do you want to go to alison kosik or zain vergee first? zain, stay with us. alison kosik, to you.points now. we suspected this was going to happen. it's not getting any better as the minutes tick on. an hour and a half in. >> yes. >> half an hour in. 30 minutes in now. >> half an hour in. we are seeing the losses on the dow accelerate a bit. what's spooking the markets? more talk of recession. morgan stanley saying the u.s. and europe are dangerously close to another recession within the next year. morgan stanley also lowering its global growth outlook for this year and next. what's morgan stanley blaming? blaming policy mistakes. meaning lawmakers here and in europe. they didn't act fast enough to get a handle on these debt problems. losing confidence of consumers and businesses. important caveat, morgan stanley says we're close but it still does not expect a recession to happen. still that headline really grabbing investors, sending them to the exits. the dow now down 469 points. >> okay. alison kosik, still watching the numbers for us. appreciate it now. other breaking news sto

alison, what are you feeling? what is your sense?> reporter: futures have been all over the map but still pointing higher to green arrows. looks like the dow could open in the triple digits but still a volatile day. in fact, wall street has an index that measures that called the vix. known as the fear index and shows how volatile the market has been lately and, lately, it's been surging up 50% yesterday and opening today at the highest level since march of 2009. few things that affect vix. it's the slowing economy, the european debt problems. i want to point this out. with all of these big dramatic moves stocks have been making lately, there have been a lot of comparisons to 2008. but keep in mind that this vix, this fear index is nowhere near where it was back then during the financial crisis because believe it or not, the economy is in better shape now than it was back in 2008. doesn't mean it's easier to take today, but that is the reality here. kyra? >> christine, you talked. you were the first talk about it yesterday, the downgr

alison kosik on the floor of new york stock exchange actually talking to a trader he. alison?, it is volatile today, but i'll tell you what it feels like a new day. we're seeing green across the board, ythe dow up, the nasdaq and s&p also in the green. i'm here with allen valdez. he's about dme xpusecurities. what's driving the trade today? >> you're 100% right. very volatile and heavy volume. the volume is close to a billion shares. only an hour into the trading day. but we had early news out of citibank where they kind of pulled back on their gdp expectations going forward this year. but basically that's been it it. out of washington, very light news, out of europe kind of light news today. more options. a lot of option trading. >> this is still a headline-driven market, a fragile market. it can really turn on a dime. >> right. we had a 200-move already, a little past 10 ooflt 30. these markets move so fluidly, quickly, like you said on a dime. >> are these green arrows going to stick today? >> it will be a tough day. remember options expire later on. you may see some of the

there is where we stand. >> alison, where we stand now.ere talking about this a short time ago. the futures weren't looking too bright for an opening that was going to be down a bit and here we go seconds into the trading day and down 130 plus points. >> reporter: exactly. not everything come up pros to say the least. the dow down 138 points. keep in mind it's not a huge surprise to see a pullback after we had such a big rally and kind of get used to this because we are likely to see more of these wild swings until the market finds a new trading range. of course, we all want to know you know, when are we finished with the downward spiral. doesn't look like it's happening soon. expect the negative momentum to continue. volatility is the word of the day yet again. but you know what? if you look at yesterday swings, you kind of have an inkling how things will go today. you look at the dow between its lowest and highest points it swung in a range of 640 points and see-sawed across the break-even point more than 30 times during the trading day.

ali velshi, alison kosik, poppy harlow, hau. check in with you later on. >>> putting vets back to work. president obama has a plan for troops returning from iraq and afghanistan. he will unveil it this morning. we will have a preview coming up after the break. >>> also ahead, tanks and gunfire in streets of syrian city streets. we will have a live report. >>> take ago look at the big board. the dow jones industrials is up climbing steadily since the opening bell. the numbers right there. could be a good day. >>> in less than two hours president obama is laying out a plan to help the veterans to find jobs here at home coming back from iraq and afghanistan. brianna keilar, tell us about the president's upcoming announcement. what does he hope to do? >> reporter: big focus on unemployed veterans and getting them back to work. we have advance information about the plan that would include tax credits to businesses that hire veterans. incentives for the private sector to hire veterans and also more training and career counseling to so

alison kosik is here with tips. sense of what we should be doing here, we have a lot of questions about this. what do we do with our investments, particularly those who are close to retirement? >> it's no surprise, suzanne, people are worried. according to a new cnn/orc poll, 55% of americans say the drop in the stock market affected their financial position. whether you're young or a few years away from retirement. there are important steps to take to limit the damage. matt mccall says, first, don't panic. making emotional decisions are typically the wrong ones. long-term investment choices that influence your retirement should not be based on short-term market volatility that we're seeing now. so changing your entire portfolio strategy is not a good choice. if anything, look at the widespread weakness as an opportunity to buy into solid companies at a discounted price. it's similar to walking into a saks fifth avenue with a 25% sales sign in the window, suzanne. >> it's good for long-term investors. folks who have

cnn's alison kosik and cnn money.com paul is joining me. alison, you first. how big are these losses and what brought on this huge sell-off, anyway? >> hey, fredericka. the losses are holding steady. the dow down about 436 points. they're off their lows of this session where we saw the dow down as much as 500 points. this is coming after morgan stanley kind of set off an alarm bell saying that the u.s. and europe are looking like they're getting close to going into a recession. morgan stanley also downgrading its growth forecast globally for this year and next. also not helping we got a bunch of economic reports here in the u.s. one on jobless claims showing a rise in jobless claims, the jobs area something that this economy really wants and needs at this point and not seeing. we also got a very weak regional manufacturing report showing contraction and a weak housing report showing sales declined about 3.5%. see what you do when you olympic all that together you get a big sell-off and that is what we're seeing right now. frederic fredericka? >> that as it lo

alison, is that what's going to land you a new gig?t certainly is a good possibility of a way to get a job, suzanne. you know, if you've been laid off, out of work, looking for a job, out of the jobs report we found that there were jobs in health care, retail, trade manufacturing and mining, those that we saw gains in those areas and a decline in government jobs is one down side to that report. a new career builder survey finds that 54% of workers found new jobs in entirely different fields than where they worked before. here are some examples. a financial adviser becoming a teacher. a music teacher transitioning into an animal care tech it fig and a bookkeeper who became a truck driver. suzanne? >> wow! that's pretty incredible. so if you did a complete 180 in your career that's pretty jarring for your folks. how do you know if your skills are right for a new career path? >> you know, you really have to get the training and the background. one interesting thing that's aligned with that is kind of the anxiety about switching careers an

alison, what do we know about the economic policy? >> well, we know that he, before he was nominated to this position, he was at the treasury department and once he was there, what he did was he analyzed a lot of the programs like tax incentives and the cash for clunkers program to give incentives for americans the buy cars and those kinds of things and the incentive-filled programs to get this economy moving and the focus that you heard the president speak about is jobs, because, you know, jobs is really what's the job sector is hurting this economy right now, and you know, if americans don't have jobs, they are not going to spend money, and spending the money is really the engine of economic growth to get us moving forward. we have a big jobs report coming out friday and it is expected that 73,000 jobs were added in august, and obviously, that is not even enough to keep up with the population growth, so you will see that there is a lot of focus on krueger, and he will wind up being more of a public voice as the president lays out hi

then we'll be back with alison.ell us how to avoid ruining your chance of getting the best mortgage refinance. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. p. >>> we're back with more on whether it makes sense right now to refinance your mortgage. our alison kosik joins us again from new york with top tips. alison, there are ways you can actually ruin your chances of getting the best mortgage refi deal. >> exactly. so greg mcbride from bankrate.com says, you've got to be realistic about your home's value. the most common reason for being denied is that the

we have ali velshi, poppy harlow, alison kosik and dan lothian now.ers, and tell me again the last time we saw the dow down this lo. low. alison, are you with me? okay. not there. ali, last time we saw the numbers this low, 2008? >> yes, and it's not just that. it's the percentage loss you're looking at on the right side. this is accelerating. often you see a turnaround in the moments leading off to the sell-off -- >> crossed the 500 mark. >> we're down more than 500, 34.25%, and the worst is s&p 500 which has more to do with your portfolio is down more than the dow. pretty much every stock on the nasdaq 100, save for one is down, every single stock -- these indexes are combinations, baskets, basically, that's what you're seeing. this was triggered by a panic overseas based on the intervention of two central banks, the japanese central bank and european central trying to deal with italy. those two things created a panic. i've been on phone all afternoon, brooke. american companies have been reporting earnings for the last two weeks, many have been ver

alison is right. headline-by-headline market. >> alison, to bring you back in here.head, alison? you still with me? >> reporter: i was going to say, to piggyback off what she is saying. it is still earnings season and some of these companies are beating wall street expectations. those are sort of the little glimmers of light we are seeing. we are getting optimism from cisco that shares are up 14% and network equipment make is what cisco systems is. making good progress on cost cuts. in normal times it could lift the broader market for longer than five minutes. see fountain rally we are having right now lasts. investors are also looking to the bare bones of what makes wall street tick and that is the companies that make up the stocks here, for instance, at the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: let me make a quick point. she is making a good point about cost-cutting and the reason companies are able to have better profit and good for investors but job cutting means job cuts. in cisco's case that is job cuts. something is happening for investors and for wall street

let's go to alison kosik once again. alison, it looks pretty good. talk to me about some of the drivers. >> so green and lots of it. i'll tell you what. it's a much more cheerful color on the big board, but i'm afraid to say it, but brooke, today's huge gains seem so mundane after what we've been through. >> we'll take it. >> yeah, we'll take it. what really drove the markets today were the worries subsiding about france's debt being downgraded. all three set rumors are unfounded, so they swooped in, scooped up bargains after stocks had taken such a beating. we're also seeing the markets trying to find their equilibrium at this point after such huge price swings. still, a different mood here today. there's a lot less nervousness, and we'll take it after the week we've had. brooke? >> we will take it. al alison, stand by. paul, we're looking at the dow. what about s&p and nasdaq. how did they fare? >> we had a great day for pretty much the broad stock market. the s&p 500 and nasdaq both surging as well. i would be cautious as alison. keep in mind that

let's talk to alison kosik.oonish image of making more money, but a real option, right? >> it is a real option. what the fed calls it is quantitative easing. the fed wrapped up a second round of it called qe-2 where it pumed $600 billion of brand spanking newly printed money into the economy. one of the goals in dog this was to lower the unemployment rate. the question is, did it work? it during that time, the jobless rate fell from 9.8% to 9.2%. so in that respect it was well received on wall street because what it also did is create a wealth effect, saw it it in our 401(k)s, makes everybody feel wealthier. the s&p 500 was up, the dow j p jumped during the months it was in effect. despite what we've seen in the last couple of weeks, it's held on to most of those gains. beyond lowering the unemployment rate, it it's questioning whether pouring money into the economy actually works because what it winds up doing is devaluing the dollar. t that can lead to inflation. the rate of inflation actually rose from 1.1% t

i have alison kosik standing by and poppy harlow as well. would you believe i had a dinner conversation about qe3, quantitative easing. i don't want to get into mumbojumbo. that was one thing people were looking for the fed to do when they came out with that statement around 2:15 yesterday. if you can, explain what that is and why perhaps part of that attributes to the lacklustre numbers today. >> well, it could. you know, we're talking about the announcement that we got from the fed yesterday about 2:15 in the afternoon. the fed sets monetary policy. they're able to do quantitative easing, which means buying up a bunch of bonds, injecting economy with a stimulus. they've done it twice already in the past year. some folks were expecting they would announce they were doing it again yesterday. they did not say that, so you might have seen some market disappointment to that. but brooke, i want to reiterate there's no rationality. we saw stocks rise 429 points on the dow and the s&p 500 even more than that. we had a killer last hour of the sessi

. >> alison kosick is at the new york stock exchange. alison, we're less than half an hour away. how are things looking? >> we are about half an hour away. this will be the first chance for investors to react, kyra. it's looking ugly. get ready for major averages to tumble. the major averages are are down more than 2%. dow futures, in particular, are down over 230 points. this, of course, follows the sell-off that happened around the world while all of us were sleeping. gold prices, they hit another record high above $1,700 an ounce. this all coming after the worst week for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. this, of course, was all of last week. that's when the major averages fell 5% to 8%. as far as today goes, most analysts expect this initial shock in the markets at the opening bell and see a will the of emotional trading throughout the day. then, they say, you know what? we may see stocks stabilize a bit. this downgrade is unprecedented. it's expected that you'll see this kind of shock at the open. but, believe it or not, some of the fear was priced in last week when we

alison kosik has ways to vent your frustration online. alison?s from consumer reports saying you have to think about what you are going to say off-line and wait a day before you unleash your anger on the web if you go to social media to complain. keep your complaint brief, let them know the good and the bad. and consumer reports warns businesses can sometimes sue critics for their comments even though there's little chance of overcoming a free speech defense. go to the public participation project site, but if a company resolves your complaint, go ahead and update your original post with the good news. it's once in a blue moon they actually help you out, isn't it, drew? >> seems to me, have not tried the social media, but maybe i will. >> sounds like a good outlet. >>> you have been sounding off to the "talk back" question. what does president obama need to tell middle america? carol costello is here with your responses. carol? >> i don't think the president needs to go out on the bus tour, but he needs to listen to cnn right now. here it goes. t

let's begin with alison kosik here at the new york stock exchange. alison, what do you think? we're seeing a glimmer of optimism here. we're still in positive territory. >> that's right. got to take what you can get, right? it's still very volatile. but at least for now that volatility is moving in the right direction. we watched the major averages open up 1% each. we call the dow pop 141 points. we're still kicking the triple digit rally. but traders say the selling wave may not be over because the fact is no one wants to be the last person at the party without a chair. until we get a clear direction on where the economy is going, traders are telling me expect to see more selling, and sitting on the seedlines. it's not about day-to-day mood swings and gyrations, it's more important just to look at the overall long-term economic fundamentals here. you have to remember, economic growth is slowing. the job market is not great. the housing market is stuck. and that's really some of the big concerns for wall street. but i do want to end on a good note here. the vix gauges the fear

alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, alison. >>> 7:14. new figures show the cost of both medicaid and medicare continue to rise at an alarming rate. the could of both programs rose 10% in the second quarter compared to a year earlier. the two programs are on track to rise $90 billion this year and -- the two programs rose 10% in the second carer, compared to a year earl earl y -- quarter, compared to a year earl earl yes -- earlier. the two programs are on track to rise to $90 this year. >>> 7:15. new this morning, dramatic moments in cairo, egypt as former egyptian president hosni mubarak went on trial for corruption charges. he's accused of ordering the killing of protesters during demonstrations that forced him from power. today, mubarak was in the courtroom lying on a gurney. he was in there with nine codefendants, including two of his sons. he denied the charges. if convicted, he could get the death penalty and the judge ordered mubarak to return to court on august 15th. >>> 7:15 this morning now. an injured hiker is in the hospital

alison, investors reacting to this deal or do they have other things on their mind right now?er: i think i got a little bit of everything right now on their minds. for one, we are going to see stocks have aer open when the opening bell rings, expect the dow to drop about 50 points. one session yesterday one analyst called it schizophrenic. the dow dropped and then ended flat. part of that movement had to do with the debt ceiling developments but that positive news was actually offset by some dismal economic data. weak manufacturing numbers. they hit stocks hard yesterday and, today, investors are mulling over more disappointing numbers, showing americans earned more in june but spent a little less. the debt ceiling stalemate parnl coming to an end at this point. even with this debt deal, this recovery, the reality is it can't go anywhere unless employers they begin hiring and that is not going to happen unless they know the country isn't in for another crisis. the big worry at this point is the broader economy. >> so, richard, what is happening with the debt rating agencies? t

what is in store today, alison? >> reporter: we did have a nice rally yesterday.second time we saw the dow jump 200 points in august. opening bell expect to see the markets take a step back. look at the positive with monday's jump. all of the markets are still in the red but the dow is actually getting closer to the break even mark. we did get one economic report so far today on home prices showing that home prices had a bit of a comeback the past three months jumping 3.6% but if you compare to how home prices were back in 2010 over the same period, they are still down 6%. not really having a big impact on the opening numbers on futures right now. we are also expecting reports on consumer confidence and fed minutes as well. we will be looking at the fed minutes because the last meeting, that is when the fed put an exact date how long it would keep rates low until 2013 and could find out why the fed members disagree on doing that. we will have the numbers for you. >> thanks. >>> they missed the mark when it came how hard the winds would be blowing on hurricane iren

alison?i, at this hour, former members of the 9/11 commission are releasing that report card. it says the u.s. is undoubtedly safer than it was ten years ago. but it also says we will likely see another terrorist attack. here is a live look at a reunion of sorts of the members of the 9/11 commission. our cameras are there as we discuss the progress the u.s. has made to protect the country since the september 11th attacks and the security gaps that remain. >> we've done much since the attacks ten years ago and are safer than we were on that day. but all of us agree that there's much, much more to do. >> reporter: the group has released a report card sounding a report. it says says airline security laxes right liability. it says emergency communications are inadequate. reporting live from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, alison. >>> 8:17. a final report on a three-year investigation into war-time spending is due out today. an independent panel says up to $60 bi

alison kosik keeping an eye on that. let's start with the middle east. what happened there, alison? >> it was rough session, joe, in the mideast. markets in israel, they plunged, their worst plunge in 11 years. if you look there, the marks were down 6%. dubai fell more than 3%. saudi arabia actually rose about 0.1%, but that's actually after it fell in the previous session about 5.5%. joe? >> how long in terms of hours do you expect to start hearing from the asian markets? >> asian markets begin trading at 8:00. they're up next. actually, futures markets, the futures for u.s. stocks opened about ten minutes ago. right now they're indicating a flat to positive open. so i'm talking about the dow, the s&p and the nasdaq. that's good news, because we are talking about how each of the these -- how each of these markets, how each of these indices feed off of each other. so this could be a good sign, at least in the short-term. but it doesn't necessarily indicate how thing will open. one of the good things to remember, though, joe is that investors here in the u.s. who are going to be trad

alison burns tell us how our state voted. >> reporter: california's senators helped seal the deal, voting yes to raise the debt limit hours before the deadline. >> the motion to concur to senate bill 365 is agreed to. >> reporter: in the end, republicans and democrats rallied together to pass the plan that also cuts federal spending by historic levels. president obama called it an important first step to helping the country live within its means. but after the vote, both the president and california senator barbara boxer expressed their frustration with weeks of tense negotiations that brought the country to the brink of default. >> our economy didn't need washington to come along with a manufacturing crisis to make things worse. >> people in my state panicked that they wouldn't get a social security check, small businesses saying they couldn't get a decent loan. >> reporter: all of-- >> all of that for nothing. >> we don't have to have this taking the government as hostage. >> reporter: many arked the spending cuts don't go far enough. >> at the end of the day, this agreement, when you l

alison at the exchange, the last 29 minutes of trading, alison. you know, brooke pointed out that teddy wiseburg. he's starting to think that some of this looks a little bit like some of the days in 2008. what are the traders telling you? >> reporter: they're telling me that they're concerned, ali. they're concerned because they don't know what this downgrade, that s&p did on friday, what it really means in the long-term. you know, they're looking at today's selloff as just a day. it was kind of expected but they are truly worried about what's going to happen in the future. i think what you're also seeing is what i explained before is a lot of that program selling. the big institutional components, those hedge funds and those mutual funds. they're selling today. something we didn't see last week that we're seeing today. last week is more about the individual seller getting out there and running for the exits. i think now you're seeing -- that's why you're seeing huge spikes in trading. the 100-points turns, because the institutional investors are

alison kosik, let's start with the jobs report. break it down for us. >> we saw the reaction on wall street, we saw the dow jump as much as 172 points on that better than expected jobs report. that showed that 117,000 jobs were added last month. the unemployment rate ticked down to 9.1%, as well. and where were those jobs added? we saw jobs added in manufacturing, in health care, in hospitality, but we also saw jobs lost in government. 37,000. what you're looking at there is sort of the progression of the first half of the year of how many jobs were added. we saw more jobs added in february, march and april. you saw it trickled lower, although those were revised higher in this report that we got yesterday. and of course it's 117,000, definitely better than wall street expected. >> and a serious see saw of the numbers on the markets this morning shortly after they opened. what's happening right now? >> we're seeing more volatility. the dow is down about 58 points. we're watch of watching stocks move from gains and losses very quickl

alison kosik has tips to lower your electricity bill.ght. >> all right. here we go. let's talk about little rock, fredricka, arkansas hitting 114 degrees yesterday, and staying cool is priority number one. and heating and cooling costs account for 56% of energy in a typical home, and so the experts are saying time and time again, but you have to get a programmable thermostat. it can save you more than $100 a year, and can you check with your utility company if they offer free ones or have rebates when you buy one which cost bz $80. >> thank you so much. we are going to see a lot of you over the next few minutes, because that's the way it goes. thank you so much and appreciate that. >>> more of the day's top stories are coming up as well after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of y

grab your tickets, kyra. >> alison. >>> we have more for you.with us. [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. >>> all right. we are still following the developments out of libya right now. still cannot confirm whether moammar gadhafi is hunkered down in his compound in tripoli, but we are still watching the smoke rise in the air, also reports of gunfire and fierce fighting there at the gates of his compound. also our arwa damon calling into us now, she's outside the airport where she's witnessing fighting as well. she came in that part of the area with the rebels. what can you tell us, arwa? >> i don't know if you can leer me above the sound of the gunfire, rebe

alison, stand by., the s&p downgrade, i think if you read that statement that they put out and listen to all the interviews, the top leaders have been giving over the past few days, it was mostly a vote of no confidence in the political system in washington as opposed to the u.s. economy. would you agree? >> i would say at least a vote of no confidence in the political systems. there's an algorithm that goes into the calculation, that is they wanted to see a greater number of dollars cut from the budgets over the course of the next ten years. moody's said the same thing. they didn't think this went far enough. they thought the president's initial plan of $4 trillion in cuts was more meaningful. they said that would be one way to get the aaa credit rating back if they were to somehow get back on the road toward a plan cutting the deficits further. you're right, wolf, they were very clear about the fact that the inability for washington to get it together and the fact in their words that the budgeting pr

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alison kosick live at the new york stock exchange. allison, what do you make of this? ugly day today. this had a lot to do with what the broader economy is doing. the nasdaq off 2 3/4%. really just an awful day. we're below the 12,000 mark, the psychological marker for the dow as well. things just went south from there. why do we see this selloff? i tell you, we've had a series of down beat reports starting with friday. we we had a very weak gdp report, showing there's little growth here in the economy right now. we also had a weak manufacturing report. and what spooked investors today was a report showing consumer spending fell for the first time in two years, that americans are essentially socking away more money. they're saving more money for a rainy day because they don't know where the economy is headed. this, of course, all spooked investors. also one more thing to point out. the s&p 500 is at negative now for the year. you know what, brooke, our 401(k)s closely mirror that s&p 500 index. don't look at your portfolios tonight, brooke. >> alison kosick, thanks for

i'm alison kosik in new york. >>> a lot of interesting notes.hose fed minutes much what was the thinking going on at the fed as the u.s. economic numbers were looking bleaker and bleaker. that will be out a few hours from now. also interesting developments on the economic front in the u.s. the president barack obama could soon have another new policy maker by his side at the white house. he's nominating as his chief economic advisor a man who had a lot to do with the cash for clunkers plan to stimulate spending in the u.s. approximate confirmed by the senate, alan krueger would return to the obama administration after standing down from a position at the treasury last year. he would replace austin goolsby who went back to teach at the university of chicago a few months ago. the member of the original economics team remains now. that's the treasury secretary, tim geithner. but, mr. obama gave the newest recruit a glowing reference. >> alan brings a wealth of experience to the job. he's one of the leading economists in the nation. for more than tw

alison burns is live with more. >> reporter: that's right. the fears of growing certainly of another recession. and the focus turns to the federal reserve. the federal reserve board's policy committee meets this morning -- morning to issue a highly-anticipated statement about the economy. the looming question is will ben bernanke take drastic action to try to revitalize the economy? investors will be closely watching to see how the fed is grading the economy and its predictions for growth. key interest rates are already close to zero. so the options are limited. analysts say we might see an assurance that the feds will keep the interest rates low for a longer period of time. alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news,. >> thank you. >>> here in california, state treasurer bill lightningier -- lockyer says the downgrading of the rating should not have an effect on our state. last month, the standard & poor's changed the rating from negative to sacramento. on our website, we have the latest economic news as well pass tools to monitor the markets. look f

as alison burns reports they're all trying to take down the front-runner. >> reporter: we just found out that minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann has canceled her lone event in iowa presumably to prepare for tonight's big debate. it comes a few days before the closely watched iowa straw poll. gop front-runner mitt romney is not participating but his rivals will trito present themselves as his toughest competition. this week they have all been talking about the country's economic turmoil. >> we have to lower the tax rate on the job creators. >> you have to tell people the truth. >> former alaska governor sarah palin is not eve in the race or -- even in the race but she's taking her bus to the iowa state fair. rick perry will be in iowa starting sunday. reporting live from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a uc berkeley graduate claims standard & poor's made a mistake when downgrading the nation's credit rating. he said s&p based it on projections of the u.s. debt over the next 10 years but he claims those projections were wrong. s&p has reportedly acknowled

we want to go live to cnn's alison kosik at the new york stock exchange to make alison, it it's been a heck of a week. explain what's going on. >> reporter: right now stocks are in the plus column, that's a good thing. wall street seems to like the fact consumers are out there, spending their money. we got two important reports this mourn, one on retail sales and one on consumer sentiment. we saw stocks pop on that number, it rose 0.5% in july. sure shoppers aren't going on huge shopping sprees but the good news is shoppers aren't totally gone. then we watched stocks give back some of their gains because we did see the dow up over 100 points. so the dow gave back some of those gains after consumer sentiment plunged. we got that report. this is important because it shows how consumers feel. that's really important because we, the consumer, drive the economy. so in essence, suzanne, we're getting mixed signals on how consumers feel and of course we've got stocks caught in the middle. so still a little bit of volatility out here. >> all of that volatility, this dizzying week on wall str

alison kosik is looking at the cost to your retirement. george showing how college students will take a hit. ali velshi showing the new damage and how jobs are thrown into limbo. ali, let's start with you. the markets are about to open and there's mixed reviews on the credit rating. >> yes. and moody's says it's fine with the aaa credit rating. a chinese debt agency has downgraded the united states, not an agency that most people have heard of but as you know the chinese are the biggest buyers of your u.s. debt. most big e investors in u.s. bonds will do their own research, so that's less of an issue. kiera, this is the thirst morning in a row you and i have spoken. they're supposed to have opened up and they've closed substantially low owner the day, which tells me two things. one, we're not oub cessing about the debt deal. it's a lot of mixed economic news out there. this is what the markets did yesterday. look at those? those are big percentage numbers. down 2.2%. 2.6 on the s&p 500. the dow has closed lower for eight days in a row. we'

alison burns is live in our washington, d.c. bureau with that story. alison?orter: dave, that's right. even before hurricane irene hit the east coast, president obama and federal disaster managers were warning congress that the nation's disaster relief fund was running low. now as eight states report significant damage from the hurricane, president obama is promising governors and mayors, the federal government will provide the help he needs. here is what he said just about ten minutes ago. >> as i said yesterday, we're gonna make sure folks have all of the support they need as they prebin it -- as they begin to assess and repair the damage left by the storm. that's gonna continue in the days ahead. it will stake time to recover from a storm of this magnitude. >> now the question is will congress have to okay an emergency bill to pay for what could be billions of dollars in damage from hurricane irene. fema has already temporarily suspended some payments in states impacted by recent tornadoes in order to deal with the hurricane damage. president obama is expec

i want to go to alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. what are we seeing the markets do today? how are they behaving now? >> right now at least we are off that roller coaster ride for the time being and seeing stocks at their highs of the session. nasdaq up by more than 3%. the s&p is up by just as much. yes, i think what you are seeing is investors focusing on the better than expected jobs report. we got pretty deese enearnings from cisco systems that says it is making progress at cost cutting measures. even those result in job cuts. the market does like to see progress being made. this is a market on edge. these numbers can change on a dime. especially when it is market that's being driven by each and every headline that comes out. >> that's right. all of this volatility, do we think that it is leading to more concerns of another recession? >> you know what, if you look at the week, thousand week has gone, some trainers i have been talking to say what you have been seeing is a market pricing in, growing likelihood we could go into a ne

alison kosik of the new york stock exchange. bad news. >> yeah, definitely the bad economy clearly affecting kids, kei keira. what this sthudy does is looks at states, ranks them by looking at ten key areas including economic conditions, the percentage of kids living in poverty, kids and families where both parents are unemployed. here's what it found. in louisiana, mississippi, and alabama, those were ranked as the worst states for a child's well-being. 25% in alabama, 31% in mississippi, the worst in the nation. the flip side, new hampshire was the best state for kids, only 11% of children there live below the poverty line in 2009. keira? >> we also know that college costs are rising for our kids, and then there's this new report showing that student loan debt is way up. >> oh, yeah. way up. that's according to the new york federal reserve. student debt has actually soared by 25% in the past few years. you know, one big problem here is a growing number of people aren't paying back their student loans. instead, they're choosing

i want to pick up where alison left off. the people are looking at the u.s. economy and the fed statement which is pretty bleak and look at what's happening in europe and thinking perhaps another recession around the corner, especially when you look at the europe debt issue bubbling up yet again. now it's france. how serious of a concern? >> well, it's kind of strange, because the rumor, it wasn't even fact, the rumor that france might be downgraded from a aaa to a aa plus like the united states cost their biggest bank 15% on the stock market and ended up with this. you got to be wondering here when you're sitting in the united states what does france getting downgraded by one notch have to do with the value of my 401(k), but the problem is it's one of those markets where anybody saying anything slightly negative makes people say i don't want to be holding the bag if this keeps going down, so what's happening is you're seeing money going into gold again. gold hitting $1,800. another noninflation adjusted all-time high and you saw more money going into u.s. tr

. >> i want to quickly go back to alison kosik, up in new york. first, update us on how the markets are reacting to all of this and then i have a follow-up question. go ahead. >> reporter: you know, as the vote was finished there and as we wait on the president to come out and speak, we watched the market fall even more. the dow down 150 points. we've got a lot more going on than just the debt ceiling. that's what wall street sees. it's put sort of the sideshow of the debt ceiling stalemate to rest at this point and wall street's looking forward, looking forward at weak manufacturing, weak gdp. gd, gdp, the broadest measure of economic growth for the u.s., is barely moving. that means it's not moving enough to create enough jobs. that's what wall street really wants to see. that's what wall street is looking at at this point. that's why we're seeing stocks fall even further right now. >> are they assuming on wall street that at some point down the road, the credit rating agencies, standard & poor's, moody's, they will simply downgrade the u.s. aaa

let's bring in alison kosik. the middle east markets were the first big test of world reaction. it doesn't sound like it went that great. >> no. there was a massive sell-off with the mid east markets. for israel, for one, the markets in israel, in fact, there was a 45-minute delay to the open so everybody can kind of collect their thoughts, not hit the panic button right away. but markets in israel fell more than 6%. in dubai down more than 3%. saudi arabia was actually up 0.01%, but that's actually after a drop of 5.5% in a previous session. john? >> now we're waiting for asian markets. what do we expect to go on there? and do we think we're going to see a little bit more calming? >> and you're right about that. the next we go to the asian markets, as you said. the nikkei opens at 8:00 here, and shanghai composite opens after that. some traders that i've been talking to say that's really going to be the real indicator of that reaction to the downgrade, because they actually say what you saw happened in the mid e

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, alison, thank you. >>> now, i want to read you a quote thatar from everybody who does research into cancer treatments. are you ready for this? quote, it worked much better than we thought it would. now it is an exciting new approach to attacking the most common form of leukemia. dock dotors at the university of pennsylvania took a certain type of white blood cell from three leukemia patients who had exhausted the conventional therapies. they inserted some genes that made the cells recognize, target and kill the cancer cells and to multiply inside the body. the good cells thus became serial killers of sorts, of the bad cells. one year later two of the patients have no detectible cancer in their bodies. the third has 70% fewer cancer cells than before. joining me here to talk about this in atlanta, to talk about all of this and what this means exactly is dr. otis breauly, the chief medical officer of the american cancer society, and from philadelphia we're also pleased to welcome to the show the lead researcher himself, dr. carl june. dr. june,

>> alison, thanks. irene may be gone. this story is far from over, as you know.nn all day. we'll get the latest on the storm's aftermath and the cleanup and what's happening state by state. >>> it caused international outrage when the lockerbie bomber was released. in the chaos of libya, we lost track of the dying terrorist until now. nic robertson tracked him down. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ [ doorbell rings ] hello there. i'm here to pick up helen. ah. mom? he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young. hello there, handsome. your dinner's in the microwave, dear. ♪ where do you want to go? just drive. [ engine revs, tir

alison kosik looking at the numbers at the new york stock exchange, alison, talk about the numbers, what are we seeing now, positive territory right now? >> we are finally seeing consistent movement to the upside, dow up 19 points, i'm watching it fizzle out at this point, see if it stays that way, even by the time finish talking here. the dow flagtd plus come lumt last couple of hours or so, may not look like much, you look at how the the whole day has been today, a big deal it stayed in plus column, down as much as 244 points, as much as -- we were higher a by 172 points and some of this was fueled by word that the european central bank is ready to buy italian and spin nish debt.if the government there is agree to certain reforms much the ecb, remember the equivalent of the federal reserve right here in the u.s. and the fact that it is going to be making this move is something investors really like to hear and italy also took some steps to reassure investors that it is going to deal with its own debt problems so there were wore there is no one would be following buy up the country's bo

alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange., do you think fighting in libya could actually mean translation into cheaper oil? >> there could be cheaper oil, yes, but you won't see it everywhere, because the fact is there are different types of oils and traded different places. in europe, it's down 1%. and here in the u.s., it's on a more upward trend this session. the price job in europe is a knee-jerk reaction. prices are going to be going up there, too. we are not going to see oil flow out of libya right away. it could take months or years. we don't know what kind of shape the infrastructure is in. we could expect oil prices to go up until we see the oil really come out of there. suzanne? >> we know europe relies on african nations much more than oil, and so how will that affect the market prices here? >> you will not see much affect here. most of libya's oil goes to india and france. we get our oil from canada, saudi arabia, and mexico. if you want to compare to it barrels. in canada, we get 2 million barrels from there. and

as alison burns reports, the campaign trail is heating up for republicans who want his job. alison?> reporter: that's right. the leading republicans campaigning today in new hampshire and south carolina while president obama will try to get some r and r on martha's vineyard. let's take a look at the video of the obamas last year. they will leave the white house this afternoon for a ten-day vacation and the trip is prompting plenty of criticism. mitt romney says it's wrong for the president to take time off in the mid of so much economic turmoil. but republican presidential candidates are now hoping to steal the spotlight. some of them have a new target this week, the environmental protection agency, using their stump speeches to blast regulation, texas governor rick perry yesterday expressed his skepticism about global warm. >> i think we're seeing it almost weekly or daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. and michele bachmann is blaming the policies for the gas prices. she says if

alison burns is live in our washington, d.c. newsroom with the announcement this morning, the president will make a major speech next month about creating new jobs. >> reporter: that's right. the president is using his midwest bus tour to outline some of these plans like tax cuts, building projects and new trade deals. but take a look at some of these signs outside the idea's iowa -- one of the president's iowa rally. one of them says "save my daddy's job." this is the president's challenge, with the unemployment high and the popularity of him plummeting. >> i'm gonna make my best case to where we need to go. we have made progress since the start of the recession back in 2008. it has not been fast enough. we have to excel it. >> reporter: but he's waiting until after the holiday, after the trip to martha's vineyard. he will also give specifics about how he wants to cut the national debt alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> 7:14. just a few hours ago, vice president joe biden arrived in china. his first stop on a trip. biden is

alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> 8:16.sed a sketch of a man they say flashed a woman pushing her young niece in a baby stroller. investigators say this man exposed himself to the woman in a parking lot near pet smart and the pedestrian bridge on south el camino real. they say he got out of a late 1990s four-door sedan that was either blue or green in color. the woman quickly left the area and reported the incident. anyone with information on this man is encouraged to call police. >>> this morning -- this morning, sacramento police are blaming people for a young man who is fighting for his wife -- his wife. he was being chased and he ran out in the street and was hit. >> he just didn't make it. >> this was something that could have been avoided, if they had not chased him with the bat. >> the victim is -- the victim is listed in critical condition. >>> nine election workers, kidnapped in western mexico were released unarmed. now, they were kidnapped on tuesday and while no one has claimed responsibility, drug violence is pl

alison. >> reporter: dave, that's right. first this morning president obama is going to be getting his daily economic and national security briefings at the white house, then he leaves with his family for a 10-day trip to martha's vineyard, a trip they've made for the last two summers. this is video from last year's vacation, and, again, the trip is prompting plenty of criticism. gop frontrunner mitt romney says it's wrong for the president to take time off in the midst of so much economic turmoil. but republican presidential candidates are hoping to steal the spotlight now and some of them have a new target this week, the environmental protection agency. they're using their stump speeches to blast e.p.a. regulations. texas governor rick perry yesterday expressed his skepticism about global warming. >> i think we're seeing it almost weekly or even daily scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. >> reporter: and congresswoman miche