benefits" of the federal reserve's latest bond buying program coming from the head of the philadelphia fed bank weighed on the index, and it sank into the closing bell, finishing down 1.1%. trading volume increased from yesterday's pace-- 752 million on the big board; just under two billion on the nasdaq. financial stocks, technology and the materials sector led the losers, down 1.5% each. caterpillar's warning about its 2015 earnings late yesterday hung over its shares today. cat's 4.2% drop waóúude worst among dow industrial stocks. volume doubled with the stock falling to a three-week low. the company blames its muted forecast on an anemic global economy. the good news on home prices today helped home depot become one of the few dow stocks to register gains. shares gained six tenths of a percent. they traded over $60 per share for a time today, ending at their highest price in more than a decade. as the housing market has shown signs of life, home depot stock has been rallying. it's the second best performer in the dow year to date, second

only to bank of america. meantime, more of us may be spending some time out of our homes and on the high seas. carnival cruise lines has seen a gradual improvement in its pricing after the fatal january capsizing of the "costa concordia" in italian waters. quarterly earnings were a dime per share better than estimates. controlling costs and burning less fuel helped make up for lower ticket prices, but the cruise operator expects prices to recover next year. carnival shares didn't create much of a wave today, up only two tenths of a percent, but volume tripled. it was at a 52 week high earlier this month. competitor royal caribbean rose six tenths of a percent, also on heavier than usual volume. while we're talking about vacation stocks, ski resort owner vail resorts climbed to a multi-year high, up 8.2%. it lost less money than feared, but sales of lift tickets for the upcoming ski season are up 21% compared to last year at this time. research in motion is in a pitched battle with the iphone

and android phones, and it's been losing. but the company announced a surprise jump in subscribers for its blackberry service. volume was heavy, with the stock up 4.7%. but the stock remains a fraction what it was a year ago. on thursday, the firm is scheduled to report its latest quarterly results. four of the five most actively traded exchange traded products were down. the s&p 500 volatility note was up 7.9%. it tends to move in an opposite direction than the index. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: one gauge of economic activity is a simple wall

socket. an economy that is humming along is powered by electricity, and much of that power comes from coal. we spoke with greg boyce, chairman and c.e.o. at coal miner peabody energy about the demand for coal and what that demand says about the global economy and his business. >> coal markets are heavily reliant on electricity demand, which is a surrogate for gdp, and for our met lurjical coal it's steal production. and with europe soft, and the u.s. not getting traction, and now china softening, we've already begun to slow down our production base. we may see more of that across the industry over the next quarter or so, and until we see economic activity getting back to where it used to be. >> do you keep one eye on the price of natural gas. how high to natural gas prices have to go. >> there's prices critical to us. our biggest platform is in the

powder river basin in the western u.s. that price is 2.50 if we're above now. the illinois boivin stsz $3 gas. and the east coast that gas competitive price is 4.50. internationally, there's no competition with gas, because it's priced so high that coal is the competitive fuel except in >> where is the customer demand going to come from, considering the regulatory issues in the u.s. when it comes to power plant emigs. >> we're seeing a long term reduction in coal as some of the older power plants phase down, and right now we're seeing new gas being built. we're seeing longer term new base load generating coal coming back into the generating mix in order to have that balanced stable base in the future. >> what about the international customers for american coal.

what are you experiencing there? >> well, internationally, it's a different story. you look at china, india, the rest of the globe. 85% of the goethe in coal is going to come from china and india. coal has been at fastest growing fuel over 10 years, and projected to be the fastest growing over the next 10 years by the i.e.a., and by 2535 it should surpass all forms of energy. those are stiflts that people don't recognize or hear often enough in terms of the grow long term demand for coal. >> you have say unique sper spective. you say coal provides 10% of the electricity in the united states. what's your take on economic demand as we move into the new year? >> well, what we're not seeing is strong industrial and manufacturing demand. not to say that we're not seeing growth in certain areas. i think in terms of economic

activity. we're seeing a little growth, but it's not to the point where it needs to be in our view to make a fundamental difference to getting the economy where it ought to be in terms of higher levels of gdp growth. we appreciate the insights. it's greg boyce, the ceo of peabody energy. you can see our entire interview online at nbr.com. also online, how do long-term investors fit into the market in this age of high-frequency trading? visit nbr.com. tomorrow on nbr, home prices aren't the only things going up in housing-- the cost of land also is on the rise. and the latest efforts for parents and students to make better financial decisions when it comes to paying for college. could this hail mary pass force a breakthrough in one of the country's highest profile labor disputes? a blown call by the replacement referees in the final play of monday night's nfl game gave the

win to seattle over green bay. the regular refs have been off the field over a contract fight, rick horrow points out one key group with millions of dollars at risk has been silent. >> the nfl's referee lockout reached its tipping point last night with one of the most controversial game endings in league history. the green bay packers lost the game, but the biggest loser might be the nfl brand. however, one group of stakeholders that has remained quiet in the replacement ref debate is the sponsors. the real issue for fans, and the reason sponsors haven't weighed in on the controversy, is that the nfl is an inelastic product. neither the league nor sponsors have lost money since the regular refs were locked out. in fact, nearly 60 million viewers watched sunday's games, despite replacements calling the rules. nfl sponsors, including anheuser-busch, pepsi, and verizon, pay tens of millions of dollars annually for the rights to associate with the nfl

shield. until they start to see negative returns on their investments for their shareholders, sponsors will continue to keep quiet. i'm rick horrow. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for tuesday, september 25. good night, everyone. i'll see you online at nbr.com, and back here tomorrow night. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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