abercrombie & fitch reported a 29% increase in third quarter profits, but profit margins were hurt by heavy discounting. erika miller has more on whether merchants will see more green from teens this holiday season. >> reporter: at this charlotte russe store in manhattan today, customers were shopping for clothing and accessories. teen purchases are not just a predictor of fashion trends. retail analyst eric beder says they are also a barometer of discretionary spending overall. >> teen have tremendous amounts of discretionary income. their food, board and pretty much everything else is paid for by their parents. so really what the teens do with their money is they spend it. >> reporter: teen retailers were once believed to be recession proof. but the great recession changed that. these stores have suffered along with oth the weak economy also means parents are less willing-- or able-- to part with spending money.terms of standards of performance, in terms of productivity. >> reporter: but s&p analyst marie driscoll thinks urban outfitters and abercrombie & fitch are the better stocks

tell us what your next stock is, abercrombie and fitch? >> yes it's a play on what we see is the pickup in teen spending. abercrombie and fitch has been one of the hall 345rks of that sector and we see solid improvement there at the management level in terms of controlling stores, square footage, and pricing. so we see them having a solid christmas season, and the stock rallying from the mid 40s into the mid 50s. sgrefz your third one is yet another retailer? >> yes, it combines the benefit of discounting and teens and that you're going to see some of the strength they have in selling games. i think they're one of the must-have products this year, they'll be selling the x box 360. spent a time myself over the weekend, couldn't find it in any store. so i think that will be a driver driving stock from right around 20 bucks a share to around 25. >> jeff: i have 20 seconds or so. you don't have any online retailers on there. why not? >> valuations is the reason. right now you've seen the stocks take off. >> jeff: any disclosurees? >> we don't

chart hasn >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: quarterly results from retailers abercrombie & fitch, home depot, saks, target and wal-mart. the producer price index for october is out as well. it'll give us a look at infl "gold." alix steel reports for thestreet.com. alix steele from thestreet.com will join us to talk gold consolidation trends. motorola is fine-tuning the timeline on the upcoming split of its business units. the company's co-c.e.o. today narrowed it down from the first quarter to january. the move will create two new companies. "motorola mobility" will sell cell phones and set-top boxes. "motorola solutions" will supply things like public safety radios and bar code scanners. >> tom: general motors' price range on its pending initial public offering revved higher today. the "wall street journal" reports the new price range is between $31 and $33 a share, up from the initial range of $26 to $29 dollars. the increase is prompted by strong demand for the stock. g.m.'s owners, including the u.s. government are expected to sell 365 million common shares on thursda

and teen retailer abercrombie & fitch added 3%. its latest quarter beat the street. one more retailer, b.j. wholesale. this 3% rally today, shares are at their highest price since 2002. earnings were stronger than expected and it's raised its outlook. financial stocks were the weakest today as the federal reserve released guidelines if the biggest banks want to increase dividends or launch stock buybacks. these rules apply to the 19 banks that were subject to the fed's stress tests last year. here are some guidelines. they will have to show they have the capital to absorb loan losses over the next two years, including under adverse economic conditions. banks also have to show how they will meet new global bank capital requirements and pay back the government before raising dividends or making any buybacks. the major bank exchange traded fund sank more than 1.5%, but volume was low. this is a two-week low. the biggest drag on the s&p 500 came from an industry that has been the focus of lots of interest: data storage. net-app had been among those rallying until this la

staples, home depot, abercrombie & fitch. i could go down the list.o, at the bottom of that list. but tell me what you found out when you looked into this whole issue because it really shocked me. >> it is fascinating. you know, very often when you're checking out at holiday time and you're buying a product. someone says would you like to get our credit card here at radio shack? we have a great teaser rate, we have a great deal. 10% off this. the problem is those cards have really defied the law of economic gravity. those store credit card rates through the roof. an average of 24% while bank card rates are coming down. what it really is, people shop around for the products very carefully and they don't shop around very carefully for how they pay for them. this is a warning. people can find the warning on our website. we looked at all the major stores and just about every one of them offer their own cards and they're exorbitant. >> you have to pay it before the high rates kick in. >> some deals are very good and you have to remember, if you don't pay o

in hawaii, the democrat kneel abercrombie won with 58% of the vote defeating the lieutenant govern governor. that seat is now held by a republican who is term limited. >> the national commission on the b.p. deep water horizon oil spill met to examine the root causes of the oil rig explosion. first rargs from the chief -- remarks from the chief counsel of the commission. this first portion is about a half hour. >> i said earlier i want to be sure you don't confuse what was said with what i said earlier. i said we see no instance where a decision-making person or group of people sat there aware of safety risks, aware of costs and opted to give up safety for cost there are people that make observations about what they thought other people might be doing. i'm not saying -- we do not say everything done was perfectly safe. we are saying, and people have said people traded safety for dollars. we studied the hell out of this. we welcome anybody that gives us something we missed but we don't see a person or three people sitting there at a table considering safety and cost and giving up safety for c

. >> my nieces all want abercrombie or the aeropostale cards. >> i'll tell you that spending is down.up maybe 2%. but people are going to spend on average i think $689 for food, decorations, and gifts, $780 in 2007. so you can see that people still are not back to their pre-recession levels of spending, and maybe that's a good thing. maybe we don't need to be buying all the stuff we don't need. >> now the retailers are going to hate you. >> christine romans doing her part this morning to depress the retail industry. >> unless you're buying her rings. other than that, don't spend money. >> or her books. >>> top stories this morning, a mystery off the coast of california. stunning images show an object streaking upwards, it looks like, in the skies west of los angeles. to some, it looks like a missile or a rocket. right now, the pentagon can't explain what happened. the faa says radar replays do not show any fast-moving unidentified object. >>> a carnival cruise ship crippled at sea with 2,500 passengers and crew members onboard. the uss ronald reagan rushing in with tons of food, water

>> the rising stars would have to be some fresh faces, jerry brown -- [laughter] neil abercrombie --hickenlooper from colorado will be a star right off the bat. he is a really interesting person. he breaks the political mold. he's scially liberal, fiscally conservative for most of america is quite frankly. he want any part of the country that democrats have not traditionally done well in. in the last decade from really started to taper off. and most importantly, he's an interesting and fun person to be around. he's real. ke so many governors, he's a real person and it's got interesting ideas. what is funny about him is that he ran an ad that showed hm on a horse. and it was kind of a parody ad saying if you run for governor of colorado, all your consultants tell you that you have to be right in a horse. and he's the mayor of denver. he's not a cowboy. funny thing about yet is the total six months ago, you know, i'm thinking about this at. and it's me in a horse. and you know, he basically drawn up the whole thing himself. but that's the kind of guy he is. he's very creative. [inaudib

at westfield center we had 100 people waiting to get in line at abercrombie.at sales a lot of retailers are really putting the best foot forward. >> is this day the most important day that they get off to a good start this sets the tone for the rest of the holiday season? or is a bad start if you on the story you're concerned? >> it definitely sets the tone is the positive generally fun day. again retailers bring something to the table so i think we're very pleased at what we're seeing today. >> here's the opening bell this morning investors obviously hoping for big returns on this black friday retail stocks the big focus of everybody's watching that right now trading has been negative the dow was down 90 points 89.3. s&p down almost nine has set off by 8 or so points. most of what is driving today's trading overseas trading problems in korea and europe. it may be monday when the rate to all members, and we will seize more optimism on the trading floor. we'll be back with more a moment. adn the truckee skills you can see a lot of snow out there a lot of snow h

>> the rising stars would have to be some fresh faces, jerry brown -- [laughter] neil abercrombie --aughter] i would say i think that john hickenlooper from colorado will be a star right off the bat. he is a really interesting person. he breaks the political mold. he's socially liberal, fiscally conservative for most of america is quite frankly. he want any part of the country that democrats have not traditionally done well in. in the last decade from really started to taper off. and most importantly, he's an interesting and fun person to be around. he's real. like so many governors, he's a real person and it's got interesting ideas. what is funny about him is that he ran an ad that showed him on a horse. and it was kind of a parody ad saying if you run for governor of colorado, all your consultants tell you that you have to be right in a horse. and he's the mayor of denver. he's not a cowboy. funny thing about yet is the total six months ago, you know, i'm thinking about this at. and it's me in a horse. and you know, he basically drawn up the whole thing himself. but that's the kind

>> the rising stars would have to be some fresh faces, jerry brown -- [laughter] neil abercrombie -- [laughter] i would say i think that john hickenlooper from colorado will be a star right off the bat. he is a really interesting person. he breaks the political mold. he's socially liberal, fiscally conservative for most of america is quite frankly. he want any part of the country that democrats have not traditionally done well in. in the last decade from really started to taper off. and most importantly, he's an interesting and fun person to be around. he's real. like so many governors, he's a real person and it's got interestingideas. what is funny about him is that he ran a ad that showed him on a horse. and it was kind of a py ad saying if you run for governor of colorado, all your consultants tell you that you have to be right in a horse. and he's the mayor of denver. he's not a cowboy. funny thing about yet is the total six months ago, you know, i'm thinking about this at. and it's me in a horse. and you know, he basically drawn up the whole thing himself. but that's the kind of

in hawaii, a democrat neil abercrombie succeeds a republican governor. the 10-term u.s. congressman will be sworn in on december 6. leaders of the incoming house republican majority hold a town hall meeting. will hear from incoming majority leader eric cantor, incoming majority whip kevin mccarthy, and paul ryan. they spoke at american university. >> my name is george levitt and i am the director of the kennedy political union. [applause] i am very pleased tonight to join the american university college republicans and center for congressional presidential studies in welcoming congressmen eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, and paul ryan. congressman eric cantor has served in congress since 2001, working to limit regulation, strengthen small businesses, and encourage entrepreneurship. in 2008, he was elected minority whip and is set to become the majority leader in the 100th of congress. 12th congress. paul ryan has represented since 2009. he is author of "a road map for america's future," which outlines some of america's most pressing issues such as health care, medicare, medi

>> the rising stars would have to be some fresh faces, jerry brown -- [laughter] neil abercrombie --laughter] i would say i think that john hickenlooper from colorado will be a star right off the bat. he is a really interesting person. he breaks the political mold. he's socially liberal, fiscally conservative for most of america is quite frankly. he want any part of the country that democrats have not traditionally done well in. in the last decade from really started to taper off. and most importantly, he's an interesting and fun person to be around. he's real. like so many governors, he's a real person and it's got interesting ideas. what is funny about him is that he ran an ad that showed him on a horse. and it was kind of a parody ad saying if you run for governor of colorado, all your consultants tell you that you have to be right in a horse. and he's the mayor of denver. he's not a cowboy. funny thing about yet is the total six months ago, you know, i'm thinking about this at. and it's me in a horse. and you know, he basically drawn up the whole thing himself. but that's the kin

>> the rising stars would have to be some fresh faces, jerry brown -- [laughter] neil abercrombie --would say i think that john hickenlooper from colorado will be a star right off the bat. he is a really interesting person. he breaks the political mold. he's socially liberal, fiscally conservative for most of america is quite frankly. he want any part of the country that democrats have not traditionally done well in. in the last decade from really started to taper off. and most importantly, he's an interesting and fun person to be around. he's real. like so many governors, he's a real person and it's got interesting ideas. what is funny about him is that he ran an ad that showed him on a horse. and it was kind of a parody ad saying if you run for governor of colorado, all your consultants tell you that you have to be right in a horse. and he's the mayor of denver. he's not a cowboy. funny thing about yet is the total six months ago, you know, i'm thinking about this at. and it's me in a horse. and you know, he basically drawn up the whole thing himself. but that's the kind of guy he

neil abercrombie one in hawaii's race with 58% of the votes defeating james duke. the seat is now held by a republican linda lindell who is term limited. from this morning's "washington journal," this portion is about 30 minutes. continues. host: welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me in. host: an article was written and the hill -- in the hill. what does president guest: analyzing that across a left/right continue what is a mistake. i think the problem is that this country has serious unemployment problems. there are economic problems. we need to find solutions that work. the public does not care if the solutions are right or left. the care if the solutions to impact their lives in a good way. is it a matter of being far left or far right? if he is effective, everyone will be happy. if he is not, no one will be. they have their own way of explaining it. host: in the article, they talked about some of the things you had to say. they pointed to recent polling. there is little evidence that much of what president obama used as areas of compromise woul

in the white governor's race, and neil abercrombie 1 with 58% of the vote, repeating the republican lieutenantor. -- in the hawaii governor's race. >> the senate returns monday for general speeches. then both republicans and democrats will hold off the floor leadership elections. no roll call votes are expected until wednesday, with the first expected vote on the week on the use of natural gas and electric vehicles. other possible boats include bills on wage discrimination and food safety. watch live coverage on c-span2 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. also an ethics subcommittee meeting on the case of charles rangel. he is accused of 13 violations including failure to disclose $600,000 and assets in a series of inaccurate financial disclosure reports to congress. that is live at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> in an ideal world, the fact that there were people shorting the mortgage market would have sent a signal to everybody saying they are smart investors to think this thing is going to crash and burn, but because of the way these instruments work, you were not betting on real mortgages but unbending

and in hawaii, congressman neil abercrombie, democrat currently ahead in the early polls, the results coming in from the "star advertiser" in honolulu. next is marie joining us from sugar grove, north carolina. caller: hi, steve. good morning. i'm used to seeing you on "washington journal." i'm a "washington journal" junkie. host: we may just stay until the "washington journal" and keep it going all night. caller: i'm semiretired and am able to watch more than when i worked full time. i have a couple of things to stay. first of all, i've never missed an election since i was 18 years old. matter of fact, in my 30's and 40's i was a poll worker. and i'm 55 years old now and i've noticed basically for the past 20 years, it's just one party and it's two factions. host: thanks for the call. we'll go back. rick scott is about to speak in florida declaring victory in the governor's race succeeding charlie crist. >> the emails, thank you from the bottom of my heart. i also want to thank my wonderful wife that i met in high school. we've now been married 38 years. and our wonderful daughters a