melissa: good afternoon, i am melissa francis, happy monday. lori: back to work today. i am lori rothman. u.s. officials blaming iran for recent string of attacks on u.s. banks. a threat to our national security. melissa: election over three weeks away. is your portfolio ready? we have the dos and don'ts before everybody votes. you have to be ready. lori: i hate the idea, melissa like this, but the company provides mobile service for names like in red, high airways and virgin atlantic. could it be coming to u.s. carriers? the company's ceo joins us to convince me straight ahead. melissa: time for stocks, the floor of the new york stock exchange, nicole petallides standing by.

up 86. nicole: we have been looking pretty good on the dow, nasdaq and s&p on this day. off three of the last four trading weeks. we had been up 100 points earlier today, but still a gain of well over half a percent for the dow and the s&p. some traders are taking a breather, not putting too much merit into today's pop. also, the nasdaq composite snapping six days of selling, we will see whether or not that holds going into the closing bell. retail sales numbers show continuing improvement for the month of september. the third month in a row for retail sales. up nine points right now on a level of 1437 on the s&p. take a look at one of the banks and other financials watching citigroup very closely today as they came out with their quarterly numbers.

the main business continues to improve, so the third-quarter net, the profit fell 88%. looking at the numbers, it certainly beats the street and doing very well. back to you. lori: we will stick with the glass half-full attitude at least for today. talk about let's make a deal and the biggest overseas purchased by japanese firm, softbank buying a stake in sprint nextel, price take $20 billion. adam shapiro joining us now. >> for investors, couple of issues you have to pay attention to. this could be very good for sprint going forwards depending on how long you want to hold sprint stock. an interesting conversation, jonathan actually had an interesting take on what is about to happen here given the

five sprint has a data plan which is essentially unlimited. given the cash in sprint will have in the potential for them @o do something strategic with clearwire, they could maintain a limited data is a factor in the future and we think differentiating becomes more valuable every year given consumption is doubling every 12 months. what jonathan is saying is that given three or four years you and i are doubling the amount of data we need on our mobile devices. sprint will maintain that because softbank will help them. melissa: we're having some technical problems with adam shapiro. in the meantime, let's move on. are we on the verge of a cyber war? blaming iran for the recent attacks against u.s. banks. according to the "wall street journal," this comes after defense secretary warns we're facing a threat of cyber pearl

harbor. joining us now, u.s. security analyst. is it that serious? that is strong language. that implies a level of damage, the destruction. >> we're already in a cyber war. iran, we were the first ones. united states, israel, had a cyber attack on iran's nuclear enrichment program where we had a worm that went into their computers and caused them to go haywire. melissa: what was the damage? >> they were told they were spinning too fast and too slow, so look at the computer screen you thought everything was working just fine if you're an iranian scientist in fact they were not working just fine and burned-out descender fusions. for this attack is, iran has

decided they're now attacking so created a cyber command and what bank of america and other financial institutions, the thee called denial service attacks sending out automatically generated hits to a website and crashed the website. seemingly no money was lost and people just couldn't access their accounts. but this is just the first volley because what has happened is we think iran has launched a cyber attack against saudi arabian oil company to erase some of their data. melissa: obviously that would be a lolots of construction terms f production. attack their facilities, but when you say pearl harbor lot of people are thinking weapons, destruction, and death. speak what he wanted the biggest attack on the united states you can imagine, you wouldn't even necessarily have to go after the weapon system.

if you shut down electric grid and water supply in the united states, what would happen, 24 hours we would be on our knees. shut down the banking system, america's most vulnerable country in the world because everything we do is connected to the internet and e-mail. melissa: i see your point, but people think of 9/11 and the death toll when they think of an attack. can a cyber war reached the level where there is personal, physical harm? >> absolutely. just the threat of doing it. say the electric grid goes out on the east coast during a heat wave and we think it is because it was overused for the chinese think we're the ones that cost the electric grid to crash and if you don't do what we say, we will have the electric grid in san diego, washington and san diego crash. melissa: where does this go next and how we protect ourselves? >> is not so hard to make offensive weapons, it is very

hard to defend against. that is where we are now. trying to figure out how would you defend not just the military defending against a cyber attack. we don't know, and it will not be that easy to do. melissa: thank you so much. lori: some challenges ahead on that front. melissa: absolutely. lori: oil prices back near the $90 mark. still historically high compared to where we have been in perspective. is there any substantial relief in sight? we will find out what the traders are saying. melissa: the post office gets much-needed help from the election. but first, look at how metals are doing today as we head out to break. there you go, more gold, silver and copper. we will be right back.

lori: be struggling post office getting a temporarily two temporary bailout. melissa: what a relief. lori: filling mailboxes across the country post offices bringing in enough money to make $1.4 billion workers comp payment today and avoid insolvency. for now. postal service tells fox business topping 2010

amounts. losing $15 billion this year alone. what can they do to get the books straightened out? melissa: i don't know. the election came and helped them with this one, they have to reform the whole thing and get rid of some of the services. lori: nothing until next year, at least. melissa: that is the bottom line. entire energy complex under pressure to date, let's get phil flynn. >> the imf is how many have to get your act together. the weak inflation figure shows later in the week we have seen the china and gdp numbers that it will be terrible, so really what you'r you are seeing is ded destruction fears playing out before your very eyes. a big selloff across the entire economics. we're seeing a big break in our

gasoline futures. that is good news partially because of the lower crude prices, refineries are starting to come back online. the refining margins have been very good. with an expectation gasoline production is going to surge and as you know it is a lot easier to spin out the winter gasoline as opposed to the summertime. heating oil going back and forth a little bit weaker today but what we have seen is heating oil gasoline has been a strong trade they're looking at. melissa: it has been the biggest loser in the bunch after hitting fresh 2012 highs, all of a sudden what happened with mark speak with a price in winter last week. this week temperatures will warm up a little bit. people have to realize if you look at natural gas, people are scratching their head. 7% above a year ago, 8% above the eight year average. if you look later down the road,

we will be opening a whole bunch of new pipelines increasing production of natural gas in this country by 1.6%. we will have a lot more supply down the road, so winter is over according to the natural gas. melissa: i have to ask about yot something driving me crazy. they say traders are worried about the tensions between syria and turkey. producing half a percentage point of 1% of the oil in the world, i don't buy that one at all, tell me about that one. >> if you want to be freaked out, who is the biggest up-and-coming producer in the entire middle east? it is iraq along the border with turkey. the fear that traders have is an all-out war that will impact iraq's production and iraq and turkey going at it in the past as well raising the fears as well. that is the justification traders are giving us.

melissa: always have all the @nswers, thank you for coming on. lori: now i know officially what freaks you out. just off of session highs on the dow. it has been 15 minutes since we last checked in with nicole, so let's go back to her on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you have two major movers in your sites. nicole: that is right. let's take a close look, focusing on texas instruments since early this morning. amazon may be taking a look, close look at texas instruments and their mobile chip arm in particular it may be in talks that amazon could be in talks to buy texas instruments. with that we should also take note the chips used in the amazon kindle and would make them competitive in the smart phooe realm and such, continuing to watch what happens and how

this evolves for both amazon and texas instruments. up 3.5%. look at council energy to get out a loss for the quarter. the latest quarter on weaker demand, idling one of their very dizzy minds in america. we're watching very closely but you can see down nearly 2% today. up to you. melissalori: thank you as alway. melissa: election only three weeks away. lori: time is flying. melissa: is your portfolio ready? how people are preparing. lori: a lot of weight and see going on. look at the currencies today, a stronger dollar against the euro. unchanged against the pound and a little bit higher versus the yen. back with more after this.

>> i am lauren green with your fox business. the supreme court will hear an appeal over its requirement people prove they are american citizens before registering to vote. lower court rulings blocked the law defining federal law blocked the requirement. a teenager shot answe and 30 wod by the taliban has arrived in the midst and i'm for more specialized treatment. she'll be treated one of returns 16 major, centers. militants have warned she may be attacked again. and a daredevil skydiver has shattered the sound barrier. taking a plunge 25 miles above the desert yesterday. said standing on top of the world made him feel humble and getting back alive. those are your news headlines on the fox business network. now back to melissa and lori.

lori: between flash crashes and trading errors, investors have a whole lot to worry about these days. the unprintable stock market will become even more unthinkable even the upcoming election, many investors may want to keep their money under the proverbial mattress. charlie gasparino says there are ways to play the market regardless of who wins this fall. now a senior strategist at new edge joins charlie now. >> thanks, guys. and obama portfolio, romney rone portfolio and a doomsday portfolio. number one, interest rates remains in place for next year, you cannot pick many other variables, so we're going to basically suggest that republicans maintain the house, democrats maintain the senate as it looks like what is going to happen we had in that scenario

you can make money if obama wins in the election. >> there is a lot of risk points. when the house was taken by the republicans by 63 seats last time the biggest score since 1938 so there's a lot of aggressive tea party members to promote the biggest threat to obama. charlie: there are those that will do well with obama's economic agenda. >> in general because of the higher risk, so companies in the defensive food industry, alcohol industry. companies that do well during tough economic times. charlie: people still have to drink and eat. the other when you talk about was hmo stocks because obamacare more people have to buy insurance and they seem to benefit from that.

>> these major industries like hospitals, health care providers, if romney wins, there is risk to them. it locks obamacare, literally. charlie: and i don't want to give out specific stock recommendations, those are some big names. kind of interesting plays if you think obamacare is going through. if obama is reelected, it is a done deal. and these are some of the sectors you want to look at. if mitt romney wins, this is kind of interesting. even though the stock market has been up 100% since he took over. in march 2009 has gone up from 6500, whatever it is today, changes 100 points every day.

that said, when i talked to him, they think mitt romney is a much more bullish president for the markets. why? >> the one thing i have seen in trading bonds and stocks is visibility, when that is cleared up, when you have greater visibility in a sector provides phenomenal upside so the financials have this massive cloud of uncertainty for almost 18, 24 months. a romney win will crystallize. before he is saying he will get rid of parts of dodd-frank. you're into blue-chip names, jpmorgan, those are some of the names you should do pretty well if dodd-frank does well. who knows what is going to happen with the volcker rule. that is an interesting place. keeping the senate, keeping the house, democrats keep the senate there are ways if you have that

certain sort of majority building watered down those, what else do you like in a romney presidency? >> if you look at obamacare, there are taxes on medical device makers, very, very damaging so if romney wins he will try to undo parts of obamacare. charlie: so they will go if he gets rid of those. he is not going to cut the defense budget as much as obama is threatening. >> the risk of sequestration is reduced. charlie: look at the medical device makers, the financials, now if we hit the fiscal cliff, and this is the scenario, obama moves as president, picks up seats in the senate and he still have a republican majority in the house but they're under

pressure not to give in, you have massive gridlock. those automatic spending cuts happen, they kill defense, tax increases go through the roof, where do you hide your money, where do you put your money? >> there is a way to play the market for long volatility, that is one of the main things. charlie: treasury bonds, yields are very low. also, food and alcohol, correct? >> those of a traditional sectors that do well. charlie: gun manufacturers. do you think a smith & wesson's or something like that, those stocks did pop early in obama's presidency with a lot of stimulus, the market.

in march 2009, those stocks got a pop, do you think that is in play here as well? speaker that would be a really devastating click scenario. those did well after lehman brothers. i don't think it will be that badly distressed but you want to start thinking along those lines. charlie: treasury bonds, food, news. guns. >> investors are long things, the own things are fewer in high-yield bonds, get rid of those. they don't want to be in if the senate picks up seats because you get into a dynamic between the tea party and the senate committee get gridlock. charlie: a really detailed exposition of this is on foxbusiness.com, you can read about it, if you want it with

these portfolios, let me know. i drink booze every day and we're not even in it. melissa: thanks, charlie. lori: the ceo make it happen, making it possible for you to use your mobile phone while flying. melissa: and a look at some of the winners and losers on the s&p 500. aftealpha natural resources hava good day. we will be right back.

>> it's time for stocks

right now let's head to new york stock exchange with nicole petallides watching retailers. >> look at the broader markets. the s&p 500 up 0.5% the dow was up 85 points. a winning day and the vix index is down into the red. look at the retailer's after the monthly numbers. beating expectations the third month in a row. we have seen improvement some attributed to apple. american eagle, gap and urban outfitters. back to you. lori: being out of touch it during a flight to be a thing of the past record now 24 based carrier's offer cellphones service and it is a matter of service -- time

before it is standard here. one of the two main companies that provide on board self-service and the ceo is here from london. will we get cellphones service in the near future? >> i believe so. it is something the passengers want and the airlines will offer. it is only a matter of time. lori: i you facing challenges in the united states? >> the u.s. industry is waiting to see how the service catches on in the other markets. they are now lagging behind. it is time they start catching up.

lori: but you have to be faced with complaints and concerns cellphone on the airplane? the enclosed setting it is a disruption. the airlines are concerned it will push people away. >> we have been operating the service since 2008. we have very few complaints. emirates has had to complaints if they get the least amount. maybe two passengers and next to each other having a conversation there is no other objection. lori: i object if you are eavesdropping it is satisfying been hearing one

side of the conversation. but keeping it to the financials with the technology can you use your own smart phone and is there cost? >> you will use your own hands that. you also have access to the internet and e-mail with a smart phone. lori: what does it cost the carrier? >> it is a roaming business you do get a bill from your home operator. lori: thank you so much for sharing your business plan. i guess my days of flying

are numbered. [laughter] >> i take the train every day and people on the phone drive me nuts brac rican unimagined. melissa: the high fuel of prices with the mitt romney campaign. lori: alarming details of a new report looking at interest rates. the yields are holding steady. 1.6 7% with the 10 year. 2.85 is the yield on the 30-year.

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>> i am robert gray. stocks get a boost today from the better report of retail sales. of the strong quarterly results helped to lift the market. the dow was up 70 points. fitch boost is the forecast for the housing market. the annual gains for new home sales have maintained momentum. but the growth may not be as robust next year proposal security should not expect to receive a big increase of benefits. made officials around the 2013 amount is between one and 2%.

the smallest increase since 1975. this is the latest from fox business, giving you the power to prosper.

>> when the president took office the national average was $1.84 for gasoline. you're likely paying double and the romney campaign hopes voters take notice. lou dobbs is here. where does this fit in with the election? >> for the obama campaign it is quiet and gentle on the side hoping no one notices because they have a direct impact on disposable and come for every american and.

>> the romney campaign has to be careful because he will have the same metric by which he is judged if he is elected. to the degree and president is in charge of energy policy is as ambiguous the president is responsible for economic policy. melissa: i don't know. is harder to be in charge of gas prices with outside factors like we see more drilling but it is not helping because of the bottleneck at the refinery. lou: did they tell you that? >> i would love to blame the current administration. lou: you can for your soul. here is the deal.

this administration has not permitted drilling on federal lands and has not withdrawn the moratorium of offshore drilling. they will still not let there be exploration and and more pork -- and more. hold on to that accountability. melissa: you cannot draw the link between that and $3.84. lou: 2,008 crude-oil went $150 per barrel. george bush lifted the moratorium. it did not mean drilling could even know kerr but it lifted the executive moratorium. opening the possibility breaking $150 oil so by fall

one-third less of prices. that quick. melissa: the economy collapsed. lou: some economists suggest part of the collapse. melissa: was high gas prices at. lou: you get both speaking parts. [laughter] lori: what about the report from the strategic petroleum reserve manipulating the price? lou: as a drawdown the perpetual perennial absurdity, every administration to consider and commit folly when they embrace it. the strategic word should be a hint.

you probably do not want to do that. it is symbolic and not adequate it. this administration and the previous one learned you have to have a real energy policy to drive growth. governor romney talks about not all of the above bet cold driving fossil fuels that we are the saudi arabia of coal, natural gas. we can dismiss foldable relationships. lori: energy policy is tough to take ownership of. lou: and number of presidents have done it right. jimmy carter -- no. nixon? no. i believe this president had

the opportunity. he failed maybe the next one. as we have said for the last 40 years. just like breeding horses. wait until next year. lori: will you come back? lou: only if melissa does not. melissa: i was rude. i am sorry 82 i love the fact we have a meaningful discussion. lori: check out lou dobbs to night and tonight he speaks to stephen hays about the latest on the campaign trail the clock is ticking. exciting times.

melissa: let's check the markets with nicole petallides at new york stock exchange watching home-improvement and. >> home depot or lows? it turns out maybe in the market for up arrows. home depot has outpaced lowe's home improvement but it was raised to a buy rating up from neutral. they're raising the numbers and the earnings estimate. they expect the housing market overall to have a growing pace through 2014. lori: energy independence is the important campaign issue the new report shows even the u.s. is in fair shape there is room for improvement coming to energy

security we have rich edson. >> looking where we have been over the last 40 years we are about the same spot of the iran hostage crisis. the report measures country energy demands and access to energy. mexico tops follow british come under way do zealand austria and norway then the united states. ben candidate germany and others including russia and china. although had it in the right direction because of natural gas and availability. >> the combination have pushed us up at number seven. if continued to be developed with more access ooshore and offshore our trajectory compared to our peers, is going up. >> governor romney says he

wants to reverse cold regulation and increase permits and obama has pushed grieve energy and fuel standards. melissa: readjust talking about that. lori: he has strong feelings and so you. [laughter] there is a lot of resources progress of the company's reported earnings beating estimates. 79 report this week. melissa: versed look at the winners and losers. texas instruments having a good day.

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melissa: a critical week of earnings as 79 companies will report quarterly results. sandra smith has what you should watch. >> take a look at the drop last week the biggest going back four months. there is hope earnings can turn things around. this is the peak week with big names including $12 components, 79 s&p 500 companies. so far those that have reported third quarter results, you may be surprised 59% had beat estimates come 18 in line and 24% below expectations. the biggest percentage avnet

be 10 so far. look at this week said the group reported this week. the stock got a big boost actors jpmorgan and wells fargo came out. said the group up 4%. tomorrow goldman sachs, a bank of america on wednesday. goldman sachs is expected to be "the shining" star. expecting $2.12 profit compared to the loss of $0.84 last year same quarter. by the way talking about the expected drop financial's are expected to post 4.5% jump. lori: they do so much. major league baseball extra playoff games. in a few years they could

have more. olympic baseball games the federation is joining forces to bring it the sport back. it was voted off making the last appearance 2008. with a shortened it tournament so the players can participate. they will add one spoor also competing with karate, a roller derby, a sport climbing and wake boarding and another full contact sport from martial arts. melissa: that sounds more exciting and baseball. lori: let the players. they are choking during the playoffs. lettthem go for the gold medal. melissa: tonight brewster called joins me to discuss redpoll sponsorship of the record-breaking skydiving

job and how much it was worth. if he had jumped to break the sound barrier, we will show it to you but it was crazy. if he had died in was an 50/50% what would that have meant? lori: every channell -- channel showing that. the largest foreign acquisition by a japanese company and tried it is blocked by the u.s. government. where the battle lines are being drawn that is next hour. stick around. td ameritrade unlocked. nyse euronext.

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>> i am ashley webster. starting in the green with their retail sales numbers as earnings season kicks and we will tell you what to expect this week to one another presidential debate one day away which candidate is better for renewal future? we have the results. ashley: house intelligence community says u.s. business should avoid doing business with the leading technology firms due to a threat to. how real are they? find out. lori: let's head to new york stock exchange with nicole petallides. >> we have had a nice run with retail sales numbers. citi group and the vix index and as far as the trading of last month three out of four

weeks with down arrows. the dow was up 91 points. it was 100 earlier. the nasdaq is up 1/3 of 1%. the s&p 500 up more than half of a percent. citigroup revenue out was good news jumping up 4%. due to the asset management fees but however not to the magnitude. charles schwab is up 1/3 of 1%. $36.124 citi group. ashley: and we have a guest to talk about it focused on the consumer that better than expected retail sales numbers showing the domestic economy is rebounding we

have bob keyser from s&p capital. let's get to the earnings. going in the expectations were low. were we being sandbagged? >> it would be tempting to accuse that but with only 1% positive earnings growth it's still waits to be seen by over 60% reporting better than expected is a great start. lori: iu partial to any sector in particular? >> keeping a close eye on financial's with the bernanke qe3 targets stimulating more did origination through the bank's. that is great news if it is

successful into the fourth quarter and next year to seven with a host of different possibilities are we do for a correction those that say the market needs the reset? >> look at third quarter expectations it is easy to say this trading on fourth quarter and 2013. the market is taken off. with better than expected economic data and the announcement of qe3. if you look at current quarter earnings it is not that impressive. lori: you sound bullish. will there be a new high for the down? >> the target was 14521500.

we are right there. fairly modest expectations. maybe 110 through 2013 with a multiple there is a respectable performance. lori: you have a very strong and healthy stock market but the economy is horrible. a lot of people take a look from the retail sales. sundown to be looked at economic growth with the strength of the stock market? >> the sales numbers were very important. we had a contraction. if you look at job growth growth, retail sales with down word monthly numbers.

look at where we are today the service sector 55. retail sales and new record number. it was across the board. excluding gasoline, it was strong. automobiles, it was still strong. all-time record phenomenal level. the consumer is a pretty good shape. lori: enough to drive growth beyond the lackluster expansion? >> global market intelligence published a piece that the bernanke fed khazali and on the housing market and the fed will supercharge a modest recovery. if successful two sectors

will stand out. financial and consumer discretionary. that happens to be the strongest in the final quarter. this stage is set to. it depends on qe3. lori: no official comment japan will buy 75% of sprint/nextel of $20 billion. >> billions of dollars sprint/nextel needs. there operating at a loss of the last five years. 5 billion directly purchased with shares then 12.1 billion purchasing on the open market. the sprint will now have the cash to continue to upgrade its network.

we spoke with a managing director at mevacor partners quote that given the cash spring of have and the potential to do something strategic, they could maintain unlimited data and we think that is more valuable every year given that consumption is doubling every 12 plants." what he is talking about we double our consumption every 12 months. only spread has the unlimited plan. over four years of they continue that coming he believes they can while upgrading the 40 systee they could be a contender against horizon and at&t. lori: the deal will have more on this.

the strategy of growth out of asia china has been stalled. ashley: that is an interesting perspective. look to the energy supply within an alarming new report. lori: time to check oil. $91.57. still elevated. >>

>> energy independence is the important campaign issue for obama and romney. but the new report shows how hard to reach the goal. rich edson? >> politicians have been making promises for decades. a new chamber of commerce report says recall that 1980. on the top as mexico, britain, norway, new zealand, denmark, austria and then the united states. canada, germany, russia and china. the u.s. is where was 30 years ago. but new discoveries of technology and resources

provide optimism. >> this growth of shale gas and oil has made an unbelievable difference to energy security in the u.s.. this looks like a pattern that is set to continue. >> much energy security depends on government policy. standards and regulations play a significant role. governor romney promises to curb the in burma to regulations to increase drilling permits to increase production per call bob has increased creed energy subsidies are doing one of the best ways is to power the economy and other sources. ashley: easier said than done 212 economist are winners for the nobel prize in economics.

a professor at ucla is 12 matched different economic ag working donors or students at schools. 1.2 million dollar prize was awarded four outstanding example of economic engineering. it continues a strong run of decades. economic stride was not part of the original set in the will but added in 1968. ashley: and the e.u. one it. that cheapens it. but congratulations. lori: i will reserve comment [laughter] ashley: that is my 310 days worth we have nicole

petallides at new york stock exchange. >> we see up arrows today. we have three out of four last week selling on wall street. looking at analyst colleen this to upgrade their shares to the outperform rating from perform. look at toymaker hasbro. the holiday season it turns out goldman sachs is not so hot on this sector including mattel. being more cautious and neutral putting the celebrating on hasbro in particular that the spending per-capita people will spend less per person.

and acceleration of boys' toys is dwindling. lori: the trade war heating up between the u.s. and china? we need to be concerned about doing business here? gordon chang worked in china for almost two decades he is here next. ashley: how was the dollar moving now? zero is down slightly. the pound is expensive. we will be right back.

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>> i am 20 minutes after the hour with your fox news minute. european union will impose new sanctions against tehran. targeting the banking banking, shipping come industrial sectors. under concern of the nuclear program. placing a ban on financial transactions with exceptions to humanitarian aid. considering if there is on a can -- arizona voters can show proof of citizenship buyback to the 2004 ballot

initiative designed to stop illegal immigrants from voting. it is called -- challenged with the civil-rights groups. the giant eyeball found on the beach last week came from a sword fish. the rough life commission says the eyeball characteristics help to identify and that they are found in this day this time of year. that is the big sword fish. lori: i have to share the comment i wonder if there is the one i'd soared fish? [laughter] that is to match much. >> report from the house intelligence about doing business with the telecom companies in china that they

could be involved with cyber espionage. board in chad -- gourde and chang is year as expert of all things asia. what that says about sprint and japan we have not seen a strong growth pitcher. >> it will look at sprint because the and is so strong. wrote with japanese exports it helps companies a one to acquire assets outside of japan. lori: you have a currency issue that is not helping them out. today get involved with the rest of the world? >> about the late think they can. the bank of japan tries to drive down the yen.

japanese companies that manufacture and sell abroad has a tough time i don't know where they will go. what about telecom companies charged with cyber terrorism or espionage? what do we know? >> a threat to china has been engaged for a decade the biggest espionage campaign against other governments, companies and individuals. it would help if they also supplied the telecom equipment. just like those to big companies are in the business of the selling trojan because it makes the work so much easier to when

we come back to this issue over and over and now the espionage edge issue you understand why doesn't that put to u.s. companies at the start disadvantage because of the idea of trust? >> it is difficult. chinese companies in china could be subject of retaliation. that is there first instinct. china is even more dependent on the u.s.. 2011 merchandise trade surplus was 195% that gives us an enormous leverage. it is not in their interest to retaliate -- retaliate but it is there first instinct 211 of the biggest risk is the european sovereign debt crisis.

the lesser talked about risk is the economic slowdown of china. so that is a trouble spot. how does this unfold? >> the problem is although they and a stand growth is slowing they don't uuderstand the extent. that will rock the global market because we don't understand the full extent. they said 7.8% growth i think it is more like o o or one look at them manufacturing surveys and the money flowing out. this is a real problem. lori::a quick comment on whether not a market state that into consideration?

>> i don't think so. this is a crisis unfolding out of sight the markets will be surprised when it happens to one thank you for your analysis. great to talk to you. ashley: a preliminary hearing with the cruise ship capsize st. off the coast of italy the hearing is to see if the judge will order a trial. the capt. cause the shipwreck and abandoning ship those who were still aboard. more than 1,000 survivors attended the closed-door hearing to hear the evidence and eight other defendants. look at carnival cruise trading slightly higher my hearing is under way.

lori: this survey asks who to americans think will be better for their personal finances? find out next. ashley: look at the winners and losers. could the dow be up double digits? pulte homes is up. we will be right back.

ashley: earnings season off to a rocky start. with 40% of dow components reporting this week, what could it mean for markets? we will have a preview.

with less than a month to go for the presidential election, who do you think will be better for your personal financial situation? we have results of a new poll from bankrate.com. gerri willis will have more on that. european union leaders meeting later this week. go figure, huh? to discuss the future of the region. the key issue on the agenda of course will be greece and spain as leaders try to keep the euro zone intact. can it be done? we will have an expert later on in particular will be talking about spain. the pain in spain. >> get it, spain and pain? put them together. ashley: yes. >> my futile attempt at creativity. it is half past. let's get a check on the markets as we do every quarter hour. nicole on the floor of the new york stock exchange with a guest for us. nicole: we were just actually talking about the 25th anniversary of 1987, the crash of 87. we won't go into that, but let's talk about what we're seeing here today, up arrows across the board. what do you think?

>> i'm very surprised because we were up premarket. then we sold off. really flat all morning after we got the advanced retail sales which was a good number. but the market struggled again. struggled right on that 50 day moving average. technically it is still trying to make sure that that's a level of support. now we have seen the market turn right around. citi bank earnings are helping that. what's interesting as we get into it, citi bank, the earnings are great. they are layyng off more people, getting rid of unwanted assets, shedding all the excess. that's all great but it doesn't say much more when you talk about job outlook, financial services industry, still under pressure. nicole: streamlining, that's what they call it when they are trying to get these companies in gear. >> they have been streamlining now for three or four years right? with the market up now 1060, above that technical level, i think the market wants to -- it really wants to move higher from here, but it's got a test and work through the earnings season which is going to continue to be tough. nicole: right. so we'll continue to follow all those earnings. they can really be drivers one way or another. i mean we're seeing citigroup

for example with the financials today, but each piece of news that comes out, lori and ashley, do you want to add to it? we are out of time. quick. >> big macro creek, a lot of -- big macro week. you have macro and micro, a headline driven week all week. back to you. ashley: we've got it. on the eve of the second presidential debate, we have the results of a new survey by bankrate.com about who americans think will be better for their personal financial situation. this is interesting. gerri willis always interesting joins us now with more. gerri, i guess what did the survey say? >> well, this is surprising because they asked the question every month, it turned around, this month 29% said that if obama is re-elected, it will be better for their personal financial situation. only 20% said the same of mitt romney. now, you should understand, though, that 45% said hey, it is not going to make much difference either way. ashley: right. >> what happened back in june is that these numbers were

identical, obama 21%. and romney 21%. so a big change there. the thinking is that we've had some good jobs news. who you believe it or not -- whether you believe it or not or think the numbers are cooked up by the administration, still those numbers have been positive. people could be responding to that. >> what i think is interesting is that in reading the survey, 60 plus percent of people actually vote their pocketbook. and only 20% of people are, you know, going to say -- to actually make a firm decision on who they think will be better for their pocketbook. is that a disconnect? >> it is interesting. i think people out there -- they are not consistent. and i think that's not that surprising. one of the several important factors, 51% say personal finance situation is important, but when it comes right down to it, a lot of people don't even follow what they are saying. one important thing i think to think about here too is mitt romney has been making a big deal out of the economy every single day on the campaign trail. ashley: right.

>> if his message isn't resonating, that's something that -- ashley: will it come down to taxes, that they believe they will be better off majority under obama? >> people are voting can i keep my job? what's the overall economic situation? is it getting better? i don't think they go as far as taxes. you know, is my job safe? do i feel comfortable at work that i'm going to keep my job? the general economic prospects look better or worse? ashley: very interesting. gerri thank you. >> you are welcome. ashley: what do you have coming up tonight? >> governor terry branstad from iowa will be on with us. we will preview the debate coming up tomorrow night. we will go over these poll numbers and others. ashley: very good. the debate, will president obama show up this time? that's the big question. join gerri willis 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox business. looking very -- got the arms folded. looking very efficient. getting down to business. gerri willis.

we will have complete coverage of tomorrow night's presidential debate starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern time hosted by neil cavuto. good stuff. >> pizza hut's presidential debate contest has caused some serious backlash. the pizza chain had promised a pie a week for 30 years or a check for $15,600 to anyone who would ask either president obama or g.o.p. candidate romney if they prefer sausage or pepperoni at tomorrow's town hall style debate. some weren't amused by the publicity stunt. and pizza hut is backing off the contest but said it will hold a contest on-line tomorrow where one contestant will be randomly selected to win free pizza for life. ashley: i wonder if someone is going to do it anyway. >> it's worked out for pizza hut. we are doing the story. ashley: retail sales rising for the third straight month. one innovative grocery retailer going high-tech to capture your

business. jeff flock has the story. jeff? jeff: peapod, take a look at this massive distribution facility. this is your grocery order here. it is your grocery order of the future. we're going to show you how you can shop while you commute. never easier. stand by. peapod coming up. [ male announcer ] this is steve.

he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or juing into the marke he goesith people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

>> i'm robert gray with your fox business brief. the rally on wall street continues by better than expected earnings from citigroup, plus a solid retail sales number for the month of september pushing stocks higher. dow up 73. another chinese social media company is looking to land on wall street. in a filing with the sec, it plans to offer 100 million dollars worth of shares in its initial public offering. it offers on-line activities and makes money through value-added services and advertising. the company plans to trade on the the nasdaq under the symbol yy. and the national association for business economics predicts gdp will rise 1.9% this year before hitting 3% by the end of 2013. that's from the group quarterly survey on economic growth. they also see unemployment climbing back above 8% for the first half of next year. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

ashley: retail sales reporting one of the largest gains since october 2010 with sales jumping 1.1% in september. jeff flock is standing by in lake zurich illinois with a unique and hassle free approach to grocery shopping. sounds good to me. and yes it involves an app; right, jeff? jeff: it involves an app. they have an app for that. i'm the n the back of -- i'm in the back of a peapod delivery truck. it is an on-line retailer. if you put up stocks of other grocery store chains, you find that a lot of them haven't done very well with the possible exception of the folks over at whole foods, but things are really booming for peapod, and come on over here, if you can, tim, because one of the reasons is people are becoming increasingly comfortable with

things like apps and electronic. this is a virtual store which you are now putting on commuter platform. >> we are. we piloted it in philadelphia earlier in the year. expanded it to chicago. and a subway tunnel actually, and now we're expanding it to markets up and down the east coast. jeff: show me how this works. each one of these things, say hey i want to buy this, it has upc code. what happens? >> down loaded the app on phone, tablet, whatever, then you simply go up, get the upc code in target there and once it recognizes it, you snap it and brings up the item and adds it to your order. jeff: wow, this is also advertising for you as well obviously if it is sitting out there on a commuter billboard, but at the same time, it makes it so easy. you are actually being in the store unlike on-line where you are picking things. >> absolutely. what it does is it reinforces the mobile ability that we give our shoppers. they can shop anywhere any time and this reinforces that.

jeff: before we get away, put up the peapod partners, you are partnering with a lot of big name companies to get their products on your virtual store wall. >> absolutely. you see coca-cola, procter & gamble, and others. they are very interested in this channel to see if it can drive volume, drive loyalty, and we frankly are the best place to test these kinds of things. jeff: you don't even have to go to the grocery store anymore -- grocery store anymore. you can do it on your way home unless you take a limo or something on your way home. ashley: lori doesn't do grocery shopping, do you? >> i actually going to the grocery store and looking at the produce especially. but we can discuss that later. jeff: how are you going to meet girls otherwise? >> thank you, jeff. looks like pandora and apple, more competition in the digital music arena. microsoft giving music streaming a second try.

dennis kneale joins us now. >> microsoft mounting a major music attack on apple's itunes. that upstart service, pandora shares getting hurt worse early on. down 3% last time i checked today on that news. most directly affected. apple down a little bit as well in an up market. that stock has been weak lately. why the worry? microsoft has been a failure in music since launching the zune player. that's why microsoft is launching this music mission under x-box leaving the zune to die alone. it is going to start on the x-box tomorrow, be available two weeks later in its new windows 8 upgrade. so you are talking millions and millions of laptops as well as tablet computers when those come out. let's see what else we have on this. microsoft will be extending this

into windows 8 systems, laptops, the new tablet, the surface that microsoft is coming out with, and it wants to let you kind of look at play lists. if you will listen to ads, it will give you the service free. 30 million songs. if you will pay them 10 bucks a month, you can get it all free without listening to ads. >> all i have to do is watch ads and i get 30 million songs? >> yes, if you find something you want to buy you go to microsoft store like the apple itunes store. but overall the problem is microsoft you are an apple want to be. google wants to be apple. microsoft wants to be apple. everyone wants to be apple. microsoft, make our workplace more efficient. >> this is good, free markets. >> when it is in windows operating system, suddenly overnight it will be on millions and millions of boxes and that is a bigger threat than itunes has faced before. they sell 2/3 of on-line music. i don't know if that will change

any time soon. ashley: good stuff. it's quarter till, time now for stocks every 15 minutes. let's head back down to the nyse with nicole petallides. nicole: all right, ashley and lori, i wanted to take a look here at a drug stock, looking at eli lilly in particular. we're talking about basically gastric cancer. late stage study of their experimental drug for this. it's meant its main goal improving overall survival for the patient. so this is wonderful news for eli lilly. the stock is up 4%. they will be testing it not only for gastric cancer but also other cancers which could boost the sales even more which are already anticipated to be 600 million dollars in annual sales. this is great news in obviously the war on cancer and great news for eli lilly. it is up today. back to you. ashley: nicole thank you very

much. spain's credit rating is just above junk status. what will happen if it falls below that? can it be avoided anyway? we investigate next. >> as we head to break, let's take a look at winners and losers on s&p 500. the dow is drifting a little lower here. it had been up as much as 100 points, but there are some outperformers nonetheless. sandisk being one of them up 3% at the moment. we are back with markets now after this.

ashley: here's a question, will moody's cut spain's credit rating to junk status? that's what investors are waiting to find out this month. my next guest says a downgrade by that ratings agency could spark a sell off in spanish bonds. joining me now jeremy hill, chief operating officer at research and strategy department. jeremy, thanks for being here. by the end of the month, moody's says it will be complete with its review of spanish -- dead if it brings it down to junk status, we would see a massive dumping would we not of spanish debt. >> it's quite possible. we had other major ratings agency, s&p, look at spain, did a review, they downgraded spain from -- basically to triple b minus which is just one notch above junk. right? ashley: right. >> i mean in the world of credit, obviously we're looking at minor leagues being junk. major leagues being investment grade. and depending upon where you are in that spectrum, it has huge implications for market

participants and investors. ashley: on the upside, would it force spain to actually go ahead and request this much-anticipated bailout? >> that's the interesting thing because there's so much negativity around a downgrade by a major rating agency, like this, we might in the u.s. have negative feelings about our rating agencies, because we've gone through the sub prime crisis. we don't particularly have a friendly viewpoint on our ratings agencies, but the fact of the matter is that rating agencies are really part of the investment mix when it comes to fund managers, indices, and so there's a lot of contractual obligations to live by what the rating agencies say. so in the immediate term, yes, it's very likely that if moody's takes in action, which by the way, they promised to do by the end of october, it could have a sell-off -- or could precipitate a sell-off in the spanish market. ashley: since the ecb announced look, unlimited bond buying,

struggling sovereign ebt, the yield on spanish ten-year notes has actually stayed under 6% for the most part. so there's no real pressure on the prime minister to make a decision. but it's inevitable. the longer he drags his feet, is it the worst the outcome could be? >> that's one part for sure because the longer the duration that spain is -- i would call it status quo, it actually -- you have the kind of the bigger tail risk problems for spain; right? so these types of downgrades or exogenous events can come into play that nobody is thinking about, and it can really mess things up for spain, but by the same token, if you talk to traders in the market, if you talk to market participants, i think the underlying thought is that it could be bad in the near term.

however, the longer term, people are looking for the ecb -- they are looking for the esm to protect bond yields in spain. ashley: got about 15 seconds. does this, does the pressure and then turn to italy, and what will the italians do? they are in a slightly different situation, but nevertheless their economy is struggling. >> it could very well be, although obviously monty has taken some very instructive steps. been a very positive technocratic government. right back to spain, they have also been able to survive under very difficult situations in a macro sense, so it is not all doom and gloom. ashley: there's got to be a light at the end of the tunnel. hopefully it is not a train coming in the opposite direction. jeremy hill, thank you very much for being here. appreciate it. good stuff. >> of the 34, s&p 500 companies that have reported results thus far, almost 59% have actually beat estimates, but with 79 more set to report this week, we are

not out of the woods yet. will the trend continue? sandra smith has more for us in today's trade. sandra? sandra: a lot of optimism when it comes to banks and big financial institutions, especially after we got good news from several of the banks last week and citigroup beating expectations this morning, but here's what we've got for peak week earnings. this is a big one guys. 12 dow components reporting earnings this week. 79 as you just said -- [inaudible] -- s&p 500 companies reporting. huge week across the board. as you were saying, of the 34 companies in the s&p that have already reported, 59% have beat earnings estimates, almost 18% have reported right in line. and it's just about a quarter of those that have reported that have fallen below expectations. so sort of beating all those gloomy forecasts that were out there heading into this earnings season. now, while i said citigroup did beat expectations, that stock up about 4% right now. and that is leading to a boost overall in the financial sector. goldman sachs, guys, this is up

next. it's in the batter's circle for tomorrow. goldman sachs shares by the way up 37% year to date. profits of $2.12 expected. remember, this quarter last year they reported a loss of 84 cents. their revenues are expected to double. analysts love this stock heading into this earnings announcement, guys. watch that. we will be covering it tomorrow. back to you. >> homework assignment by sandra smith. thank you. just ahead, liz claman talks tech with scott black, chairman and president of delphi management, who says there's good buying opportunities in technology. find out which companies have bullet proof balance sheets. it is an exclusive interview you will only see here. countdown to the closing bell is next.

liz: good afternoon everybody. i'm liz claman. it is the last hour of