j.c. penney's. we certainly know that consumers, people for the most part are still reluctant to spend that extra cash and these earnings reports from retailers could give us a good glimpse into how consumers are holding up. and we see it early discounting already for the important back-to-school season as we look into the third and fourth quarter. all these retailers are already making plans about the holidays. and we'll have to hear exactly what they're expecting for the end of the year. the troubled asset relief program...otherwise known as "tarp"...is troubled itself, according to a congressional oversight panel. despite its name, none of the $700 billion allocated to it has been used to actually buy troubled assets from banks. withinstead, the money has been used to provide capital to banks in order to shore up their balance sheets while the banks continue to carry those toxic investments. the panel is particularly worried about smaller banks and their exposure to commercial real estate loans a

maxx mall stores fared muchorse, where a dole-digit sales skid continued at macy' j.c. penney d abercrombie and fitch. but the news wasn't all ba among the reta winners: discounters like ross, t.j. xx and marshall, which posted sales gains that beat analts' estimate a major coern now is that a new see of frugality is taking hold and parents areocusing on basic necessities li school supplies. so analysts anticipate this puback in spending may extend in to the christmashopping season. >> paul: those disappoting tail sales put wall street o the defense as did profit tang in the financial, tech ancommodity sectors. an hr into trading, the dow was off 40 points th the nasdaq down 18 pois. the market recered over half its early lossess investors digested a bter than expected reading on weekly jobls claims. but stocks fell shorof a positive closen investor caution ahead of tomrow's employment report. e dow dropped 24.71 to 9,256.26. e nasdaq fell 19.89 to 1,973.16. the p 500 lost 5.64 to 997.08. in the bond market, the year note gaid 3/32 to 94 29/32 putting e yield at 3.75%. >> susi

we'll alsoee quarterly results from railers abercrombie and fitch and j.c. penney. >> suzanne: banksset prices and real market valu night's "two ways to play" saysxpanding mark to market accounng could nip a recovery in the b. here's kevinepew of "myanville" and "minyanville's" vin depew. >> elier this year, the banking industry successfull pushedhe financial accounting standards ard-- known as f.a.s.b.-- to relax so-cled mark-to-market rul, giving banks far more leeway inaluing assets on their balance eets. mark-to-market rules require banks to value these aets at current market pces, but during the financial csis the market for mansecurities simply vanhed. now, right as the financia crisis is ending, f.a.s.b. i considering plying mark-to- market rules to all financl assets. this would be nothinshort of disastrous, plunging banks rht ck into the hole they were i a year ago >> i agree, the expaion of mark-to-market aounting rules would almost certain push banks right back to the brinof insolvency, but the realitis yocannot use accounting changes to recalculate your

interesting to know but it does have a lot of specialty retailers like guess jamboree in kohl's and j.c. penneyould you compare this performance of x r t compared to the spiders if you go back one year and the spiders not even bear be anywhere near what the 52 week high in fat down 20% prom one year ago 52 weeks ago back to that x r t truck back to those 52-week highs the we are talking about around 3350 or so this could be an area of technical resistance because this is where x r t was trading before it and fell off a cliff in september. the consumer is going to be very critical from now until the holidays. he began to hear from you again job hunting send us an e-mail comments at first business x. c o m voice mail number 3126608397 will see you online back her next time. pric we da ecial pric ca for steak. i coold hth but let's stet him sweait out a b. i coold hth anncr. vo: save money. live better. wal-mart

is a big month for the nation's retailers later this month we get earnings from companies like j.c. penney seeress target wal-mart and taking a look at the x r t that's one of the retail 80 else and you can see it continues to outpace the market by a significant amount if up 53 percent said jerry. certainly with the special retell a tariff as i keep telling us that there make money in this a requirement if it is priced at the we've seen some of poles still discounting some of these stores franking their footprints in the back-to-school season second only to the holiday season in terms of volume and profit for the stocks you're right we have earnings coming later on and on behalf same-store sales coming later this week. peggy let's get x r t you can see is actually inching up to the 52 week high which is you can say that about a lot of stocks here so you have the 52 week high back in september of last year at around $34 a share in x r t as a 31 so $3 shy of that. and another 10% rally in this market you may see that overnight to some degree we should plan now we talk only telling you always

macy's, j.c. penney and be aer abercrombie and fitsch all have double digit sales drops. one expert says consumers are stressed and depressed. stocks were also depressed today. the dow lost 24 3/4, and the s&p 500 fell 5, and the nasdaq dropped almost 20. the number of people on food stamps has passed 34 million for the first time, and enrollment surged 2% in may to reach 34.4 million people. it was the sixth month in a row in new benefit was set. the average benefit was $133.65. the next time the supreme court convenes, it will for the first time have an hispanic justice. sonya vote sonia sotomayor easily made it through the senate today. shannon bream has the story from capitol hill. >> if there are two words that sum up this nomination, it is these -- it's time. >> emphasizing her diversity in both background and professional experience, democrats said today sonia sotomayor will be a brilliant supreme court justice, and they didn't shy away from something that bothers conservatives most, the allegation that she will go beyond the text of the constitution to arrive at h

j.c. penney's and is yet now overseeing very sensitive infrastructure in our information technology.lenn: i have no problem if you are 21 and go shoplifting, et cetera. everyone makes a mistake. hey, i have never shoplifted but i have done some things i'm not proud of, but there is no oversight on this. the senate has not ratified these people. >> that's right. glenn: we isn't heard, are you a reformed person or not? >> that's right. they didn't put the screws to them. they didn't put the questions to them. the white house did not disclose this until one of my blogs disclosed the criminal background. yes, we all do stupid things, but this guy in addition to the shoplifting tried to evade the police and was a fugitive. glenn: can i ask you something? this one bothers me, because for the same reason as as sandy berger and the same reason for tim geithner. he was avoiding income tax. he now runs the i.r.s., and the excuse was there's nobody better. sandy berger, when he went in and took documents out of his pants, that was both bush and clinton. they were both in on that. >> yes. glenn:

people are pouring out of the shopping mall, particularly the j.c. penneys just adjacent to where the plane went down in the last 30 minutes or so. this is the rock await town square mall in new jersey, an unbelievable scene here. there is foam on the ground, they are catching fluid with buckets, and that could be fuel. i did not want to speculate too much, but you say that is where the fuel is usually kept on these planes. in the middle of this parking lot away from cars. this is what they are saying about the story. this is the third incident involving a small plane in new jersey. friday, a plane crashed near teterboro airport trying to avoid a crash, and you will remember that the helicopter colliding earlier this month over the hudson river with a small plane near hoboken, new jersey -- nine people died in that. a lot of sensitivity in the sky above new jersey as we see small planes flying around. i normally a safe way to fly, but not this summer. jane: fire in the streets. what sparked a violent face-off with police. we will show you more pictures next

pilot reported engine trouble but somehow they managed to put the plane down near the entrance of j.c. penney. that is one way of getting a good parking spot at the mall. >> a good deal on the clothes there. >>> a disturbing case of suicide in iraq. a young american soldier takes his own life just days after arriving there. now four fellow soldiers are accused of driving him to it. health officials are now looking ahead to flu season. with swine flu in the mix it could be especially deadly. and michael jackson's death is ruled a drug overdose. are criminal charges next? you are in the situation room. so what do you think? i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. >>> you are in the situation room, happening now. investigation not with standing, dick cheney says a just released report on cia interrogation tactics vindicates the bush administration. we explore cheney's claim. >>> lenders say they are getting president obama's new making home affordable program up and ready. w

the cessna 172 landed nose down near a j.c. penney store in rockaway township. cut it out.orted engine trouble, miraculously the pilot and student onboard only suffered minor injuries. >> a little bounce, little skidding. once the doors opened, you realized everybody was ok. eric: and no one on the ground was hurt either. gretchen: very good news. let's go out to dominica davis for a perspective on the weather as the last days of summer -- i hate to even say it. they're waning. >> they're fading fast. especially this weekend when we have some cooler air moving in. we're only looking at highs in the northeast in the low 70's. so it be t will be a nice break from the humidity. we still have showers and thunderstorms through the midsection. that's how you can expect them to stay today. showers around the florida area. as you heard earlier, that effected the shuttle launch this morning. scattered showers and thunderstorms stay in the forecast for florida throughout the week. taking a look at today's highs. we have the warm air in all the usual places. down to the south, off to