshack was a $20 stock a couple of years ago. >> indeed, indeed. >> they're going up against walmart and amazon as far as competitors. those are two that you do not want to go up against so i would not own best buy here. >> all right. sitting on a lot of real estate and a call on angie's list upgrading it to outperform from perform. basically, it thinks that angie's can deliver multiyear earnings growth after taxes. the lockup expiration. shares down 25% and today we should note up 11% today alone trading at 10 bucks. what do you think? >> the lockup exwe ration does reduce volatility but more

supply of the stock. doesn't an i peer to be extra demand for the stock. and the chart looks awful. now, even after the decline that we have seen, the stock's still trading at 29 times book value and in my opinion it's not even cheap now. >> okay. >> so i cannot agree with the call. i would not buy it. >> all right. ed, thank you very much. that's analyze this. sim simon, over to you. define crickey later in the show. >> all right. about to shut up on the metals market. let's link in with sharon. sharon, gold near a four-month high. >> for the time being. we are waiting to see what happens on friday at the summit in jackson hole and what bernanke has to say and what gold traders waiting for, as well. prices just above 1660 an ounce or so and above the $1,640 level was key and we have another factor putting pressure on gold prices and that is the fact that we had options expiration yesterday and many of those options that were in the money now futures contracts.

if you have a margin position and you don't want to put up cash you sell some of the futures to make that margin call so that they be impacting the gold market a bit, as well. we are near the four-month high and a steady rally here particularly since the last fed minutes and perception and hope of many traders to hear about quantitative easing. >> simon. >> see what he says on friday. thank you very much. the view from the new york mercantile exchange. coming up, what would you rather have -- a pay raise or two weeks extra vacation? we'll tell you what most people would choose, next. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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two important pieces of good news today. the gdp higher than we thought and housing really does seem to have bottomed. >> pending home sales numbers just terrific. up over 2%. bottom line is very simple. the housing market's healing. home prices, existing home sale prices coming up and seeing the home builders moving up. most of them very close to new highs. there's a few exceptions there

but most of the home builders moving up. bottom line is here the we have pending home sales since 2010 and had, of course, those tax credits that were moving the markets, as well. the itb and you can own, the etf of home builders right near a multiyear high and finally commenting on isaac. as we discussed yesterday, the impact on the stock market,dy min mouse. to look at something to look, marine transports, moving the boats around in the gulf of mexico like tide water's hornbeck they would have moved with major problems and both of the stocks are to the downside and my barometer of how isaac is impacting the market. >> diminimis. >> diminished. >> thank you. i didn't know that. jackie deangelis is watching the big moves. >> not speaking latin but looking at the numbers. up on the nasdaq in line and

let's look deeper. looking at the semi spasz. watching kla higher after selling prosh yesterday but it's intel 1% lower today. one source telling me intel would be speaking at a citi conference on tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in the morning. the concern is they may preannounce negative numbers and watching that stock closely. the selling will happen today and tomorrow. also seeing selling brsh in abidu and taking a look at sures of yelp. bob and gary that broke it down really well this morning. we have that lock-up expiration. 52 million shares. the volume high and not what's happening here and not seeing buying. short covering is explaining the 18% move. back over to you. >> thank you very much, jackie deangelis. let's get the latest on the top story which is isaac. brian norcross. actually, it's mr. postole. >> greg. no worries.

isaac is a hurricane right now as of the latest advisory an moving to the northwest. it is inland and expecting weakening in the rest of the day and tomorrow. let's look at the latest advisory. it's moving northwest very slowly at 6 miles per hour. that's the main story with this. main center of circulation 30 miles west of murls and most of the rain and thunderstorm activity on the intern half of the semicircle. look at the water rises associated with isaac. some of these values increasing with the wind onshower out of the south but further to the southwest and over southeastern louisiana, some of these numbers we're starting to see decrease and that's good news. that's the storm surge associated with isaac. rainfall totals very high. look at the numbers. almost 10 inches there in new orleans. those continue to go up throughout the afternoon. and look at these peak wind gusts. boothville, last night, 84 miles

per hour. new orleans, 76 miles per hour. here's the projected path. expected to accelerate picked up by the westerlies over a couple of days and expect considerable amount of rain in here and hoping to help the drought a little bit. back to you, sue. >> all right. greg, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> yeah. more now on isaac. equi-cat estimating $1.5 billion. those numbers could rise. cnbc reporter scott cohn on the ground for us in new orleans. scott? obviously the weather is not making it very easy to connect with scott. we'll keep trying and if we can get him back -- do we have him now? there it is. go ahead, scott. >> reporter: you got me? >> yep. >> reporter: as you can tell, sue, isaac is getting closer to new orleans and the wind shifted so it's coming out of the south up canal street and this is what it is like. i want to talk a little bit

about plaquemines parish. we have video to see you because the stuff i'm getting now in new orleans, they were getting all night. at last report, 75 people have been rescued. and many more are waiting to be rescued. this was a mandatory evacuation zone and not a federal levee and the people are paying now for having made the wrong bet on the storm. come back out to me live on canal street if you can. as the winds pick up. a lot of debris flying around. i have to be careful here. but remember, what you heard, the storm is moving at 6 miles per hour. and it is still 30 miles away. so we're still five hours from the center of hurricane isaac coming to new orleans. and then there's the back half of it. even if it speeds up, there's a great deal of rain here and it is definitely on the defenses. no, no katrina. but it's a hurricane. back to you. >> indeed it is. scott, be careful. we'll see you again in a short

while. scott cohn reporting live from new orleans. coming up next, republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan set to give the biggest speech of his political career tonight at the republican national convention. policy versus personality. which line should he walk? we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪

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welcome back. a couple of stocks to watch at the market desk. dicom. the stock today on a 11-month low. the sales well short on its earnings but at a new high, near the highs of the session is google. near the highs today. simon, google adding to the fray in september they're also having an event with the motorola mobility unit september 18th and we could see new devices next month. >> okay. all right. thank you, bertha. in today's yahoo! finance poll we asked if you think you

'll work past 65. these are the multis. majority of people believe or the greater section believe they will be able to retire, 35% say they'll have to work longer. of course, whether you answer yes to that question did he understand what you have done for a living. construction workers physically have to retire earlier than anchors to go on and on. let's see what's coming up. >> speak for yourself! we have the beige book out right at the top of the hour and see what the fed thinks about the economy ahead of big ben's friday speech in wyoming. will it signal more easy money to come? then, all over the flooding along the gulf as isaac stalls out and dumps buckets on the region. we have the author of the new new deal making the case that all the obama stimulus will work. but not in the way it was sold to the american people. really interesting report. got to watch "street signs" 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern.

back to you. >> we'll be there. thank you. it is paul ryan's turn in the spotlight accepting the party's nomination for vice president at the republican national convention this evening. what is mr. ryan's mission tonight? joining us from tampa is ron christie, founder and ceo of christie sfraenlgs and worked for president george w. bush and vice president cheney. welcome, ron. good to see you again. >> good afternoon. good to see you, too, sue. >> what does paul ryan have to do? what's the mission tonight? >> well, i think paul ryan is the intellectual future of the republican party and i think what he needs to do tonight, sue, is lay out in very clear terms what the romney-ryan agenda is, how it's different than what we have seen from president obama and vice president biden and why their vision, their leadership an their approach is what we need to move america forward for the next four years so i think it's a very, very important speech and also i would add that paul ryan demonized in ads and by the president, the vice president.

it's very important for him to introduce himself to the american people and let them assess, is this the next guy to potentially be the president of the united states? >> he's very disciplined and not always all that open and approachable. how does he accomplish that tonight? >> well, i think he just needs to reveal a softer side of himself. i have known him over 20 years. he is a very engaging person, a very warm person but i think you're right. he's reserved, been a little reticent to reveal who he is to the media for fear perhaps of being demonized. he needs to show the smile, the wit and the heft he has and why his proposals in the house budget committee are really the ones to move america forward and teaming with governor romney, the team to move america ahead on so many different levels. >> last night was such an interesting night on so many different levels. governor christie gave a very dynamic speech. ann romney wowed the crowd with her address.

paul ryan is a very dynamic speaker, as well. how does the party basically manage the contrast between a christie and ann romney and paul ryan and mitt romney who tends to be more reserved and who is quieter and not as open? >> well, sue i think each one of the speakers did exactly what they needed to do. you needed to hear from governor christie of why conservative governorship, why conservative principles worked at the state level and why governor romney for being a former governor works at the federal level. you heard of ann romney, this is a husband, a father, a grandfather and a more softer, human side. >> is she at risk of overshadowing him? >> no. >> that was a headline in "the new york times." >> no. >> perhaps the speech so strong and heart felt to overshadow her husband's adoctors. >> no. i think we'll be pleasantly surprised and introducing himself to the american people and to answer the last part of your question i think paul ryan

will give the intellectual and the economic really muscle and governor romney after after having been presented as a father, a governor, as a strong leader will close the deal himself tomorrow night and say america this is who i am, my visions, my policies, my leadership for an effective agenda moving forward and i think that's how we close out the convention tomorrow night. >> thank you. enjoy the convention. >> thank you. always a pleasure. >> republican vice president shl candidate paul ryan takes stage tonight. don't miss the live coverage tonight. >> a financial lineup at 7:00 on larry kudlow from the republican convention. meanwhile, it's the biggest documentary of the year and indeed one of the biggest conservative documentaries ever. 2016, obama's america. it takes a critical, a very critical look at the president's policies. will box office success trigger a republican victory?

cnbc's julia boorstin is in los angeles with that. julia? >> reporter: simon, "2016: obama's america" grossed $10.5 billion and more this weekend nearly doubling the reach to 1,800 theaters. it's based on conservative author's book "roots of obama's rage" is breaking all sorts of records. highest per screen average. reviews of top critics mediocre with 33% approval. but it is striking a cord with conservative movie goers with an 80% rating. rush limbaugh and glenn beck urging listeners to buy tickets and rallying the gop base and the film's success does not promise republican victory because it's largely preaching to an already committed conservatives. and big box office does not always translate to the polls. anti-bush film "fahrenheit 911"

released the summer before george bush was re-elected and had a better start than 2016 and did biggest documentary ever grossing $220 million. sue and simon, it's interesting to say if it impacts the polls but it is making hollywood take a much closer look at creating movies to serve specifically that conservative base. back over to you. >> julia, let me ask you a question. what would you rather have, a pay raise or two weeks of extra vacation? >> reporter: hmm. right now, i would go for the vacation but it's august in los angeles. so there you go. >> i tell you what. we'll find out what most americans would rather have next on "power lunch." [ male announcer ] while many automakers are just beginning

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it is power rundown time. joining me now is kelly evans and kayla tasche. great to see you. let's start with ann romney and the address last night. do you think her speech resonated with the women of the nation? do you think that she opened up enough? she seemed to do very well according to the crowd. kayla? >> sorry. i think she did well and not

necessarily opened herself up to a whole new group of fans, female fans. i don't know there's headlines from the speech carried over today or for the rest of the week. >> does she overshadow her husband? >> gop finally falls for romney, ann romney. mitt romney is running. >> exactly. >> show don't tell. she told a lot of stories but if mitt can't show for himself, she can't win it for him. >> not just her, chris christie. you know, mr. ryan tonight. this may be a tough -- >> stakes are high. >> very high. yahoo! finance and "parade" magazine with a job happiness survey. we are all very happy at our jobs. would you rather have a 5% pay raise for more vacation time? 56% of americans picked the 5% raise. perhaps given this economy, not surprising, kelly. >> should have phrased this

differently. a free vacation or a 5% raise? you can't afford it without a raise. >> that's very good point. >> very good. >> yeah, i'd love vacation time and what am i ultimately -- they don't come cheap. if they phrase it differently, people might have said yes. >> time is money, too. harris interactive with a study in may that 70% of americans leave vacation time on the table, on average 11 days on the table at the end of the day and if you don't have the vacation to take anyway, what does it matter? take the money and run. >> people guilty of this over here. >> miss work-aholic. >> takes one to know one. >> that's very true. move on to making the rounds in the headlines today. this. courtesy of "the new york post." i don't know whether you can zoom in on this one. here we go. most expensive brown paper bag ever made. jill sanders $290 coated paper bag with stitched seams and metal eyelets. marketing it towards gentlemen. what do you think, kayla?

>> i'd carry my lunch in it. i don't know about you. i think jill sander tried this last year with a plastic bag with a bright orange grocery being and sold like crazy. that was marketed towards women so maybe they think they can try this again. men are looking for something understated. >> what's wrong with the old-fashioned brown bag we used to use? >> i'm sure people use that. it's not just clothing and accessories but restaurants, too. how many people have you been playing on the down home or rough and tumble theme and paying $20 for a hamburger? it's a whole we don't want new, shiny-looking things in this period and don't feel like a right vibe and willing to pony up for some of these things. >> i'm glad this is a bag that dewayne reid makes a knockoff of. that's excellent. >> excellent point. i don't know that that would play in the heartland and might play in l.a. and new york. simon, would you carry one of those? >> not for $290, no.

>> i don't think so. >> thank you, ladies. tonight, cnbc has the latest installment of the investigative series "american greed." the story of fugitive louis fiera selling investors on dreams of security turning in to a nightmare. that's "american greed: request the fugitives" at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific right here on cnbc. in the next hour of our programming, fact checking the conventioneers. while new jersey governor chris christie rallying republicans last night, no question, we were taking notes and we're going to put some of his bold statements to the test. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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and we're just moments away from the fed's latest snapshot of the economy. the beige book will be released in just a few moment's time. on the markets at the moment, i can tell you that telecoms and health care are the biggest gainers so far today. health care, of course, led by wellpoint with some interesting moves there at the helm of that particular business. sue? >> you know, the market's picking up steam, simon. we were pretty flat for the morning as you well know.

ahe of the beige book and the minutes, what are your thoughts heading closer to jackson hole? >> okay. first of all, traders blow the beige off with no hard number the look at but pay attention because the fed pays attention to it. look for anecdotes of broad-based strength of jobs and housing. as far as jackson hole, i'm not confident of bernanke to do anything because you have basically one bullet left in the chamber. not going to use it if 4th doesnhe doesn't have to. >> would he later on in the year? >> very possible. i think he'll want to see more employment reports. >> hang on. >> 1.7 -- >> simon? >> isn't europe the big wild card here? >> i think it is. >> depending on the ecb a week tomorrow massively depletes the market, you could be in a different situation within seven or eight days. why commit yourself now? >> exactly. you shouldn't now but in addition to that, i feel like