lori: now our viewers are all caught up. lauren: mitt romney taking center stage at the republican national convention. the growing debt sure to be highlighted. what does romney have to do to hit it out of the park? we will go live with neil cavuto. a down day on wall street despite higher consumer spending, the dow dipping below $13,00$13,000 imac march for the first time. we will direct you towards profit and it will take us overseas. lori: we continue all eyes on isaac, it is weakening but its impact is still being felt. live in louisiana with jeff flock. you cannot believe his reporting last couple of days, to have been amazing. the ceo of energy about the power outages.

we will see if anything good can come out of the storm may be relief for drought stricken areas and some commodities linked to those hard-hit crops. nicole: time now for stocks as with every 15 minutes, let's go down to the floor of the new york stock exchange, lauren simonetti covering it all, what are you seeing right now? lauren: you're right, the dow slipped below 13,000 the s&p slipped below 1400. we finally have movement and it only took us three days to see some real action on wall street and you can see we have down arrows across the board. the nasdaq underperforming down nearly 1%. the jobless claims this morning, your headline numbers 374,000, but the four-week moving average has smoothed the volatility. at a six-week high. the personal income and spending numbers, gas prices rising. you have to worry if the

consumer will come back on with shopping. sears booted the s&p 500 for the first time since 1957 taking effect september 4, the chemical maker will be in place. up 80% this year. a winner for the year. thank you ladies. lori: thanks. we will keep our eye on it for a couple of hours. isaac may be moving inland but away from destruction. leaving local residents in the path of potential flooding. in a flash flood have been declared in louisiana. what is the latest? >> this isn't high waters, but

damaging flood waters two or 3 feet, a lot of homes. this is the old town area. 40 people had to be rescued from their homes, we see this as sort of surrounding it, we're almost 360 in water. there is a guy that tried to get out and failed. when the floods come up in a flash flood situation, this is water that came in as a storm surge, coming up the various canals that surround this. this fellow three, don't forget the house here, do you have a house? whereabouts of that? >> old town. >> how much water? >> i don't know. i left last night with about

4 inches to go. >> were you expecting this at all push mark >> no, no. i have been in the house close to a year, katrina got water, but it wa i was not expecting ie this. was hoping i could get back in, but a little too deep. i'm freaking them out worse than the flood, so let you go. there you go, we have said if he diyou do not get water in katri, got a little bit, this was a surprise a lot of people. a different angle of the storm and a lot more water. lori: thank you for bringing us the personal angle. fascinating to hear that man's

take and his expression, such a tragedy. thank you so much. lori: president obama declared a state of emergency louisiana and also mississippi so while isaac is turning north and left a wake of destruction in louisiana including hundreds of thousands without power. a major lifeline for the country's oil capacity and power as welcoming type gasoline prices across the country only doing so to certain extent. join me over the telephone, new orleans ceo and president, what a great person to have on today. we talked so much about what you have been following. how many are still without power at this time? >> about 650,000, 157,000. nicole: is this what you expected push mark and everyone brings vast instruction, but is this something you are all prepared for?

>> we prepare for storms year-round, our response and how we treat the storm, we were fine. every storm is different. category one type of flooding, nobody expected it to sit over this area for so long and that has a lot to do with it. lori: a slow-moving storm dumping tons of rain. we spent s spend so much on thed protections, the fact it had lingered as long as it has has been problematic, right? >> that is correct. the federal protections, they did work as they were supposed to. you can only pump it out so fast, design the pump out 1 inch

in the first hour, half an inch every hour after that. so when you get the type of rain that we got, the ground was already saturated because we had a very wet summer. mostly type of things that really added to it. lori: what are your goals by sunday, charles? talking hundreds of thousands without power, water pushing off and in some cases pushing the limit for homes, the levees are holding for the most part but what are your goals by sunday if you were to go one to three, what are they? >> we want to make sure we have power back to the powerful infrastructure, get our transmission lines back in service. get the hospitals back in service. try to get the largest swath of customers as possible. 40, 50,000 customers are down, we will attack that line first

and work our way back. for us, our goal is to serve as many customers as possible in the shortest amount of time as possible. nicole: i know your phone has been ringing off the hook, thank you for taking the time to chat with us and bring us up-to-date. >> my pleasure. thank you. lori: medtronic taking the stage for the campaign event yet. accepting the nomination. trying to convince americans to vote for him in november. rich edson in tampa with the latest. we're waiting for romney perhaps to do a walk-through on the convention floor, have we seen it yet? >> we have not seen it yet, at the lay of the land, where the stage is, the teleprompters, how this will all play out tonight and that is it, the most high-profile event in the 10:00 hour.

it is for him to sell himself and his land to american voters. we have had a pretty interesting week so far in florida, thought they would get a hurricane, moved one day of the convention back, into the three-day convention, but from his wife and romney, chris christie following talking about the republican party and last night chairman paul ryan of the house budget committee spent much of his speech going after democrats the white house on their plan will they have been doing over the past four years. what you are also going to have is a handful of speakers including newt gingrich, we'll hear from the founder try to tell the good story of pain capital job creation as opposed to what democrats are saying about being capital.

marco rubio will tell the story of mitt romney and introduce mitt romney where he looks up the nomination tonight. lori: what about the mystery guest? any more intel? >> tim tebow is rumored. the smart money is on clint eastwood, but we will have to wait and see. nicole: what does mitt romney have to accomplish tonight if he was going to make it more poignant. we have built up so much momentum with all the guests and speakers to talk about, rich. what is everybody saying he has to nail to my? >> it depends on who you have to talk to. sell the policies, he has got to sell the economy. this is marc much of what paul n said. he has been more likable for people to vote for him. the kind of thing you know a great speech when you see it. that was the thought last night

for condoleezza rice. completely off prompt her. the reaction on some of the other speeches as well. those are some of the highlights. talk about the economy. lori: thanks, rich. don't go anywhere, much more from the rnc. neil cavuto joins us in 20 minutes. lori: big retailers with higher-than-expected sales for august. up next charles payne lets us know if we can profit from the places we shop. lori: a look at ben bernanke's seat tomorrow, if they can boost the price of gold. so many other influences out there. let's take a look at metals and how they're doing right now. the price of gold is down. silver o placing gold in the index, silver down as well. back with more after this.

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nicole: we have you covered on fox business network. as with every 15 minutes, let's check on the market. lauren simonetti on the floor the new york stock exchange watching two big movers for us. lauren: definitely too big movers opposite directions. the good news from pandora is that they have great numbers, they beat on the bottom and top line in the earnings report out last night raised their full-year numbers, even people using pandora on mobile devices. for the year it is flat, as he concedeyoucan see it is at 12 r. so still a long way to go. these shares are down by 17% right now. they transmit voice and data and other sorts of communication, but they reported a wider loss

citing a weak economy overall. back to you. nicole: those earnings can really sends stocks one way or another. thanks, lauren. lori: you know what that stinger means, time to make money with charles payne. surprisingly good same-store sales, charles. the peak of the back-to-school season right now. >> retail stocks have been absolutely amazing. put on the fox business website because i had a lot of fun with this. two reasons the retail stocks are up. i don't know if you guys remember it, but the title of the movie, or how i learned to stop worrying. people jumping off a fiscal cliff, i don't care anymore. lori: is in that mood where she says "i don't give a damn"?

>> same exact concept. if you look at the data we have out, growing slower than spending. spending is slower, relatively low in the historic scheme of things. the other thing is expectations. expectations game on wall stre wall street, there are so many times good news or even mediocre news can be breaking. they only lost 1 billion, off goes the stock. lori: that is a good point, so was it an easy comparison? >> three stocks wanted to use as a case study. 9% in the streets looking for 5.5%. maybe consensus a little low. nordstrom's, here is a company with 21% same-store sales, but

it is a rich store. even though expectations were 11% up, it is a department store, stocks up 270% this year alone. expectations. tomorrow we will hear from and bernanke. find out why the stimulus can be good for gold. plus what rich metals keep an eye on economic growth. and take a look at how the dollar is faring today.

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>> 21 minutes past the hour, this is your fox news minute. tropical storm isaac continues to move inland after soaking the gulf coast but a lot of rain. nearly half of louisiana is without power. public service commission says 900,000 homes and businesses around the state are affected. following the catastrophic failures from hurricane katrina seven years ago, but people living in the neighborhood north and south of the city had to be rescued from their home. 3000 people evacuated from houses along. most people get gifts on their birthday but this guy is making big donations on his 82nd birthday. big donations. upping the amount of stock he gives to charities run by his

three children they will each eventually $2.1 billion. the change was announced in a letter to the omaha world herald. what can you say about that. now back to you, nicole and lori. nicole: he is still wealthy it is probably can't change. your 100% correct. thank you so much. metals complex moving lower, head of ben bernanke speech. senior vice president in a very good friend of ours at the fox business network. >> thank you for having me. lori: tell us what is driving the price of gold these days. speaking today is being driven down somewhat because there are

other things that took place. we had option exploration. what happens, options become futures contracts. each futures contract is about $5,020,000 market deposit if it is exercised and automatically exercised if the calls are in the money, and these were. about 9000 contracts for new customers accounts yesterday morning and they either have to put up with the additional cash to hold off the gold ore traders will always rebound by selling. lori: are you thinking about selling at all because gas prices are on the rise? core inflation has been relatively stable. >> believe it or not the high prices have kept inflation in check. the high gasoline prices, nobody thinks of high gasoline prices tax on the economy.

and it is. spending has not been what people thought it was going to be. today's jobless claims were not so wonderful and then of course disposal personal spending is way down in countries like ind india. the rupee has been very inexpensive. lori: in india silver is actually replacing the role of gold because of the gold tax. >> there was a gold tax rescinded, and the jewelry shops were on strike. there is no business, but there was, they just were not selling gold, they were selling silver. lori: is at all reflective of the easing monetary policy? >> $1600 price in gold actually doubled since the 1980s.

while the dollar has depreciated some say 25, 30%, it actually is a phenomenon. they buy gold because it is convertible, maintains purchasing profits but also by the dollars. while the dollar may not totally go down the drain because people are buying dollars, the gold is also up. lori: i've seen some of the other analyst. >> we're almost there. another $100 is very possible. lori: in what timeframe? >> maybe by the end of the year depending on what headlines, the far east and the middle east, people forget there are still problems, iran and so forth in

the middle east. lori: thank you for spelling out all the reasons and influences. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. nicole: i think bringing rain to drought stricken areas. is it too little too late? and where are their prices headed? lori: and we will speak with neil cavuto about how paul ryan did in his speech and what to expect tonight from mitt romney but first checking the winners and losers, down 100 points, a lot of those retailers are climbing on pretty good numbers. retail sales numbers as a result. back after this.

>> let's see what lauren simonetti has been up to the last 15 minutes. time for a check of the markets. she is covering all the action on the floor of the new york stock exchange. retail sales smashing expectations. >> real good retail sales. part of this is back to school spending which you two know a lot about, spending a lot of money at stores in the month of august. these are pretty good winners for the day, most of them, except for macy's. stock is up 3 1/2%. all the retailers posted same-store sales in the month of august that came in better than expected. nordstrom sales rose by 21% that is double expectations. 9% rise at the gap. we're seeing good and healthy numbers. for retail overall it is down today, but here are your winners in the group. back to you. lori: thank you, lauren. nicole: i did some back to

school shopping but i made sure not to spend a wad of money. lori: here, here. nicole: just a few hours away from mitt romney is to accept the gop nomination and giving the biggest political speech of his career. you know it is true. joining us live from tampa, neil cavuto, fox business senior vice president and manning editor. what are you thinking. >> i'm thinking for mitt romney it is do-or-die. he is in the auditorium coming before the stage and practice the mike and lay of the land and get a sense what is going on here. paul ryan was here yesterday, doing pretty much the same thing ahead of his remarks. there is a drill to this. the question is how long the planned speaker sort of checks the place out. mitt romney had the opportunity already. he came in on this place after his wife spoke. he kind of knows the lay of the land. i'm sure all the other speakers can remind him of

the lay of the land. nevertheless as you guys said this is a important night for him. that is probably a vast understatement. he follows a number of speakers who hit it out of the proverbial red meat park. what he has to do is go beyond the room and where he has a captive crowd and reach people out in middle america who are not quite sure to make of this ticket yet. they know it is organized and cohesive united republican party but of course we see this ongoing onslaught of data at best mixed which the president is arguing a trend that is favoring him and his friend. in other words, we're not getting worse. this ticket is going to be reminding folks, yes, we are getting worse and we are the prescription for all of that. now the image of mitt romney as you know is mr. fix-it. he has got these great business credentials, the pocket protector buy. even his own running mate criticized his choice in music, calling it elevator music. be that as it may he will embrace his inner nerd,

trying to remine folks, do you want someone up to the job or someone you like for the job. a lot of delegates have been reminding me, if you make folks money, get them employed, you will instantly become likeable, no matter your personality. there is probably great deal of truth to that. this convention knows without necessarily saying it in an economic environment like this the challenging ticket should be up by five or six points, not tied. they realize that a big chunk of that has to be issue of likeability. we could psychobabble this all you want, guys. the fact of the matter, fairly or not that will be a tall order for mitt romney tonight. and he appear approachable? can he appear like a buy who is a good horse to change in the middle of the stream? ronald reagan fulfilled that role in 1980 when people had it with jimmy carter but they weren't quite sure of this cowboy, former california governor until they saw in the debate, yeah, we can see this guy ruling

the nation. now that might be something that would be evidence later on in debates but for now this is the big sell for mitt romney tonight, to convince people that if you are considering changing horses midstream, he is the horse, he is the guy, he has got the message and the economy will be that message. one other quick reminder, you heard it knaus yum but it bears repeating because you will hear it tonight. the debt clock. showing the overall debt in this country, quickly approaching $16 trillion. one showing the debt we accumulated since the convention began, running north of $7.49 b they will remind folks. that is money that the government is hogging in finance cost that is robbing the private sector of the capital it needs to build and expand. now that's the gobbledygook version of selling it. somewhere between paul ryan's simple, elegance and chris

christie's in your face approach to this has to be the mitt romney calm, eq way to get that same message across. that is his challenge. tonight we will see whether he is up to it. nicole: you got your message across. thank you, so much, neil. you're doing excellent work. i watched you late at night. everybody will have to stay up late to watch mitt romney very closely the whole nation and florida in particular a key state nor mitt romney as well. >> absolutely. nicole: special coverage of the last night of the convention starts 8:00 p.m. eastern time. he has some great guests including senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. thanks, neil. >> thank you. lori: isaac's path is headed straight through the drought-stricken midwest but at this point rainfall too little too late for corn and soybean crops? that is the question. we have a commodity strategist at ubs who joins me now to weigh in. there was a lot of hope that isaac obviously causing all this rain and flooding damage, the pictures are

horrible but the one good part it would move north and relief some of the these drought-stricken areas and save corn and soybean crops. >> the reality it is too little too late. >> it is? >> these farmers are starting to prepare for harvest. lori: really. >> to get harvest they need dry with to get what is actually out there. like the previous segment a lot of this food price issue is spanning not only farmers in the midwest but also will start to feed into the household budgets of normal americans. and also it is feeding into the household budgets of the chinese. and politics around this goes to ethanol, goes to the price of beef, goes to the price of pork. so it's all embedded up in this whole situation. lori: so you think these record high prices that we're seeing for corn and soybeans will remain elevated and not only that, the wholesalers if you will are going to have to pass those increases on to you and me at the grocery store?

>> indeed. the bottom line we need to limit demand of these commodities. lori: but the population globally is exploding. how do you do that? >> the population is expanding that is try and diet is changing at the same time. we have a step change in pace what people are demanding and how much they want. on other side we've got food for fuel. that debate which is quite evident in the political situation and as we move into the election. so the bottom line is, we need to limit demand. which me prices need to stay elevated of the these prices will start to feed through into people's budgets as we get towards christmas. at the moment perhaps not so. when you have a drought you liquidate livestock. that means pork prices come down initially. once you've liquidated the livestock you have to rebuild those herds. the only way to do that is pay more for pork. encourage farmers to expand the pork herd. >> can the epa step in and get rid of ethanol

requirements, blend requirements of gasoline to free up some of this corn, whatever is available to alleviate food? will that alleviate some of this? >> to be chiefly frank what is driving the he ethanol sector is the price of gasoline. lori: that is driving it up. >> gasoline is not connected to the corn price. if gasoline prices remain high people will continue to blend ethanol into fuel. lori: let me get your comments on commodities related stocks. tyson foods, smithfield, would you stay short on all of this? >> i've been playing a strategy for the last couple months being long the commodity, short the equity. what i mean by that is, short those people who have those commodities such as corn, soybeans and so forth as inputs into their business. that means the tysons, smithfields and so forth. you can be selective within those stocks. i think smithfield performed perhaps better than sans der son and tyson but i would play the strategy to short the stocks. i would look to flip the strategy over as you go into

q1 next year as we expect corn production to recover in the united states. prices to come down next september. lori: wayne gordan of the fascinating information. >> nice to meet you. lori: thanks. nicole: up next a check on isaac's path and if it will bring rain to areas that actually need rain. plus a look at a few other storms brewing. lori: let's look at interest rates one day ahead of the big symposium in jackson hole. we have a equity selloff around the world. pushing rates lower again. back down to 1.61. down three basis points on the 10-year and the 30-year note, the yield is also lower at 2.72%. back after this. [ male announcer ] let's level the playing field.

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knight said they lost more than $500 million on the ipo because of the exchange's technical glitches. carlyle group is buying dupont's car paint unit for $5 billion. the private equity firm is trying to boost growth in emerging markets specifically china and brazil. british police arrested former top lawyer at former "news of the world" newspaper on suspicion of conspiring to accept communication. tom crone was brought in for questioning in the ongoing investigation into phone-hacking involving "news of the world". "news of the world" was owned by news corporation, a parent of the fox business network. that's the latest from fox business, giving you the power to prosper

nicole: isaac is moving north after drenching the gulf coast and new orleans. rick reichmuth is in the fox

business weather center. give us a look, rick, what do you see? >> the rain is such a slow-mover. heavy rain still across the panhandle of florida. at times some of the band moving in across alabama but heaviest really around parts of mississippi. tornado concerns, we had a number of tornados over the past couple days. they're in the bands that continue to be pulled up. you see more of them. more heavy rain headed toward new orleans again. there is it big concerns on the border of louisiana and mississippi. this lake, this dam concerned that it will give way. so there evacuating about 50,000 people to the south of that going in towards louisiana. big concerns there. we'll have more rein unfortunately causing flooding across arkansas. a little bit of a drought relief by the time we get next couple days as well. nicole: rick, we're still seeing evacuations and interestingly bp donating one million dollars to some of the aid victims for hurricane isaac. rick, thank you for your inside look at that.

>> thank you. lori: companies breathing a sigh of relief because no major platform or refinery damage is reported yet although 95% of the oil production and 72% of natural gas production is still shut down. phil flynn of price futures group on the trading floor. phil? >> the latest, 6.7 of u.s. refining capacity still off-line. we do have late-breaking problems. there is the phillips 66 refinery that they were worried about some flooding. it looks like there is some flood damage which is going to delay that restart. we also have phillips 66 and alliance, their power is shut down. valero went down and saw minor flooding in some of their refineries. no major damage. but they're without power at valero monroe, that was shut down and valero north. we have exxon, down due to power outages not ready to start just yet.

motiva still shut down. placid alan shut down. chevron pascagoula, it has been back on line running at reduced rates. it is good news but there are still worries on the gas market. heating oil is really building on gasoline today because of the focus on gas in the short term. back to you. lori: phil, covered a lot of ground for us. phil flynn. >> thank you. lori: from commodities to stocks. let's check the markets. lauren simonetti on the floor of the nyse, keeping track of analyst calls. >> let's talk about calpine a power producer similar to excelon. it is big in geothermal as well as the nat-gas space. shares are up, 2%, more than to $17. they got upgrade from barclays to overweight from equal weight. price target of 21. that is news there. angie's list had a huge day yesterday, up 13%. giving some back today. angie's list down fivers and

change and down 36% this year. the reason behind they got a downgrade to hold at canaccord. the analyst pushing out his profitability target for ainge gist list to -- angie's list to 2015. they will have to get more marketing to get people to the review website. nicole: lauren, thanks. up next we look overseas for profits for picks to help you take advantage of a growing middle class in emerging market. lori: profit, i'm all for that. let's look at today's winners and losers on wall street. we'll be right back after a short one.

lori: approaching labor day weekend drivers are being hit hard by the biggest one-day jump in gas prices in a year and a half. any relief in sight, sandra smith? probably not until after the holiday weekend. >> probably not so much. here is the gasoline prices. the national average is $3.82. that is up 30 cents from the regular price of gasoline just one month ago. diesel prices very important for those truckers out there, solid by above $4 overnight to $4.08. that is up 31 cents from where it was a month ago. certainly the tropical storm that it is now and the hurricane pushing prices higher. look at some of the commodity prices themselves in today's session. crude oil prices falling back about a full percent. also and here's oil prices. rbob gasoline. this is the wholesale gasoline price, down about half a percent. some of the gains we saw earlier in the week, you saw that big spike earlier in the week when we were

anticipating it storm. so we have sole off and taken back some earlier gains. the result of that. nonetheless, guys, there has been aing about play in the stock market. that is looking at these refineries. over the course of the week valero hit a 52-week high. major operations down in the gulf coast region while a lot of refineries were shut. some operating on very minimal capacity. that pushes prices up and profit margins improve for these refiners. they have certainly been bid up. chevron and bp, some of the oil producers they have actually lost ground this week, lori as they struggle to turn a profit when oil prices are that high. we'll continue to watch it for you. back to you. lori: great explanation, sandy. thank you. >> thank you. nicole: this etf celebrated its first year an verse seeks to exploit international bank marks for its return. joining me for a strategy on long-term growth trends in

international markets, jeff daniels, managing director of wcf investment. you have $1.6 billion of investments under your umbrella. we talk about equities, we talk about commodities but there is our chance to profit from some international investing. start with, how will you play it? what are your top investments at this time? >> we have investments around the globe, everything outside the u.s. we currently have a lot of exposure to latin america, south america with consumer names. in general one of the themes we look for in all of our investments is the emergence of a global middle class. we think that is a long-term, secular growth trend we tan take advantage of. nicole: i don't want people's eyes to glaze over. we're talking about names everybody knows. louis vuitton, nestle. these are some of the names that would be under the category of these particular investments. do you have particular etfs, that you recommend? >> we are a sub advise are or for a -- subadvisor for a

ticker symbol. ader we're partner for bank of mellon advisor shares. in the etf we own a basket of individuals securities that are not u.s. domiciled company. you said l'oreal, largest cost metics company in the world, they're selling into the new economies. they are first time to have affordable luxury like cosmetics. l'oreal using you're worth it tag line and they have dominant market share in countries like india, brazil, china. nicole: you're worth it. let's do rest of this. talk about u.s. versus marriage marges which you're looking at what do you find more profitable? >> the companies we own are typically large well-established multinationals which get revenues globally. where we're seeing incremental growth with both u.s. companies and non-u.s. companies as they go into new economies in the emerging areas. for example, louis vuitton

you have a trade up to a premium luxury brand. they're well-known for leather goods and handbags and also in the wine and spirits area with things like dom and shan done. nicole: louis vuitton bags and dom perignon, sounds terrible. there are particular sectors you like? >> the benchmarks we think are extremely inefficient. they are heavily weighted toward finance ools. nicole: such as. >> base materials an energy. we tend to find opportunities in areas more traditional conventional growth areas like health care, technology and consumer. nicole: do you think the fed will do anything? bring you back home to the states. i know you're from la goon ma beach, california, hence the tan. will the fed do anything. >> we're suffering in laguna beach all summer. we haven't heard anything from the fed before. nicole: we'll compare tans.

duff thanks for coming in. lori: i definitely lose in the tanning game. ashley webster with much more from the republican national convention with growing debt and mitt romney taking center stage to. will barges get moving and bring down the rising cost of shipping? we'll look at that angle of the story right here on fox business. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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lori: with the dow down 100 points we're in serious jeopardy losing the gains for the month of august. one more trading day tomorrow but doesn't look good. ashley: all eyes on ben bernanke tomorrow. >> that will be a big deal. ashley: that will be a big deal. will the markets be disappointed? we'll find out. ladies thank you very much. good afternoon, everyone. i'm ashley webster. stocks are posting the biggest losses of the week. the dow shedding 100 points

and trading near the 13,000 mark. we'll look what is behind all this caution. that is coming up. meantime it is the speech that could make-or-break mitt romney's chances to become president. will he convince american voters he is the right choice to bring back american prosperity? a live preview from tampa straight ahead. severe flooding in louisiana and mississippi, as tropical storm isaac continues its slow assault. all this hour we'll bring you latest on the storm plus the impact on gas and food prices insurance companies and slowed barge traffic on the mississippi. don't miss it. lots to talk about. time now though for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. let's head down to lauren simonetti on the floor of the new york stock exchange. tough day to get things going, lauren? >> tough day, ashley. finally seeing some movement for the major averages. the dow is down by 96 points right now. if it gets to 13,008. it closes the month of august below that number, it

will be the first down month since may and only the second down month since september of 2011. so we have had a very nice streak. also want to point out the volume today. it is still very light. if you look at the 10 billion shares that have traded so far this week, that is the slowest stretch since the holiday period, between christmas eve and new year's eve of last year and you know no one is at work then. that gives you indication how quiet things are down here. despite that we do have major winners with. one would be pandora. the stock is surging today as internet radio company posted real solid quarterly results after the closing bell. even said more people are listening to their music on the mobile devices and raised their full years numbers. ashley. >> good day for pandora, no doubt we'll check back in 15 minutes. we have breaking news involving apple and google. according to reuters, apple ceo tim cook and google's ceo larry page have had

discussions over patent issues. according to sources the two had a phone conversation and are going to speak again in coming weeks. the actual details of those talks not available. we'll continue to look into it and keep you posted on what we find out. apple and google having a chat about patents. mitt romney is just hours away from giving the biggest speech of his political career. he will make a direct pitch to americans on why he should replace barack obama as president. rich i had son at the rnc with the very latest. no pressure, right, rich? >> no pressure at all, ashley. in fact all the pressure on the campaign, the highest pressure we'll get until the four dates in october for debates. this is a major moment for mitt romney. it is his introduction to american voters. around 10:25 this evening we're hearing when he will take the stage. 10:00 is when senator marco rubio will introduce him. after a very interesting week for the republican national committee down here.

thought after hurricane that would come by it didn't. they still canceled the first day. major headline speakers on tuesday of the last night it was the vice-presidential candidate who spoke, congressman paul ryan and he spent much of his time teeing off the on the administration. >> the stimulus was a case of political pay throwage, corporate welfare and cronyism at their worst. [applause] you, you, you the american people of this country, were cut out of the deal. >> republicans on the floor last night, got to tell you guys, it was incredibly loud, enthusiastic out there. very well-received by paul ryan. before him, condoleezza rice, former secretary of state, democrats teed off on the speech by ryan saying it is mostly untrue. ashley: a lot of questions about condoleezza rice gave a great speech last night. really got the crowd going.

mitt romney with his speech as rich said. whoever wins the presidential election my next guest is convinced your taxes are going to go up and that will have a big impact on the markets as well. joining me now, kemberly foster, president of imperial wealth management. thanks for joining us. let's talk about this market right now, down 100 points. it has been thinly traded somewhat volatile august although things have quieted down recently. what do you expect as we head into september? >> yeah, well i think that if we have a success in the republican convention here and we have success, as we're intrader.com, 43% chance that romney will take it, if that happens i think that we're going to see these taxes, the fiscal cliff, not really a fiscal cliff, ashley, more like a fiscal slope, impact that. that will impact the market and will impact the investors going forward because i don't think that

the markets, not that i'm a market-timer, i don't think they're actually embracing the impact of what these taxes are going to affect the markets overall in january. if we even have a fiscal slope hitting us. ashley: what in particular would be hurt by that, kimberly? >> i think that you're going to see the high income wage earners, basically be hit by the dividends, capital gains. these are going to be really impacted on the returns in the portfolios as well as you know, you've got the ultralow interest rates. my clients are really, really struggling to try and get that income so that they can, you know, basically pay the, increase in the food costs and increase in gasoline costs as well. ashley: you talk about the three ps of solid investment principles. what are those? >> yeah. you know what? what we try to do is protect the principle as we say going forward volatility is the new normal. we've got the euro crisis

coming back. they have come back from their vacations with a tan. that will be causing more volatility but with those volatilities you protect your profit, protect your principle, and preserve your income stream and then profit after that. and if we do those and we kind of are vigilant about that you can survive through this malaise of low interest rate environment and then profit again because i do know this. that this is the best path to prosperity, this capitalism engen that we have and until we find something else, this is where the average investor, ashley, 401(k) investor, profit in the markets as well as a warren buffett. so until we find something else this is the best path to prosperity. and the way that the clients are doing it now is really taking matters in their own hands. they're reducing their costs internally at their own home by 10 to 15%. and we're taking three to 5%

income of dividend interest and a little bit of gain in the portfolios as well. ashley: what are you in particular avoiding right now and why? >> we're avoiding long-term, obviously long-term bonds because you are in an ultralow environment and we're looking at the 10-year treasury at one 1/2% or wherever it is today. if you're investing for the long term and you're in a long-term bond, if interest rates go up by one or 2%, you're looking five to 7% decrease in the principle. that would really hurt you. i do think inflation is just around the corner, ashley. you have gas prices today going up by they are cents from a month ago. and food prices are projected three to 5%. an average person in their home is $200 for the grocery bill per person. if you have a family of four, talking about a increase of $500 for groceries for next year. ashley: very, very quickly -- >> we like specifically --. ashley: go ahead. >> google and kraft. best offense is a great

defense. kraft is great with a 3% dividend. google has some issues with the patent pending but a year ago my son gave to me in the market, mom we need more money my roth ira. we bought google. he is up 4% in that buy alone. ashley: smart kid. >> not market timing, ashley, but he is 7 years old. ashley: he is a whiz kid and a genius. >> he is. ashley: kimberly, have him send me some tips. >> have a good one. ashley: you too kimberly. a mixed bag of data coming out of europe for sure. the latest reading on eurozone confidence falling more than expected in july. leading economist that the economy could contract further in the third quarter. german unemployment claims rising for the fifth straight month out of august. italy held a pretty successful bond auction with demand edging higher than previous auctions and lowering borrowing costs.

it shows there is investor confidence in the economy. that is what they want to hear. the yield was well below 6%. wasn't enough to raise the market, major averages in london, paris, they're all in the red. it was a down day in europe. up next, making money with charles payne. we love it. he will tell us one stock bucking today's losing trend. meanwhile floodwaters rising in louisiana and mississippi as isaac dumps more than a foot of rain across the region. we'll have a live report on the massive rescue effort underway. first as we do at this time every day, we'll look how oil is trading right now as ice act, -- isaac downgraded from a hurricane. the oil price down 1% at $94.51 a barrel.

ashley: it is time to make money with charles payne.

this hour he has a stock sure to be coaching profits for your portfolio. what a clue that was. >> what a clue. i've got coach. i'm not saying to buy it right now. ashley: okay. >> what i am suggesting that people should put it on their watch list. it is acting really good today. listen the guy that runs the company, lew frankfort. i happen to be a fan of this guy but they have got some work to do. ashley: in what way? >> i can remember just anecdotally, when we went to the mall we had to stop at coach. we now just walk right by. michael coors is eating their lunch. a lot of stores are eating their lunch. they started the company in 1941. so you have to reinvent yourself time after time. earnings have not been that great although consensus expectations seemed to have settled. what i will say, they're growing big. japan has 187 stores from 155. china, the 6 stores, triple what they had a few years ago. they're growing around the

country but they have to figure it out. ashley: decent debt levels. looking at analyst notes. they have revenue growth, net income growth. no major weaknesses other than just trying to perhaps freshen their appearance? >> that's the pitfall of retail in general. you see it a lot more with teen retail because it seems that is more fickle. certainly when these aspirational brands sort of fade, this is where you go when you make the move to the next level. you have a coach and luck cully a couple years later might go down the mall to mays. that's where you shot. ashley: no way. >> a pure technician would probably by the stock here. ashley: 57 bucks right now. >> 57 bucks coming off a perfect double-bottom on a 52-week chart. i use technical analysis but i want to see fundamental turn around. i will say canaccord two weeks ago upgraded the stock to a buy. i think it should be on everyone's watch list. it is down huge from the 52-week high. proven management in

frankfurt. they have to show me something on fundamental side but i know some technicians are buying it today. ashley: we'll it on the watch. the stock is up nice today. stick around for this story. >> sure. ashley: i the effects of the drought reached all the way to wisconsin state cow chip throw and fest val. it at facts 300 throwers which is impressive by itself. 40,000 spectators. really? they use chips from the beef cattle herd. but this summer they kept the cows closer to the barn so the manure was not able to dry and flatten in the sun. not making this up. organizers were not able to collect only a third. they will dip into reserves. they save good ones from the prior year. wouldn't you love that job? >> good cigar. ashley: the top thrower will win a very mod 200 bucks towards a trip to the always famous world championship cow chip throw in beaver,

oklahoma. >> i have to tell you, ashley i'm so counterintuitive i would have thought the drought would make for nice frisbee sized cow chips all over the place. i wouldn't want to do it in the rainey season. drought seems like the best time. ashley: you say never go for the ones with bubbles on the top they're not decent enough. they will float in the air. >> need a little moisture. ashley: need like a disdiscuss. >> not where you hold it. ashley: you know what. >> rain will be huge in iowa today. ashley: as we do every 15 minutes although we've been talking too much about a particular subject it is gone past 15 minutes past the hour, lauren simonetti on floor of the new york stock exchange. amazon doing well, lauren. >> $250 is the all-time high for amazon.com. it is down right now but it did hit that historic level. it has been on a tear lately. here's the news for amazon.com. they're sold out of the kindle fire tablet.

it has only been on the tablet for nine months. you have to scratch your said to say, why are they sold out? is it coming back? do they have the fire ii come out? there is big event in california on thursday, a week from now. we'll watch to see if there are any updates. i spoke to an analyst at forrester, she said yep we can expect to see the fire ii. there are rumors amazon is working on a 10 inch kindle similar to the apple ipad which has a bigger market share hand amazon's 22% of the market. apple shares are down today and barnes & noble which is the name behind the nook. back to you, ashley. ashley: justin our producer points out, if you win the cow chip toss you win 200 bucks. not enough to buy a share of amazon. my goodness. lauren, thank you so much. we'll be back in 15 minutes. isaac damage estimates topping a billion bucks and the storm far from over. we'll look at impact on insurance industry next. we'll look how the dollar is

moving right now in a down market. the dollar, well, take a look. it is actually higher against the euro, the pound, peso but not the yen. we'll be right back.

>> at 21 minutes past the hour i'm juliet huddy with your fox news minute the city of new orleans held up well under the pounding rain of tropical storm isaac but we're getting reports of a serious situation along the louisiana mississippi border. an emergency management agency firm says the percy quinn state park dam is in jeopardy. it could put some lives at risk. there is 50-50 chance it could break. evacuations were ordered for that area. key farm states suffering through the worst drought in decades have benefited from recent rains

with much more on the way from remnants of isaac. forecasting expecting portions of the mid with he is to get as much as 12 inches of rain in the next few days. if you can't get enough the rolling stones, the stones i call them, a new documentary is marking the band's 50 year journey it will feature historical footage from band members both past and present. due for release in british theaters in october and later this year in the u.s. on hbo. those are the news headlines on the fox business network. ashley, how is that possible? ashley: how the heck is keith richards lasted this long? >> i always forget he is still alive. ashley: i know, i know. one of nature's wonder, isn't it? >> god love him. ashley: juliet huddy, thank you. the financial toll from isaac still adding up but early estimates say the hurricane could cost the insurance industry up to

billion and a half dollars. we have the chief director of deloitte insurance industry group and former new york state insurance superintendent. you know your stuff, david. howard i'm sorry. the problem with isaac it came on the same anniversary as katrina. we know that. it is kind of unusual but in reality as you were just saying the impact of isaac obviously so, a lot less than with katrina no doubt but a billion and a half dollars to me sounds like a lot of money. can you put it in perspective? >> yes, ashley, it does down like a big number. that less than 1:00% of the u.s. total capacity. this is nowhere insurance event of a katrina. that was 45 billion. this is billion, maybe a little more. very significant to the folks impacts obviously. the industry is very well-capitalized. this will not be a serious event from an industry perspective. they can handle it. the problem wit storm it is so slow-moving. ashley: yeah.

>> the rain lingers and most of the damage will be flooding related. where personal property is involved one of the big problems and worries people will not have in many instances flood insurance that is not covered under the policy. ashley: federal government flood insurance, correct? >> that's correct that is federally subsidized program people have to purchase from the homeowners policy. every time there is disaster you have the sad stories that people did not understand they weren't covered for floods that is an important message. ashley: is it expensive, flood insurance especially in this part of the country that is traditionally flood-prone? >> hear is the great news. no it is not, ashley. it is federally subsy diesed. go to nfip.com. to look for flood insurance. if you don't havist and live anywhere near you could get flooding you should have it. ashley: what about from the wind and storm related in that sense for katrina. this is area they seemed to take aim at. is it hard to get insurance and what are the premiums right now? >> there is plenty of capacity.

all the big u.s. carriers are there. prices have not actually been going up. one. issues the insurance industry is having, it is a very soft market in terms of pricing. there is so much capacity. they aren't able to charge that much prices. to it into context the losses here, even this billion dollar plus loss won't be enough to drive up rates. prices are actually low. it is a consumers market. ashley: from the business point of view do you get insurance for business interruption costs? can you claim that and is that something taken out very commonly? >> yes i think that will be probably be a large portion of the losses in this storm. this is obviously heading into the holiday weekend. tragically, a lot of people hearing they won't go down to the gulf obviously for the last bit of summer. there will be probably a significant amount of business interruption claims. that is an insurable loss and most businesses will have it. ashley: getting back to flood. we always hear the horror stories. dealing with the government and all the bureaucracy and red tape. if you do have the insurance

it is hard to get eventually money back is that true? >> no. ashley: it takes a long time? >> if you have the coverage, the nfip, the flood insurance coverage comes in. the companies are very good at getting claims processors and adjusters into the field the private sector side will be very, very swift. the industry does an excellent job in these situations. if you have the federal flood insurance program, you have coverage and will get your payments as well. the problem convincing people that don't have it to take it out. it is very important. ashley: specially that part of the country. >> it really is. ashley: howard mills. thank you for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: good news for our nation's debt crisis, more americans are paying their debt on time. gerri willis is on the story. she will be here next. let's look at some of the day's winners and losers. the dow is off 84 points. here are some of the biggest losers. first solar down 15%. meanwhile sears down 7 and

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>> welcome back. stocks have cut their losses slightly in the last 30 minutes. down 19 points, a major post in the first losing month since may. so far there have been no reports of major damage to oil facilities in or near the gulf in the wake of hurricane isaac. now a tropical storm isaac. the end of an era on mtv. say it ain't so, nantes, i the n canceling the highest-rated show, "the jersey shore." a look at what it will mean for mtv. tracy byrnes is not here today.

30 past the hour, let's get a check on the market as would every 15 minutes, lauren simonetti. we all have to shoulder on without "the jersey shore." lauren: i wish tracy byrnes was here, would love to get her opinion. i am near staten island, so we're in the same neck of the woods, baby. off the session lows, off 89 points right now. trying to stay positive for the dow industrials for the month of august. we will see if we can do it tomorrow. we will see if he will deliver the medicine that wall street wants to hear. i have to point out volume, it continues to be lighter and lighter almost every day this week. in fact the slowest four day stretch, 10 million shares in four days. you know how slow the holidays are. energy is one of the weakest sectors today.

the transports are down, taking a big hit today, and i would say five stocks moving higher, we have one moving higher. several stocks hitting all-time highs. annual highs for costco today as well. back to you. stuart: very few people working today other than us folks. isaac may be heading north, but the storm left a path of destruction and devastation behind. flooding has caused thousands to evacuate and flash flood emergencies are being declared in many cities and neighborhoods including where our very own jeff flock right now is looking at the scene. >> i think this sort of makes the point. a business boarded up against the hurricane, survived the hurricane just fine.

then the flood waters got them. did you kind of a walk-through if we can, everything from the local station here in the old town station. one of those got really racked by katrina. one of the first vehicles, as you can see we have been cut off for a long time, some other tv folks on the other end. this is water that came in, the water started, the wind started moving from west to east, driving the water up on the east side of new orleans and this guy just got through. first of all some lady coming down to take pictures, a lot of people want to document the damage because this water will be going down. it will go down rapidly. if he wants to take a picture of it for insurance purposes, it

goes away and there you go. the other thing is somebody with a truck, they got their stuff packed up but they didn't do it fast enough unfortunately they are stuck and that is true of a lot of folks. another truck getting through, indicating the water is headed down but often in one area and goes up another because there is a lot of water in this area of louisiana. stuart: i think slidell is caught under one of those bands of heavy rain, that really tells the picture right there. thank you very much, appreciate it. east of new orleans. consumers have learned their lesson from the financial crisis. the numbers for the new york fed show more people are paying down their debt. the details, are you happy about this? >> it may be a little misleading.

all kinds of debt with the exception of student loan debt are down. take a look at the numbers, drill down a little bit, credit cards, the total number of credit card debt $672 billion, that is the lowest level, balances at the lowest levels since 2002, ashley. unbelievable. auto loans are down as well, mortgages down as well, foreclosures go down so that is the good news for consumers. some concerns maybe people are coming out the other side of foreclosures and that is why they look so good. they are not in the bank's crosshairs. it used to be easy pc. not anymore, much more difficult. if you're a small business operator as well. very difficult to get unless you have bad credit.

delinquency rates are lower, that seems to be good news. and that is what we have seen. you cannot discharge student loan debt, so people are paying that off, paying off credit cards and the mortgages is what they were looking because they thought they would be bailed out. stuart: at the back of the line when it comes to repaying. >> we have oklahoma governor on, which will be fantastic, you don't want to miss that tonight. she spoke yesterday, we will talk about what she makes in mitt romney's speech tonight. i thought he was amazing. i was shocked because i thought it would be put on her spectacles, going through the numbers. stuart: good stuff. a big speech, thank you very much. don't miss "the willis report"

at 6:00 p.m. eastern time right here on fox business. thank you very much. mississippi still slowed by low water, so will tropical storm isaac make a difference? let's take a look at the 10-year, 30-year treasuries to see how they are moving. the yield o on the ten-year down even more, as for the third year, we can tell you it is down by three basis points. we will be right back.

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the company says the economy is taking a toll and has been slow to put revenue on profits. europe remains the weakest market and deteriorated during the third quarter. some biggest customers have cut spending into late purchasing moves. mortgage interest rates fell for the first time in five weeks according to freddie mac, 3.59% above the record low earlier this year. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

stuart: isaac has pummeled half of the gulf region, but the heavy rain has held one area, the mississippi river. my next guest says the rain is a welcomed relief to the drought and a game-changer for the barge industry. joining me now is the co-owner of a barge in east st. louis,

thank you so much for joining us. how would you describe the situation? it depends on what section you are talking about. we know the problems with the drought, what does isaac bring to the mississippi and the barge industry? >> that brings the kind of rain they are predicting, it brings a kind of rain that talk about, we should have some relief, i would say for the next 15 to 30 days we should have some relief giving a few feet of water, we have had problems around that area but maybe break up, that person gathers his toe up and traffic clears again. very narrow channel until somebody else is down there.

we really need the water. ashley: are the barge is still backed up north and southbound right now? >> what we have is 30 to 40% capacity reduction for each barge and we have probably 20 to 30% cutback in terms of towing capacity. they may only be able to take 20 or 25 depending on the horsepower. ashley: i maybe wrong but i thought i read somewhere the flooding last year removed a lot of the sentiment around making it harder to dredge this year because the low water levels. >> that is probably true. i have not been a riverboat pilot specifically myself, but i am told to have long periods of relatively high water, you are of course changing the river bottom and we have in fact the lower levels probably in the manner we are now probably since 1988. we have had some low water the

last five or six years for nothing consistently like we have been since 88. in some ways it was even worse because i don't think it was quite as prepared. they had some structures that has really assisted them to keep the channel open helping the river to generalize itself. ashley: finally a wanted to ask you does this unit costs are starting to pile up and was eventually be passed on to the consumer? >> the cost dial-up, the extra towing cost for every carrier out there. you would hope we have enough demand to try to offset some of the cost increases, but it has been a struggle. not only our concerns today, but from the export standpoint we have a critically reduced amount of corn that will be exported next year.

so really for us 2013 is a real? as to what we're doing to get through another crop cycle. ashley: tough when you're dealing with mother nature. forget about it. that's awful. one more. forget about it. mtv announcement canceling "the jersey shore." after the six season. dennis kneale covering the story joins us now. >> mtv's much aligned relative show jersey shore leave the air after the sixth and final season begins in october. and so ends the show that populate the jersey fist pump and redefined the phrase ugly american, fending women, new jersey and new jersey women not to mention the entire country of italy.

it is going to be quite a cultural event. ashley: you got a lot in there in a short amount of time. this mtv pulling the plug, has it run its course? >> the ratings have been pretty well. "jersey shore" premiered in december '09 s. in an mtv has done five seasons. a case study in generation y., binge drinking making "jersey shore" highest-rated show in tv history. that audience until the test setup in florence, italy, on season four. by the final, 6.6 million. the current season down as well. the dna of jersey shore will live on. have a second season coming up a

new season for snooki and j-woww. what about when the best-known jersey shore guys of all, mike "the situation." he might be filing for unemployment. i am making that up. ashley: a desperate situation. >> don't want up my line. ashley: thank you. a quarter till, stocks every 15 minutes, let's go down to lauren simonetti. >> multi-year highs for some of these stocks, very strong overall august same-store sales. the teen retailer buccal beat expectations. stocks up really nicely right now. multi-year high, soaring same-store sales 9% gain, old

navy did very well. the gap and old navy have many sales. that is the really big one, right around the corner. did they say forget about it on "jersey shore"? i don't think so. more like "the cabs are here" and "t-shirt time." ashley: still to come, another angle to this story, some commodities with rain that could make things worse for farmers. first, a look at some of the winners and losers, the dow off 90 points, we talked about the

retailers, how about starbucks?

ashley: gas prices had their biggest one-day jump in a year and a half. the national average for a gallon of rigor gasoline $3.82 with the labor day weekend ahead, is there any relief in sight? sandra smith has details in

"the trade." >> analyst actually said it lived legit production come back online, if we see that come back online over the weekend, watch for it because that means we could have it done back a quick retreat in the energy crisis. wholesale gasoline prices up 6% for the month of august, the one-month chart. look at the oil prices over the past month of august oil prices price up 8%, obviously the hurricane and the ongoing tropical storm not helping those higher energy prices. as result here is what you are paying at the pump. $3.82, $0.30 higher than where we were just one month ago. here are the diesel prices. up $0.31 over the past month. this is also playing out in the stock market, take a look at the big oil producers.

very mixed in midday trading. bp, chevron, taking their platforms off-line. we will see what happens over the weekend. the one big winner for sure has been full aero. possibly higher prices, and there you go, hitting a 52-week high this week in the wake of that storm. ashley: thank you very much. we'll talk about the impact of the drought in the midwest on commodity prices that he midwest could be getting some much-needed rain. but could it be too much of a good thing? it might be. i know what the drought has been doing, absolutely devastating but what effect could isaac have on the drought? >> the biggest thing that could happen, we watched the crops basically wither and die all

spring and summer, now that we're close to harvest getting hit with all this rain. the stocks to the point with the wind and rain coming in with isaac probably flatten the lot make it more difficult if not impossible to get some harvest done. further diminishing a crop damaged now well below what we had earlier anticipated. ashley: what do you think this can do to prices ending up hurting consumers? what impact do you expect? >> three major crops, were mentioned corn, all the focus on corn this summer. soybeans have a much tighter supply and demand, this will hurt because it is getting ready for harvest as well in that area and cut in. it will tighten up the supply and demand situation that much more and push the market even higher. it will trickle back down into

the grocery store and eventually could start to see some higher prices there as well. ashley: we solve the problems with the barges on the mississippi, could that play into this as well? there is concern there will not be enough empty barges towards harvest time because they're tied up on the river. >> the shipping on the river has been a problem here the last couple of months at least the last four to six weeks. inquiry basically shut down exports because of tightened supply but we have been needing to get soybeans down into an affordable position. now that we have more problems, that will remain an issue. that is going to play out more in the bean markets than corn and ultimately that could slow the price a bit because that will cost more to get to court. the key is we have to get these into movable position at least for the short term and wait to

see what we have come this harvest. ashley: thank you so much for joining us this afternoon, really appreciate it, thank you. cheryl casone taking us through the last hour of trading the former goldman sachs executive to give us another bank bailout of 83 points. "countdown to the closing bell" is coming up next. before copd...

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cheryl: hello, everybody. i'm cheryl casone and four liz claman. it is the last hour of trading and the "countdown to the closing bell" begins right now. the dow is fighting back from a 129 points dropped earlier today. 13,008. that is the number to watch. if the dow closes below that number it will officially be negati