we're watching the price of corn, meanwhile, scott cohn announced texas was the stop state in the countryo do business in, today scott is back with the worst state to operate in for business. the name is coming next. then president obama signing an executive order giving the white house authority to take control of the internet in emergencies. really? why some are worried about that kind of power. we'll have a heated debate we'll have a heated debate coming up, stay with us. >>> welcome back, on this program yesterday, scott cohn gave us quite a show as he unfailed the top state in the united states for business. >> in a state where they do everything big, we decided to ask for a little bit of help. >> you got it, it's texas, america's stop state for business 2012. the third time that the lone star state has taken top honors. >> as with any competition you have winners and losers, so who came in at the bottom this year? >> we'll tell you here, part of the rich political history. we were celebrating all day yesterday. counting down the top five, but there are losers, and consider this the

i want to go to scott cohn with p&g's best. >> he was in court.fter having quite a week, he was looking somewhat haggard wearing a blue polo shirt and jeans, the founder of p&g best tried to commit suicide earlier this week. his firm filed for bankruptcy this week on tuesday and it appears that the scandal is just beginning. prosecutors say they plan to seek additional charges in addition to the charge -- the criminal complaint of lying regulators or making false statements to regulators and an indictment could follow. they plan to argue he is a flight risk. a hearing on that scheduled on wednesday in which at that time wasendorf plans to get his high-powered attorney from chicago out here. a suicide note, it sure sounds like a confession, relieased, h said i guess my ego was bigger and i cheated. he's in custody here in iowa. melissa? >> thank you very much, scott cohn for that update. i want to maneuver on. it's time to get called out. last week they made a bearish trade on jpmorgan. the stock has since surged but he can still make money and her

scott cohn tonight live. let's get more with tomorrow's action. want to look forward to. 30 seconds on the clock. our next guests will tell us what they think will move the markets. joining us now, steven bookbar, kevin karen, and rob smally. peter, what are you watching for tomorrow? >> tomorrow's focus begins tonight when china reports their very important gdp number retail sales. retail sales at 7.7% will be the weakest since the first quarter in 2009. industrial production up less than 10% for the third straight month for the first time also since early 2009. >> all right. we got some good things to look at. kevin, you're up. 30 seconds on the clock. >> we got bank earnings tomorrow. we'll look at jpmorgan. we'll also get consumer confidence. keep an eye on that. you'll get a speech from dennis lockhart. typically a mod cat gerate guy. to not a fan of qe-3. >> we'll be watching. rob, over to you with 30 seconds on the clock. >> bank earnings are the focus tomorrow as they kick off. jpmorgan is the focus. they've added half an hour to its analy

our scott cohn has been waiting patiently, and he is up next. >>> welcome back, the moment we have all been waiting for. our countdown to the best state in the country for business. so who is number one in 2012. tell us where you are. >> the competition is intense every year. remember we rank all 50 states on 50 metrics in ten categories of competitiveness. it is a big deal. so in a state where they do everything big, we decided to ask for a little bit of help. you got it, it's texas, america's top state for business in 2012. it's the third time to the loan star state has taken top honors, you're looking live at texas memorial stadium. let's take a look at why texas is number one. >>> for six years in a row, we kris crossed the country to look for the states that were best for business. and in 2012, nobody does it better than texas. america's top state for business scores 1600 out of 2500 points. the best infrastructure, the third cheapest cost of living. quality of life is 35th, education 26th, and cost of doing business at 28. that may seem surprising in a state with no individual in

scott cohn will reveal the best state for business.ll surprise you, and certainly us because it's being kept under wraps. >> all right, stocks are lower here in the final minutes with tech in the laggards today. one big investor thinks there's plenty of upside left to apple down the road. listen to what david einhorn had to say. >> are you going to stay in it? >> i think the stock is very, very substantially undervalued. >> it will be a trillion dollar company? >> i would expect. i think it's the best big growth company we have. it is the dominating brand in what -- in the area that it is, and it trades at a multiple below the average and i think that's extraordinary. >> it's a stock, mandy, that's so well loved from the hedge fund community. >> it's more than a prospective. he is talking getting up to one trillion, but he's not talking about being in it for a quarter, but for a long hall. >> on down days in the market, you will see larkts not hitting at hard. but people believe in the long term aspects. . the television coming maybe -

lit's go to scott cohn in iowa. scott? >> reporter: russell wasendorf, founder of pfg is arrested.0, and continuing until july of 2012, so presume blue through this week, you will remember he attempted suicide on monday. he was moved in to a psych ward within the last couple of days. clearly, is released from there and now in the custody of federal authorities, he will go before a federal judge later this afternoon in cedar rapids, iowa. the appearance scheduled for 5:00 eastern time. details as we get them, meantime a u.s. bankruptcy judge in chicago has -- is allowing the company to keep going with about 56 of its employees not including wasendorf or his son in order to wind down the business and presumably let customers get the money out. $200 million or so in customer funds remain missing. again, russell wasendorf sr. arrested. back to you. >> clearly, scott, physically, well enough to go to court. must be the inference of what's being done here. >> reporter: that was our understanding was that first of all obviously he survived the suicide attempt and then there is a process i

scott cohn right now in cedar rapids, iowa. scott, a confession now?ertainly seems that way, maria. russell wassendorf. a one time icon in the chicago foouchs committee, will appear before a federal judge on charges he lied to the cftc about the financial statements of the firm that filed for bankruptcy this week. recall that he tried to commit suicide on monday, and in the criminal complaint, excepts detailing a fraud that was, at the same time elaborate, but really basic. he says it began 20 years ago. should i go out of business or cheat. i guess my ego was too big to admit failure so i cheated. and basically the way he cheated? forging the bank statements for the customer segregated funds account. basically forging them through excel sheets and documents, saying there was a lot more money there than actually was. and we know that some $200 million in customer funds are missing. we'll see what happens in court today. this is an initial appearance, so he won't enter a plea, but a lot of damming information in this suicide note that he has not denied.

senior correspondent scott cohn is live at the top state which we'll not reveal just yet, we've been five, scott? >> reporter: andrew, we've had a lot of inspired guesses on twitter and thank you all for all of that. some of you, well, are very imaginative, very sharp eyed. you may be right, you may be wrong. to find out watch all day. we rank all 50 states for competitiveness. we're counting down the top five. without further adieu, let the countdown begin. north dakota, the peace garden state joinseur top five for the first time riding an economic boom powered by oil. the home of the back in shale comes at number 15 jumping from 13 last year. north dakota's best category, its economy, the fastest growing in the country, second overall, just behind wyoming. but north dakota has some weak spots, finishing near the bottom for technology innovation, as well as access to capital. unemployment in north dakota is practically non-existent. the lowest in the nation at 3%. the top individual tax rate is 3.99%. the top corporate rate is 5.15%. the sales tax is 5%. north dakota's largest privat

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. >>> with us exclusively right now, dan roth of the national futures association, and scott cohn, toughriticism there, how do you respond? >> what we told him and other members of the committee today is that we clearly have to do a better job of using technology to monitor firms compliance. we uncovered this fraud because we moved to an electronic confirmation process. the next step is to move that electronic confirmation process to a daily event so on a daily basis they're getting confirmations from all of the places they're held -- >> but sir, you uncovered it too late. at this point, investors have grown tired of the incompetence from regulators where it's mf global or something else, there is a decided lack of trust from the individual and smaller investor in this market because of people like you and others just not doing their jobs. no accountability. >> actually, i don't disagree that this fraud took too long to uncover, and clearly there was a sea of forged documents here that defeated the standard audit practices we're using. >> but mr. roth, it's those audit practices in quest

scott cohn is in the top state he will not give away but ready to reveal the runner up. . >> all right, brian, we know now some surprises. state number 5, north dakota, number 4, north carolina, number 3, your home state of virginia. let's continue now, state number 2. >> utah, beehive state is buzzing, rising to number two this year from eighth place last year. utah scores 1573 out of 2500 points. utah makes the top 10 in 6 of our 10 categories this year, doing best in cost of living it came in six. but utah suffers from one of the worst education rankings in the country, 45th, class sizes are high, spending low and test scores mediocre. unemployment in utah, just 6%. the individual and corporate tax rates are 5%. the state sales tax, 4.7%. utah's largest private employer is in ter mountain health care, a nonprofit system of hospitals and clinics, serving utah and idaho. the largest industry is financial services. >> you don't often think about utah as a businesses powerhouse. it's always been a contender in our first study. in 2007, it came in number 3 and the governor

scott cohn is live for us in cedar falls, iowa. scott?reporter: simon, this is perhaps the next predictable step in all of this. u.s. senator chuck grassley, home state senator of iowa, is calling now on the senate agricultural committee to investigate the futures regulatory system and how companies like pfg can go belly up taking so much in customer money with them. grassley is no stranger to pfg. he knows the founder and chairman. they live in the general area here. they have appeared at events together so this is an interesting twist in all of this. this is the scene at the home a few miles from here as the family comes to grips with the fact that the 40-year futures industry veteran, his business gone belly up, gone bankrupt. attempted suicide earlier this week and multiple reports not confirmed not only recovered and up and around and alert and presumably can shed some light on the bizarre circumstances. he was a big man in this community, for sure. philanthropist. donated to charities. owned a group of restaurants and, of course, th

. >>> just ahead, my beloved virginia last year's top state for business and scott cohn is live from a top secret location. who will be this year's winner? >>> and the heat wave is finally broken but the danger is nowhere near over in the midwest. the new threat for america's farm land when "street signs" returns. l night-vision goggles, like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. >>> >>> it is stock-tology time. maybe 50% more decliners than n inclin incliners. new highs, 149, only 16 new lows surprisingly. nasdaq, about the same. not quite as spread but similar. >>> well, cnbc is grading the states once again. for the sixth year in a row, it is our exclusive ranlging of the top states for busi

scott cohn analyzed all 50 of them for the sixth annual top states for business study. n all day tomorrow on cnbc. right now, scott is live somewhere, not sure where. scott? >> that's right. you're not sure where. i'm not sure where. no. i'm in america's top state for business and will reveal tomorrow on the closing bell counting down all five top states for business. we'll get you your first big hint, your first diabolical hint coming up today. you know, we started top states in 2007 as the nation was tumbling in to recession and the competition for jobs across the country among the states was growing intense. here we are, five years later as we prepare our sixth annual rankings and the competition is intense even as the economy starts to recover. the principle is the same. we rank all 50 states in 50 metrics in 10 categories and they are cost of doing business, work force, quality of life, inf infi instructure and transportation, economy, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living. we weight those point totals based on how often companies cite them in

let's bring in cnbc's eamon javers in washington and scott cohn still in austin.tes we'll look at voted democratic in the most recent presidential election. start with wisconsin. one of the bigger movers of four years ago. where was it then? where is it today and what say you? >> yeah. well, you know, the interesting thing in wisconsin is that it was really a laggard in the study over many, many years. governor scott walker has come in and one of his priorities was to improve the state's business climate. there are suggestions this seems to be working. governor walker was on cnbc "squawk box" earlier this week and told us competitiveness is crucial. >> it does give you a goal on a lot of factors, not just on taxes but the things he's talking about. quality of life. business interaction. supplier based and getting better. >> so let's look at the scorecard and the track record. back in 2008, wisconsin finished 37th in america's top states for business. best category was education. ninth. and test scores both k-12 and high school were good. in the workforce category,

our scott cohn reveals that answer in 24 hours on this program. he is here next with a hint.ee if you can figure it out. >> you may have heard of robo signing. how about robo pricing? amazon is doing it. now some are worrying. we will explain what this is and why you should be worried. recently, students from 31 countries took part in a science test. the top academic performers surprised some people. so did the country that came in 17th place. let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards. let's do what's best for our students-by investing in our teachers. let's solve this. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. >>> it is that >>> it is that time again. cnbc is ranking america's top states to do busin

scott cohn is live in the top state but not going to tell us where you are yet, are you, scott?ter: no, andrew. i'm not going to tell you. i can tell you that the barrels behind me, not what's in them but it does contribute in the quality of life category that helps the state. maybe that's one of the reasons it's top state for business. good morning. or is it afternoon? we are somewhere in the country. and we are going to continue with our countdown which will actually start tomorrow right here on "squawk box." it's serious business especially now when jobs are at a premium and states fighting each other for business. we rank all 50 states in more than 50 metrics in 10 categories of competitiveness and cost of doing business, workforce, quality of life, infrastructure and transportation, economy, education, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living and we weight them based on how often the states site them in their economic development marketing materials and grading the states basically on their own report card. one thing we did this year, doesn't figure to th

scott cohn is live in iowa city.ot speaking with a former pfg best employee. >> reporter: we're out in front of the headquarters of pfg. the commodity futures trading commission has scheduled an emergency meeting of its technical advisory committee to try and deal with not only this situation but the wake of mf global and what one cftc commissioner calls the theft of customer fund and ways to stop it. that meeting to be held on july 26th. meanwhile, as far as the founder of pfg is concerned. he's been moved to a psychiatric unit after his suicide attempt earlier this week. and a portrait is emerging of a man who was in many ways a split personality, a local philanthropist who was very well-liked for bringing the headquarters back to iowa from chicago, back to his home area. but someone who was given to outbursts, who had a split personality and that some employees actually feared. among them, jamie grenell. she was a computer programmer in the i.t. department. she says that as he was -- she was actually let go in apr

thank you very much, scott cohn back at hq.point on yields, they say five years from now, rates higher. did they comment on your own thesis which is the rest of the year actually they might come down even more? >> well, i asked the question, okay, we all know what's happening. why do people keep buying the bonds? why do they keep buying it? some of the central banks buying, yes, institutions are buying. a year ago if you thought rates were going up and you thought you were out of treasuries, obviously a bad thing. so the answer to that question is nobody disputed the fact that we may see a 1% ten-year. a lot of it's going to depend on what happens. again, the last thing -- i know we've got to go -- but the last thing about the election. nobody will come on camera and say what they think the impact of who will be elected as president will do in the market. but the amazing thing, i was just telling one of our producers off camera, somebody who's a widely known fund-raiser for the democrats in the industry had mentioned to me yest

scott cohn has some breaking news. >>> glaxosmithkline is in a $3 billion settlement that covers a numberdepartment, the settlement being announced right now at justice department headquarters. it involves the reimbursement or average wholesale price that glaxosmithkline was claiming for a number of drugs that affects the reimbursement. also allegations involving a plant since closed in puerto rico that was producing substandard drugs and other matters as well, this being announced now. glaxosmithkline had talked about this case and an agreement in principle as far back as l.a. fall, so presumably this is a load -- a cloud off the company at this point, but grab osmith klein in a $3 billion settlement, huge sentiment with the justice department, shameless plug, our documentary on medicare and medicaid fraud airs tomorrow afternoon 2:30 eastern time. back to you. >> scott, thank you very much. bob iaccino, i apologize for the interruption. you were probable touching on gold as well. >> the point about the energy stocks for me is that's really a fundamental economic play. i feel that's to s

scott cohn is live outside the headquarters in cedar falls, iowa. what's the latest?rning not officially confirmed that the 40-year futures industry veteran who attempted suicide earlier this week is alert. and perhaps that means that he will now be able to explain a story that gets more bizarre can every day. wassendorf hastily married his fiancee and then in june signed over the affairs to his son on july 3. then on july 6, we have obtained this e-mail to the employees of pfg suggesting that everything was just fine and that the crisis has passed. talking about a temporary 10% salary cut that the board had authorized back in may saying that that was going to be able to rolled back. that the second salary cut that was due to go into effect this month would not be done because due to cost cuts and increases in income particularly initially that they would now be breaking even. three days after this, of course, the firm blows up. wasendorf, sr., attempts suicide and 300 employees are out of work. we're trying to figure out what is going on with this firm and why it is