we can't get to our talk back responses but thank you for respondsing on facebook. we throw it over to kyra phillips in atlanta. >> good morning. it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and 6:00 a.m. on the west coast. new he fears now churning a global sell-off overnight and putting investors on edge. riot he erupt over great

britain. dozens of police officers hurt and hundreds arrested and a government trying to tamp down public rage. diana nyad has no retrostopping her swim from cuba to miami. she was halfway on the 109-mile swim when she became too sick and too sore to continue. well, this morning, millions of us waking up to a smaller nest egg. in less than 30 minutes all of us will be looking at that big board on wall street wondering where the numbers will be headed today. yesterday hurt. it was the worst day in nearly three years. the dow spiralled down 635 points and, overnight dragged down markets around the world. we are covering all of the angles from new york to london to hong kong and wall street to the white house. cnn reporters are all there. let's start with alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. alison, this has been pretty brutal. >> reporter: it has has been.

volatility is the word of the date on wall street. futures overnight are pointing to a rally at the open. the dow looks like it could open 150 points. some here on wall street, they call it a dead cat bounce. yeah, that means stocks fell so hard, they got a bounce back at some point. not to say the wave of selling we have seen is over but a rally, at this point, is normal. even if we rally it's not based on fundamentals. the economic indicators are still weak. also expect more big swings in comots commoditioe commodities. oil is down 16% this month. gold is up about the same. now gold is considered a safe place to put your cash in these crazy economic times. oil is driven by demand. part of the reason it fell so much in the past few sessions is because the expectations is the command will be weaker because of the slowly economy and, also, finally, get ready for the volatility to heat up this afternoon. the fed coming out with its decision.

more than the rate decision is what are they going to say? will they put in place any new stimulus program to help the economy or the market? it's hard to ignore the obvious slow down and wall street will be watching what comes out of that meeting. >> we will be watching it, too, alson, for sure. what is the federal reserve going to do today? christine romans, how much can the policy makers move the markets? >> reporter: they have a lot of power in that way and a statement at 2:15, kyra, on whether they signal that the fed is ready to try some new things to keep the economy going, to keep juice in the economy and money flowing, that could really move markets here. people are going to be parsing that statement. as you know, they always do, to see if ben bernanke and the fom have any new ideas. they are already lowered the interest rate to zero and now need other items. two rounds of bond purchases.

the second round has died down. it's almost done. what will they do next, if anything? that is what people will be closely watching. here is the risk, though, you can't predict how global markets are going to react because here is the risk. some are saying the fed comes out too strongly and says the economy is very, very weak and they are doing x, y, and z to keep it moving. that could scare people into thinking things are worse than we thought and why what the fed says this afternoon will be very important for fragile market sentiment. >> 2:15 like you said but we will talk about it. plenty more before then. thanks. doom and gloom on wall street has rattled investors around the world. let's head to europe and leoni is joining us from london. now a day later from what we saw yesterday, how are you feeling it over there? >> reporter: kyra, it's a bit of a mixed bag at the moment in europe. if we take a look at the numbers. i'll just break it down for you. the ftse is up just slightly in

london. the dach is down and up a tad. zurich down 1 1/2%. what we have noticed in the past three sessions, most of the losses clocked in the last half-hour of trade. people on this side of the atlantic are looking out to see what the fed has to say. but we are still seeing a lot of volatility in the markets. kyra, for example, on monday, almost not a single stock made any gains on any of the big four yearian markets. we will have to see what happens today. >> we will will be watching. thanks so much. in asia, anna is in hong kong. how volatile were the asian markets overnight? >> reporter: kfollowing wall street's lead, some of the major indices plummeted throughout the day. government there had to intervene. it closed to 3.6%.

similar story for japan's nikkei. it was down 5%. took back some of the losses to close at 1.7%. here in hong kong, the hang seng down 5.7%. different story in china. the shanghai was flat and down in australia, fascinating situation down there. at the end of the trading day, the markets, in fact, rallied. it recouped some of the 55 billion dollars in losses to end the day in positive territory up over 1%. so a happy day certainly for investors down under. some land lifts in the asia pacific wondering if we are at the bottom of the market but others say we are not even close. >> anna, thanks. we are tackled the economics for you. let's talk about the politics of this crisis. the white house is facing heavy pressure to shore up confidence and they are doing it pretty fast. brianna keilar, what are the things the administration could

do today to ramp this up? >> reporter: you know, kyra, one of the things we have heard frequently from the administration is that the markets, the ratings agencies, these are things they can't control, and it may not be very reassuring but the strategy is certainly slower moving than the panic. you've seen the white house and they continue to emphasize this deficit reduction process. of course, you know that congress is away for this month, and what we heard yesterday from the president trying to be reassuring was that he was going to try to intervene in the process in terms of sending recommendations on entitlement reform and tax reform to that bipartisan commission that is going to be tackling this issue. also this issue of jobs, that the president is very eager to try to get back on the road and emphasize. the strategy remains the same there. payroll tax, holiday extension, unemployment benefits being extended, dealing with the free trade deals before congress, and

also infrastructure spendsing may be the thing that causes the most problems because of all that is a proposal from this white house, from this president. there are a lot of republicans in congress who are certainly not going to be allowing spend like that. kyra? >> why did the president change his schedule today? >> reporter: we don't know, kyra. there has been speculation. he was supposed to be going to virginia to talk about fuel efficiency standards and meet with industry leaders. he'll now be having a meeting at the white house. a lot of speculation that he would be going to dover air force base where the remains of those 30 u.s. troops will be coming home, but certainly that's not confirmed and not something that the white house puts out publicly, kyra. >> okay. brianna keilar at the white house, thanks. credit downgrade and ugly debt debate and markets tanking, are americans blaming the president? our senior political editor mark preston hat numbers. what are they saying? >> reporter: 15 months before election day and president

obama's ratings are ups down. let's take a look at this poll released yesterday. shows only 44% of americans approve how he is handling his job as the president while 55% disapprove. if there is any kind of silver lining, we can look at the numbers is that this approval rating has remained steady and seen in two previous polls and polls were taken, of course, before the big fight over the debt ceiling and of course, the downgrade of the credit. >> what about when it comes to the economy? how did the americans feel about the president? >> reporter: let's drill down and look at president obama's real weakness right now and is troubling as we head into his election year. right now, only 34% approve of president obama's handling of the economy. it's only a third of the country. that is terrible news. while 64% disapprove. we shouldn't be too surprised that the president's approval rating on this subject along is this low in the times we are in right now. >> mark preston, thanks so much.

making sense of the snarget crash a tough on wall street and for all of us. after the break we will talk to a financial expert brian mack who is with us to talk about what this means for you as an investor. a third night of rioting rocks london. now the british prime minister promising to put thousands more police on the streets. we go live to london. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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we'll never stop sharing our or getting lost in a good book. we'll always cook dinner, and cheer for our favorite team. we'll still go to meetings, make home movies, and learn new things. but how we do all this, will never be the same. checking stories across the country. in philadelphia no explanation for the gangs of

kids you see here anywhere between 20 and 40 minors at a time just assaulting residents at random. so now curfews have been put into place. if you're under 13, you have to be home by 10:00 and midnight for those under 18 and the mayor is putting out a stern warning and telling parents, hey, it's not our job to watch your kids, it's yours. next hour, in texas closing statements in the penalty phase of the warren jeffs trial, the polygamous sect leader convicted last week on two counts. he could get life in prison. in wisconsin voters decide in six republican senators get recalled. democrats are hoping to take back the state senate. markets loss and gold's gain. you've seen it. the ultimate safe haven in hard economic times. gold actually hit a record high on monday, closing for the first time over $1,700 an ounce.

cnn's poppy harlow is here. we should have sold off the gold necklaces. not a few months ago, but changed that! >> i was just saying your gold earrings are beautiful, kyra. keep them. they will be worth a lot more if this trend continues. i want to show folks a chart here to give you a sense what exactly is happening. a complete relationship between stocks and where gold is going. the green line is the dow. you know how your stocks have done lately if you've been watching the markets at all. gold is up 2% out of the opening gait and gold trading at $1,744 an ounce. a record high. if you were just for inflation we have to get up to $2,200 but we are close to that. we just talked to one gold trader who told us something interesting saying usually when you see gold prices spike and you see demand for gold etfs or

what have you, investors going into gold you see the price of gold jewelry go down that is not what is happening right now. you are seeing demand for gold jewelry go higher. people are buying to wear it and use it as an investment and buying into gold exchange traded funds and stuff like that. people are fleeing away from the stock market they see so dangerous and so much volatility and jumping into a safe haven like gold pep they were jumping into other currentsies and now pushing from that and going into gold. no one knows. a lot of people saying expensive at $800 an ounce and double that now. >> some companies out there have a aaa rating. >> you see them here. adp is a payroll processing firm and johnson & johnson and you know that company. exxonmobil. microsoft. the only four remaining countries in the united states

with aaa rating. when the s&p down graded our country's sovereign debt, they didn't downgrade these companies. they have broken that rule. they are saying these companies get their ability to pay back that debt is stronger than the u.s. you may hold these companies in your pension plans, 401(k), i.r.a. we may see more money flooding into these companies because a lot of mutual funds require their money is invested in aaa entities. now u.s. treasuries are no longer aaa. you may see more money flowing into into these. 1983 we had 32 aaa rated companies in this country and now only four. even warren buffett's berkshire hathaway was downgraded.

not only our company losing that rating but other companies have lost it. four left, kyra. >> wow. poppy, thanks. the opening bell on wall street is moments away. markets around the world sold off overnight after the dow plunged more than 600 points. how will wall street open today? we are all watching. we will take you there live. yeah. 24 bucks later. that hurts. it's not like i really had a choice. snack on this. progressive's "name your price" tool showed me a range of coverages and i picked the one that worked for me. i saved hundreds. wow, that's dinner and a movie. [ dramatic soundtrack plays ] this picture stars you and savings. but mostly savings.

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do you make big changes or do you sit tight? ryan mack is with us. seems like the same discussion every single day. we have to have it because there are still a lot of people out there wondering what the heck to do. and you are actually taking an interesting approach here. you're calling what we are seeing now the new normal. tell me what you mean by that. >> essentially, the new normal essentially means in 2005, '06, businesses that were essentially borrowing excessively and hoping that today, for tomorrow, they are going to be able to earn excessively to pay off their debt they acquired today. essentially what they are doing now is paring back and keeping cash on hand to sustain themselves. they are being more moderate in their approach. we are going to be in this quite

some time. if we think businesses are hiring at the same rate they were before it's not going to happen so they are being more prudent and wise as a matter of fact with their debt act circumstances levels. >> are you saying what we have seen take place is, in some way, a blessing? >> i actually do believe that. again, we are taking a little bit of pain and sometimes when there is no pain, there is no progress. so we -- again, we went from dow jones 6700 to 12,750 off the hope the housing market would improve and the credit crisis would lighten up and off the hope the credit crisis would start to increase. we are not an improved market enough to really merit the level we were seeing at the dow. i have been calling for -- quite sometime and i think now we are starting to get used to the fact we are going to start growing at

slower levels but sustainable levels to make sure we can continue to grow in a responsible rate and not putting on this irresponsible levels of debt that we saw back in 2004 through 2007. >> let me ask you this then. five years from now, could this just be a blip on the radar? >> it is going to be a blip on the radar. if individuals are trying to make one day decisions based upon five-year investment strategies, i mean, that is, quite frankly, very irresponsible. if you have a 401(k) program you have to look at the long term five years from now this is one blip from a long-term strategy you probably won't recall that much and average investor probably won't recall at all. we have to make sure your asset allocation strategy is appropriate today for your age, your level of risk tolerance and what you think in some small level of what the market is going to do. if you're 21 you might have 90% stock in your portfolio and have more time to deal with the ebb and flow of the market. if you're over 55 you have 90% stocks in your portfolio then

shame on you! you should have been really over time according to what you feel your asset allocation structure and what your risk tolerance level is appropriate for your age and when you're trying to plan on retiring and what your long-term financial goals are. >> ryan mack, thanks for weighing in. >> thank you. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange and kv christine romans live with me out of new york. alison, what are you feeling? what is your sense? >> reporter: futures have been all over the map but still pointing higher to green arrows. looks like the dow could open in the triple digits but still a volatile day. in fact, wall street has an index that measures that called the vix. known as the fear index and shows how volatile the market has been lately and, lately, it's been surging up 50% yesterday and opening today at the highest level since march of 2009. few things that affect vix.

it's the slowing economy, the european debt problems. i want to point this out. with all of these big dramatic moves stocks have been making lately, there have been a lot of comparisons to 2008. but keep in mind that this vix, this fear index is nowhere near where it was back then during the financial crisis because believe it or not, the economy is in better shape now than it was back in 2008. doesn't mean it's easier to take today, but that is the reality here. kyra? >> christine, you talked. you were the first talk about it yesterday, the downgrading of fannie mae and freddie mac. do you think we will see more downgrades today? >> a good question. >> reporter: freddie and fannie is interesting. it could make it harder to get a loan but we don't know yet. later this afternoon, the fed that will be really important what the fed says about the

level of strength of the economy or weakness in the economy, quite frankly. the fed, kyra, first, kept interest rates at about zero so that is basically free money pumping through the economy since 2008. then they were buying back bonds. 2.9 trillion of bonds and keeping money flowing in the system and they stopped doing that in june. that wound down. will they announce something else they can do, some other tool to keep the economy going if they have to step in to keep, you know, to keep the liquidity they say in the system? we will be watching closely for that. that will be pretty important this afternoon. >> sounds good. thank you, ladies. minutes from now, the markets will get going. we are talking about less than five minutes. we will take you live as soon as it hits 9:30.

remains of 30 american

troops are flown home this morning after shot down in afghanistan. the ceremony is closed to reporters. london police hauled in so many rioters and all jail cells are full. more than 450 arrests in three nights of violence. thousands of officers called in from across the country. 29 hours into her cuba to florida swim, diana nyad has to quit. she was vomiting and had horrible shoulder pain. she says it was a tough break but absolutely the right call. pretty rough session for global markets after yesterday's wall street plunge. u.s. futures turbulent as well. the opening bell about to ring less than a minute. alison kosik and christine romans is with us both out of new york. alison, what is the mood there at the stock exchange? >> reporter: we are about 40 seconds from the opening bell. you know what? the folks here are a bit optimistic. they see the future arrows pointing in the green and up.

major averages expected to open more than 1% higher. the fact anybody's guess if we end up there at the ends of the trading day. remember what happened yesterday. down 200 points and we ended down at the end of the day 634 points, the sixth biggest point drop ever. a lot of volatility and emotional trading. you see investors not necessarily trading on the fundamentals or logic of what is going on. that is not necessarily good for the market. if we get a bounce today, it's mostly because of yesterday's big sell-off we had last week. gra it is expected to go higher as the session goes on at least in the physician few minutes. >> so far, so good. christine, the fed watching the markets closely? >> reporter: the fed likes to watch inflation and job creation. at least on paper, it's suppose to do take a longer view of what is happening in the economy. but, clearly, no question they must be very aware of what is

happening in the markets. you know, the s&p 500 is up 64% since those very dark days of march 2009. something to remember since so many people said that after that huge bull market after the crash of '08, '09, you needed to have a pullback. that is one thing that buyers and optimists are talking about this morning. another thing to consider is that it's very rare for us to see markets come unglued so quickly. it really is. i mean, you've seen an 18% decline in the s&p since just this summer basically, and that is more than a correction. i mean, that is a very painful period for investors in stocks. the s&p 500, that is what the stock portion of your portfolio and your 401(k) your retirement plans are probably based on so it's something we will all feel and it happened quite quickly and what the mepessimists point

to. people pricing in a slowing global economy and lots of uncertainty, political and economic wise, and they are just very concerned after this big run-up there is not much more to go. back to you. >> what could the great policymakers do today? right now, looking at at the numbers. still positive. up 86 points. >> reporter: we are looking for the fed to tell us what is their assessment of the company but also is there something they are going to do? i suspect, and many of the real experts on the fed say the fed will say they stand ready to do whatever it takes to keep the system strong, that wouldn't be a surprise. that is basically what the g-7 said this weekend. they stand ready to do whatever it takes to keep the economy, you know, keep the economy going in the right direction. since the fed has basically been paused for a couple of months after its second round of big round buying, we look for any kind of signal there might be some other tool in the fed's tool box that maybe we don't know that the fed would have to try to use.

so there is also this other kind of a little bit inside baseball, but ben bernanke may want to do one thing but other people at the fed who have a vote too on what happens next for fed policy, so there is also the internal dynamic what is happening what they think should be done in the come i at this point. >> you're saying do whatever it takes. alison kosik, how do we define whatever it takes? >> if wall street has any say on this, you know, wall street is really looking for the fed to do something and part of the reason for this rally, not only because we saw such huge drops, is because there is an expectation, at least here on wall street, that the fed is going to ride to the rescue and do something. you know? looking to do something to help the economy that would maybe juice stocks, create that wealth effect, make everybody feel tlest richer than they were, let's say, a few days ago. because it's worked before, some say it hasn't. but because others say, you know

what? more stimulus the fed may put into motion may not have much 6 an affect. others say it you have to the training wheels off and see if the economy can stay upright on its own. you know? the economy is wobbling a lot right now, and i think what wall street is looking for is for a little assistance and really looking for the fed for -- for the fed to do something or at least indicate that it's going to do something, so they will be watching closely today. >> we all will. thanks so much. london police say the violence on the street is the worst they have ever seen. the rage has spread to other british cities. we go live to london next. they were killed in a single deadliest attack on u.s. troops since the afghan war began. now new questions around what happens. we go live to the pentagon after the break. ♪

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yesterday, we are in positive territory up 113 points. we are watching the markets closely for you. stay with us on cnn. another major story we are following this morning. london on fire and the violence is now spreading to other cities. the riots started after a man was shot to death but grown more intense over high unemployment and benefit cuts. atika shubert is joining us live. >> reporter: this is normally a charming row of shops. they were smashed in by rioters overnight. firefighters have cleared the area and quite a few shops on fire but have said they are structurally okay. people are going in and boarding up the windows to make sure the glass doesn't come out. people are angry and upset and why was this place targeted if the shooting happened in north

london? a lot of people are saying this is just criminal opportunism where teens are loot and vent their frustration and anger. people are saying it's gotten out of hand and when night falls tonight, are we going to see a fourth consecutive day of rioting? >> tell us about the death that started the rioting, atika. >> reporter: well, it started last week on a thursday. mark dugan, a 29-year-old resident of totonim was shot and killed by police. we don't have many details. it's an investigation that has been ongoing. his family feel there was excessive police force and they are very upset and they held a protest. it was a small and peaceful protest but somehow that generate into a full-blown riot with pitch battles with police

and building and cars set on fire. it went from that to sporadic looting on sunday night and looting and more fires on monday night. people are wondering how long is this going to go on and are we going to see it happen again? >> we will keeping following it with you. atika shubert, thanks. emotional day for more than 30 troops killed in chopper crash over the weekend. the bodies of those killed are taken to dover air force base in delaware. in the meantime, new questions raised about that attack that took their lives. cnn's barbara starr is joining me from the pentagon. what are the new details you have for us? >> reporter: we do now there is a full investigation under way about what happened, but a real indicator of how sensitive this is for the united states military, and for the special operations community, they will not tell us four days into this who was conducting the investigation and how it's being

conducted' specifically what they are looking at. they will only say there is an investigation, they are looking at everything. but we have talked to a number of sources and we have begun to understand some of the key issues that they are going to look at. i want to put up for our viewers some of the things that the investigators are going to look at as they try and determine what happened. one of them, of course, is going to be what were the taliban firing at the helicopter? is there any possibility that they have some sort of advanced weapons that the u.s. needs to understand very quickly? was it a conventional rocket-propelled grenade and what exactly did the taliban have? another question, was the helicopter carrying the navy s.e.a.l.s a conventionally equipped chinook helicopter, which is a large transport helo, did it have all the necessary special electronic equipment to defend itself against the possibility of being shot down? were there any other armed helicopters nearby that might have been able to fire against taliban positions on the ground?

so far, we're not hearing word of any other helicopters. the very fundamental question, where were the navy s.e.a.l.s a very covert, very elite unit sent in to this job, into this mission in the first place? they were going to reinforce army rangers on the ground. a unit of army rangers that were in a firefight. we are told now the rangers were not pinned down, they were not in a necessarily extreme position. the rangers just wanted more help, more fire power, that is what we are being told, and this elite unit of navy s.e.a.l.s was sent in. there is going to be questions about why them or were they the only forces in the area? maybe nobody else around that could respond, but these are all going to be the key questions that we believe now investigators will be focusing on. kyra? >> we will stay close to the investigation. meanwhile, the ceremony at dover, a lot of dignitaries i

understand are going to be there. the press is not allowed to cover this, right? >> reporter: very difficult. the news media will not be allowed to cover the return of the remains and the honors being hen rendered to the followers. we are told the remains cannot be identified at this point to complete satisfaction, that, you know, as the news media, we are only allowed to cover the return of remains at dover when a family gives permission, and since none of the remains can be identified, the families then, by definition, we are told, cannot grant permission. all of that aside, with even with the news media not being there, i think everyone will pause, remember, reflect, and render their own honors to the fallen, whether the television cameras are there or not, kyra. >> good point. barbara starr from the pentagon, thanks. the fbi is looking for three siblings accused of robbing a bank and trying to kill a cop.

we have new dash cam footage now that may give investigators clues next. tough times, togetherness is good but date nights? maybe not. l.z. granderson joins us to explain from his latest op-ed.

after that gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching plunge yesterday, amazing how quickly the numbers are changing. we were in negative territory about 65 seconds ago.

and now just as we come up live, dow industrials up 54 points. the numbers all over actually the board this morning. so far since the opening bell rang at 9:30. we are watching closely. checking stories across the country. hunt still on for the doherty gang. police say a sister and two brothers robbed a bank in georgia and were chased by police in florida. it's gunfire you hear. police say when they were caught or when they are caught, they will face attempted murder of that police officer. recently a woman came forward and said her uncle had been the infamous db cooper. a necktie that belongs to cooper do not mass. still isn't 100% because the fbi isn't sure the dna on the neck

tie is coopers to begin with. lebron james on a bike ride. 360 third graders get a free bike, free laptop and school supplies. the economy keeps getting socked. retirement accounts are shrinking and people are pretty much scared. you think setting aside time was special and seeking comfort would be extra important. in the meantime, lz granderson' latest piece on cnn.com is about ditching date night. interesting, lerksz. make this connection to me. >> you say, times are hard and people are under stress and teenagers are busier than any other generation we have seen before. date night seems like a good idea. what i found in my experience as a busy parent, it made it boring because i knew i was getting it on every day this week because i

wasn't chasing it and because i wasn't chasing it did became routine and boring and so i ditched date night. >> you're laying it out there! i don't know how to respond! let me ask you this then, okay? aside from your personal -- >> i made you blush? >> i am blushing, i'll be honest with you. okay. but seriously you would think that spending time with the person that loves you the most and being with your family and setting the moment, the day, is exactly what we need in a time where we feel so uneasy. i mean, what would be your advice to families in these tough times, though, that need that comfort when you're looking at your 401(k), can you tell you i'm trying to work my way out of this? when you look at your 401(k) and you see you're in huge trouble and you're thinking about your kids' future and your future and what you're going to do next. >> right, right. i'm not saying don't find time to be together. i'm just saying i found or we found in our relationship that

when you had a set date night, that was -- ours was thursday night. routine. between 8:00 and 10:00, it was date night, everybody knew it. about 9:30, you know, we start winding up. then there becomes like everything else in your life, right? you work from 9:00 to 5:00, date night 8:00 to 10:00 and kids have school from this time and this time. this time to this time. i think the passion gets sucked out a little bit. spontaneity is, i think, missing. and so, that's why, for me, and i'm just sort of putting it out there, school starts, i know the temptation is to schedule time for a little nook ki, but i think that chasing of it week in and week out and not knowing when you're going to get it is more exciting. >> no longer do we need dr. ruth, we have dr. lz. go ahead, read his piece, ditching date night. cnn.com/opinions. he took us off the course of all the depressing news with regards to the stock market bombing yesterday. all right. if you'd like you can join the conversation, leave a comment

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we've been talking all night about the global sell-off, the fact that investors are on edge, which is why we are watching these numbers closely. minute by minute. dow industrials showing positive territory. up 120 points right now. it's good. it's staying up there. hopefully it will get even better throughout the day. we're keeping a close eye on it and continuing to analyze what we could see for the next couple of hours.

all right, some other stories that are making news later today. at 2:15 eastern the federal reserve board announces the results of its august meeting. it could move to try to reverse yesterday's stock slide. then at 2:50 eastern, president obama has scheduled a meeting with treasury secretary tim geithner to talk about the economy, and at 4:15, secretary of state hillary clinton meets with baseball great cal ripken and some young, japanese baseball players. part of the first international sports exchange with japan. all right we're following lots of developments in the next hour. let's check in with christine romans out of new york. >> kyra, it could keep getting interesting, right? the fed meets today, so after an s&p downgrade after a summer stock swoon, what, if anything, can the fed do to try to prop up the economy, markets and the job market? i'll have that at the top of the hour. >> and i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, where i'm keeping a close eye on the markets after yesterday's massive 600-point drop. the dow is now in positive

territory, but the question is, is it going to hold to the close? i'm going to have an update next hour. >> i'm brianna keilar at the white house, where the president is under tremendous pressure to take action on the economy. but the question is, what can he actually do in the near-term? i'll have that near the top of the hour. >> all right, ladies, thanks. also next hour, tea party congressman joe walsh joining me to talk about the country's credit downgrade. and the democratic blame game.

i know it's hard after yesterday, you want to look at that 401(k) every probably 20 minutes or so. here's the good news, dow industrials up 133 points right now. we're watching it very closely for you. speaking of investing, jeff fischel, how about investing in the 7-year-old hitting the soccer field. >> might be a smarter investment these days. >> really. he's showing some proof that it's worthwhile. >>