is apple so big that it is dapg ru dangerous to the whole market? some incredible stats on just how big it really is. plus our take on fortress, america. >> the s&p hit 2009. the outside influence in just a second, but first let's get breaking news on the beige book. >> the economic growth reported modest to moderate. one district says it's increased since the last beige book. consumer spending growth was slight to moderate in most districts, reflecting some of the lackluster spending numbers we've had. auto sales were leading the consumer expansion, philly and dallas saying the numbers have fallen back from the highest levels. resident real estate, all they say in the beige books is it

expanded or held steady in about half the districts. it doesn't say what happened in the other about half of the districts. did it hold steady or expand? bank conditions improved. loan values were up in many districts, loan demand rose in many of the districts. it was pretty good employment, to big deal with prices but many districts reported record high crop yields, and the reason why that's in the running is other commodities. help for cattle pro dulseducers. when you look at jobs, there were skill shortages reported. now here's a list, guys. if this television thing doesn't work out for any of us, places where there were skill short anls, boston, information technology workers. in new york they need truck

drivers. atlanta, my guess is the overalls would look good on you. atlanta is construction workers. and dallas, this would work good for me. to be an energy worker. those are places where there is skill pescharshortages and wage pressures. >> we have had people come on and say i can't fight skilled workers, and inevitably there is a backlash. people get on twitter and say you're whining, there is no skill shortage. i'm sure that's true in some parts of the country, not true if others. these are laborers saying there was skilled shortage. >> and that's something they're watching very carefully because they're interested in wage inflation and whether that feeds over to greater inflation. clearly some of the issues with finding skilled workers is wa z

wages. i'm sure in some cases they have tried to raise wages and it still hasn't worked, so the question is who is going to be training them? >> i was going to say that we'll be talking with someone from the me american trucking association later on about exactly that topic. there is a shortage now of truck drivers, will be an even bigger short aage later on which means ka-ching. an ability to make more money. auto sales were, contrary to some expectations, up. will they continue to be a bright spot in the economy or will a little air be let out of that momentum? >> i think we'll see them remain at the current level or maybe even a little bit higher this year, mandy. by the way, within the next hour

or so, we should get the sales pace for monthly auto sales and it could be over 17 million for the first time since july of 2006. here's the reason why. when you look at the major automakers, all of them reported better than ever sales in the past month, but nissan, toyota, ford, even gm, that was better than many were expecting. a couple stories stand out when you look at what happened in terms of luxury sales. mercedes benz reported its best august sales ever, up 9.4%. its rival, bmw, posted its best august sales ever, up 11%. the automakers who have been expanding production over the last several years, there's been concern over whether or not there's too much inventory. it actually eased back a bit because of the strong sales in the month of august, and most of the automakers are saying, look, we see demand in the 65 to

70-day sales. let's look at the annual percentage rate. right now we're trending at about 6.5 million for the entire year. there's the low when it was just over 10.4 million. there's the momentum we've seen over the last five years. we should get the official proclamation in terms of what the august sales rate was, and it could be over 17 billion which would be a first since 2006. guys, back to you. >> long lost number. phil lebeau, thank you very much. aside from auto sales, do you know what else has been surprisingly strong already? stocks, but you know that. but did you know that investor optimism is at the highest since 1987? according to investment intelligence market newsletter, newsletter writers who call themselves bearish are just 13% of all newsletter writers. that, my friends, the lowest level since the infamous year of 1997.

does that make analyst jim russell nervous? let's ask him. jim, does that kind of counter or contrarian stat make you nervous? >> brian, good question. we think there is probably a little bit of optimism that does worry us, and probably we could see a little bit of pullback here in september or october a few percentage points. but the if you understand menfu point are so strong at this m t minute that it wouldn't derail our stocks. we do think perhaps the party should wind down or moderate long term. sdp >> what specifically do you see as the reasons to be bullish long term? they were just plain wrong, they were rubbing in the towel, right? at some point, as you say, we can't keep going on a straight line. >> that's right, mandy. we're trading at all-time highs

essentially. there are many reasons to be bullish. record profit, record dividends, interest rates are low, the fed has been on our side and inflation frientrends are extre favorable, and frankly most trends are actually getting a little bit better. the market is a forward-looking mechanism and a lot of these positives have already been discounted to some degree. in our view, it's very possible that the party is getting just a little bit too hot, too fast and the economy may be smoking just a little bit too hot right now. >> with all due respect, i don't care what earnings did, i care what erparnings are going to do. >> right. we think the optimism is very valid there. in the third quarter consistent earnings will be around 9%. for the fourth quarter, maybe about 15%. we're a little bit below consistent at $117.50 per share

this year. we do think the internet will provide a little bit of a wet blanket in the third and fourth quarter this year depending on how the military thing plays out. but we do think there is a lot of optimism at this minute and is reasonably justified. >> what do you like in this stake of the sicycle, jim? >> we got the health care sector right this year. we do like the consumer discretionary area as well as the industrials. both these sectors have not worked this year and we do think they're coming on strong with a little bit enhanced macrodata. my data looks great, the factory orders numbers look great, the employment trends look great, so we do think there is a bit of a cap x tail wind to both of those sectors that has yet to be played out. >> okay. jim, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you.

>> we're going to continue the discussion we just had a bit ago, mandy. we're going to ask the head of a truckers association, if they can't find truckers or they can't find truckers at the right price. plus, apple having its worst day in seven months. it's lost a marriott -- >> more than a marriott. >> not one hotel, the company worth the value. is apple so big that it's dangerous to the structure of the whole market? we'll talk about it. >> we will, indeed, but the races heating up. i'll be on the case in north carolina and bring you a live report, next. (vo) rush hour around here starts at 6:30 a.m. - on the nose. but for me, it starts with the opening bell. and the rush i get, lasts way more than an hour. (announcer) at scottrade, we share your passion for trading. that's why we've built powerful technology to alert you to your next opportunity. because at scottrade, our passion is to power yours.

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first ukraine said they would be a permanent cease fire until the kremlins said not quite and ukraine had to backtrack. what exactly is the latest? dina is russian, a fluent russian speaker, so it's fantastic because you can listen in to whaet happenit's happenin russian media. >> but an american citizen, i just want to point out. you're right, there was a lot of confusion this morning. now we're learning that putin has put forth concrete steps to end the violence, saying the suffragists have to lay down their arms, they need to stop the shelling. i do want to point out i'm saying president putin because he's the one driving the bus here. he's making all the demands ahead of these talks that are

supposed to happen this coming friday between the suffragists and the ukranian military. >> why is there such a disconnect, dina, in what we're hearing? why is it so hard to figure out what's really happening? this is 2014. we can read the date on a dime on a street from a satellite. i don't understand why it's like a culture of dis and misinformation. >> the nato summit is coming up. putin is saying, let me get ahead of it and make a cease fire. it was interesting this morning that the kremlins sort of backtracked. the krem lilins are saying, hey we're not part of the violence, so why would we have a stake to play in the cease fire? they're saying this is an internal problem within ukraine. so it should be between the russian separatists who they're saying they have nothing to do with and ukraine.

>> how frustrating is that? there can't abe cease fire if there's no conflict in the first place? >> right, and putin is trying to bring a cease fire when he really has nothing to do with it. >> his end game is the same, absolutely. his end game is the same. he's very clever. we will have control over eastern ukraine. in what form that takes, thob knows, but that's his whole strategy. he wants to retain some type of control. >> this is not the first time. we forget 2008. >> georgia. >> not the u.s. state, the nation. this is not quite analogous, but it's not disanalogous. >> this was right before the presidential campaign, so you had mccain in the campaign and those players as well. you're right, it's definitely not the first time and it might not be the last. >> record lows are really

hurting the country, too, isn't it? i have to leave it there. as promised, we are still planning to get to north carolina for a loive report on the key senate race. that is next. >> we're going to dig in on the size of apple and how it impacts the whole market. with fidelity's new active trader pro investing platform, the information that's important to you is all in one place, so finding more insight is easier. it's your idea powered by active trader pro. another way fidelity gives you a more powerful investing experience. call our specialists today to get up and running. this is a burrito made with

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you want to talk about isis, you want to talk about gaza, you want to talk about ukraine, you want to talk about venezuela. i don't remember any time in my career where there have been as many wild cards floating out there that have the potential to be very significant and alter people's thinking. >> that was billionaire sam zell earlier today on cnbc's "skwa"sk box."" you heard sam zell, business guy, talking about these flare-ups, hot spots arpd thoun

world. is that what people are talking about in north carolina? >> not exactly, brian. this race has been dominated by economic issues, obamacare, what the system has done here in raleigh. you've had some pro forma discussion. you had the senate saying kay haguen, the democratic incumbent, has responded saying she pressed obama to get tougher on iran, for example, but it simply hasn't been the focus of the race so far. >> the showdown in the state of north carolina, what exactly, john, is at stake? >> well, mandy, this is really a case study for the entire race for the senate. you've got kay hagan, democratic incumbent in her first term elected with president obama in

2008. tom tillis, republican speaker of the house, and you really have a showcase for what republican opportunities are. kay hagan is one of six democratic incumbents who were shaking and vulnerable. this is one of seven battleground sfenate race that take place. but the state also shows democratic hopes for staving off some of that republican momentum. first of all, in north carolina, the latino population has nearly doubled in the last decade or so. you've got increasing share of 15% growth since 1990 in the share of casouth carolinians, a tonight they're having a

televised debate in the studios in north carolina, and that's going to tell us about the role of domestic issues from here on out, but also those foreign policy issues that we talked about at the top, whether the brutality of isis is going to shake up that race in ways we haven't seen so far. >> it pmay shake it up by makin the candidates more hawkish, correct? >> certainly, that's what you would expect. you've already -- yes. absolutely right. and you saw bill nelson, democratic senator from florida, saying he's going to introduce a resolution giving president obama the authority to strike isis in syria. these -- that's reflective of pressure within both parties for the president to take a tougher stance, and he's had a deliberate approach so far. we'll see if he can sustain it and we'll see whether kay hagan tonight in this debate will stick with him on that approach. >> john, thank you very much. all right, mandy. we know this.

apple's market cap is big. >> how big is it? >> it is so big that you will not believe how big it is, because the stats on the bigness of its bigness is coming up next. >> wow, that's really big. indeed. plus we'll be hearing from an analyst with a zero price tag. in one stock, it's up 98% in the past month. is he backing down? that's our question. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much.

just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. ok, if you're up there, i coulsmart sarah.elp. seeking guidance. just like with your investments. that sets you apart. it does? it does. you're type e*. and seeking another perspective is what type e*s do. oh, and your next handhold... is there. you don't have to go it alone. e*trade gives you the support and guidance to make informed decisions. are you type e*?

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eenie. meenie. miney. go. more adventures await in the seven-passenger lexus gx. see your lexus dealer. time for our street talk. call number 1 is -- actually two

calls in one. c.h. robinson and douwngrading both of them to sell. >> we don't see a lot of sell ratings. in fact, only 6% of all analyst ratings are sells. they say 20% downsize potential in both stocks. both stocks are higher up in the market this year but obviously negative on both of those names. >> lumber liquidators down. >> they think the worst might be behind the trading company. shares already down 40% here today. >> kohl's up to a buy. >> apparently a better selection of beauty products. target on kohl's 58 to 88.

>> u.s. steel named top pick. it was having a tough time for a while there. sdp >> u.s. steel is up 2.7%. that is their top pick in the sector. they see the industry benefiting from structural and cyclical improvement. it's up 51% this quarter. pharmerica in 43 states. it was up to examiand outperfor. it's at about 33, $8 above the

kurpt pri current price. a little bullish but everybody bullish on pharmerica. let's take a look at radio shack. this has been one of the more bizarre stories in the stock market lately. the stock has been down in years. it fell about 20% yesterday. it's up basically a double in the past month. it's bizarre. scott tomlin of b. reilly joining us on the phone which i should say is the number one ranked super hard analyst by skyline, so scott, congratulations on that honor. you were on the show about two months ago. what has been going on with the name? >> thanks for having me. we've had a lot of speculation that a, quote, unquote, lifeline will be granted to the companies. it surfaced a few months ago

with blue crest and standard general. so they're saying maybe the company gets bailed out, maybe there are some deep pockets at play. i think what's happening is we're seeing some of the short dollars begin to cover and say we're not going to take the last little bit off the table. we'll leave it there, and that's what's prompted the rapid run-up in the stock last week. as the speculation has died down, we've seen the shares go back the other way this week. >> in fact, it was a couple months ago when we did speak to you here on "street signs." you were saying you didn't really see a white knight appearing. you saw it die down, but do you think there is a white knight out there for radio shack? >> a white knight has possibly existed for a number of years. it's gotten pretty beaten down in the last 24 to 36 months. while there is a lot of speculation that someone would come in and save the company, the fundamentals just don't justify it.

the reason we aren't big believers in the lifeline, really, it's that the balance sheet is not the primary problem for this company. >> and quickly, again, we don't want to speculate on anything happening, right? to your point about the white knight, in corporate american deal making, if you believe, as you obviously do, scott, that a company will see its equity go to zero, and we don't know whether they will or not, you're going to wait. if there is any white knight out there, and there might be one, they're going to wait until the worst happens. >> that's right, and the key question is what asset value is left at that point for a business that has minimal inventory and has a fairly hefty debt position? sdp >> scott, thank you very much for joining us. >> let's talk about cvs care

mart. they're changing their name to cvs health and eliminating all back produ tobacco product from their stores. will it go higher or will it go lower, because i don't think it will stay the exact same? david seaberg joipg ning us fore fundamentals. it's a great-looking chart. healthy, if you will. will it continue to do so? >> speak tofor me, that's exact right. there's a north by northeast, what's not to like? it is not too hot, not too cold and we think it actually has a bit more left in it. the long-term chart actually paints this picture. you have an opportunity here to basically not only outperform the discretionary sector, health care sector, however you want to characterize the stock, and it's

a low data almost auto annuity type opportunity. what's not to like? stay long, be long. >> it's an incredibly even move on the up side we can see. what do you see cvs doing moving forward? >> i believe it's going higher. operationally they've got momentum and they've got volatile momentum as well. they focused on their business. they acknowledged they want to make that their core business. they walked away from roughly 2 billion in sales. from my perspective, it looks good. if you look at the chart, you see that. let's not forget about that inversion deal they had. so i think people gravitated

toward cvs. the bottom line is they have a winning model. they have a distribution model for prescriptions and i think that's the winning model and the winning kbipgcombination. i think it's going to go higher. >> cvs health, as it's all known. thanks to both of on you the same page. talking numbers is in partnership with yahoo finance. we've been asking this question to our viewers and our listeners. is apple just too big for the market's good? why apple may be a and have a big problem. >> we've talked a lot about the worker shortage in this country. now it's really starting to hit the trucking industry. we're going to try to figure out why they need 20,000 new drivers right now but can't seem to find them, or maybe won't pay for them. we'll find out, coming up. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [announcer:] your love for trading never stops.

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about the justice department. the number three official, associate attorney general tony west is leaving on november 14, according to a spokesperson, details to be announced shortly. the departure somewhat unexpected. west was the front man for the department of justice, among other things, on some very key settlements with wall street banks, including most reecently bank of america but also citigroup. west also ran the civil division as part of his job as the number three official. prior to that he ran the division overall. unclear as to what his plans are next, but a significant loss for the justice department as they head toward the midterm election season here. >> thank you very much for the breaking news. september 15 is the day that he retires. big hour on c this, bc. i guess you could say venezuela

has been the voice of reason. relatively unscathed, perhaps his mentality is rubbing off. >> we're going to find out when he joins us next on "the closing bell." >> they always said who would you want to make that important punt to win the u.s. open? most people pick jack niklaus or tiger woods. i would pick jack vogel if i could pick that one person to put the perfect portfolio together to weather the storm. he sicmplifies his wisdom and keeps it that simple. >> he's been advocating the same plan for decades and decades. when all is said and done, he's been right every step of the way. >> i said to him, i hear that buy and hold strategy is dead. is that the case? he says, it depends on what you

buy. you have to buy the right things. >> what are his favorite things? >> we look forward to talking to mr. b. at the top of the hour. two big head lilines on the housing front today. mortgage applications. let's bring in diana olick. the overall headline number did rise a bit, but if you dig in purchases, the applications to buy a home rather than refinance actually fell a bit. was that surprising given how low mortgage rates are? >> you know, it's not surprising only because it's been like a broken record all summer. we've seen mortgage rates come down. they're now at the lowest level they've been in over a year, and still those purchase applications are not moving higher. we did see that bump up in re s refinanc refinances, but we're still way down from a year ago. where are all the

mortgage-dependent home buyers? why are they not looking at the market now with lower rates and price gains easing up? why are they chbt not in the ma? that's the biggest question as we go into fall, brian. >> let's talk about toll brothers earnings. we mentioned doug early will be on "fast money" tonight. >> this is a bit of a surprise because we've really been looking at that market under work. it may be more of a discretion purpose, u to understand what we're seeing. i'm going to stay where i am, make ip going to renovate. we know the first time home bear is not in the market the way it should be right now.

but it was a disappointment because we had been looking. by the way, where diana is stand. it's got to be the hottest real estate market in the kunlt. it was a dutch. now you saw hichbld. >> and it's clean water now! you can drink it! don't dlipg. it's dragging doup the nasdaq 100 with it. thipg about this for a minute. >> he. you can take apple's $618 billion rocket cap spchlt a lot of companies google and intel

man manny. ugd buy this and still have enough money to buy yahoo. >> goggl which is cool, except for when it affect the index. nobody is knocking apple as a business deal. if i'm a victim, it's a price-waitprice price-weighted. is it too big for the overall indexes? >> you would have to change the calculations of the index in the way it's calculated. in 2012 we were talking about this very thing, is apple too big? you look at how when apple fell, the market fell e.

you have to actually -- you actually raise a very when they did try to reduce the outside is. dooupg we'll see another rebalancing of that kind? >>. >> i lopf the index is damaged day like today or apple were to fall forward. >> i think the nasdaq is down, what, 21 points? right? i think the nasdaq -- sorry. i'm going to the steps of when the nasdaq was down 24 points, okay? that was only around today. apple itself was responsible for 21 of those points.

you can see the impact it's having on the nasdaq 2900. >> and if apple rises more than the others, it has that element of influence when the markets go up. people only get concerned when the markets go down with the index in general or the stock in general not rising. >> that's the point again. nobody is knocking apple. if anyone i'm knocking nasdaq and the constituents. apple access is great, but when you have one company that's effect til a company index. that's as big as the bottom half combined. if it goes down or even if it goes up, people get a misleading idea of how their investment are actually doing. hey, your stock is going up. >> people have just plowed into etfs and it gets back to the.

>> year to date, 29%. nasdaq highs i wonder how much that is due to apple. okay. thank you, herbie. thank you very much. we're also going to get his take on herbalife tomorrow, i believe. >> we are. we didn't have time today. bill ackman may get his wip tomorrow. now back to the improving economy. it's time to get the cop invonv running but there's lots to haul across the country. but maybe we can't when there is a lack of drivers. who wants to be a truck driver when you can do stuff like this? >> . a jimmy hauling hogs.

he was headed for bear about a mile out of shakey town. he said, big ben this here is a rubber duck and i'm about to put the hammer down. who work with regional experts who work with portfolio management experts that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration.

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. you know that stuff that you like to buy, the stuff that's in the stores that you shop at?

that stuff has to get to the store somehow. usually that's by truck. unfortunately, there is a big problem ahead. joipg joining us from washington is bob costello, head of the national truck association. how serious is the lack of truck drivers? >> it's about as bad as we've ever seen it. today we're short about 30,000 drivers. at current rates over the next ten years, that could be 200,000. it's a serious situation today. >> i have one question that's ba basically one word. why? >> i heard the segment earlier talking about pay and stuff. let me start there. if you're a truck driver today, the median wage is about $50,000 and it's going up quite a bit. we hear from fleets every week increasing pay 10, 15%. some come back and look at that in six months. it is a job where 90% plus of

employers offer 401(k)s, offer health care. pay is going up, it's a natural reaction. why do we still have this driver shortage? one is it's the type of to the you're probably going to be away from home a week or so before you get home to see your family. it's also a job where if you cross state lines, you have to be at least 21 years told drive fight. and, of course, if you say, you know, i need a job, i hear the local trucking company is hiring, let me go down there. the first thing they are going to ask you is, let me see your commercial driver's license. what is that, you have to go to school to get training for that, and that costs money. >> what you brought up, bob, is an important point. the 21-year-old thing. that basically eliminates this as a career from somebody who wants to go in right out of high school. if you go up to northern wisconsin, there are 18-year-olds driving 40-ton

lumber trucks because they have different regulations. do we need to end the stupidity of that 21-year-old rule for driving a freight truck? 18-year-olds can go to war! >> well, you're right. different states are, you know, have different regulations. and if you drive interstate freight, you have to be 21 years old. >> why? >> i think -- we're going to get to a point here where a lot of things are going to be on the table that weren't that long ago. and maybe there's a way to look at a graduated driver's license and starting people off at 19 years old or 20 years old and see how that works. one of the areas where we are recruiting heavily is people coming back, getting out of the military. those folks have been used to being away from their families, so it is a natural fit for those coming out of the military. >> very quickly, bob, because of the shortage, does it mean freight is not being delivered? >> we are not at that point. freight volumes are good. i'm more excited about the u.s. economy and the numbers i'm seeing from trucking companies.

so that part is good. today it's an operational hardship at this point. however, if it progresses, and if the pay increases, the substantial pay increases are going into effect today don't work, it might be a different situation. >> bob, thank you so much for joining us. bob costell, very concerning statistic there is. hospitals are raking it in thanks to medicaid according to new reports that expanded medicaid eligibility under obamacare. four private hospitals are seeing fewer paying patients and a better bottom line as a result. so will more hospitals push for their piece of the medicaid pie? what do you think, bob? >> well, it's not a surprise in the states that expanded medicaid, you have about 7 million more people with medicaid insurance cards walking into these hospitals and having their care paid for. in the state that is didn't expand medicaid, you have 6

million people who could have gotten the card if they would have expanded and they are walking into the hospital and can't pay for their car care. so hospitals are seeing a dichotomy for whether they will pay or not. >> sos ? going to ratchet up pressure, right? >> it is going to ratchet up the pressure. if the hospital trade association, the medicaid hmos have been pushing hard from the beginning to do the expansion, we have about five more states that conceivably could expand medicaid in the next year or so. but you know, i think there are probably 10 to 15 hard core states run by republicans who have ideological problems with medicaid and with obamacare that really just don't want to do this. texas, florida, for example, huge states, lots of people, lots of uninsured people. can you imagine the governor of texas or the florida legislature expanding this over the next year or two? it's hard to see. >> what do you say to those states, whether republicans or

not, what do you say to those with medicaid and the expansion just not being sustainable? >> medicaid is not sustainable, obamacare is not sustainable. obama care has a lot of problems, but the democrats won the elections in the past and passed obamacare, the money is there. there's another study that came out today that says the states not expanding medicaid, the money is going to other states. north carolina, for example, this particular study says north carolina taxpayers are paying $10 billion in taxes over the next ten years to expand in other states. north carolina hasn't done it. the bottom line is republicans need to win elections. and until they win elections, until they get the white house, until they get control of the congress, they are not going to be able to dramatically change obamacare and the medicaid expansion. in the meantime, you've got these millions of people who don't have coverage and you've got these hospitals that have to treat them and write them off as bad debt.

>> okay. bob, very interesting. thank you very much for joining us. very quickly, we'll look at the markets for you. as we have been mentioning, the nasdaq is the lagger today. the dow is currently sitting at 17,077. the s&p is slightly lower, but it did crack 2,009 earlier. that was a new intraday record high. >> a couple people were sbrer vi interviewing on this trucking interview, there are 18-year-old lumber truck drivers. if you have seen a lumber truck, they are much heavier filled with trees. and there are younger kids with different regulations. my point is, if you can vote for a president and go to war -- >> and fight for your country, why can't you drive a truck? >> because you basically eliminated -- i graduate high

school at 18, i'll sit around for three years to get any commercial driver's license. make it accessible to the 18-year-olds so they have a path right out of school if that's what they want to do. i have a good buddy that drove trucks for land star for 20 years and he's off the road now, but he still, he misses it and loved being on the road. >> they can go to australia. they are trying to recruit people to drive trucks in mining areas and they make really good money. >> i know, but it's black asphalt, right? and what about all the kangaroos with knives? >> they are really the worst, you have to watch out for the kangaroos with knives. especially the koalas. it's been called one of the hottest spot controversies in the country, but is the debate over the washington redskins name really as divisive as some believe in we'll look at the latest polling results, next. i. you want to cut through the noise of an overwhelming amount of analysis. [ all talking ] you want the insights that will help you

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all right. we'll get to the redskins story tomorrow. phil lebeau, you have a number for your industry is kind of the same thing. >> yes, and we just got the official word from auto data which tracks all of the auto sales from all the automakers this month. the latest automakers rate, 17.53 million viewers. that's the pace for august. this is the first month since july of '06 that the industry has topped 17 million per monthly auto sales. so again, the pace for the month

of august, 17.53. and by the way, the expectation on wall street going into today, 16.6 million. so way better than many people were expecting. >> always good to see a better than expected number. good to end on that note. thank you, phil lebeau. thank you for watching "street signs" as well, everybody. >> "closing bell" is up next and they will try to match. >> good luck, "closing bell." welcome to "closing bell." we have a great market. we are here at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. why are stocks shrugging off a global stock more chaotic and uncertain than it has been for decades? or are we setting ourselves up for a fall? we have a special report. also, we'll get reaction to these resilient