it's diane eastabrook reporting for the cme group in chicago. thanks, diane. >> susie: when it comes to confidence in the markets, tonight's commentator says market makers, like knight capital have a great responsibility. here's joseph cotterill, editor at the financial times. >> is it so terrifying that you should gut your 401(k) of stocks? you could say that the market itself absorbed knights problem trades pretty well last week. those weird prices died down after that wild half-hour. trades in only six names had to be cancelled. even if you trade stocks day to day, that seems like better resilience than the big flash crash of two years ago. if you hold stocks for months or years, you could be feeling pretty insulated. instead, the only downer on your confidence would be the merely atrocious economy. but that can't be the whole story. better resilience hasn't brought investors rushing back: retail flows out of equity funds haven't noticeably reversed since the flash crash. investors, retail or institutional, would be justified to have second th

but i think given some of >> reporter: i'm diane eastabrook in central illinois.still ahead, i'll tell you how some farmers are using technology to grow corn in one of the worst droughts in decades. >> susie: a big sell-off on wall street today after a top federal reserve official dashed hopes of more stimulus for the u.s. economy. james bullard, head of the federal reserve bank of st. louis, a non-voting member of the central bank, said he's seeing signs of an improving economy and doesn't believe another round of help is necessary right now. that, combined with those tech worries we told you about, pulled down stocks. the dow tumbled 115 points, its first-triple digit loss in a month. the nasdaq lost 20 points, while the s&p fell 11. >> tom: those losses come, in spite of two more signs of a housing recovery today. first, sales of new homes jumped 3.6% in july, up to their fastest pace in three years. gains were the biggest in the northeast. a separate report found home prices were up 1.8% in the second quarter. that's the steepest quarterly increase in six and

. >> reporter: i'm diane eastabrook in chicago. still ahead, i'll tell you how the drought is affecting one summer staple, farmers markets. >> susie: on wall street, a flat day for stocks, and the averages flip-flopped between gains and losses. investors were encouraged by those retail sales we told you about, but discouraged by news that europe's economy contracted in the past three months. the dow inched up only three points, the nasdaq lost 5.5, and the s&p fell a fraction. our guest says there's been a cycle of "hope and despair" in the markets. he's stuart schweitzer, vice chairman of j.p. morgan private bank. so, should investors be focused on some of the good news going on in the u.s. or the bad news is going on in europe? >> well susie, of course we've got to be paying attention to all of it but i think the number one thing for investors to focus on is opportunity. and the opportunity that comes when prices are weaker. the reality is, this has been such a tough year, the news flow's been really discouraging and yet, through

diane eastabrook, "n.b.r.," chicago. >> susie: the fortune 500 has one less female ceo today. angela braly stepped down as c.e.o. of wellpoint, the big health insurer. her departure comes after a disappointing second quarter, and a cut in guidance from the company. wellpoint is in the process of taking over amerigroup, and analysts say that company's c.e.o. could be a potential replacement for braly. wellpoint stock surged on the news: up more than 7% to $61.80. tom, otherwise in the markets very, very slow, quiet day. either investors and traders are on the side line waiting for that jackson hole speech of ben bernanke, or they're just on vacation, so these are the summer doldrums. >> tom: it really was a day of individual stocks making individual news and individual moves as opposed to the broad market. >> tom: let's get going with tonight's "market focus." >> tom: flat and thin best describes stock trading over the past several sessions, including today. the market has not had much conviction as the summer winds down. it was another directionless, and narrow trading range w

diane eastabrook, "n.b.r.," downers grove, illinois. >> susie: all this week we've been looking at the small regional banks across the country, but one ultra-local player in financial services, credit unions, have also seen a surge in new accounts. the gains come as bank customers become increasingly fed up with hefty fees at big banks. more than one million americans opened credit union accounts last year, bringing the total to a record 92 million members. as erika miller explains, some credit unions are having success targeting niche markets that others overlook. >> listen careful. >> check out the tv on the wall. you'll see what makes this credit union unique. all business here is done in two languages. english and polish. the polish and slofic credit union was founded 35 years ago in brooklyn. there's polish immigrants. >> in the 70s poles that were arriving here in green point couldn't get a loan. >> they weren't surfaced by >> since then the credit union has grown to 77,000 members. it has almost a billion and a half dollars in assets, making it the largest ethnic credit union in

diane eastabrook traveled to central illinois where insurance adjusters already have been driving from farm to farm looking at the damage. >> you don't have the height with the plant that you usually have. >> reporter: country financial claims adjuster steve worthington is appraising just how much damage the drought has caused the harms brothers corn crop. >> okay kevin and norman. we're gonna measure off 17.4 foot of row here, and then we want to harvest and shuck the ears off the plants and the harvestable ears. >> nothing on this stalk or this stalk. another blank stalk. >> it should be about four times as long and about twice as thick. >> in a normal year with good rain all year and everything goes right, this bucket would be full. >> reporter: throughout central illinois corn stalks are withering in what is the worst drought in a quarter century. some farmers are already grinding up their burnt crops for livestock silage. crop insurance should cover much of the loss. the u.s.d.a. say farmers bought policies covering about three quarters of the nearly 100 million acres of corn plan

as diane eastabrook reports, that will eventually mean much higher meat prices in the future. >> reporter: it's lunch time at the walter farm in ottawa, illinois. but this summer, the cows are dining on hay, instead of pasture grass they normally eat this time of year. >> it's been so dry so long, it's pretty much burnt up. like right here, with the last rain, there's some grass starting to come. but it might take awhile; it might not recover this year. >> reporter: this is yet another cost the drought is dealing u.s. farmers. walter typically doesn't start feeding his cows hay until late fall, but with no grass,e had to start months earlier. and it's costing him a bundle. >> here just in central illinois, small square bails are selling for $7 to $8 a bail, when typically they're around $4 a bail. large round bails, those are over $200 a ton, corn is over $8 a bushel. >> reporter: the high cost of feed is also forcing many feed lots to liquidate herds early. while that could flood the market with beef in the short run, driving down prices, it's likely to mean less of it at a much higher p

diane eastabrook has details. >> reporter: g.m. bucked fears of a slowing economy in china last month by selling 15% more vehicles there than it did during the same month last year. among the biggest sellers for g.m. were buick excelle models. while auto sales in china have been strong compared to last year, they've actually been declining month over month this year. a possible sign of a cooling chinese economy. june sales slid nearly 2.5% from may and sales were also down the two months before that. still u.s. auto manufacturers are betting big on china. g.m. is the market leader, selling more than 2.5 million vehicles there last year primarily through joint ventures. ford is increasing its exposure there as well, planning to add six new plants in china that will produce more than a million vehicles by 2015. diane eastabrook, "n.b.r.," chicago. >> tom: some modest gains drove the major u.s. stock indices to new three month highs today. the day started out with the s&p 500 jumping on the heels of gains in european and asian markets

diane eastabrook, "n.b.r.," chicago. >> susie: also on wall street: the verdict is in on earnings for the second quarter, and it's not encouraging. nearly all s&p 500 firms have reported earnings, but profits are up only fractionally compared to last year. that means this will most likely be the weakest earnings growth since third quarter 2009. and as erika miller reports, it looks like the second half is also likely to be challenging for corporate america. >> reporter: there's one thing more troubling than the outlook for earnings in the second half of the year. it's the outlook for revenues. >> we are looking for revenue growth to be negative, for revenues to decline for the back half of the year. analysts already have that baked into their models for the third quarter. and i'm fairly sure they're going to bake that into the fourth quarter as well. >> reporter: the latest results paint a pretty bleak picture. most s&p 500 firms have beaten earnings expectations, but less than half have been able to top revenue forecasts. at 41%, it's the lowest level since the recession. so, the bot

diane eastabrook, nbr, glenview, illinois. >> tom: still ahead, temporary workers. they've come a long way from filing paperwork and answering the phone. today's super temps have multiple college degrees and years of experience. >> susie: on wall street, the bulls ran out of breath as stocks reversed early gains to losses. spurring the move to take money off the table, a downgrade of tech darling apple. we'll talk with the analyst behind that call in just a moment. the dow fell 68 points, the nasdaq lost nine, and the s&p off almost five points. just shy of $675 in the middle of trading session. started selling off though as word circulated that washington stated's based oracle investment research had down graded apple stock from buy to hold. apple shares closed down about one and-a-half [%. the firm's chief investment at any rate gist said some high surrounding the stocks concerns him. he joins us now by phone. the cut price target as well on apple less than $650. what concerns you about apple shares most to stop recommending purchase of them? >> sure. well there a