ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," new york. >> susie: some signs today that american airlines and u.s. airways might be moving closer to a merger. the two carriers said today they have agreed to share confidential information, but warned that a deal is far from reality. parent company a.m.r. has been in bankruptcy protection since november and has said it wants to stay independent. but now both carriers say they'll work in quote, "good faith" and in "close collaboration" with american's creditors. one sign that a merger could happen: american's three biggest unions have signed off on conditional labor agreements that would cover their members, if u.s. airways succeeds in a takeover of a.m.r. >> tom: the federal reserve's low interest rate policy after the dot-com bubble burst has been blamed for contributing to the housing bubble. that bubble also burst with devastating consequences. new research into another bubble popping, the chinese stock market crash in 2007 finds investment bubbles can be more preventable. we spoke with the researchers sandro andrade and tim burch, finance profes

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," butler, new jersey. >> susie: stocks managed to eke out a small gain today,despite mixed economic data, and a mixed bag of earnings reports. the dow only traded in a 55 point range, the second smallest trading range of the year. the s&p see-sawed most of the day in light volume. although the index rose only a point, it's still hovering near a four year high. consumer discretionary and financial stocks lead the pack today, while utilities were the biggest losers. staples was the biggest decliner today in the s&p, after it reported a huge 32% drop in profits. the company is experiencing an unexpected downturn in its north american stores, and continued weakness abroad. if that wasn't bad news enough, staples also lowered its full year earnings guidance, pushing the stock to a nine-year low. that dismal outlook from staples pressured rivals office depot and office max. both fell 3%. but it was a great day for investors in teen retailer abercrombie and fitch: the biggest gainer in the s&p. the stock rose 9%, after the company reported earnings that were slightly

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: some silver lining in today's quarterly numbers out of j.c. penney, which at first blush looked pretty bleak. penney was able to move more merchandise at full price and widen its profit margins. the showstopper though, j.c. penney expects to end the year with $1 billion in cash, money it can use for c.e.o. ron johnson's turnaround plan. >> one of the fears was even if this all well and good, great plans, great strategy, if you run out of money before you get to lap those easy comps, you're not going to get to do all those exciting things you planned on. >> reporter: much of the plan hinges on a store within a store concept it started to roll out earlier this month. already, penney's says shoppers like the levi's store, but the change also comes with challenges. >> the problem is they've got to attract a whole different set of consumers. probably a younger, more fashion sensitive consumer who is going to want that national brand. >> reporter: but the clock is ticking. swinand says johnson, who has been on the job for nine months, has a year to

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," washington. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for monday, august 6. goodnight, everyone. we'll see you online at nbr.com and back here tomorrow night. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪) (♪ theme music ) matt elmore: (♪) welcome to imagemakers a weekly showcase featuring the best short films from around the world. stay tuned and enjoy the filmmakers of tomorrow today on imagemakers. imagemakers is made possible in part by a grant from: celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. and by the: (♪ slow instrumental ) (train sounds) (♪) (train noise stops) (♪) (bells) (♪) (♪ music continues ) (♪) (footsteps) (♪) male narrator: so you want to hear a story? well, i used to know a whole lot of pretty interesting ones. some of them so funny you'd laugh yourself unconscious. other's so terrible you'd never want to repeat them. but now i can't remember any of those. so maybe i'll just tell you about the time i found that lost thing. this all happened many summers ago, (birds crowing) down at the bea

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: apple stores like this one have seen unprecedented foot traffic, with people visiting one of their 363 retailers around the world. here at this store in new york city, the glass exterior might be sleek and minimalist, but it's what's inside the counts. the macbooks, the ipads, the ipods, the iphones-- anticipation is building for new products. most analysts expect apple to unveil its iphone 5 on september 12, and start selling them a few weeks later. there is also talk of a refreshed version of the ipad and an ipad mini. wedbush's scott sutherland says the tech giant may have given away some clues in its last quartey rert. >> ty were a ltle re bullish than we would have thought, with the iphone sales declining. so i think part of their guidance for this quarter was inclusive of the iphone, but we still think there is probably upside if there is a september launch within a few countries for the last two weeks. >> reporter: sutherland says even if apple launches the new iiphone in late september, some quick number crunching delivers big results. the

ruben ramirez, "n.b.r.," washington. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for monday, august 6. goodnight, everyone. we'll see you online at nbr.com and back here tomorrow night. ptioning sponsoredy wp captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

ruben ramirez reports. >> reporter: apple stores like this one have seen unprecedented foot traffic, with people visiting one of their 363 retailers around the world. here at this store in new york city, the glass exterior might be sleek and minimalist, but it's what's inside the counts. the macbooks, the ipads, the ipods, the iphones-- anticipation is building for new products. most analysts expect apple to unveil its iphone 5 on september 12, and start selling them a few weeks later. there is also talk of a refreshed version of the ipad and an ipad mini. wedbush's scott sutherland says the tech giant may have given away some clues in its l >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> arre.test test test testhi $4 billion. at the end of the day, that would break down to an extra 50 cents a share in profits for the current quarter. but if that's not enough to get investors excited, consider c.e.o. tim cook's reinstatement of the dividend and his share buyback plans. >> two other things that are driving the stock higher, apart from the dividend, that are not fundamental include potential inclusion in

ruben ramirez, nbr, new york >> tom: tomorrow on nbr, was the federal reserve thinking about doing more to boost the economy in its last meeting? we'll find out tomorrow when the central bank releases its notes from that meeting. we will talk about it with first trust advisors' brian wesbury. also on the calendar, housing-- the latest report on existing home sales, and earnings from major home builder, toll brothers. >> susie: the recent recession was hardest for those with the least amount of education. that's why tonight's commentator believes the key to a lasting recovery is focusing on those who need help the most. here's jamie merisotis, c.e.o. of the lumina foundation. the recession that bank in late 2007 exposed how important post high school education has become, to individual success and our national economy. nearly four out of every five jobs destroyed by the recent recession were held by workers with a high school diploma or less. and throughout our so-called recovery, this group has lost another 230,000 jobs. by comparison workers with a bachelor's degree have led the way wi

ruben ramirez, nbr, new york. >> tom: food prices are on the rise around the globe, jumping 10% from june to july, with drought hitting big producing regions in the u.s. and eastern europe. the world bank is asking governments to support programs helping those most in need. month over month, corn and wheat prices both jumped 25% in july. soy beans rose 17%, but rice prices were down 4%. the world bank's food price index, which tracks internationally traded commodities, shows year-over- year prices rising 6% in july. >> susie: isaac continues to weaken. it's now officially a tropical depression, slowing moving out of southern louisiana and heading north. the storm left behind heavy flooding and massive power outages. oil refineries in isaac's path are still not back to normal. six of the region's 11 refineries are operating at reduced capacity, four remain shutdown completely, and one was restarted today. oil prices headed lower today as the refiners worked to get back to business. october crude fell almost a dollar to $94.62 a barrel. but gas prices continue to tick higher, climbing