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tv   MONEY With Melissa Francis  FOX Business  October 29, 2012 5:00pm-6:00pm EDT

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melissa: i'm melissa francis and tonight on "money", hurricane sandy churning its way through the east coast, paralyzing lives for millions of people in more than half a dozen states from extensive evacuations to widespread power outages to a complete shutdown in transportation systems. we've got all the big money angles covered. first oil prices tumbled to a 3 1/2-month low. major east coast refineries are shutting down right now but will gas prices spike? we're going to tell you if there's a supply shortage just around the corner. say hello to the october surprise. the storm is causing chaos for the presidential campaign and it could turn the outcome of the election
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on its head. the odds of catastrophic damage from the storm are high but there could be a silver lining for he economy. even when you think it's not, it is always about money. melissa: so our top story tonight of course hurricane sandy ripping up the east coast, 90 mile-an-hour winds. storm surges up to 11 feet. hundreds of thousands of people right now without power. the national guard now on the streets of manhattan. train, buses and subways shut down in cities from boston down to d.c. our robert gray is in downtown new york city. robert, what is happening down there? >> well, melissa, the storm is certainly starting to pick up in its intensity a little bit here in battery park at the southern tip of the island of manhattan. we're seeing the gw and vary
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sauce -- verrazano bridges are being shut down. make your plans accordingly. there is no public transit all day. the water is making its way back in. the swales came its way in and entire sidewalk area i'm standing on was filled all the way up to water with the stairs. they have a sandbags, a few hearty souls checking it out. you can see sandbags there trying to keep things back. talking to the owner of the restaurant here. he was telling us that basically it was highest he had ever seen. he was here for irene last year. he has been with the restaurant for about a decade here at battery gardens. saying again it was the most water he had ever seen come up. he seas if it gets to be the 11-foot level, melissa, that will be trouble. he will predicts that will go above the two levels of terrace he has and begin to seep into his restaurant there. back to you. melissa: wow, robert gray, down at battery, normally one of the most beautiful
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places in manhattan at the very southern tip. thanks so much for that report. the storm expected to hit an area responsible for 6.5% of the country's refining capacity. does that mean gas prices are about a spike? stock exchanges shuttered today and tomorrow. what will happen when trading starts again? price futures group senior market analyst phil flynn has been following all the stories for us. i want to ask you, philings because you're at cme. s&p futures will open about an hour from now. investor sentiment pent up because markets closed today and tomorrow. what do you think will happen when the futures open in the 57 minutes? >> i think it will be pretty light volume. a lot of traders said the best way to get a market to stop going doww is shut it down. that negative activity we had going into last couple weeks may actually end. we may get a little bit of a rebound off this market just psychologically, but there is no doubt about the economic damage.
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we're talking about a loss of gross domestic product, probably bigger than irene. maybe $700 billion. definitely could have a negative impact. but traders are long-term thinkers. they think about the rebuilding down the road. that could keep the markets somewhat from falling apart on the opening. melissa: let me ask you about oil and gasoline and prices at the pump. oil tanking today, to a 3 1/2-month low. that is because traders are anticipating that refineries are shut. so the demand for crude oil will be lower. >> right. melissa: what about gasoline? >> you know, i think it is going to be continue to be lower. think about this. we're going through what could be the greatest demand destruction event in the history of the oil market. you've got major cities up and down the east coast totally shut down. we don't know if people will get in their cars for days or weeks. when you talk about the refining capacity on the east coast, really what i'm more worried about, you know, is the oil, the oil imports.
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really, the refining capacity isn't that big of a part of what goes on the east coast. what it is is imports, pipelines. that is the key to this thing. i'm more worried about that than i am refineries. melissa: phil, i don't know. i'm more afraid of flipside. i think people will be back in their cars the next day or two almost no matter what. we'll definitely see a lot of damage out there. people try to get back to their lives. at that point rerealize refineries have been down and maybe we don't see quite the demand destruction you're anticipating and futures pop higher. i think it could go either way i think? >> i think the bottom line how much damage is the storm going to do. that is what i think will determine if prices go up. if it looks like refineries were flooded after they were like isaac and down for a while or imports going to be delayed for a long time then i think --, from the demand side of the equation everybody probably topped off their tank before they went home, locked the doors. melissa: right. >> i don't see the demand coming back as quickly
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as --. melissa: very hard for me to believe retail prices will fall on an event like this. luckily we have a guest coming up that will tell us about that phil, thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thank you. melissa: we have the manager of a lukoil gas station in south plainfield, new jersey. he is on the phone to answer the question we were talking to phil about. what is it like where you are right now? is your gas station open? >> no, closed yesterday 3:00 p.m.. melissa: what is going on with supply in your area and what do you anticipate will happen next? >> as of right now there are a few stations already closed in the area because they couldn't get fuel to our station because of the refinery being closed and as of right now ttey're saying thursday or friday at the earliest we can get fuel at our stations. so we'll be closed down monday, tuesday, wednesday. and if we do get fuel on thursday or friday, then we can startle ising fuel again. melissa: sounds like there
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is definitely going to be a shortage in your area at least? >> i think there will be a shortage in the tri-state area because most of the gas stations can't get fuel because the refineries will be closed. and after the refineries do open up we don't know how much water will be in the refineries that they have to clean out. melissa: that's right. what does it mean for the wholesale price of gasoline as it is sold to you. do you think it will go higher?. >> i think it will go quite high because there are, the hurricane sandy is going to cause the prices to jump up drastically. melissa: and without question you will be raising prices to the consumers that come in, you have no choice? >> as always we have to raise our prices and hurt the consumer because we'll be getting, we'll be paying a lot higher price on the fuel we purchase. melissa: so how long do you think this plays out? you've been through this before. how long do you think this chain of events continues while prices stay elevated? >> well, now, thanksgiving and christmas coming up the
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prices most likely will keep rising because they know that people will be traveling a lot more. so the prices will gradually go back up. melissa: that's not normal for this time of year. this is the time of year when we've switched over to the winter blend of gasoline and we normally see prices falling and it is something a lot of economists have anticipated, that gas would get cheaper right when consumers need it. you're pretty sure that will not be the case at least in your area. how big of an effect will that be? you think the whole tri-state area, the whole east coast? >> way the storm is coming across the east coast i would assume the whole east coast is going to get hit with higher gas prices because there will be a big surge in demand needing fuel. melissa: yeah. unless we can import it from other states or import it from europe in which case it will raise everyone's price across the country. this is definitely a domino effect we need to watch going forward. khalid, thanks for coming on. we appreciate your time. stay safe out there. >> thank you very much for having me.
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melissa: talk about the storm of the century, 25% of the nation's economy could get hit. initial estimates for the impact are many could -- coming in as high as $20 million. believe it or not there silver lining. we'll find it for you. might be a boom to the economy. peter morici braced the elements to get to a studio to talk about this thanks for coming in. we appreciate your inside sight. you're estimate is bigger than the impact we just quoted. i think it could be 45 billion. how come? >> essentially irene cost us about 20 billion in terms of destruction and so that's a good starting point for this storm. then you have the lost commerce. new york city, the stock exchange, washington, philadelphia, boston, are all closed for several is days. you pretty much double that because of the lost commerce. so we start out in a hole of about 40 to $50 billion. the question is, how much do we get back from the rebuilding process? we're going to rebuild more
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than we lost. we always do that. a lot of this is prime property and could benefit from, you know, bigger buildings, better buildings and so forth. and some of the lost commerce, people that didn't go to brooks brothers today to buy a fall suit will go next week. so not all of it will be lost but there will be additional spending on construction and so forth. we have a lot of unemployment in that sector. melissa: yeah. -p>> so we won't be moving them out of doing something else but rather we'll be getting them back to work. so it is kind of a stimulus in a way. but in the end we'll do okay. melissa: i think it is even bigger stimulus than that. i got to tell you, i was out in new york all weekend, everybody place was jammed, shelves were empty. people were buying stuff they would never normally buy. every flashlight was gone. every batter are. every snacks and entertainment. wal-mart and target people are coming in to clearing is out. they're seeing holiday merchandise, potentially buying stuff.
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like you said anything i didn't go out and shop today i still need it. whether something for thanksgiving, something for halloween. not like that need went away. i will do later. net-net i end up spending more money as a result of this storm. i really don't think i'm alone. >> i think you're absolutely right and you're not alone. that is why i think the gdp effect will be essentially positive. two years from now gdp will be higher than it would have been had we not had the storm. there is still lost wealth. there are people that will take a hit. we shouldn't minimize that. but the big thing is it gives us a chance to rearrange our resources. when this happens it is almost like urban renewal. shore property gets used in more productive ways. so it goes with prime property in manhattan that may be destroyed. i think this is an opportunity that is what makes america great. earthquake took out san francisco and they built a better san francisco. the fire took out chicago and they built a better chicago. i certainly don't want the
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catastrophe to befall new york city. melissa: no. >> but we're going to have a better new york because that's what new yorkers do. listen to governor cuomo. melissa: we don't want to membership mize any injury to any person out there. obviously always tragic when anything like this happens and but this is a show about money and that's why we're talking about the money angle of it. >> yeah. melissa: there is insurance to cover a lot of the major damage that you're talking about. there is also federal rebuilding as well. that is a potential boom the travel industry was saying they might be the ones that really lose out because people don't travel. if you're somewhere people have to get back. who has a net loss over time that isn't recouped? >> it is somebody like the airlines the flights they lost these last couple days won't be necessarily recouped. certainly not all of them. the people who have direct loss of property that don't have adequate insurance, they will lose. there's a difference between talking about what happens across the entire economy on a net basis where there are
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gainers and losers but there are people that lose but overall the economy will be richer for it. that's really a paradox people have trouble putting their arms around. melissa: and they buy more insurance in the future. we're trying to look for a bright side here as we're sitting in the middle of this storm. peter, thanks for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> take care. melissa: next on "money" the flood damage costs are expected to be extraordinary but federal flood insurance, could be taking tab necessarily, more money and flooding coming up. [ male announcer ] you are a buness pro.
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melissa: flood insurance obviously a big issue. everyone wants a beachfront home, right? until now. let's go to fox business's jeff flock in point pleasant, new jersey. what is the latest. >> the latest we have complete overwash on all the beaches. excuse me back. i want to keep my eye on the atlantic as it is rushing over us.
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we're starting to get water rushing up over the berm and into backyards. as you report there are a lot of homes along the ocean on south jersey. this is about ground zero for this hurricane. many of them that i see are boarded up right now. but i'll tell you if you get the kind of surge we're talking about here, i don't know, i'm hopeful that that we we'll not get a killer surge. perhaps looking at that ocean back behind me, it is intense. we've had water washing over these best of your memories and down into the street -- berms. we are about two hours away from high tide, and we're getting fairly close to the center of circulation coming just to our south ear. now, every once in a while you see this stuff fly up. that is what is going to continue to happen here and beat this shore and beat these homes for the next, oh, i'd say probably three, four, five hours. here comes a good one. maybe you see it right behind me. that is what we're looking
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at. this is surge, storm surge. and it is going to keep coming. melissa: all right. jeff, be careful out there, my goodness. please stay safe. >> oh, yeah. melissa: wow! all right. no surprise giving that picture that federal flood insurance claims will probably be sky-high from hurricane sandy. last year during hurricane irene the government's flood insurance reported back insured losses more than $1.3 billion. with me now is gene salvatore re. vice president of insurance information institute. thanks for coming on the show. do you think this will be an event of the same magnitude? >> it is hard to tell. there will be a lot of flooding. this is basically a big flood event in love of these areas. melissa: fema back as lot of insurance. there are private companies as well. how does it all get divided up? >> basically how it works if you have a home insurance policy you're not covered for flooding. so you need to get separate
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flood insurance. most people buy flood insurance from the national flood insurance program. some people can choose to get it from a few private insures companies. melissa: i feel like federal flood insurance encourages people to buy luxury homes in spots that are not safe or spots they wouldn't choose to live in otherwise. should the taxpayer be helping to make someone whole who has a 10 million dollar home in a hurricane area in florida? or who lives in an earthquake prone area in san francisco and they paid a lot of money and it is the taxpayer who comes in and helps to make them whole? >> there are reforms in place to basically over the next few years, the national flood insurance program will be more actuarily sound but we see with a lot of these storms, a lot of the damage actually is inland. but for instance, with hurricane irene, we saw a lot of flooding upstate new york and places like that. yes there are people who have the beach homes but there is lot of people who live further inland who really do need to get flood
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insurance. melissa: absolutely by i wonder at a certain price point does it make sense? there is cap on insurance, 250,000 for the structure, 150,000 for your personal items. the government pays a portion of that. the taxpayer does. they pay about 40% under that cap. >> it depends on the year. in a year where there is a lot of disasters, a lot of floods the subsidy is little higher than in a year where there's not but those people who live in very, very high-risk areas, are also paying a larger premium. but on average, i mean the big problem though is quite frankly people don't buy flood insurance. this is the big problem. that even with the subsidy, people are not buying it. and that we find that less than 20% of people actually have flood insurance. a lot more people need it than that. melissa: well, but i think that is sort off topic what we're talking about though, because we're talking about the federal program, i wonder people on the coast who buy homes are in all the high-risk areas, if they get a payout of in this case, 20%, that is 160,000 dal
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from taxpayers who make whole someone who lives in a very expensive home in beautiful area. obviously they don't need that money from taxpayers. should we reform the system so you're not encouraging people to build very expensive homes on the cliffs of malibu, in a hurricane zone in florida, on the beach in some places in new jersey where you have mansions in san francisco on earthquake lines? >> actually those are very good questions. and it is beyond just the national flood insurance program. should we be building in these areas? those people also pay a lot more for homeowners insurance. melissa: and they should and that makes sense and should buy it. i just don't think taxpayers should be in on any part of it helping in very expensive situations. >> those are, that is one part of it. there is a lot of other people who are at risk for flooding. melissa: sure. >> unfortunately are not buying the flood insurance. a lot of ways that is the really big problem. melissa: we'll see as a result of all of this really probably a push for even more flood insurance as people see what happens in the aftermath.
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this will be something we're talking about for a while. jean, thanks so much for coming on, we appreciate it. >> thank you. melissa: coming up the storm sucking the area out of presidential election. the final campaign push is brought to a screeching halt. details ow it could change the entire election day equation. you can never have too much money but you can have too much rain and wind, let me tell you. from local communities to localusinesses. the potential of yelp unlocked. ny euronext. unlocking the world's potential. to a currency market for everyone. the potential of fxcm unlocked. nyse euront.
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melissa: breaking news right now. a management shuffle at apple. adam shapiro has details. >> this is shuffle investors want to pay attention to. search for new head of retail is underway according to apple. he has been there only since april. you have to wonder whether lack of sales of ismd ipads, only 14 million in last
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quarter. also big news, scott forestall will leave next year he is interim advisor. you wonder whether the ios problems with the new map software is behind him leaving next year. melissa: that is the latest. adam, thanks so much. sandy throwing a wrench into the early voting some experts say could be a game-changer. week out both candidates had to scrap campaign plans today. peter barnes with what happens if early voting is widely interrupted. >> early voting a big part of president obama's re-election campaign. we're looking here at key battleground states in sandy's path. two of them, pennsylvania and new hampshire, they don't have any early voting. so not even an issue with those two but in a state like virginia where we do have early absentee voting it is having an impact. the state of virginia closing 20 polling places today because of bad weather. advising local registrars in
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precincts try to keep offices where they can in this storm but we're hearing talk of generators. now the president's campaign and mitt romney's isrupt ited by all the bad weather. both of them canceling and skipping events today. the president returning here to the white house to meet with his emergency response team in the white house situation room this morning and to oversee the crisis response. afterwards he briefed reporters who asked him if he is worried about the storms disrupting the election next week? >> i'm not worried at this point about the impact on the election. i'm worried about the impact on families and i'm worry about impact on first-responders. i'm worried about the impact on our economy. and on transportation. you know, the election will take care of itself next week. melissa: now the president obviously has center stage here in his role as commander-in-chief. governor romney we're hearing though may now tour
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the storm damage in virginia and new jersey once the hurricane passes. melissa. melissa: peter barnes, thanks so much. speaking of the election, just as the storm is causing blackouts my next guest says our whole energy policy is wrong. he says there could be more than half a million jobs created in swing states in the next three to five years from hydrocarbon energy. mark mills is senior fellow with the manhattan institute. i was really interested to read your study. i thought one of your most interesting points was that we are oriented towards conservation and protectism of domestic resources right now but we could actually be a major producer and could be exporting energy which seems hard to get from here to there. you really think we have that much? >> well i know we have that much and this is the real surprise. in energy policy that we have to really change how we look at energy fundamentally. we've operated under the basis from almost half a century now since the big
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oil embargo of 1973 on the assumption that we're running out of oil, that we can't make enough here and only way out of this is find replacements for oil or conserve our way out of it. both those are important by the way, they continue to be important but what happened the last few years has taken everybody by surprise is fastest growing oil producing province in the world is the united staaes of america. we're now a net exporter of refined hydrocarbon products, gasoline, diesel fuels. we could become, given resources we have, one of the largest exporters of all three hydrocarbons, coal, oil, natural gas. we could become a exporter in if you think in the north american sense a net exporter of oil in the world in the next decade. we have six times the total resources in these hydrocarbons that the whole middle east has. melissa: we do. just when you make the middle east comparison it is more expensive to get oil and natural gas, you know, this route from fracking, from shale, through
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hydrocarbons than it you is in saudi arabia where oil is basically laying on the surface. even still you want to make a great point. you make a great point for everyone direct hydrocarbon job there are also six jobs added in a range of sectors as a result of that. so there is a multiplier% effect here as well. >> absolutely. let me just quickly say that the technology changes the cost of these resources. doesn't just unleash them. but eventually the technology makes our resources competitive with declining resources in the middle east. but your point on jobs is the one i'm most interested in as well. most people think of these jobs as hard-hat jobs. guys in the field drilling and digging. they are. they're high value jobs but they generate jobs in the information technology industry, health care industry, manufacturing industry. in fact ohio has under construction a almost billion dollar steel mill for the first time in junk town, ohio. -- youngstown, ohio. it is being built to provide oil and gas manufacturing
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pipe for the state of ohio. ohio and dozen other swing states are enjoying a boom because of cheap natural gas. melissa: i do you one better. cheap and abundant natural gas and energy to fuel it and comes full circle. thanks for coming on. i wish we had more time. >> thank you. melissa: sandy on the brink of landfall. hundreds of thousands are already without power. floodwaters are rising. look at that. we have new details on the storm's path and punch next. pyle "piles of money" and too much money coming up we have big dreams.
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where is his mother? i think that person's mother is somewhere having a heart attack. look at museuming it is a buy. that could be a woman all i can see from here. that is my bad. hurricane sanity did i taking a toll. our team covers every single angle. accuweather meteorologist is here with us. we have adam shapiro with the latest on the power outages. let's start with fox business's robert gray live in downtown manhattan where residents have been evacuated since yesterday although some are choosing to jet-ski. >> yeah, that's right, melissa. they are indeed. in fact we just saw a fire department of new york boat going the way following the jet-skier. we were looking if there was a confrontation or possible arrest. they have gone out around the bend. we'll see if he comes roaring back. we'll keep you posted on that. when you came to us at top of the hour when i was standing on sidewalk at southern tip of manhattan in battery park just a little trickle of water. now look at my feet. totally underwater.
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basically playing in the puddles here. you see the rapidity which the storm is starting to move in. rain is picking up a little bit. it is fun, can't see it, but pelting down on us right now. we're seeing swells come in. a little bit of a surge. we're basically at the high water mark of the day. we were close to the same level this morning at high tide, between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m.. it receded back below the seawall. obviously as the tide comes back in and as the storm moves closer you see the water is starting to move in here. we're seeing about 3 1/2 to five feet was the water level up to the top of the seawall at 4:00 a.m. when we came out to our post this morning. it is easily now above that and starting to come in. we talked to the owner and operator of the restaurant just up here and he was telling us if it gets to the 10 or 11-foot mark, which they're saying it could, which would set records coming in from new york harbor if the surge goes that high, that will start to get into his restaurant.
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it will also start to flood other areas in lower manhattan, particularly over on the east side by the south street seaport area. if you've been to new york and know that location it is very much right there at the same level pretty much as the east river. some parts maybe even below. the fire department folks were here. they said that is the area they're most concerned about. the elevators are turned off. if folks in the there have a heart attack, a stroke, if someone needs assistance it will be a lot more difficult to get up there, to get them if they didn't evacuate. that is one of the reasons they're concerned about people staying home and not going to shelters or going elsewhere if they're able to. we did run into some intrepid folks out there, not only tourists but some locals either on the cusp of the evacuation zone or maybe skirting the issue a little bit. they said they did profind provisions. they did hunker down. some had extra wine to tied them over, whatever it takes. new yorkers are hungering
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down and getting ready for sandy. melissa: i'm sitting you there holding that wire while standing in water. i'm concerned about you as well. >> rubber boots. melissa: i feel better. justin and adam shapiro. justin, the water at robert's feet has risen significantly over the past 30 minutes. where are we in this whole storm? >> well, i don't think we've reached the height of it yet. where robert is at we could see two, 2 1/2 three feet water level rise. high tide is not until later on this evening. you have to go all the way back to 1960 to talk about regards records. battery park, water level rice of 1 feet. i think we'll be 11, 12-foot rise 8:00, to 8:30 time frame in battery park. hopefully robert steps back up the stairs or that water will engulf him. melissa: he definitely needs to step back a little bit. adam, when i came to the
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studio i count the 648,000 people in the tri-state area currently without power. is that getting worse? that is nothing? >> yesterday's news. we're almost at a million. we're actually at a million. melissa: wow. >> real quick, i will give you numbers and tell you about something, electrifying. robert keep wearing rubber boots. new jersey electric and power 22,000. atlantic city electric, 104,000. manhattan con-ed, 67,000. long island power authority, 316,000 without electricity. connecticut light and power 185,000. these numbers literally every 10 minutes are growing quite rapidly. i can go to the web sites. they post numbers there. i want to read something not related to electricity but charlie gasparino was reporting all day long, melissa about the nasdaq as well as nyse closing down. we found out this afternoon that the treasury department held a meeting of the financial stability oversight committee. i will read you the exact statement from treasury about what they discussed
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because it seems highly unusual in a hurricane they would do this but, quote, secretary geithner this afternoon convened members of the financial stability oversight council by telephone to discuss financial markets and infrastructure as hurricane sandy approached the eastern seaboard. the council received briefings regarding conditions and equity bond swaps commodities and futures markets, bank and federal savings association closing in areas affected by the storm aad treasury auctions that took place earlier today. all major payments clearing and settlement infrastructures are operating normally utilizing backup contingency sites as necessary. melissa. melissa: adam, thanks so much. before we go, i want to make sure robert is still okay and ask you, is the wind and rain getting worse? i see water getting higher but doesn't look like the wind is whipping quite as hard or is that just the shot we're looking at? >> it is both, medical list sacht the wind is pick up a little bit. it is getting dark out here.
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maybe bushes starting to blow a little bit there. our producer, is staying out of the water, yeah. definitely maybe can see some of the garden lanterns over there hanging from the trees. the globes are starting to blow a little bit. starting to pick up a bit, melissa. it has been kind of on quiet side during the middle part of the day, quiet before the storm. it is definitely picking up about an hour ago. battery is one of the most beautiful places to visit down at end of the island. i hope damage is not too ex-extensive..3 get out of the water. appreciate it all three of you. u.s. markets will be shut down for a second straight day tomorrow. we'll tell you how much turmoil will be waiting for investors when they reopen on wednesday. at the end of the day, it is all about money. follow the wings.
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melissa: hurricane sandy shutting down wall street. all u.s. markets closed tomorrow. first time they have closed unexpectedly since 9/11.
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the cme group will reopen futures markets in 12 minutes from now. the overnight electronic trading will be open. spencer patton, chief investment officer with steel investments. great to have you on the show. what do you think will happen when futures opens in minutes? >> thanks for having me. i don't know that we'll get an enormous move when we open in a couple minutes. when the futures closed this morning, s&p was down five points. -pyou've got a big support level at 1400 on the s&p. my bet is that we open somewhere around there and start to test that out. but once we go overnight and you still have the markets closed in the mornings, the machines will take over tonight and who knows what could happen in the market when the algorithms get in control. it's crazy. melissa: it is a market that is electronically traded now which is one of the reasons why people were surprised and dismayed that the exchanges shut down when, you know, so much of it is remote and electronic. do you think it was really necessary and what message does it send? >> i mean such a good point and not enough people are
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talking about this. i hope this becomes the storyline because this is a very telling statement of saying that the powers that be do not trust this market to just run electronically. having people on the floor as circuit breakers and order flow that they still generate some is important to keep everything in check because the worst thing that could happen is that we would go all electronic on a day like today when we wouldn't have as much volume and get a flash crash or get crazy volatility where people are kind of blocked out of the market. that would be devastating for confidence in the market but it sends a clear signal this market is not ready for electronic trading and that is the direction we're headed in. it is something we have to pay attention to. melissa: although there were traders on the florida when the flash crash happened. there were traders on the floor when knight capital happened and the like, so, i mean we've had instances with people there. >> that's right. i think that's, it is really humans losing control a little bit of the system. i think that's why everybody has gotten more and more
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panicked and why the confidence in the market really at all-time lows. people don't trust the market. it feels very phony. seeing trading increments in fractions of a penny now is really a lot of the problem. if we saw increements that were just a nickel, still very, very tight but not a fraction of a penny, we could see a little bit more order flow that wouldn't make high frequency trading so profitable. what is happening because it is so profitable we're seeing more and more people get on board with high frequency trading and overwhelming the remaining volume on the floor. it is not nearly as profitable. melissa: spencer, real quick before we run out of time what would you buy as a result of what happened the past couple days with markets closed? have there any opportunities been created? >> look at rbob gasoline of the if the refiners get hit in new jersey and pennsylvania and end up losing power or being shut down for extended period of time you could see a real spike in gasoline. airlines will really suffer.
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l not only having to cancel flights but they will have to cancel more than what they have already canceled. you're seeing fuel prices come up. they're a the worst imaginable that would be a place to be short. melissa: absolutely. that rbob trade is very interesting one. that is the gasoline contract, a lot of folks saying opposite what you just did. i have a feeling you could be right. that may be the best up it of the day. we'll keep eye on it. and if we're wrong i will disavow i agreed with you. be ready. just kidding. >> one time, it is one time you can never root for gas prices to go higher. >> that's true. thanks so much for coming on. vast numbers of east coast residents are evacuating with sandy about to hit shore but all too many are staying behind to ride out the storm. stay tuned for more "money". we'll be right back. 4g lte is the fastest.
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so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the formatltogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with veriz. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than a other networks combined.
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♪ melissa: aal right. it is time for spare change storm addition. we have our very own david asman. look at that. >> i'm going outside. melissa: he's a soaking wet. all right. we love watching the weather life. here is a good one. stich got happened -- what happened to one of abc reporters covering the storm. >> standing close to this shoreline. timing those waves watching the water van. he has been in these situations a lot, by the way.
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melissa: wow. that is right. is that is what you are dust like this? >> that was chip recall one of the luckiest reporters. no one is going to remember these guys when it is over except for that famous. youtube reporter stuck in a drink. melissa: except for when they had al rucker holding on to the poll. came in that way. >> rembrandt and separate. >> i think that is a you to start. here is one that is helpful in a storm. melissa: the on-line versions drop their payrolls. they want to ensure people have open access to coverage. the weather channel live streaming of the coverage on line. are they generous? is this a fantastic marketing move? >> i don't know. i get the wall street journal. i used to work there. paid for it. and did not have it this morning the new york stunned delivered,
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but the "wall street journal" was an. >> listen, a million people are without power right now. the people who don't have power, chances are they don't have internet connections, so what good is it? if you're at a power. melissa: that's a great point, although in manhattan we still have power. i don't know. what do you think? >> a brilliant marketing move. that is when the press is all hyped-up. people pay more attention to the media. >> you're saying we are hyping the storm? melissa: pretty serious. a huge deal. >> this time the hype is in line. >> governor christie said, if it turns out that we built it up for more, it's worth it.
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all right. mine was bright yellow. even better. let's talk about evacuating. melissa: officials are telling people, the people that have to come back and rescue them if the situation is really dangerous. for the first time i agree with the mayor. it's actually selfish not to evacuate. you put a live the lives in danger when they have to come back and rescue. >> i have a buddy it does search and rescue in montana and invariably the areas that think because they have a cell phone and a swiss army knife they can go out to montana. of those people here in the city that think. frankly, i'm going to have to walk com. melissa: the guy on the gst. i don't know if you saw him. >> you're putting emc said fair teeseven wrist. that's not fair. melissa: i assume it was a guy. it could have been a woman. >> you're probably right. >> women would not do that. you never see women just being in a hurricane. >> that's

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