sharon epperson posed two questions on the topic. number one, are gold holders less fearful of the overall market? are they simply tired of holding gold? sharon is live at the nymex and searching on that. hi, sharon. >> reporter: hi, sue. talking to analysts and dealers about this. gold prices basically trading where they were a year ago but the stagnant price action of gold doesn't necessarily mean that investors are less fearful about the financial turmoil going on around the globe. in fact, talking to some coin dealers, they pointed out it's clear retail demand slid for gold coins and last month it's clear how much they've done so. falling by about half as much of what was sold just a year ago in july. and in fact, six times less than what we saw at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. but this analyst says the slide in gold coins isn't necessarily a bad sign. >> the demand which was, in fact, probably too high in 2008 and 2009 because of worries of the financial crisis simmered down to a sustainable rate and reflects a stru

thanks very much, sharon epperson.ying in the oil well, let's talk about a deal we got this morning. robins and meyers acquired by varco. unclear how long this thing will take. not an expectation i pick up in the early going, that there's a chance of overbid or topping bid. they have participation of the largest shareholder, that being mhm & company. this is an area, jim, i know you have focused on for quite some time. they do have at least complimentary products there saying when it comes to down hold tools, pumps and valves. >> you'll see lufkin move up, in terms of actual food chain. lufkin is the company that makes donkeys that go up and down, up and down. weatherford has lagged the group, iraq pumping 3 million barrels a day, that is weatherford. david, there is a won solization trade going on and people like national oilwell up, heath miller does an exceptional job there. chesapeake has a lot on his plate. ge signaled that business is strong, too. i look the soup to nuts thing that robbins & myers offers national

sharon epperson is tracking it for us today at the nymex. sharon? >> a lot of rigs shut down as a precautionary measure but we have seen oil and gas installation spared from severe damage and that is very helpful. that is part of the reason why oil prices are lower. add to that an increase in weekly supplies, a big increase in gulf supplies, as well. that's pressuring the wti contract. we're also seeing lower gasoline prices today. again, flooding as todd mentioned, the rains. that's really key in assessing the damage due to the refineries and power outages and we'll get to see when they restart. natural gas is a good story today for traders turned around after four days of losses. simon, a big sunrise about when those rigs will restart operations and seeing a lift there in the natural gas price. >> indeed. thank you very much for that. >>> two upbeat economic reports today. first u.s. growth came in better than initially thought in the second quarter but the pace of growth is still slow. the economy growing at an able rate of 1.7%. banks just sligh

sharon epperson has a post on this right now on cnbc.com that talks about the issue of maybe this is going to trigger a release from the strategic petroleum reserve. also we are still a net exporter of distillates, refined products. we have a little wiggle room here. it still depends on where the storm goes and how strong it is. the current forecast calms for a category 1 storm when it makes landfall late tuesday, early wednesday. still some uncertainty in that as well. as you know, michelle, forecasting intensity is very, very difficult and very, very inexact. >> we don't know what happens as it moves over the gulf and the warm waters there. everybody should stay tuned to cnbc for hurricane coverage. scott's going to be doing it for us. he was our guy on the ground in the wake of katrina. he knows new orleans well, the oil industry well. >>> let's talk about this and trade this. mr. terranova? >> those refineries are built to withstand category 2 and higher. katrina was category 3. as scott pointed out i would expect you'd get an spr global release of oil itself. there continues to

sharon epperson over at the anytime flex.nto trading, some of the stores are we're talking about, 7:31 on west coast, 10:31 on "wall street journal." >>> new home sales up. the results matching two-year highs reached in the spring. the average rate on the 30-year fixed rising for a fourth consecutive week now at 366, according to freddie mac. >> shares of hewlett-packard one of the biggest decliners on the dow. they had a near $9 billion loss third quarter. joining us now is senior technology analyst. good to see you again. you wanted to look at the notable balance sheet improvements even though we saw sharp decleans almost all of its product lines. how can you reconcile the two in terms of what is most important to see in the turnaround story at this point? >> yes, i mean, hp is obviously not a growth story. it's more of a turnaround story as you say. key thing in a turnaround is, you know, stabilizing the business and generating cash. the stabilization side, they still have yet to do that. the business is still declining. o

sharon epperson has those details. >> another big rally in corn today as they await friday's report from.s. department of agriculture. it will be the one based on field surveys on how bad this crop will be, and analyst are frafting we're going to see a significant downside in corn yields. and already corn prices up 18% this month alone. >> all right, sharon, thank you. from corn to mcdonald's, they have disappointed july same store sales numbers. with the stock dumbling over 12% year today, is the biggest chain being a bargain. on the technical side of things we have ennis tailor. sarah, let me kick it off with you, what do the same store sales in your opinions tell you right now? >> i think what you said is accurate. the macro environment is not very favorable. that's broadly true and it seems to be getting potentially worse. i think the u.s. saw this across a range of restaurants and retailers that it was something of a step down from the first four months of the year until now in terms of consumer demand. we're seeing that essentially the competitive environment has gotten tougher rec

us, "today" contributor and parenting expert michelle borba and cnbc personal finance expert sharon eppersonegin with you, it is clearly a growinging trend. there was data from 2007 to 2009, almost a quarter of americans, 20 to 34 years old, were living with their parents, up 17% from 1980. fair to state economy has driven these numbers. >> fair to say that and the most recent data on unemployment holds that to be true when you look at the fact that youth unemployment is more than double what the national unemployment rate is, over 17%. and for black and latino youth, of course, much higher than that. there is a real issue in terms of young people being able to find jobs, that will be able to sustain them, to live outside of the home. that's a major reason why many of them are coming back home to live. >> is it all economic or is there a case where sometimes young people get very comfortable living in the nest and uses this as a way of delaying taking on major responsibilities in life? >> economy is certainly what is fueling the largest trend, but we started to see a trend that was prior rec

sharon epperson has more on this. >> this is a wild chart today. we saw a 6% spike in futures right after that bullish report came out and we got all the way up to $3.12. but quickly those gains fizzled andhen it went below $3 it intensified and it continues to sell off here in electronic trading. if we see a close below $2. 80, we could see prices fall all the way to $2.50. >>> thank you, look at jc penney stock today. they will report it's quarter tomorrow morning. it lost half of it's value in the last six months. are things set to turn around for this battered store? let's get right to it, mark newton is with me, on the fundamentals, monica meshmeyer. thank you for joining us. does it look like this turn around is happening, is it a success? >> there are no signs of that yet. everyone expects them to be down, the stores are still in a state of flux, so there is no sign of success yet, and we're curious to hear what management has to say about going back to school. >> they're certainly anticipating something, mark, how do the charts look? >> we'

thank you very much, sharon epperson.hares of sirius xm spiking and raise its outlook. is the stock too cheap to ignore? next. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. you have a plan? first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you. next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. this is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in. >>> sirius xm posting second quarter earnings in line. the director and senior media and entertainment analyst and -- joining us both now. let' me start with you, matt. you know, looks like a pretty good quarter. give me your take on it overall. i know subsc

sharon epperson with the details. re looking at gold prices around $1670, slightly weaker but really just traders waiting for jackson hole, waiting to see what happens from the fed and european central bank and that will determine the next leg for gold prices. we have seen anticipation from perhaps stimulus from central banks and buying and increase in holdings of gold exchange products, looking at the key gold etfs all seeing a record level of holdings as of last friday. in terms of what we're seeing elsewhere in the metals market, south africa a very big factor in platinum factors and might be a peace cord reached in south africa and one reason we're seeing a sell-off in those metals. >> how significant is it oil was down and gasoline rallying on storm concerns and today we reversed those two trades? >> certainly significant if you're trading it and trying to keep up with the reaction to tropical storm isaac. keep in mind, traders are looking also what is going to come out tonight from the american petroleum institut

the nbc personal finance correspondent sharon epperson is here to quiz you us on our stock market savvy>> the question is, what would happen if you took the same money you would have spent on stuff and instead you bought the stock in the same company two years ago? i like this question. we are about to find out. >> hello. we are looking at what women buy all the time, particularly now that it's back to school time. i'm in this mode trying to figure out what to get, packing the lunches, getting their book bags or getting dorm rooms ready. what we have to do, we took two years ago, looked at the stock price and looked at the performance over the past two years. it's really simple. if you think the stock price has gone up, you ring the bell, say "stock." if you think the stock price has gone down, you're going to say "stop." >> we don't have buzzers. >> we have bells. >> you're ringing the bell. >> why do we have the "wall street journal"? >> because you're smart. that's where you get your information. well, cnbc first. ready? go! costco. when you go to costco you've got to stock up on the

sharon epperson will sort it out for us. >> dashing those hopes had an impact on financial market stocksll as oin and other commodities off of their highs as well. the prices we're seeing here gaining $10 in just the month of august alone. we were do for profit taking traders say, so the fact that we're down a dollar is really not that much. it was a oversold overbought condition i should say in terms of the technical analysis, and that is part of the reason we saw the sell off in the marketplace as oil was unable to hold under the 200 moving day average. brent crude olding to, we'll see if wti can regain. >> okay, a question everybody is asking, are you undertaxed. anyone feel you're undertaxed right now? >> when you consider federal, state, property, and income taxes we pay, does anyone feel undertaxed? the u.s. pays about half of what denmark pays. >> should americans be paying more in taxes? >> gentleman, good to see you both, are we getting our money's worth. denmark has a much different economic and government. >> it's not a question if we're taxed relative to denmark, it's relativ

today after the blank took no new action to support bailout, so the dollar is going higher today, sharon eppersonls. >> commodity traders took it to hard when mario draghi said he would do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, and that set the market up for some heavy bids and then of course it all came crashing down when of course there was no immediate action like mentioned. some of them anticipated it, but they did not anticipate how steep it would fall and how quickly for so many commodities. it shows how the risk assets were really off the table in this session. looking at drops across the commodity sector. the biggest decline was in natural gas, futures plunging 8% today. we got a report that was greater than expectations. we'll see more mod raid coming up in the next couple weeks and saw a huge sell off in the natural gast market. >> okay, craft and proctor and gamble both trading down. craft set to report after the close tonight. which consumer good's giant is the better stock to buy right now. on the technical side of things, and on the fundamental side, our guests will help us. what d

sharon epperson is with us from the nymex.have the storm and venezuela probably under-reported given the storm but traders still can't seem to make up their mind about oil. why not? >> a lot of traders said we're waiting on the sidelines until we see this make landfall. todd just talked about the storm surge. that this is key when you talk about what happens to gas and oil prices as well. what happens to flooding at the refineries and power outages and how long we will see refineries shut down or at reduced rates. we could potentially see all 2.4 million barrels of capacity in the new orleans baton rouge area shut down before this storm is over and it will take several days to ramp it back up. while prices are back down for gasoline, they could come back up. in terms of the oil price, we are seeing it a little bit higher but not too much different from friday's close. traders are waiting to see what happens. right now, the administration is not talking about an apr release, waiting to see what happens with the inventory report

. >> i'll prices off their session highs, sharon epperson has details on that for us. >> bill, the oilces are modestly higher here on a big supply slide, but they have paired their gains with the fed statement. we saw a big decline in crude supplies in the weekly report from the nrge department. that helped prices rally. we're of course well off those highs at the moment, but still slightly higher on the day. the big gains in the gasoline market, they rally about 2% and have maintained those gains as we have a number of midwestern refinery issues. some analyst say we could see $4 gasoline for detroit, for the national average, those prices are climbing too after rising 5% in july, we're up again in this session, in this day, and we could see prices top what we had a year ago in august. so we'll look at that 360 has a price we may surpass in the next week or two, back to you. >> owens corning specializes in building materials, and for the rest of 2012, they say they're seeing a recovery in housing. >> while profits took a hitting with there could be some bright spots ahead, joins us is

sharon epperson is tracking the action at the nymex. sharon?> simon, gold still up over $30 right now. we have seen significant momentum in the metals market and while we're off of the highs of the session that momentum seems to continue with gold prices closing around $1,672 an ounce and stimulus hopes driving higher prices there as well as higher prices for silver over $30 an ounce. but the real standouts have been the platinum group metals, particularly platinum as well as palladium and looking at the stellar rise in those prices that due to the unrest in south africa and lingering concerns about labor problems there, the impact that will have on those commodities. looking at platinum as the best performing commodity in the session, up over 4% today and in terms of etfs that follow platinumpalladium, $50 million in to them. this, again, due to the unrest there and the potential perhaps for supply disruptions to continue. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> stocks pulling back as simon mentioned down about 123 right now. hopes for qe3 di

let's get over to sharon epperson who's at the nymex with the latest on how that's impacting markets.n? >> kelly, it's having an impact on oil and on refined fuels. there is increased chatter and perception among trader that is we may see perhaps a coordinated release from the strategic petroleum reserve, not just because of isaac and the potential disruption that that could cause but also because of what we're seeing from venezuela and other refinery issues around the country. this is just the perception of traders, nothing kompld. but the international energy agency apparently talking on friday about the potential to have a coordinated release if there was a need, it's something this marketplace is talking about. they're also looking technically at the fact that oil was unable to stay about the 200-day moving average, why some traders are saying we're below $95 a barrel. and cruel oil at the nymex is off more than a dollar a barrel. this is happening despite the fact that there's great concern about what could happen in terms of refined fuel prices, particularly gasoline price, in t

sharon epperson is live from the new york mercantile exchange. sharon?gold prices closing right around $1,675 an ounce. not a lot of volume. a lot of investors waiting to see what happens over the weekend and friday. jackson hole. also, of course, looking at a reaction perhaps just waiting in the aftermth of that huge technical breakout of last week where gold prices really extended their gains above that 200-day moving are ining averag. it's also spurred a lot of folks to get back in and according to the latest report of a bullish positions placed for the presh metals. simon? >> yeah. people tuning in now to switch to oil may be confused as to why the price of oil is under pressure whether you have the tropical storm isaac and only that brutal fire in venezuela. >> well, that devastating fire in venezuela certainly definitely a factor that helped to push up prices overnight, as well as some concerns about the refinery impact from tropical storm isaac but the fact remains is we know now 1.4 million barrels of capacity shut in as a precaution and crude pr

sharon epperson is tracking the action from the nymex. >> hi, sue. a ton of volume in the action and seems investors want to hold on to gold and the dollar and they want gold more than any other metal at the moment. the gold is the only positive performer here in the medals complex. the fact of seeing gold prices above $1,615 an ounce they say is significant. folks seem to went to hold on to gold right now and anticipation of a central bank action and folks looking ahead to what the bank of japan may do and maybe give some more of a momentum upside push to the gold market. we are also looking at the etf action in the gold market. andhe fact that that seems to be holding steady and physical demand back to gold. that also may keep prices supported here but right now we are kind ofn a sideways session here for gold. back to you. >> thank you very much. all right. down on the stock exchange floor here, a gain of about 15 points. mary thompson joins us with the details on that. at least we bounced back a little bit from this morning. >> we did but not an

the gold market is under pressure today and sharon epperson joins us now for the close of the gold marketx. sharon, have they been able to pare than losses at all? >> not really. down by 15 or 16 bucks. we have seen the selloff across the board in the commodities sector intensify throughout the day after ecb president mario draghi's comments. the fact there's no central bank interaction immediately disappointed the markets and for gold a market already stuck in a trading range between about 16.20 an ounce and 15.70 an ounce and really little policy action to get the market out of that range. traders say that's what's needed and now of course looking to september to see if there's going to be any change and open interest growing in long positions dproeing and perhaps seeing the positions now liquidated in today's trade. the global growth story called in to question if the ecb won't intervene at the moment. what will happen in terms of copper and the other metals. silver very hard hit. but across the board a selloff here in the commodities sector. back the you. >> indeed. thank you very muc

sharon epperson is following the action for us. >> it's summer. lot of traders are watching olympics, on vacation. you can see it in the volumes in the gold market. they're very low and almost cut by half in the last week or so. once again, we are looking at gold prices closing here basically unchanged right around $1,620 an ounce but the key is what's happening perhaps else in the metals market. we did hear of hbsc today, lowering the price forecast for platinum group metals and palladium saying that the sluggish auto demand figures we have seen to hurt platinum demand and also looking at jewelry sales for palladium and other components. the demand weak for palladium and see plat nut at $1,625 for the year. back to you. >> thank you very much, sharon. all right. the trading action here, we're just a little bit lower on the day. slow and steady. >> summer action today, sue. stocks have been trading at a fairly narrow range. right now we have a mixed market. the s&p staying above that critical 1400 level. u.s. markets seem a little bit tied to comm

to sharon epperson. gold prices closing right now. a volatile week in the gold market. here to guide us through what's likely to happen at the close. hi, sharon. >> hi, sue. just talking about that with traders in the gold pits and reflecting the relationship between equities, commodities and the euro. we are looking at gold price that is are above the 1600 level. in fact, closing up about 18 bucks on the session today. the fact that initially we saw a bit of a downdraft in gold prices when the jobs number came out, then traders looked at the numbers said maybe there's a more accommodative policy out of the fed to see more stimulus and perhaps added to the gold rally and then looking at the broad-based rally across the sector. that's definitely had an impact, as well. look at oil up 5% and the rest of the commodities rallying, as well. the fact remains we are still in the trading range. sue? >> all right. sharon, thank you very much. >>> to the trading action here on the floor where the triple digit advance better than 225 points is holding on right now. bob's down on th

sharon epperson is joining us. >> it looks like the biggest drop for natural gas.drop after the energy department reported a bigger than expected increase in storage levels. now, storage levels are still increasing by far less than they did a year ago with a five-year average. we know there's been increased power demand and, therefore, that's been taking some of the natural gas stoenrage levels lor than what they were. but it was a big surprise and there was a big drop-off. the ung taking a huge slide. >> sharon, thank you very much. >>> coming up next, another told you so moment for mr. herb greenberg and a frightening drop for today's disaster du juor. >> and we found something worse than watching dirty stuff on your computer. an unbelievable story of alleged insider trading that will make you scratch your head and go can anybody really be that foolish? we're back after this. 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

gold prices are about to close in about a minute's time and sharon epperson is tracking the action as she so ably does every day. go ahead. >> thank you. we are looking at gold prices here that are about to close right around $1,623 an ounce. gold is the only commodity today in positive territory and also seeing gold prices right now above the 100-day moving average. when's helped to support gold? part of it may be due to the inflation concerns raised by that usda report on the grain market. and the fact that we're seeing, okay, very high prices for corn influencing the ethanol market and gasoline prices sky high in a few weeks and all of this raising inflationary concerns and traders say helping to support gold prices. elsewhere in the metals market, though, lackluster performance. weighing on the industrial metals and components of the precious metals, as well. longer term, going in to next week, what are we looking for in terms of gold market? marketers say a weakly gain here for gold and the highest level since the beginning of august. but we're looking for gold prices to still be

i'm sharon epperson at the nymex.ouple of seconds to go before the close of gold here trading on the floor. just above the $1,615 level. not a lot of action but a lot over the last week or so and action to the downside going forward. morgan stanley lowered the forecast for the third quarter by 11% to $1,615 an ounce saying the dollar is a headwind for the market and long position s adde in the last week. brian shactman, over to you now for breaking news. >> thank you very much, sharon. >>> looking at shares of aig after the close on friday, we learned the government selling about 163 million shares at $30.50 for about 5 billion$5 bik in to the coffers and we just learned that the government is going to sell another $750 million bringing the total to $5.75 billion. now, when it comes to the long-term look at this aig thing, sue, and i know bob's here, too, talking about the overall investment, remember $182 billion? how big that number that the government invested in aig. after this transaction, it will be down to $24.

sharon epperson with the energy close at the nigh meex. >> 95% of oil production in the gulf shout in that means that oil is not used and seeing a build-up of inventories and already did from last week's supply data and largely in the gulf and helping to pressure oil prices right now. we are closing here right above the $95 mark and down on the day. in terms of gasoline, the big story's what happens with the flooding and the power damage and when will the refineries start back? right now lower prices there after that big surge that we saw in prices on monday. the big surge today, though, is in natural gas. on this expiration day as october is the five-month contract. 2% in natural gas. a lot of traders thinking to see the restart of those rigs later than they earlier anticipated. back to you. >> thank you. >>> well, hurricane isaac also causing flight disruptions across the south and the gulf coast. and the weather is not the only problem plaguing the airlines. let's get now to our own fill lebeau in chicago. we have the storm over here. but apparently, phil, we've got some tyke commo

let's go to sharon epperson at the nymex with more. you expect oil prices to be surging. >> you would. they're not. getting to that in a moment. let's look a the what's happening to the refineries. you talked about how many are in the path of isaac. we have a mixed pix which you are here with refineries. part of this is a potential impact of tropical storm isaac could have if it strengthens and what refineries would be hurt and what may benefit of the huge and devastating deadly fire that happened at the venezuela's largest refinery over the weekend. stocks capitalizing on perhaps loss of refinery and gasoline future that is are soaring as, of course, we do have the refineries shut-ins and causing gasoline at the highs of the session. up ten cents on the session and oil prices, how could we see lower oil prices today in light of all that's happened? because of venezuela, because of the seeing with tropical storm isaac and loss of production gotten or actually the exports of iran we could see a potential lease from the strategic petrole

sharon epperson. >> scott, we are looking at oil prices near highs of the session here in electronic trading. following what equities are doing today and strengthened by the weakness that we are seeing in the dollar. the overlook story by the markets today really seems to be what the news that came out overnight from saudi arabia. the fact it is cutting official selling price for its asian customers. number of analysts pointing out this is another way that saudi arabia is killing iran's market hair and some say perhaps may be an indication the saudis may want to cut production somewhere down the road. big mover, though in the energy markets today, natural gas. natural gas is to the upside after four days of steep declines. we are now in the midst of hurricane season. tropical storm ernesto and florence let you know that even though we are not expecting them get into the gulf of mexico. it does let you know that is an issue and will be watching the storage levels as well. >> sharon, thank you so much. meanwhile, shares of best buy having a good day. stock up 13% after the retailers fo

for that we go to sharon epperson. >> good morning, brian. traders here don't seem like they believe mario draghi may come through. we've seen gold sell out near the lows of the session, right now under $1600 an ounce. whether they're anticipating disappointment from draghi or from the fed, it looks like all eyes are definitely, of course, what's going to happen in washington and what will happen with the ecb. we are looking at a gold price that seems to be fluctuating in various directions. that's what traders are watching in the gold pit, and in the oil pit as well, but they're also waiting for the number to come out for the energy department for the weekly supply figures. last night we got a big shopper from the industry group, showing that supplies for crude oil dropped by 12 million barrels in the past week. some traders and analysts are say that had to be an aberration, but we'll wait to see what the energy department numbers show. they're also watching the futures as well as the retail price. we've seen it top $3.50 a gallon for the na

let's go the sharon epperson at the nymex. l, we are looking at the oil prices accelerating the gains and strong rally here in the energy market with crude oil prices and the wti contract up $3 and topping $90 a barrel, and near the highs of the session for brent as well sh, and that near $108 a barrel. a couple to factors that the traders are talking about the flash number, and the increase in jobs of 160,000 and that more important to them than the unemployment rate, and also looking at the strength of the euro and saying that is another f factor that is helping the rally along and then reinterpreting mario draghi's comments from yesterday and saying that with the ecb president and the belief they have in ecb president about the plan to perhaps purchase more italian and spanish debt and finding a way out of the debt crisis is what they are hanging the hopes on going into the weekend and that is fueling the rally traders say here in the oil market. gold prices are faltering a little bit from the highs that they saw just under

out to sharon epperson at the nymex. sharon?we're seeing a lot of gyrations in the energy markets, kelly, because of tropical storm isaac. in fact, we're seeing energy futures in the opposite direction than they were trading yesterday around this time. we do have oil prices slightly higher right now. we do get the weekly report on oil inventories coming up in the energy department tomorrow. that will reflect, of course, what has happened before the onset of tropical storm isaac. we are expecting to see a drawdown, according to analyst surveys, that is part of the reason why some traders are saying we're seeing slightly higher oil prices. also the fact that as many traders had speculated we might see some type of release from the strategic oil reserve, f with not seen any official comments about that happening. some believe politically that would not be a smart move for the u.s. administration to do so. that which was causing oil prices to scale up now not as much on the radar of many tra r trade traders. also profit taking in ga

cnbc's personal finance correspondent sharon epperson is here with details. sharon. >> good morning, tamron. >> obviously, we're not saying not to pursue college if that is an option. >> absolutely not. >> but in the real world, that is not the case for anyone, so you have a list of jobs, but i would guess there are stipulations. >> there are stipulations. we talked to pay scale, and they said these are the jobs where you could potentially make six figures, over $100,000, but you need to be a top performer. this is not some job you're going to get right out of high school. you're probably going to have to get some training. >> highly training, well skilled. let's start with a nuclear power reactor operator. that sounds like you have to be well trained. >> definitely. you can get median pay, average pay of $103,000 a year. >> wow. >> but up to $142,000 for the top 10% in that field. and you just need a high school diploma, convict strictly speaking. i talked to the nuclear regulatory committee and they say you need training, at least three years of service just

sharon epperson takes a look at how quickly the landscape has changed and what this means for you. so much has changed in so little time. there's an unprecedented differential in oil prices that's nearly ten times what we saw just two years ago. now, these price differences have had an impact on our refineries and infrastructure. there's been a monumental shift in oil demand fundamentals and it started late in 2010 and 2011 when unrest in tunisia sparked the arab spring. we saw a series of demonstrations and protests in egypt, yemen and libya which halted all production there for seven months. the loss of oil supply into the atlantic basin ignited a rally in the crude that is viewed as the benchmark for oil prices. the elevated price of brent encouraged north american oil and gas companies to drill and finding abundant supply helped the u.s. and canada become the fastest growing energy producers in the world last year. it also created a glut of oil in the middle of the u.s. where our existing infrastructure was unable to handle, leading for plans for new pipelines to transport it al

for more on the potential effects of the refinery fire on gas prices cnbc's sharon epperson, i cannot" great to have you. >> i'm so happy to be here and happy the workers at the refinery have been accounted for as far as we know. the impact could be serious in terms of gas prices particularly for folks in california. we are already seeing higher energy prices, pretty much across the board here, in the futures market in electronic trading and we are likely to see higher prices in the spot market for gasoline first, in california. we are already seeing an increase in the rbob gasoline futures market and it's been reflected in prices at the pump. the national average hit $3.50 a week ago and it's up about 13 cents in that period of time. $3.63 a gallon, and we're approaching where we were a year ago. in california prices are already above where they were a year ago and this has a lot to do with the fact it's usually the most expensive gasoline in the country, we're talking about $3.86 a gallon and the fact that they have a super clean type of fuel there, it's difficult to get gasoline fr

let's check with sharon epperson. big news with oil and gold today. >> big moves across the board.een back from vacation it is amazing to see every commodity nearly on the upside in this session. part of it as was mentioned verbal intervention. i love that phrase. that's what traders are talking about. the words from german political leaders looking at the small consensus, possible eurozone bailout plan. that's something that's helping to lift commodities across the board whether we are talking about oil, three-month high or gold at a three-month high. weaker dollar. lifting the prices. there's some commodities truly in a breakout stage here. technically. silver, what's happened there. definitely a technical breakout looking at at that commodity and what has taken commodities higher the last several months, bull run in the grains. that continues today with soybeans at a new record, melissa. simon, back to you. >> thank you very much. let's bring in bob pisani to talk about more breakouts on the market this tuesday. >> we are here so it is a good time to summarize where the markets

a quick check-in with sharon epperson over at the nymex. >> has had a negative impact on oil prices andls prices as well. but the fact is that this is showing slower growth and of course a key consuming country for many commodities, and that is a big reason why we're seeing the down. oil reports were down to the lowest levels in about nine months acarding to the chinese data. the fact we're seeing the dollar weakening a bit has taken oil prices off the lows and in fact we've seen some of the metals turn positive like gold and silver. we're also looking, of course, at what is happening technically with the gold market and the fact that we're looking at gold that is above the 100-day moving average. traders are looking at 1640 as the key level on the upside that where gold prices must go to to get toward that 1700 level. but the commodity actually was the most momentum today, definitely momentum to the downside, is natural gas. and in the last 24 hours, natural gas has fallen about 10%. we saw that big spike, 6% right after the eia storage data in yesterday's session. it was a bullish rep

the nbc personal finance correspondent sharon epperson is here with her stock market savvy. >> what would at what women buy all the time, particularly now that it's back to school time. i'm in this mode trying to figure out what to get, packing the lunches, getting their book bags or getting dorm rooms ready. what we have to do, we took two years ago, looked at the stock price and looked at the performance over the past two years. if you think the stock price has gone up, ring the bell. say stock. if you think the stock price has gone down, stay stop. >> we don't have buzzers. >> you're ringing the bell. >> why do we have the "wall street journal"? >> because you're smart. that's where you get your information. cnbc first. costco. when you go to costco you've got to stock up on the kids' lunch bags. >> costco, the company. >> $100 worth of products. >> stock. >> you are right. >> i love costco. >> if you bought $100 in costco stock two years ago you would have doubled your money, $192 friday. >> so smart. >> everybody wants a smart phone. all kids want a smart phone. apple -- wait a minut