but today's biggest deal was in banking: m&t is buying jersey's hudson city bancorp for $3.7 billion in cash and stock. it's the biggest bank deal since the recession. >> tom: with the hudson city merger, m&t now joins the ranks of so-called super-regional banks. after the deal closes, m&t will have 870 branches stretching from connecticut to virginia and assets over $100 billion. as darren gersh reports, the reasons behind this merger have a lot to do with the unusual economics of banking in a time of low interest rates. >> reporter: for saver's who are essentially getting 0% interest on their deposits, it may be small comfort to know banks have pretty much the same problem. hudson city and other banks are painfully aware the interest rates they can charge for loans are only going in one direction. >> loan yields have steadily come down. they are actually going down every single day here and the same with security yields. so if your funding cost is low, but stable and your yield on your assets are going down, your net interest margin or the earnings power that you produce on your ba

hudson city and other banks are painfully aware the interest rates they can charge for loans are only going in one direction. >> loan yields have steadily come down. they are actually going down every single day here and the same with security yields. so if your funding cost is low, but stable and your yield on your assets are going down, your net interest margin or the earnings power that you produce on your balance sheet is shrinking. >> reporter: for banks like m&t, the solution to falling yields on loans is to get bigger. which explains why m&t has merged its way up to the ranks of super-regional banks. not only do bigger banks have more assets and therefore more earnings power, they also are better equipped to deal with a new regulatory landscape. >> dodd-frank was a factor in that it raised regulatory costs and with that, it makes it more attractive for banks to combine and increase their revenue base to offset the higher fixed cost increase. >> reporter: but the merger wave many predicted dodd-frank's banking reforms would set in motion has been slow to develop. falling interes

and we got some m&a between hertz and dollar thrifty and the hudson city news. here all week on set filling in for melissa lee. >> so she's not off -- >> no. the u.s. open begins and she magically appears in new york city. >> how did andy murray beat federer? who's best now? >> i don't know. it's a good question. >> who's going to win the u.s. open? >> my money's on djokovic. >> joe's back on his country kick. >> i love it when you come back. you're so rested and relaxed. >> and you know how long it lasts. tomorrow i'm going to be -- >> wait a second. this has lasted the whole show. >> it has. it's a miracle. anyway, thanks, carl. see you in just a few minutes. >>> coming up, parting shots from bob dahl, stick around. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism.

david: by the way we saw this hudson city bank deal selling it to m&t.ou suggest that regulations are going to encourage more bank consolidations. how does that work? >> well, all the things that have come out of washington so far over last couple years are really ultimately driving the costs of business up for the financial institutions. so, from basal to cfpb to dodd-frank to, durbin, all of it ultimately drives the cost up of our business and it's smaller banks that suffer brunt of that because they don't have as many assets to spread those costs across. so there will be more consolidation i believe as time goes on. there have only been 28 this year. a total of 14.4 billion in transactions of which 3 billion of that was hudson city. this year has been light. but i do think you will see more consolidation, mostly because, returns are coming down and the complexity of the business and costs are going up the. david: you can bank on it. mariner, thanks very much. good to see you. >> okay, thanks. >> umb financial. good luck, my friend. thank you. >> thank

m & t is buying hudson city bank. shareholders will receive either cash or stock valued at $7.22 a share. m & t expects to gain about $25 billion in deposits and a $28 billion loan book from the merger. here's a look at the banks in the dpeel and how they're trading premarket this morning. hudson city adding 14% and m & t adding 2%. this is now a done deal, hertz buying dollar thrifty for $2.3 billion. that's $87.50 a share in cash. 8% premium over dollar thrifty's closing price on friday and well above the $41 it offered originally back in 2009. you see dollar thrifty up more than 7%. hertz up 15.6%, carl. >> nice gain for a deal that people saw coming, no question about that. >> in both case, the acquirers are benefiting this morning. >> it was accretive very early. >>> when we come back, tropical storm isaac having an impact on everything from refineries to the republican national convention. we'll get the latest on the storm's path. a live report from the gulf coast on preparations in that region when we come back

and hudson city for $3.7 billion, the you larnlgt largest bank acquisition this year. >>> armed sales last year making 78% of all weapon sales and over-66 billion a record high. saudi arabia bought the most arms of any country spending almost $34 billion on weapons with 99% of that going to the u.s. >>> and finally, these days every the rich are cutting back. tiffany lowered its outlook for the year monday due to slow sales. >>> coming up, the twins put up a goose egg, the os notch up the pressure and the jays snap a send game skid. plus an unfriendly welcome to the national league for a former red sox pitcher. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> in overnight, isaac has been struggling, but there's still 24 hours to go where it could strengthen. that forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, the tampa bay rays escaped tropical storm isaac playing in texas, but they could not escape the hot hitting rangers. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports

hudson city bank. they were doing a deal.15.5% and then iac, it's acquirer of acquiring the about group for just over $300 million and actually up on the day. back to you. >> bertha, thank you very much for that. >>> let's return to the top story, the latest on isaac's path. todd santos is tracking the storm and joins us now with that. todd? >> yeah, simon, thanks. we are still talking about a tropical storm. max sustained winds at 65 miles per hour. awaiting an update coming in at 2:00 eastern time. again, still expecting some strengthening. now that the system is in the gulf, it has a green light. here's a look at the current stats. motion is northwest at 14 miles per hour. heading up towards the central gulf coast and we have effects going on in florida. primarily isolated severe weather potential and localized flooding and down towards miami with the tropical rainfall and you see the large burst of convection there. across the area and looking for more of this as the system maybe tries to tighten up. been such a huge wind

. >> the dow was let down by ibm which agreed to buy conneksa and hudson city for $3.7 billion.e largest u.s. bank acquisition this year. >> a government reporthows the u.s. dominated armed sales making 78% of all weapon sales and over $66 billion, a record high saudi arabia bought most of the arms, spending $30 billion on weapons with 99% going to the u.s. >>> even the rich are cutting back. tiffany lowered its outlook for the year monday due to slow sales. >>> coming up, the twins put up a goose egg. the os notch up a pressure and the jays snap a seven-game skit. >>> a former red sox pitcher. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you are watching "first look" on msnbc. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets. the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate

hudson city and other banks are painfully aware the interest rates they can charge for loans are only banks like m&t, the solution to falling yields on loans is to get bigger. which explains why m&t has merged its way up to the ranks of super-regional banks. not only do bigger banks have more assets and therefore more earnings power, they also are better equipped to deal with a new regulatory landscape. >> dodd-frank was a factor in that it raised regulatory costs and with that, it makes it more attractive for banks to combine and increase their revenue base to offset the higher fixed cost increase. >> reporter: but the merger wave many predicted dodd-frank's banking reforms would set in motion has been slow to develop. falling interest rates on loans is one reason why. >> they don't want to sell out now, because their earnings power is depressed and they know when rates rise, the earnings power will improve and with that their takeout bid will also improve. so nobody wants to sell out at the bottom if they don't have to. >> reporter: when interest rates do go up, bank earnings and me

finally, in the banking sector, m&t buying hudson city for $3.7 billion.hat actually is the largest banking deal so far this year. and that will help m&t expand from connecticut region. so on the eastern coast an we see the reaction right there. back to you guys in the studio. ashley: merger monday lives on. lauren simonetti, thank you so much. appreciate it. tracy: after a late summer rally are we in for a september selloff? our next guest says, yeah, september is historically the worst month for markets and warns there are headline risk that investors should be prepared for. joining us now, russ koesterich. chief investment strategist for blackrock ishares business. russ, thanks for being with us. tell us why september is historically so poor. >> september is an interesting month. investors often look at the calendar. it is a normal thing to do but the truth is very few months demonstrate a bias ha holds up over time. september is the exception. not just in the u.s. but globally. typically what happens in september, you do see weakness more than any othe

leading the way hudson city bancorp soaring on news it is being bought by mmt bank.p higher today on that news. just as it seems we are coming out of the last recession or albeit very slowly, could another recession be looming? my next guest says certainly it's possible, but he's got stock picks that are what he calls recession proof. lance roberts, street talk advisor ceo joining us now in a fox business exclusive from houston, texas. he's smiling and laughing, but what is this talk of another recession just around the corner? do you really think that? >> well, ashley, i appreciate being here. i'm not sure if it is just around the corner, but i tell you if you look at the evidence here lately, look at durable goods orders just the last report headline was great. underneath it where the consumer lives, absolutely horrible. the problem is the economics are certainly very very weak here, but the point of what i've been trying to explain to people is that when you look at the markets and you are investing in your portfolio, we all have an optimistic bias. we all want th

i know you can't notice that if you look at where the stock prices closed today in tend but hudson city up nearly 15%, best performer on the s&p 500. -- nearly 16%, best performer on the s&p 500. being bought by mmt bank, which sack chul -- which is actually number four best performer ton s&p 500. -- m and t bank. back to you. david: some people are on vacation and they miss all this activity. >> yeah. david: thanks lauren. tracy: speaking of activity, let's go back to the s&p future pits. they are closing right now. mark sebastian at the cme right now. where did we close today? >> we closed down about an extra half a point. not a big change. as the week goes by, watch counterintuitive reaction to economic reports. if we get a really bad report, and you see the market rally thrash's going to be qe speculation swinging in by the markets. i think that could be really interesting to watch on these pre-market and after-market hours with economic reports. david: mark sebastian from the cme, thank you very much. tracy: we have been seeing a lot of that counterintuitive stuff; right? david: we

hudson city banc. guy? you hit the nail on the head.nk it's pretty stock specific and if you're looking to buy something in the hopes of something to happen barking up the wrong tree. >> all right. for all of you who are really in to the grateful dead, a pop for air guitar and american air shredder named nordic thunder. look at him right now. you can't believe this. rocked his way to first place at the world air guitar championships in finland. the ax man stroke a cord with the judges barely meeting out a teammate for the victory. >> dating him a month ago? no? >> i was going to say, you competed in this, right? iron maiden? >> no, no. do you have footage? i doubt he's an ironman. >> contestants from around the world competed vying for the grand prize, a real guitar. >> real guitar and a date with mcc at a restaurant of her choice. >> final trades next. r cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwri

m and t bank to buy hudson city savings bank in a deal valued at 3.7 billion.7 early movers ap the dow as we said opening pretty flat and a down side bias, not much. down 13 points as we speak. and you know, there are 11 key swing states that could decide the presidential election and next, scott rasmussen has his first tracking poll from the 11 states. who is leading, where it really counts. an answer in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. before you go outside. never! it's a new fiber one chewy bar. chocolatey and delicious. mmm. [ male announcer ] new fiber one chewy bars. great taste kids love plus calcium and fiber kids need. legalzoo

hudson river. go to the upland and work by gravity." and that's what new york city did. they first went to the hudson highlands, but 150 years later, it went to the delaware highlands. and really diverted the water that normally went to philadelphia to new york city. i don't think they anticipated that. narrator: the majority of new york city's drinking water comes from watersheds in upstate new york. a watershed is the area of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water. mountains act as a funnel to feed rivers and lakes. and in this case, reservoirs. in the new york city system, water is collected and stored in 19 reservoirs, which can hold more than a year's supply -- over 580 billion gallons of water. almost all of the system is fed by gravity, without the use of energy-consuming pumps. valves open to regulate the flow into the 85-mile-long delaware aqueduct -- the longest tunnel in the world. at hillview reservoir... the water is partitioned into another giant tunnel system. where it travels deep below manhattan. the pressure built up

though it's quiet out today, mary hudson keeps one eye on the door.she, like four other elderly victims, all got the same call. call up first"a woman calling from the city, claiming hudson hadn't paid her property taxes: even though hudson doesn't owe any money, the scammer still sent a man to her home... pretending to be a deputy: deputy:"when all of a sudden he jumped in here, slapped me in the face, i scream help, murder police!"at 94, she battled her assailant: assaalant:"he hit me here trying to pull me out of my slapped me in the face" face""hudson tells me she and the two latest victims got together at the police department yesterday to ut together this ssetch of the suspect"hudson says this is the man who attacked her... &pand police are looking for hi in connection with other attack. attacks."where's the money where's the money"he stole hundreds of dollars from her...before bolting for the do: door:"you don't want to put on tv what i want to say to him, you don't want to put that on tv"tonight, people here in locuss point say this scammer may have stolen money.but he'll neeer steal their peace of mind: mind:"definately put the sketch up right o

and in the financials: m&t is buying new jersey's hudson city bancorp.st 33, the nasdaq gained about three points, and the s&p lost a fraction. tomorrow, an update on home prices, as we get the latest reading on the s&p case-shiller home price index. for more financial news, tune in to "n.b.r." weeknights on this public television station.

city skyline. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: and we are floating, right now we are floating, floating on the hudson river and i don't know whether you-- i don't know whether you heard the news this morning but it has been announced that as we speak the city of territown new york, just upstream is releasing 2 million gallons of raw sewage into the hudson river. yes. i know it's exciting. the only time there has been this much raw sewage at a music festival is at every music festival anyway, this is a naval vessel, i'm wearing my admiral uniform. you like my tassles? (cheers and applause) thank you. of course nothing says rock 'n' roll like corporate endorsements. which brings to us this week's headlining sponsor, hefty! (cheers and applause) hefty which is evidently very happy to see you, you know their motto, put it in your mouth. i got to say it is the only place i would want to put it. with me all this week, spinning some on the fonnograph turntable my second in command, mr. grand master flash, give it up! boom! thank you so much, grand master flash. >> i had to get that. >> stephen, stephen, ste

city. a waterspout was over the hudson between calvert county and county. tornado warning was issued, damage reported and it quickly dissipated. we will see a southwesters wins in theow of area. hot and humidg in air. partly cloudy skies. a pretty good chance of the skip -- a pretty good chance of storms.d friday bringing in area of low pressure moving extending a sharp front to the south. if that front moves into the hot think we are in shape to receive more widespread showers and storms. at the same time, possibly severe thunderstorms. a lot to watch. on friday.e cooler temperatures moving in the weekend. hurricane ernesto made landfall earlier. border.co belize i am sure there will be damaged. a city on the coastline. we are afraid there will be when damage and eventually flooding issues as it weakens theis across mexico over next couple of days. i think we are just going to call in quiet wake-up the morning. partly cloudy. showers and thunderstorms possible. chance by thursday afternoon. for theme best chances to give more widespread. maybe a lingering

tom hudson has more from homestead-- a city andrew nearly wiped off the map. >> reporter: in the days after andrew roared ashore, this is what it left behind. home after home in some neighborhoods, not just damaged, but destroyed. torn to pieces by the storm's ferocious winds with gusts topping 150 miles per hour. >> i was laying in bed and all of a sudden the roof came off. >> huddled in that bathroom not knowing what was going on, feeling the walls move. >> ah, it was terrible. i never want to go through it again. >> reporter: here's what 20 years can do for that same neighborhood. homes have been rebuilt. lives restored and a community re-established. andrew remains one of the most destructive and expensive hurricanes in u.s. history. evidence of its devastation was still around when jon burgess moved to homestead two years after andrew. >> you still drove around and saw neighborhoods that were plastered up with insurance numbers on the pieces of wood, for many years after. >> there really wasn't an economy here. it was just people trying to survive. >> reporter: burgess is now vic

later this afternoon the best case looks like it will be the hudson valley, areas of west of new york cityd d.c. the heat study incredible throughout the middle of the country, 100 in texas all the way up to kansas. it's not like it's chilly in the rockies. temperatures there in the rockies. oklahoma city expecting a high of 110. >> coming up, lindsey lohan. and where rob patinson has been hanging out. [ male announcer ] every day, the world gets more complex. and this is what inspires us to create new technology. ♪ technology that connects us to everything the world has to offer and vice versa. ♪ technology that makes lightweight stronger, safer, and faster than ever before. ♪ technology that makes electric electrifying and efficiency exhilarating. ♪ technology that doesn't just drive us, but drives progress. ♪ and driving progress is what we do every day. ♪ ♪ insuring that stuff must be a pain. nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. [ doug's voice ] actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the

hudson.. robbed her.... and got away. 37-48"when all of aasudden he jumped in here, slapped me in the face, i scream help, murder police!" police!" police think he may bb linked to other crimes.baltimore city police say the most important thing to know is they will never come to a home and ask for money. 6-term republican congressman todd akin of missouri....who's running for the u-s senate... is backpedaling from a controversial remark about abortion. and as ed payne explains... the romney-paul campaign is even weighing in. in. while defending his hard-line stance against abortion in an interview with a saint louis t-v statton, congressman todd akin (aye-kin, as in clay aiken) said rape rarely leads to pregnancy. if it's a legitimate rapee the female body has waas tootry to shut that whole thing down. but ways to try to shut that whole thing down. but let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. you know i think there should be some punishment, buttthe punishment ought o be on the rapist and not attacking the child. akin later issued a statement saying -- quote -- "in statement saying -- akin later issued a statement saying -- quote -- "in reviewing my off the cuff remarks, it's

in the old days, the gender gap in kansas city we'd lock him in the hudson and take him to the state unfortunately, here's something to remember about akin. two-thirds of republicans in the primary in missouri voted against this guy. he had about 7% of the real eligible number of all voters. so he's got no mandate. everybody in the party except eisenhower has called him to get out. that's only because ike isn't with us anymore. the question is, with time, will it become what it ought to be, a local deal? romney came out strong against it. all the leaders did. it will be a flag the democrats wave around because they've got to destroy romney. i think it will melt away. particularly if romney can get that economic vision out there and crowd out the election. i think people care about rather than -- >> and he gets to one of his advantages. first, chuck, on the map. i talked at the outset about how romney reshapes this race. what they're going to look at is the nuts and bolts of what states they can flip to obama. >> look. here are our nine battle ground states and only two of the nine in

championship will take place in new york city it include as 2.5- mile swim in the hudson, 212- mile bikeride and run from fort lee tariffer side park in manhattan. that is a look at the week ahead. >>> coming up later, we are taking a look at the latest jobs numbers, both white house and republicans are using them to their advantage. >> total recall back on the big screen. it is knotter fold schwarzenegger this time.  >>> turning to what is new at the box office movie reviewer, kevin mccarthy talks about the latest installment of the wimpy kid series first he is not thrilled about the new total recall film starring colin farrell. >> this might make you feel old the original total recall came out in 1990. >> i was 6. >> i am not even going to get into ho how old i was. >> this weekend it is back on the big screen you just got to see it. >> yep. >> a special screening what did you think? it has been a long time. is the story still the same? >> yeah, same story elements that have been changed my biggest problem going into the film originally was the original was rated r now they are m