thank you so much, mandy drury.ome improvement is standing by the decision to pull ads from the show "all-american muslim." a florida group accuses the show of trying to undermine american values. other advertisest have stepped up, including russell simmons. he tweeted -- just purchased remains spots for all-american muslim next week. keep your money, lowe's, and we will keep ours. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue o

cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money and the results of the new study.s, pardoned pun? >> there were 84 brands reviewed by the environmental working grum, chr group, chris, and some of the worst offenders were honey smacks around 56%, that's roughly five teaspoons of sugar. >> 56% sugar in the careeriale? >> yes, as you said roughly the same as one twinkie snack cake, golden crisp, 52, and froot loops marshmallow, 48%. my kids have oversized cereal bowls so they're getting in terms of a typical serving size double that amount that i just said and then you also have in terms of other really bad offenders high sugar cereals, cocoa crispies, frosted crisp s crispies, rice kris pis, cap'n crunch. it's unlikely to change any time soon but there are lower options out there, kellogg's mini wheats for the frosted and unfrosted and the cheerios so you don't have to go for the high sugar to get a tasty cereal. >> a new survey is out, enough already with the corporate lingo. >> we all do it, right? >> yes. >> we're all offenders of this. career builder asked more t

billion last year, but they have agreed to delay the closing of thousands of post offices, and mandy drury what is moving your money. how much money here, mandy? >> well, it is a few weeks, but it is enough to keep open 3,700 local post offices, and hopefully these weeks will give congress more time next year to pass more legislation to give it more authority and liquidity to stave off bankruptcy for the postal service. you know that the postal service is expected to fold on friday on a $5.5 billion payment to the treasury, so they do need to do something and fast. >> meantime, microsoft co-founder paul allen, what is he going to do with the money? he is getting into the space race. >> yes, he is leading an effort to build the largest plane to launch cargo and astronauts into space. the aircraft would have wings longer than a football field. yes, a football field, to carry a rocket high into the a atmosphere and then to drop it avoiding therefore the need for a launch pad and also to avoid the huge expense of rocket fuel. now, they are joining heads with other big tech big wigs with deep p

so it looks like it's going to be a wizarding moneymaker. >> cnbc's mandy drury.welcome. >>> can president obama motivate the minority voters who delivered the white house to him to turn out again? there's a new survey of 800 black and latino voters in 11 battleground states and here is what it finds. 84% approve of the way the president is handling his job and an overwhelming number plan to head to the polls to vote in next year's presidential election. nicole is here with us. >> thank you for having me. >> one of the things we keep hearing are blacks and latinos are so disillusioned they might stay home. >> this is what's going to bring them to the polls in 2012. they feel there's some unfinished business in this administration and the economy is bad and immigration hasn't happened, immigration reform hasn't happened and they want to see it happen in 2012. and so they are going to turn out and voter enthusiasm is high among these voters. >> when asked which two issues were the greatest hurdles to advancement, the issue of jobs edged out failing schools, but both

. >>> mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. >> today there is one stock in particular we are following. do you own a blackberry? research in motion delayed the use of a make or break overhaul until next year and the market is not happy. back to you. >> mandy drury, thanks so much. >>> in case snowboarding doesn't rev your engine enough, how about saltboarding? in utah there are some adventurous athletes in action, zooming along, up to 50 miles an hour. beautiful cinematography. it is 7:12, we turn it back over to matt, al and ann. >> let's do that, you guys, group project outing. >> i'm going pepper skiing this weekend. let's see what's happening, we've got a lot of wind to talk about down in southern california, santa anas, getting it herself together, high pressure to the north, low pressure to the south, in between the windy conditions. to the northeast and new england we're looking at wind i haveries as a powerful low pressure system up in canada causes problems and as we head across the pond, france, they're calling it hurricane joachim, wind gusts of uphi >> and that's

mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. thank you. >>> and the first family has released a new official portrait this morning. it was taken in the oval office by white house photographer pete soe sosa and shows the obamas in their holiday best, just gorgeous. the most recent photo was taken back in 2009 in the green room and it's amazing as you can see how much the first daughters have grown since then. malia is now 13 and sasha is 10. they said they took the new picture precisely for that reason. the girls have grown up so much. >> pete sosa is one of the hardest working guys in photography. that guy is always on the job soenchts talejob. >> so talented. got them to smile at the same time as well. i love that photograph. >> mr. roker is smiling as well. >> and oh, how i've grown since 2009. >>> let's show you what we've got going for today. we have wet weather stretching from new england all the way back down into texas. some snow up in northern new england. but that is going to quickly change over to rain. we're looking a

mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. big discounts, you know, you can make that gift card stretch. >> you really can, and you won't be the only one if you go. the week after christmas is typically one of the bus jest times for gift card redemptions. there are a lot of people wanting to wash in. $41 billion worth of gift cards have gone unredeemed apparently since 2005. don't ask me how they get those numbers, but about 58% of people wanted gift cards this holiday season, and about 80% of consumers bought gift cards. that's up from 77% last year. who are the big winners? traditionally the big names like walmart, amazon and apple, so ka-ching ka-ching for them. >> this surprised me. so many people were out, you you would think that restaurant are packed as well, but they're offering deals as well? >> apparently this isn't the time they would snowstormally do it, because people are willing to spend a little more coin on eating out, but this year dining chains are pushing the holidays. you can really cherry pick your stores

mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. what happened? >> it was a bit of a woops.y were sending an e-mail to a few hundred people offering people a 50% discount, but they wanted to lure them çback. instead yesterday's offer went out to 8.6 million e-mail addresses of people and here's the real blunder. the times tweeted out if you received an e-mail, ignore it. they adimate that it should have been sent to a small number of subscribers. they it more plans to cancel. oops. >> verizon getting a lot of static over outages on the 4g network. the twitter could did say the latest outage has been resolved. the customers reported the outages of the newer service and they said they were operating. it's a major headache. they are promoting the service since unveiling it last year. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> americans are taking a glass half full approach. about a third of people think their household situation will improve. 62% are"utnçççrcsnfoík optimis 2012 will bring. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to s

mandy drury, thanks, at the new york stock exchange for us. >>> a soccer match in the netherlands waso the game when a fan ran on to the field and tried to attack a rival team's goalie. the goalie managed to trip the fan and continued kicking him while he was down, earning a penalty. the goalie's coach was so enraged he ordered his entire team to walk off the field in protest. wow. now taking a look at what is trending today. our quick roundup of what has you talking online. a snap shot of the kiss seen around the world has splashed across the internet today. two women shared the navy's coveted first kiss wednesday when the u.s.s. oak hill returned to its base in virginia beach. this shows the tradition has caught up with the repeal of the don't ask/don't tell rule on gays serving openly in the military. >>> on google people are reading about new research by scientists that may refute the popular theory the shroud of turin was created during the middle east and is in fact a miracle. >>> earlier in the show we saw a glimpse of julianne moore as sarah palin and in the new movie "game ch

cnbc mandy drury is here. what kind of discounts are we looking at.iscounts. kind of discounts we in australia would only see in january. half off the store at ann taylor, 60% at gap, almost everything at abercrombie & fitch, aggressive last minute deals. richard, it is great for people like me who haven't finished their shopping, but does this ring an alarm bell for the retail industry. that's the question. analysts say the discounts are more widespread than last year at this time, and also suggests merchants are maybe stuck with too much merchandise. perhaps part of the problem is that sales over thanksgiving weekend, remember, they were surprisingly strong, and maybe that stalled some of the decision sales. after christmas, richard, inventory is worth a whole lot less, which means the retailers have to get rid of it, even at a lower margin. we have to wait and see whether or not this is a good or bad sign. >> or no margin, speaking of which, let's talk about best buy. they had so much popularity for sales, they're having trouble now. >> they cancel

cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. you're trying to sell your product right now, you do not want to be on this list. >> absolutely. and you know what the u.s. customs and border protection has even put on show certain toys they feel are either choking hazards, suffocation dangers or perhaps traces of lead. most of the toys, i should say, were seized entering the u.s. and represent more just a lack of knowledge about american standard as opposed to an act of smuggling. let me run you through the things displayed or on lists. kinder eggs, chocolate eggs, a choking hazard. riskses of suf foe kachlgs and hannah montana backpacks, dora the explorer lunch boxes, imported from places like china and peru, which obviously don't have the same regulations for lead contents. what can you do to ensure you don't accidently purchase a gift like this that might harm your kids? buy a reputable brand from a reputable store or check out some of the lists out there online about some of the hazardous toys. >> good news this holiday season,

mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. huh?exactly what i said when i first heard about this, chris. universities are buying these dot xxx website sites. beginning ten months ago they gave them the opportunity to pass $200 for this address for a onetime blocking charge. we saw the university of kansas as one of the first on to purchase the rights to several addresses including kansas.xxx and jayhawks.xxx. when the public sale began, the college bought more totally two dozen now. there are a lot of other colleges acquiring the addresses as a defensive move which precludes anybody else from use their name in a bad way. there's penn state, pittsburgh and indiana doing it right now. >> smart move. i don't know approximate if you were watching early. you saw brian shackman is out because today is the biggest shipping day for fedex. the numbers boggle the mind, and probably part of the reason is the new numbers you have for online shopping. >> that's right. u.s. online sales in the holiday season to date because we're far from done a

. >> mandy drury, have a good weekend. >> you, too. >>> at theaters near you, the weekend after thanksgivingnew movies opening in wide release which leaves the door open for, question, "twilight" to earn even more money. the film has made more than $513 million worldwide. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. they won't be beat. oh, actually... then i'd be like, you rule! and my kids would be like, you rule! i'd be like, yes, i do rule! ohh! that rules! oh, load up the sleigh; this is going to be a great christmas. yeah. ring dinga-ding, ring dinga-ding, ring, ring, ring me up. [ male announcer ] no need to wait with our christmas price guarantee. we're so confident in our prices if you do find a lower one between now and christmas, we'll give you the difference on a walmart gift card. save money. live better. walmart. i'd

mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. how are the markets reacting right now?g thing here is that you could say at this stage, they're really taking it in their stride. i don't think anyone was particularly surprised that this was going to happen. perhaps the only surprise was the inclusion of germany and france, which, of course, have been europe's strongest economies. but nonetheless, standard & poor's criticized their handling of the debt crisis. the s&p warning left out only two of the 17 countries that yooud use the euro. you have cyprus and then greece whose low ratings already suggest they are likely to default soon anyway. those are the reasons those two were left off the map. >> let's talk about the charges -- when you go to an atm and it's not your banks. now there's somebody who thinks they've found a way around it. >> this is an interesting story. atm users could soon be able to opt out of those annoying atm surcharges by agreeing to watch an advertisement in about the same amount of time that it takes just for a typical transaction. the company cre

cnbc's mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. good morning, mandy. >> good morning, natalie. >>> u.s. stocks snapped a three-day decline yesterday on showing improvement in the economy. today there is one stock in particular, though, we are following. do you own a blackberry? research in motion delayed the release of a make-or-break overhaul of its devices until later next year and the market is not happy. back to you. >> mandy drury, thanks so much. >>> in case snowboarding doesn't rev your adrenaline enough, how about saltboarding? take a look at this. devin graham headed to the salt flats of utah to capture some adventurous athletes in action, zooming along at 50 miles. the view could not be better. beautiful cinematography. it is 7:12, we turn it back over to matt, al and ann. >> looks like fun. let's try that. >> let's do that, you guys, group project outing. >> i'm going pepper skiing this weekend. let's see what's happening, we've got a lot of wind to talk about down in southern california, santa anas, getting herself toget

cnbc's mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange for us this morning. mandy, good morning. >> good morning, natalie. it's been a tough three days on wall street for stocks as they have hit their lowest level in two weeks. we've even been watching gold prices, traditionally a safe haven, they've also been falling sharply. we've also been hearing from retailers including h & m about how the holiday season has been and they posted the third straight monthly falling sales. overnight we've got economic reports from japan and china that were also weak and that concerns global investors. why do we care? it does have a big impact on how our stocks trade as well. so we'll be watching how things pan out today. back to you. >> we'll be watching you. mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. thank you. >>> and the first family has released a new official portrait this morning. it was taken in the oval office by white house photographer pete sosa. it shows the obamas in their holiday best. just gorgeous. the most recent photo was taken back in 2009 in the green roo

. >>> now let's head to wall street and cnbc's mandy drury at the new york stock exchange again for us's going on there? >> today's market will be driven by how healthy the u.s. economic recovery is with data on both growth and jobs. many of you use yahoo, right? we continue to watch the stock today as it does consider a plan to cut stakes in its asian assets. that could reap yahoo billions of dollars. i did a schk on what gas prices are up to, despite the recent decline we had been seeing in the price of gasoline. this year, nonetheless it's an average record for prices up $3.50 a gallon and that is the highest an american family spends on gasoline in about 30 years. those are pretty interesting facts. back to you. >> all right. mandy drury, thanks, at the new york stock exchange for us. >>> a soccer match in the netherlands was halted just a half hour into the game when a fan ran on to the field and tried to attack a rival team's goalie. the goalie managed to trip the fan and continued kicking him while he was down, earning a penalty. the goalie's coach was so enraged he ordered his

but first, let's get the rest of the morning's headlines with mandy drury. >> good morning, everyone.ight today. a deal to extend payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits is expected to pass the senate today and move on to the house. the senate is also expected to send president obama a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running. there has been a dedzly shooting in a southern california office park. two managers and the shooter are dead. two other people are in critical condition. all worked for southern california edison in urbandale. the shooter was allegedly upset about not receiving a christmas bonus and days off. >>> aymann, have there been any more casualties? >> good morning. egyptian health officials have increased the number of those that have been killed as a result of the fighting to nine. but protesters in tahrir square say that number could go up to as many as 14 people injured. the number injured stands close to 1300 people. an occupy protest outside the government office here was interrupted and disrupted by the military in an attempt to break in. that led to

. >>> mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. what do we have today? >> the question is whether we can extend the mini santa claus rally. as of yesterday the s&p 500 index was on the cusp of turning positive for the year. i should also say that that payroll tax cut agreement will lessen uncertainty on wall street and the market really hates uncertainty, so that is a positive as well. happy whole days to you. >> thank you, same to you, mandy. >>> here's a holiday tradition certainly not for the feint of heart. young men get into the spirit sharing a fru drinks and becoming bull fighters for a day. this year's festival left a half dozen amateur mat adores with scrapes, bruises and wounded pride. hopefully they won't do it again. it's 7:15, back to ann and maria. obviously there are people in this town who believe that is nod a good idea. >> last shot, he was smashed before getting into a wall. >> it is an all girls day. >> that's right, we'll get back to not a lot of testosterone but the other part in this room. good morning to you. >> good morning, ladi

cnbc's mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. mandy, good morning.00 on wednesday. what's on tap for today? >> that's right. now the s&p 500 stock index is teetering on ending the year unchanged from where it was at the start of the year. gold prices on the other hand are up nearly 10% so far this year. if you take in the recent sharp plunge at the start of the month they could have been a lot higher. as for what's happening with yahoo, very interesting story here. yahoo might become owned by a chinese company. the commerceman has hired a washington lobbying firm a sign they might be willing to pay for all of yahoo. one to watch. >>> now for a look the what's trending today. this video has people flocking to youtube to get a suitcase's view of what happens to your bags after they're taken on the conveyor belt. it is an ad for delta airlines. they let passengers track their bags in real time. and a nearly 50-year-old alfred hitchcock mystery may now be solved. it's on twitter. the 1963 classic "the birds" is based on furious birds launching themselves

mandy drury, thanks, at the new york stock exchange for us. >>> a soccer match in the netherlands was when a fan ran on to the field and tried to attack a rival team's goalie. the goalie managed to trip the fan and continued kicking him while he was down, earning a penalty. the goalie's coach was so enraged he ordered his entire team to walk off the field in protest. wow. now taking a look at what is trending today. our quick roundup of what has you talking online. a snap shot of the kiss seen around the world has splashed across the internet today. two women shared the navy's coveted first kiss wednesday when the u.s.s. oak hill returned to its base in virginia beach. this shows the tradition has caught up with the repeal of the don't ask/don't tell rule on gays serving openly in the military. >>> on google people are reading about new research by scientists that may refute the popular theory the shroud of turin was created during the middle east and is in fact a miracle. >>> earlier in the show we saw a glimpse of julianne moore as sarah palin and in the new movie "game change" now

cnbc's mandy drury is at the stock exchange. good morning. >> good morning, natalie. after two straight days of decline, the market is really looking for reasons to stabilize now. one thing that has been rising is the u.s. dollar, now at an 11-month high against the euro. and investigators are speculating more could be downgraded and also our economy, the world's largest, is comparatively stronger. if we look at the stats as we approach year-end, the s&p 500 index has fallen 2.5%, but still the second-best performer after new zealand of the 24 largest developed markets. that puts it in perspective. back to you. >> sure does. man degree drury at the new york stock exchange, thanks. >>> if you're married, you may be in the minority. barely half of americans over 18 are married. that is a record low for this country. back in 1960, some 72% of adult americans were married. but by 2010, that number plummeted to just 51%. notably, the marriage rate dropped by 5% between 2009 and 2010 alone. researchers say it could be due to the economy or just a cultural shift. matt, ann a

cnbc's mandy drury is at new york stock exchange. good morning, mandy. >> the question is whether we can extend the mini santa claus rally. more ed of a rebound in the u.s. economy has helped thus far. as of yesterday the s&p 500 index was on the cusp of turning positive for the year. i should also say that that payroll tax cut agreement will lessen uncertainty on wall street and the market really hates uncertainty, so that is a positive as well. happy holidays to you. >> thank you, same to you, mandy. >>> here's a holiday tradition certainly not for the feint of heart. young men in a columbia town get into the spirit by sharing a fe sharing a fru drinks and becoming bull fighters for a day. this year's festival left a half dozen amateur mat adores with scrapes, bruises and wounded pride. hopefully they won't do it again. it's 7:15, back to ann and maria. obviously there are people in this town who believe that is nod a good idea. >> last shot, he was smashed before getting into a wall. >> it is an all girls day. >> that's right, we'l

mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. mandy, good morning.0000 on wednesday. >> it's teetering on ending the year unchanged from where it start. gold is up nearly 10% so far this year, but if you take in the recent sharp plunge at the top of this month, well, they could have been a lot higher. as for what's happening with yahoo, very interesting story here. yahoo might become owned by a chinese company. the chinese e-commerce firm alibabba has signed a lobbying firm, a sign that they might have a bid for yahoo. that's one to watch. back to you. >>> now for a look at what's trending today. our quick roundup of what has you talking on-line. this gives a suitcase eye view of just what happens to your bags after they are on a conveyor belt. it lets passengers track their bags in real-time. >>> nearly 50-year-old alfred hitchcock mystery may be installed. "the birds" was actually based on a real event in california's monterey bay when sea birds mysteriously launched themselves into windows and fell from the sky. well, now scientists say the erie i