for this deciding race in this importt night in wconsin and in national politics v. a good night. wild ride. markets come back from the steep decline brought on by the u.s. credit downgrade. lean machine. a bizarre big rig wreck shuts down part of a major texas interstate. and here comes the sun. nasa sign cysts observe the most powerful solar flare in years. those stories are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

well, we begin this morning with a much-needed rebound. it was another rollercoaster ride on wall street yesterday. but after being beaten and battered monday, bargain-hunters pushed markets to finish tuesday with impressive gains. nbc's steve handlesman has more. >> reporter: the stock markets were bouncing back the day after the big drop, after federal reserve policymakers met in washington, and decided against new intervention. the fed will keep interest rates super low, as a stimulus for two more years and not buy u.s. bonds. >> the fed is out of bullets. anything additional it could do, would have a imaginal consequence. >> reporter: the markets dropped. >> thank you so much for coming out. >> reporter: in iowa, tea party republican, michele bachmann, blamed president obama for the crisis. >> president obama and the politicians have almost doubled the national debt in five years.

that's why we're in trouble. >> reporter: democrats grabbed the gop solution, spending cuts. >> you cannot balance the budget with 19 million to 14 million people. >> reporter: a plane flew a banner. thanks for the downgrade. you should all be fired. and investors realized the fed move guaranteed two years of easy borrowing, could spur business, stocks rocketed up for huge gains. and elsewhere on the economic front, congress is moving forward with plans to finish its recent debt deal. harry reid's office has announced its picks for a bipartisan, congressional supercommittee, charged with the unenviable task of finding more than $1 trillion in spending cuts by the end of this year. nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more on this. >> reporter: good morning. we know 3 members of this

12-member commission. co-chair, patty murray, has been announced by reid's office. she's the chair of the democratic senatorial campaign committee. and she's second in line on the senate budget committee, as well. she was believed to be a favorite for this spot. a front-runner, because she is seen as someone who will protect medicare and protect social security. reid's announcement also named max baucus, senator who was part of the deficit commission last year. but he voted against the final plan, which included scaling back medicare. the third member that reid has picked is senator john kerry. all of them expected to do their best to protect medicare, which is a big priority for the democrats. all the names are due in by next tuesday. three each will be selected by speaker boehner and the minority leaders, nancy pelosi and mitch mcdonald. >> thank you so much. and this new so-called

committee was a hot topic last night. lawrence o'donnell asked e.j. dion dionne, about what they bring to the table. >> his significance is that they can put revenue on the table. they want to talk about revenue. kerry is a national figure. he's endorsed obama's big deal. and patty murray is a loyal party person, who is not going to go way off from where the majority of the caucus is. >> she's on the budget committee. these people know the nuts and bolts. they don't be confused by what's being discussed there. what should the democrats do in the house in terms of appointment of this committee? >> i might finesse it and see what boehner is doing in the house. if he goes to the tea party and says no one who is a moderate

conservative, you know where this committee is going. and you might put more militant people on there. i think she needs a couple of people who are very strong on the democratic position, like barney frank. and somebody more moderate. maybe put steny hoyer on. there's a little tension between pelosi and hoyer. put him on there. >> lawrence o'donnell takes on the day's most compels stories. airs weeknights at 8:00 p.m. eastern, only on msnbc, the place for politics. it was a somber ceremony in delaware yesterday. the remains of 30 american service members killed when their helicopter was shot down in afghanistan last weekend. and they have arrived back on u.s. soil. president obama traveled to dover air force base to meet with the families of the fallen heroes. the military has opened an

investigation into the devastating helicopter crash which led to the single-deadliest loss of u.s. forces in the decade-long war in afghanistan. there's been a fourth night of violence in england, as riots spread across the country. within london, calm has largely been restored, with the help of a flood of police officers. the clashes began this weekend, over the fatal shooting of a man by police. more than 1,100 have since been arrested since those riots began. the clashes have resulted in dramatic scenes. look at that one. and especially worrisome sight, with the country preparing to host the world for the next summer's olympic games. here's your first look at some of the other stories going on around america today. rush hour traffic in houston came to a screeching halt, following this bizarre collision. officials were left scratching their head after an 18-wheeler's trailer smashed into an overhead

sign. no one was injured in the unusual smashup. and the cause is being investigated. it was like a scene out of a movie for three fishermen stranded off the coast of martha's vineyard. the fishermen had to abandon ship after their boat sank. with only life jackets and a camera, the men were able to survive and provided a pretty good director's cut of their own rescue. they were picked up by a fishing boat captain who overheard their distress call. it's that time of year when the hogs take over the black hills of south dakota. the sturgis festival is going on. celebrities, custom made bikes and hundreds of riders take part in the 55-mile wild ride. we turn to nbc's bill karins, with your forecast.

good morning, bill. >> have you ever owned a motorcycle? >> do i look like a biker chick? >> i don't think you've ridden on a motorcycle. >> i have ridden on a little vespa action. don't judge, bill. come on. >> i picture you on your honeymoon. let's talk about the weather forecast around the country. showers and thunderstorms continue to control around the plains areas. that's starting to kick out of new england this morning. expect a dry morning commute there. a lot of wet weather yesterday in southern portions of georgia and florida. that's dried out. we have one last area of thunderstorms that's severe weather, too. rolled through tulsa about an hour ago. now, headed north of ft. smith, arkansas. in kansas, serious thunderstorms with large hail reported. that's going to slide down to wichita, kansas, about an hour right now. as far as the forecast goes, finally relief. the northern plains. we're not getting relief in

texas. but this is a gorgeous air mass that's filtered through the dakotas and minnesota and wisconsin. chicago will have a gorgeous day today. this will be drifting into the ohio valley during the day and eventually arrive here in the mid-atlantic and new england over the next couple days. you'll notice the humidity levels dropping. i mentioned not everyone is going to cool off. we have heat advisories through much of texas, southern oklahoma and louisiana. we made this area much smaller. it is shrinkling. we're taking steps in the right direction. yesterday, it was 107 in dallas. that continues our amazing streak now of 39 days in a row with 100-plus temperatures. we only have three to go to tie the record. that would be on friday. if we can beat it, it would be on saturday. it will be a close call. the temperatures have been forecasted to drop a little bit. friday, now, you're looking at a high of 96. we'll see if we can get there or not. the rest of the forecast, minneapolis, chicago, gorgeous. today is the transition day for us in new york.

the big cities of i-95, humidity drops. and i promise you a nice end to the week. >> let's do that, bill. sounds good. stocks revive, apple shines, and the end of the world for facebook? your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a former yankee strikes in the bronx in a pair of late-inning heroics.

welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the stories making news this morning. republicans held on to control in wisconsin's state senate. with six races at stake, the democrats needed to take at least three of those races to take power, which they failed to do. the political fight grew out of scott walker's successful efforts to adopt legislation, stripping most public workers the right to bargain on labor

contracts. in texas, a jury has sentenced warren jeffs to life in prison, plus 20 years, for sexual assaulting two years he claims was his spiritual brides. he will not be eligible for patrol until he is 100 years old. the waves in a snapped a part of an ice shelf in antarctica some 800 miles away. the icebergs broke away from the shelf following the break. and nasa has released video capturing a powerful solar flare that erupted early yesterday. it is the sun's strongest burst in about four years. and now, here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,239, after climbing 429 points yesterday. the s&p jumped 53 points. the nasdaq spiked 124. looking at overseas trading,

in tokyo, the nikkei grew 94 points. in hong kong, the hang seng grew 452. wall street of course welcomed what little relief the fed had to offer yesterday. and markets overseas followed suit. investors drew comfort from the fed's promise of low interest rates through 2013. however, as traders continued to buy up gold, seen as a safer bet, it's clear many are still concerned about how long this relief rally might last. one big reason for that caution, the central bank's sobering language about the u.s. economy, which it expects to stay weak for another two years. likely the reason why the fed also left the door open for more stimulus down the road. investors' initial reaction made for a wild day of trading. treasury prices spiked, briefly dropping the benchmark yield to its all-time record low. markets seesawed back and forth

six times until stocks made a steep and steady climb before the closing bell. oil futures swung higher, thanks to a new report showing crude inventories fell the most since june. the day's dramatic swings saw apple pass exxon mobil as the country's most valuable company. aol stock lost a quarter of its value, as investors showed impatience about the company's transformation. and the notorious hacker has apparently set its sights on facebook. any youtube video, anonymous has threatened to destroy facebook, on november 5th. a walkoff winner for texas. and a winning streak marches on. plus, a big slip-up by the

twins at the worst possible moment. and it leads to a painful loss.

welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. and players love doing well against their former clubs. and last night in new york, former yankee, bobby abreu had a great time. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> less than two months left in

baseball's regular season. and the pennant races are heating up. to the bronx we go. mets and angels. mario rivera gave up a two-run shot. the former yankee gave up a pair of homers. bottom nine, two down. jordan walton faked to third and caught curtis granderson at second. he took the bat away from teixeira. that was the ball game. yanks trail 6-4. the red sox beat the twins. check it out. tied at 3-3, in the second. david ortiz, a little roller down the baseline. but the pitcher lost his footing and everybody was safe. boston won it, 4-3. there's the mariners visiting the rangers. bottom nine, tied at 6-6. josh hamlin slapped a walkoff single. they lead the angels by a game and a half. now, to st. louis.

cards and brewers needed ten to decide a winner. tied at 3-3, tracy mcgee to center field. milwaukee win 5-3. they lead st. louis by four in the n.l. central. you know the phrase, when you're on, you're on. dan uggla is a perfect example. he increased his hitting streak to 30, as he singled against the marlins. there's martin prado, who had a huge game. four for six and had an rbi single in the 11th. that's your first look at sports. now, another quick look at the weather. here's bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. >> i'm guessing you slip through the rainstorm yesterday. >> minorly. >> two inches of rain in central park. we were drenched. boston had more. boston other two inches of rain. most of the major cities had heavy rain. the exception, washington, d.c.

you got missed yesterday. the rain stayed to your north. as far as this morning goes, the rain has ended in boston. we have a dry morning commute. but the roads are dry in eastern massachusetts. today's forecast, we're starting off with temperatures cooler because of the rain cooldown there. in the 60s or low 70s. that's going to make for a nice afternoon. today is a transition day. there's a little humidity left today. the humidity's going to drop off. and we'll see nice conditions. 90 in philadelphia. 93 in d.c. but the lower humidity will feel much more comfortable. a little taste of gorgeous conditions out there. highs in the 70s and low 80s. and that air mass today is in the great lakes and northern plains. for those few people, enjoy what should be a beautiful day. >> thanks so much. well, the big star battle of the year at the box office. plus, levy johnston's sister is following in his footsteps in more ways than one. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry !

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon," jimmy equated the red sox with the economic woes. >> the yankees are lost all four of their series against the red sox. that explains why today, the s&p downgraded the yankees to the mets. there's been some rough economic news. yesterday, the dow fell 634 points and went below the 11,000 mark. all i can say is it's a good

thing all my money is tied up in beanie babies. yeah. i got happy the hippo, the gray one. yeah. hard to grab. listen to this. yesterday, rush limbaugh accused president obama of trying to inflict as much damage as possible in four years. and then, rush limbaugh's chair accused him of doing the same thing. come on, man. just stand up. am i atlas? come on, man. >> tonight, jimmy welcomes "jersey shore's" snooki, sportscaster, joe buck. that's "late night with jimmy fallon." at 12:35. it's time for your first look at entertainment news. hollywood schedulers have come up with the battle of big screen titans for later this year, during christmas week. in one corner will be opening of

johnny depp's "the lone ranger." in the other corner will be brad pitt's geopolitical zombie thriller. the 19-year-old sister of bristol palin's ex, levi, will be in "playboy." she did blast bristol, calling her the most evil person she's ever known. and she knocks sarah palin for involving and including her brother in the 2008 campaign, as john mccain's running mate. saying, quote, levi was a drop. once they didn't need him, he was out the door. and say what you will about charlie sheen. at least she's being a good sport about his replacement on "two and a half men." sheen is just as curious to see the new version of the show next month. and he thinks ashton kutcher will do a good job. saying, quote, i think ashton's

going to kill it. he has a change of heart. >> i think a lot of us are curio curious. if you're a man of the show, and i was. i want to see how they're going to do it. the federal reserve announced it would keep interest rates near zero for the next two years at least. the question is, after the sugar high of yesterday wears off, what will the united states and president obama do to relive the american economy and get people working? meanwhile, jarring images out of great britain, as the country burns for another night. and 10,000 more police officers fan out across london to stop the riots that have lasted, now, for four days. the question is, if the violence spreads outside london, are the police outmatched and overrun by