and hampton pearson joins us from washington. pton, you have been watching this and with the downgrade and now fitch reaffirmation here, and it doesn't seem to make sense when you put those two pieces of reasoning together from the two rating agencies? >> and the s&p's is out there on an island by itself. fitch looked at the same set of circumstances as you said, and they have reaffirmed the credit rating, and they say that the u.s. is still a leader of the global economy even after the debt and deficit reduction debate that didn't come up with a big long-term deal, and they say that the enreasons are that the dollar is the global reserve currency of choice, and the u.s. has a diversified economy with strong underlying fundamentals, but fitch is taking a wait and see attitude as far as what this 12-member joint senate and house committee come up with this sfaul as far as the plan to cut the deficit by an additional $1.2 trillion. failure to strike a deal, fitch said would be viewed as a negative. >> hampton pearson with the latest

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap. it was an up-and-down day for the dow, starting higher amid positive retail earnings reports, but a sell-off erased most of the gain, the blue chip gaining just four points. the s&p 500 getting to finish at 1193. the nasdaq, however, lost 12 points to close at 2511. >>> target shares closed 2% higher, thanks to better than expected earnings. the retailer reporting stronger sales near the end of the quarter, core prices at the wholesale level, rising prices for tobacco, pharmaceuticals and pickup trucks contributed to the increase. the drought in texas is taking a huge economic toll. state agriculture officials say crop and livestock losses have surpassed a record $5 billion, and they could again even worse. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> back to "hardball." so who really are the members, the members, not the leaders, the members of the tea party out there. two college professors say they have the answer, and often it's not who they say th

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap.f you blink you might have miss add rally or plunge today. the dow whips on through for 400 point swing 0 finish 60 points in the green. the s&p 500 down a fraction and the nasdaq shedding 4 points. despite today's gains, the markets are logging to their worst week in more than two years. stocks started higher in today's better than expected jobs report. 117,000 jobs added in july bringing the unemployment rate down to 1.9% but sliding on rumors that s&p was going to downgrade the u.s. credit rating after the close today. then the roller coaster started climbing again, after italy announced key structural reforms and its stabilizing its economy. in earnings news proctor and sgamble beat expectations as cost cuts and price hikes offset rise materials costs and prizeline wowed the street with killer profds and big growth in its overseas markets. that's it? krc cnbc, first in big worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> with the economy in trouble, communities in crisis and people adrift in

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap. stock snapping a losing trike with techs leading the way dow jones industrial average gaining 29 points, s&p adding 6, the nasdaq surging 23 points. the dow and the s&p were playing follow the leader, as gains for google, apple and intel helped lift is the nasdaq. we have research in motion jumping almost 5% after unveiling five new blackberry models. >>> mastercard soaring more than 13% today the. >>> activision reporting after the closing bell, blowing past estimates. >>> in economic news, service sector growth slowed in june to the lowest level since february. while private employers added more jobs than expected in july, the number of planned layoff climbed to a 16-month high. that's it from cnbc world first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." liberals say they're unhappy with the president for what they see as folding, but he's also being hated by conservatives. they call him a socialist. doesn't the left understand they have a progressi

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap.ook at how stocks are doing with 15 minute left in the trading day. struggling off the lows of the day, trying to get into positive territory, breaking through. the dow up about eight points and the s&p up almost five. the nasdaq up a little over 22 points. now everyday shoppers weren't the only ones tightening their wallets in june. the commerce department says businesses trimmed back on airplane, auto and he have me sheenry orders by 1/8 of 5% which adds up to a little over $440 billion, and that twitter bird is probably swiinging a swt tune after the company landed an $800 million investment deal. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. martin, back to you? >> thank you, hampton. >>> while protests continued outside the courthouse, ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak made his first public appearance today since the february uprights. in what see as an encouraging sign of democracy and accountability, mr. mubarak was wheeled into court on a hospital bed to begin his tri

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap.how stocks are doing so far today with 15 minutes left in the trading day. a major selloff under way. right now, the dow down 473 points. the s&p down 55. the nasdaq down almost 126 points. last week's snapshot of unemployment applications for benefits dipped by 1,000 to 400,000. that's the lowest it's been in four months. this comes ahead of friday's eagerly anticipated monthly report on jobs. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. martin, back to you. >> thank you, hampton. >>> mitt romney received at least $1 million from a so-called mystery company that has since dissolved only months after it was formed. according to a story by msnbc's reporter, records obtained by nbc news reveal the million-dollar donation by w.-span, l.l.c. formed back in march by an attorney in boston who specialized in estate tax planning for, quote, high net worth individuals. on july 129, that same attorney dissolved the company which made the donation to "restore our future," mitt romney's so-ca

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap.ket's worse day since the start of the financial crisis back in 2008. the dow jones industrial plunging 512 points. now down about 1200 points over the last two weeks. the s&p 500 sliding 60. the nasdaq tumbling more than 136 points. it was the european debt crisis. markets unimpressed. an effort to boost the financial rescue fund were caught by the germans and dutch. as you'd imagine, the dollar soared against the currencies. in fact, bank of new york mellon said it will start charging large depositors to hold cash due to the sudden increase in dollar deposits. in earnings news, gm doubled quarterly results nearly and kraft beat out and announced its splitting into separate mac and grocery companies. that's cnbc, first in business news. now back to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." terrible news on the stock market. a drop of 513 points, fresh ammunition to republicans to make the case president obama is not healing the economy. what can the president say in his defense? tim

. >>> i'm hampton pearson with your market wrap. a look at how the stocks are doing today.e of those days if you don't like the markets wait a minute. right now we've got the dow in positive territory up 75 points, the s&p down a fraction, the nasdaq down about 17 points. financial woes continue to mount for the u.s. postal service. the agency reporting more than $3 billion in losses, between april and june, bringing this year's total losses to $5.7 billion. the agency could default on payments to the government as early as next month. >> honda is recalling about 1.5 million vehicles across the u.s. the automaker says they need to update automatic transmission software to prevent transmission damage. chrysler has issued a recall of over 367,000 minivans, this time over faulty air bags that could deploy. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. ezra, back to you. >> thank you, hampton. >>> you know, we've promised you at the end of the show today something a little less depressing than everything that has come before it, that points the way toward the future maybe we