i hope to see you tomorrow. buh-bye! ♪ [ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," feeling the pinch. all eyes are on this morning's jobs numbers as the u.s. receives a dire warning about its credit rating. hit and run, an ohio teen is in hot water after he crashes into the a police cruiser and then takes off. and midnight madness. residents in the far northern hemisphere are treated to nighttime partial solar eclipse. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry.

today, we begin with fear over the economy. a slew of recent reports have renewed concerns on both wall street and main street over the state of the u.s. recovery. today, the nation awaits what could be a crucial monthly jobs report from the government. all this as the country's stellar credit rating may be in jeopardy. tracie potts joins us from washington with more on all of this. good morning. >> reporter: hi there, lynn. good morning, everyone. economists are predicted 100,000 jobs created last month. it's let me tell less than half the growth we saw from the month before. it raises the question is this temporary or is this the beginning of weakening of this recovery? home sales are down. manufacturing is sluggish. consumer spending is weak. car sales are down. president obama will be visiting a chrysler plant today in ohio and then summer is coming with thousands of pink slips for teachers.

here in washington, critics, mainly republicans, say the increases in food prices and energy prices are make it much worse for americans. but the white house says look at the big picture. we've had 14 months of growth, over 2 million jobs created, compared to 700,000 lost when president obama took office. but now that warning that you talked about, moody's, a credit rating agency says it may downgrade america's stellar credit rating if there is no deal on the debt by mid-july. what do to about the debt ceiling that we've already passed? as a result, tim geithner was on capitol hill lobbying lawmakers yesterday trying to get them to increase that debt limit. >> tracie potts, thank you. >> scientists in europe are probing a deadly outbreak of food poisoning caused by, quote, an entirely new super toxin. the illness is now being blamed for at least 18 deaths and has sickened over 1600, mostly in

germany. three americans who recently traveled in germany are also suspected to have fallen victim to the bacteria. this particular strain is thought to combine a highly poisonous but common toxin with a rarely seen glue that binds it to a patient's intestine. in yemen, tribesmen and loyalist troops fights have intensified. this week, the battle worsened after the collapse of a truce between the forces of a tribal leader and the country's president. tribesmen want the president out of power after three decades. the exact death toll from the clashes is not known, but it's believed security forces have killed well over 100 since february. back here at home, the latest contender for the gop ticket came out swinging and dodging blows from within his own party. republican front-runner mitt romney made his race for the

white house official in new hampshire yesterday. the former massachusetts governor didn't waste any time criticizing his opponent, blaming president obama for the nation's weak economy. meanwhile, noncandidate sarah palin caused a stir of her own in new hampshire, railing against the health plan romney approved while governor in massachusetts. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a high-speed pursuit of a suspect led to a violent crash. a chaotic chase began in west virginia, eventually coming to an end in ohio. after crashing into an officer, the suspect took off and was later stopped and arrested when police fired on his vehicle grazing his leg. new amateur video of the deadly tornado in massachusetts surfaced. a resident stayed in the area

captured the twister as it ripped through homes and trees. hundreds were injured, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency. not all the news was bad in the wake of that massachusetts storm. residents banded together to clear a bright spot for one of their neighbors. clearing away the debris to pull a cat from the rubble. the cat, named merlin, was fine. >> finally, in ohio a chicago man ate his way when he qualified for the july 4th hot dog eating contest. he downed 38 dogs at the competition to earn the invitation. here is bill with the weather channel forecast. >> deep dish pids pizza is good.

what is the name of the pizza in chicago? >> it is good. >> you would know. >> let's talk about the west coast thing. the weather hasn't been the best. good news for the weekend. california coast not so fortunate. yesterday was in the 60s in areas. 83 in june. kind of rare. this is the culprit for the weekend. this is a storm system dropping down. this is going to miss the pacific northwest. this is going to sit and stall off of the north coast. the storm is leaving and kicking up off the north rockies. it is cold enough in the higher terrain. this is going to bring the cool

weather to california. northern portions of the west coast. 73 in portland. cool and cloudy into thenorther. that is where it will be cool and breezy. >> i don't want to start any trouble, but it looks like possible 80s this week end. >> i thought we were waiting to reach 70 in seattle. >> we'll see if we can beat that. wall street waits on jobs, the latest ipo and giving it away. your early morning business

headlines are straight ahead. and the moshing look at the x men in the box office this weekend. >> the mets rewrite the history books and something bugged me about the indians rangers game you are tching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. in arizona, authorities say a man apparently angry over a divorce case went on a shooting spree in the yuma area, killing five before taking his own life. police say the shootings were targeted. the only one victim has been identified, a lawyer who represented the gunman's ex-wife who was cleaning out his office in preparation for his retirement. after being criticized for using a state helicopter to fly to his son's baseball game and a political meeting, new jersey governor chris christie is reimbursing taxpayers.

christie will pay for the trip to the game while the republican state committee is picking up the tab for the political leg of the trip. the spokesperson says while the ride didn't cause taxpayers, the governor understands the sensitivity over the issue. sky watcher in parts of the northern hemisphere got treated to a rare solar eclipse. it began over asia and ended wednesday night. beautiful there. and from the sky to the sea, another rarity. look at that. a blue crustacean was found by a lobster man in canada. the likelihood of a blue lobster being born is about 1 in 4 million. chew on that. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,248 after losing 41 points yesterday. the s&p slid one point, but the

nasdaq gained four. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 62 points while in hong kong, the hang seng plunged 304. as tracie potts pointed out at the top of our show, today there is one word on investors' minds. jobs. earlier this week, a dismal private payroll report sent shock waves across markets and sent economists scrambling to revise estimates ahead of today's big jobs reports. numbers out yesterday showed new claims for jobless benefits fell last week. lackluster retail sales from target and gap added to market's markets finishes yesterday. however, high end retailer s sachs fell 1%. groupon took its first step toward becoming a publicly traded company, filing papers for $750 million initial public offering.

the u.s. treasury is selling its stake in chrysler to italian automaker fiat for $500 million. the u.s. expects to recover all about you about $1.3 billion of the $12.5 billion invested in the u.s. brand. meanwhile, a group of hackers appear to have it out for sony. sony pictures entertainment website was reportedly broken into. finally, how much was all the publicity amazon.com got over its recent one day 99 cent sale of lady gaga's "born this way" worth? the deal actually cost amazon a whooping $3 million. the bugs are back in cleveland, a run away golf cart in turkey. plus, dirk and the mavs say not so fast to the heat. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

in weather, it appears that our summer forecast is setting up hot and dry in many spots. your weekend forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the miami heat's march to the nba title has been knocked off course. turns out the dallas mavericks may have something to say about it. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. we saw it against the lakers. then again against the thunder. now the mavericks have pulled off another improbable comeback, this time against the heat. games two, nba finals. dwyane wade nailed a tough three-pointer. he had 36. miami up 15 and in total control, or so they thought. dallas played locked down defense and started chipping away at the lead. dirk nowitzki caught fired just at the right time. lay-up tied it at 90. fans in miami were stunned. the heat would tie it. nowitzki once again answered the call. one-on-one with chris bosh and he blew by him. dallas up two. miami a shot at the buzzer. wade couldn't get it to fall. after trailing by 15 with six minutes left, the mavs rallied

and stunned the heat, 95-93. baseball, a day after manager terry collins ripped his team for not trying, mets responded in a big way. new york pulled off their biggest comeback in over a decade. carlos beltran got it started with a three-run homer in the third. mets scored four in the sixth. the all excited based loaded walk. the mets won it, 9-8. something really bugged me about the rangers/indians game. it was all about the bugs. rangers swatted the indians, 7-4. finally, classic scene to show you at the ladies turkish open. look what happened, see that guy in the golf cart? punch it. nearly hit three people and wham, right into a tree. fortunately, he was okay. give him the breathalyzer because there's no way he could do that sober. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend.

i'm fred roggin. another huge pile of earnings is expected this weekend at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, let's admit it, we would fought last a minute against these kids. we're going to bring you the winning word in the national spelling bee. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. let me take you through your sunny from vegas to phoenix today. the next storm system will linger in that area. portland 84 and sunny. seattle 75 and sunny. into sunday increase the clouds a little bit. hope you can enjoy it. if you are watching us in seattle. see the classic play warms and the man. comedy about middle class terrorism. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. after last weekend's record breaking box office, the debut of yet another summer blockbuster this weekend is

expected to keep theaters full. x-men first class, the fourth installment in the highly successful franchise, it's a prequel and it's looking back on super heroes and a bad guy mutant and the early days before the split. it's expected to take the top spot with about $50 million. last week's champ and mega earner the hangover did, part ii is expected to post a strong weekend finishing second with around $40 million. the animated family friendly kung fu panda ii is expected to take third place with around $30 million. and showing just how strong this weekend's expectations are for the crowds at the theaters, the already comedy bridesmaids picked to finish fifth is nevertheless expected to take in as much as $15 million. this comes to us from oxen hill, maryland, where one teen showed memorizing the dictionary can lead to a spell binding

experience, winning the national spelling bee. >> cymotrichous. c-y-m-o-t-r-i-c-h-o-u-s. c-y-m-o-t-r-i-c-h-o-u-s. the word means having wavy hair. she won $40,000 in cash and prizes. >> i have spent all morning trying to pronounce the word. >> when she asked for the sentence. a bonjovi reference came into it. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one crafty company is making a lot out of a small idea. in china, miniature clay creations are the latest party favor trend. for $61, customers submit pictures for themselves as a reference for the personalized figurines. the company now receives over 100 orders a day. water levels in a canadian river are dangerously high, but it won't keep away some extreme adventurers. city officials have issued warnings to stay away. no boats, no swimming, not even fishing is allowed on the swollen river. perfect conditions say these

kayakers who claim found the warning, but say that is for the inexperienced. if you are claustrophobic, you may want to turn away at this next story. men began digging dirt to rescue a magician who buried himself alive in a phone booth. safety measures were in place, including a breathing tube and a panic button, which i kind of need just watching the video. makes me anxious. >> that's a good idea. we all should have panic buttons. >> i already have one, bill. i have a whole security team that can come out and totally -- >> take you away? >> yes. i've almost used it twice. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in connecticut, raymond clark iii, the lab technician who pleaded guilty to 2009 killing of yale graduate student annie lay is expected to be sentenced to 40 years in prison. >> in st. louis, federal judgs s

will get updates on progress in the nfl dispute, the owners and players union are trying to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. and resist temptation if you can. it is national doughnut day created in the 50s to honor women who served in world war i. today, it's mainly celebrated by stores that offer doughnuts. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. a live report on the growing concerns over the u.s. dismal economic picture. and for all you die hard boy band fans, the new kids on the block and the back street boys, now known as nkotbsb take the stage for a joint performance live concert. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry.

thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com