the northwestern fringes of the strongest band around the center are now over southeastern louisiana. gus over 70 miles per hour. you will see more of that kind of wind and heavier rain move onshore of alabama, mississippi and southeastern louisiana. conditions really are going downhill as the afternoon goes on. you can see on the satellite that in the southern part of the circulation and out to the east, there is perhaps a longer period of rain and wind that will occur. the north side has been a little thinner. when the south side comes to short it will really ramp up. when the center comes to shore, that is not the end of the event. it will be kind of the beginning. that is when the rainfall will really start to get solid four hours and hours. the forecast is for perhaps a little more strengthening before the system comes ashore. it could get a little stronger within this category one hurricane range. cannot completely rule out category two, no. generally speaking, the situation is about what we were expecting yesterday. we had a fairly large category one hurricane that is a big storm surge producer. because of it large size we are still anticipating six-12 feet of storm surge flooding in the coastal areas of mississippi and louisiana. those are the areas for which people are evacuating. there is also heavy rain and inland flood threat. that is something that has killed many people by getting on the road and getting an accident or crossing water cover roadways. when this starts, you don't want to be outside or driving around. you want to be away from flood prone areas in a structured area. hurricane warning remains in effect. mississippi coastline, louisiana, although it over to morgan city. trouble got warning for the alabama coastline and going into the panhandle. tropical storm warnings extended over the southwestern to south central part of the louisiana coastline. be safe out there today. our weather is going downhill. this is going inland for the next several days. another update in one hour. lori: we will certainly carry that for you here on the fox business network. just summing up what he said. conditions going downhill. that is nothing to mess around with. heavy rain into populated areas. six-12-foot storm surge. all very concerned news. nicole: heavy rainfall. all of these things to be concerned about. we have more breaking news on this. utility company reports hurricane isaac is causing scattered power outages in the new orleans area lauren: we have flat trading. it has traded at a very tight 66-point range from low to high today. we do have the consumer being really strong today. stocks like nike and carnival cruise lines all doing really well. however consumer confidence number hitting a nine month low. that index actually rose for the first time on a year to year basis. usually track consumer home prices together. back to you. lori: lauren simonetti there on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we are waiting for the mayor of new orleans to give a press conference. you are looking live at pictures they are in the gulf. in the meantime, the national hurricane center upgrading isaac to a category one. wind reaching speed at 75 miles per hour. jeff flock, ground and mississippi with the very latest. jeff: just to the east of new orleans and this is where the worst of the storm would come ashore with the center going right over, i was just listening to bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana, who says now 28 school districts have enclosed today, seven parishes are now on mandatory evacuations. lafourche parish is one of those that has gone on mandatory evacuations. i just talked to the head of the parish there who said they had eight dwis yesterday. they are banning liquor sales. interesting little sideline. take a look out at the gulf right now. this is never the way it looks. you know what the gulf looks like. it is always pretty calm. right now it is turning pretty heavily. take a look down the other end of the beach. the sun is still shining. lori: jeff, i hope you have plans for cover. thank you for your amazing reporting. nicole: oil production has neared a stand still. 70% of oil production is shut down. fox business contributor phil flynn joins us from the cme with mark. >> when they upgraded that storm to an actual hurricane, we saw a pop-up in oil. we popped up about $0.70 higher, back down to about 50, back up to 60. there is no doubt that the traders and how the storm will play out is influencing prices. what gave it a little bit of a bounce was a report by the international energy agency. they came out and said they did not believe there was a reason to release oil from the strategic oil reserve. another store that has moved this market in recent weeks. we have heard and unnamed official and the obama administration that they were prepared to release oil from the reserves. this dispute the report that the iea would get on board with it. that is another issue with the price of oil. right now with the hurricane. officially a hurricane, they will now look at the strength. if this gets up to a category two, which it does not look like it is going to, we could see prices going up pretty dramatically, if in fact, this storm comes down and fit. we are going to have to keep an eye on this storm really closely for the next 24-48 hours. lori: all right. thank you. talking about the fact that it does not look like a category two yet. nicole: you can bet the folks in tampa and rnc are keeping a close eye on the hurricane. the show must go on. kicking off now after the delay. joining me now florida's mayor. we too have you back on the show. give me an idea whether or not this disruption has led you to change your expectations for the economic impact of the rnc for the better or the worse? >> no. i do not think so. the delegates were here. they are spending money. they are just spending it indoors. we added 90,000 room nights to the equation in a part of the season that is usually pretty dead. we believe it will be a win-win for tampa. our thoughts and prayers are with mitchell andrew and new orleans. we are thankful that we dodged it. we are focused on putting on a good show for the rnc. lori: we are waiting to hear from the mayor, please forgive us if we have to leave this conversation to listen to his comments. speaking of louisiana and mississippi and alabama, those governors all skipping the convention. many delegates changing their plans either coming later or leaving earlier. how is tampa doing with the so-called people moving? can they get to where they need to go easily? >> absolutely. with an evevt of this size, this is the biggest thing we have ever done, lori. there are some traffic issues. there are some congestion issues. there are some delays, but for the first few days it has been seamless aired the first big date will be today as the buses moved the delegation from the hotels into the event. fortunately, that will not take place during rush hour. they will be here from around 12-two and should not affect the roads or downtown at all. lori: the stack from the tip bay host committee says spending will total 175-$200 million. then you have the multiplier. >> i am sticking to that number. that rising tide will float almost every boat. i cannot tell you how many owners, small business, have come to me and said this is the best week we have had this year and we anticipate having. it is a win-win for everybody. lori: $26 million due to property revenue. will the revenue generated inside the convention help to make up that gap either directly or indirectly by higher, additional sales tax? >> absolutely. i was able to balance that without raising taxes or laying anyone off. lori: has warned, i have to interrupt you to get to that mayor of new orleans. thank you very much for your time and patience. >> about how each storm is different. isaac is different from anything that we have seen before because it is moving so slowly. when a storm of this magnitude travels that slowly it poses its own risks which we will talk about in depth. we can expect ten-16 inches of rain. some areas will be higher. to me just indicate to you guys, do not let this storm will you into complacency. that would be a terrible mistake. this is not a category three storm, but a category one. eighty-five-100 miles went is plenty big enough to put a big hurt on you if you fall into complacency so let's not do that. i would ask you, however, to remain calm and remain vigilant. we have for a long time planned for this. the individual citizens in the city have done an excellent job of getting a plan together. those citizens that intended to evacuate have done so. those of you who have decided to shelter in place have done so as well. in my travels across the city, it appears as though the citizens are heeding warning. they are doing a really good job of porting of the residence and not going out unless they absolutely have to. i would ask you to continue to follow that rule. i am somewhat dismayed on the number of people right now out trying to experience what a lot of heavy water feels like. if you get pulled into it, you will not like that feeling. i ask you to rethink where you are. i understand because isaac has taken such a long time to form a people may be getting bored, it is better to be bored then to get hurt. i ask again too, you know, take your time and think about what it is you are doing before you put you or your family in harms way. one of the great examples of our plant being in place and being executed flawlessly took place a little while ago. colonelfleming who is with us today have the great wall. there is a great sense of security that is in place, the american people, with the citizens of new orleans finest a $1.01 investment that is the largest civil project that has ever taken place in the united states of america. it was completed in one year. it is a wall that is 1.8 miles long, 26 feet high, 13 miles from downtown new orleans and it is protecting new orleans east and the lower ninth ward in st. bernard parish. that has never been done in america before. that wall is now up. we closed the gate at about 11:00 o'clock this morning. that part of the city is protected from a title surge. we also closed the -- canal last night. seventeenth street and london avenue canal will close when appropriate triggers take place in the kernel can address that issue when he comes up to talk a little bit more about the work. i want to thank the core of engineers. on top of that sum up the wall as part of a levee system that we have reinvested in. $10 billion. a category three strength levee system that is 300 miles and is nary robust at this point in time. we are not expecting as a consequence of that a katrina like event. from anyone who has lived here a long time, if there is a large amount of water in a short period of time, parts of the city will flood. we are not out of the woods on a water event or electrical event. we say the best path to a quick response, the best way to quick recovery is a cooperation of the citizens. i will ask you to hunker down as we have all agreed to do. now is the time the next 24-36 hours to do that. also as i drive around, i do see some debris. folks have put stuff outside. go pick it up. if you have any loose items that might appear heavy to you, not very heavy to 125-mile per hour wind. if you have a table outside in your yard, put them someplace where the wind cannot get them. the debris will get thrown around. i ask you to take particular attention to that. we are allowed to park on the neutral ground. do me a favor, do not knock down any trees, if you can help it. [laughter] be courteous of your neighbors. do not, i repeat, do not park on bridges or overpasses. make sure you check on your neighbors. such as elderly people who may be afraid. and the abundance of caution and forgive me for being so forward about this, i want to be explicit, there are things about category one storm and category two that will kill you or hurt you very badly. i don't want to be standing here in a couple days warning the loss that was avoidable. driving and walking through standing water. near canals and or overpasses and even on streets. manhole covers can cause drowning. flying debris during the storm. the wind is that high, things start fine. it is very dangerous. there have been many examples of death for people getting hit by flying debris. the same thing is true with falling trees and downed power lines. i asked you to be the gillette about that. of course, the improper use of generators and candles can be particularly problematic and i'm sure there are hundreds of other things that we have done over time that is careless. just use common sense and vigilance. that is very important. lori: you have been listening live to the mayor of new orleans. don't let the storm, the slow moving category one hurricane isaac, move you into complacency. it can kill you. he gave a list of warnings to the residence. nicole: do not panic, adobe complacent either. we have seen category one storm that have caused death. lori: do not downgrade them. rather, do not take them lightly. that is a better way to put it. charlie gasparino did make it to the rnc. and who wall street is backing as president and why. nicole: first, a look at how the dollar is faring today. ♪ . . 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[ all ] i'm with scottrade. >> @23 minutes past the hour i am juliet huddy with your fox news minute. isaac is now a category one hurricane. the national hurricane center is predicting as much as 20 inches of rain and a storm surge of up to 12 feet in some areas. isaac is expected to make landfall late tonight or tomorrow. the seventh anniversary, by the way, of hurricane katrina. a second visitor to 70 national park has died. 1700 recent visitors they may have been exposed to the rare disease which is carried by rodents. they are painful to watch out for flulike symptoms. aspirin -- medical conditions were likely to die of cancer than patients who were not taking aspirin. very interesting. check up on that. those are your news headlines. good to see you guys. back to you. lori: that was very interesting. the gop convention gets underway and the latest contribution. charlie gasparino and tampa. you are covering all this buzz and what is going on. charlie: about five minutes ago i was covering, i think, the hurricane. it started to pour here. it could happen anytime. anyway, let's get through this before it starts raining again. i do not think you should oppose it as a question. it is revenge of the fatcats. everyone knew wall street was moving towards romney. they are very dramatic. former head of ubs, many of them are out. they are moving to the romney camp. wall street has basically, obama has no thanks. no banks in this top ten contributors. the stuff that stated right now, eight of the top ten contributors are thanks. goldman sachs, you know, the subject and target from occupied wall street and top welfare guys, they are romney's top contributor. i do not think that would hold. they are still, as this race is about coming to an end with this convention and next week's democratic convention, they are the number one contributor. they are not, not even in obama's top 20. barack obama, i think behind the university of california which you cannot get anymore liberal than that. we should point out the financial industry is the second biggest contributor to the romney campaign. there are still financial people largely and hedge funds. they are number six. it looks like wall street has moved very, very, very far into the romney camp. if you talk about names, i know of two prominent names that adversely support president obama. -- bob woolf and other name. if it was between those, i would give the edge to larry fink. what are they doing it? the class warfare stuff. i think you called them fat cats. right after scott brownback. back to you. lori: this is what i find interesting. you have no unions on that list. charlie: what did you say, we have unions? lori: we have no unions. university of california, microsoft and google base their. charlie: the way i saw the list it was comcast, the owner of nbc, right, they are on that top ten list. kind of interesting that my old place is very much in supporting president obama. who else? harvard is in there. lori: harvard is number five. [laughter] university of california. charlie: very heavily democrats. i think he held a mini town hall meeting about a year ago. west coast tech firms obviously give a lot of money to this president. i will say this, if you talk to businessmen as a whole, they are very disenchanted with president obama. as a whole, they really believe that this is a president that does not have his priorities right. you do not want obamacare, another mandate on business when you have 10% unemployment. stimulus plan back in 2009 obviously not working. when you pose this as a question, i would never do that. the fatcats are clearly in romney's campaign. lori: and you did great reporting showing us exactly that by giving us the list and showing us that wall street really is behind romney at this point. the administration has now been business friendly. [ talking over each other ] lori: charlie gasparino, you have been all over it. nicole: stocks now. lauren: consumer confidence gets to a nine month low. i am waiting until jackson hole. the s&p 500 up point oh something all day. it is really quite anemic year. we do not have much overall movement, but we do have the consumer sector really strong right now. we have an all-time high for a company like heinz. we do have stocks breaking out. as you can see, the numbers are pretty flat. it is a huge industry. i don't know if you have ever drink five hour energy. the attorney general is -- as well as living essentials. back to you. lori: good story. with the economic impact of hurricane isaac the felt nationwide? we will look at how big of a crisis it could be. nicole: do not drink any of those energy drinks. first, a look at some of today's winners and losers for you right here on the s&p 500. ♪ . . . . lori: hurricane isaac certainly driving commodities markets this week but will the storm have a wider economic impact? we have scott brown, raymond james. chief economist there. about brown, great to have you with us. category 1, isaac officially a hurricane. what are your thoughts on the economic impact? >> it will not be especially large. when you look at big economic effects of a hurricane you're typically talking about a andrew or katrina or a category 5 hurricane where with the wind speeds are twice as much as they are with a category 1 or two. so, there may be some short term disruptions in terms of retail sales. you get stocking of supplies ahead of the hurricane. and then, a lull obviously when the hurricane is passing through. there may be some rebuilding but, you know, it is not going to be sufficient enough to even show up in the gdp statistics for example. lori: the hurricane center calling for six to 12-foot storm surge. i'm not a weather expert but that sound horrifying and could do significant damage to the northern gulf coast. i know he updated the levees around new orleans after katrina. i guess put that ends if the backdrop of the consumer confidence data we got today, right? which was down. you have all the information hitting people. you almost have a self-fulfilling prophecy, no? >> you will have some damage certainly. i don't want to downplay the loss of life perhaps or the physical damage to buildings and homes and so on. but, compared to the overall size of gdp again, it will not be a lot. the one thing we do expect to see an increase in gasoline prices. lori: sure. >> as the oil wells are shut down. and, that can also have a negative effect on consumer confidence. we had, gasoline prices peaking around early april and coming down. that really helped boost consumer spending growth in july but those gasoline prices are moved back higher now. as such i think we'll see more restraint on consumer spending growth. lori: analysts are calling for another 10 cents on retail gallon of gas possibly because of this storm. 78% of gulf oil production shut down. 48% of natural gas facilities are down. all this has to have a more bullish impact on energy prices. ultimately consumer spending. >> well on the energy prices yes, but it is typically, short-term phenomenon. that is once the hurricane passes they get the, the oil back flowing again. so you wouldn't expect prices to remain permanently higher just because of the hurricane unless there is some physical damage to the wells. lori: fwoch cha. >> yeah. lori: all right. scott brown, thanks so much. we appreciate your insights. >> my pleasure. nicole: well the hurricane, right calling it a hurricane now, no longer a tropical storm. hurricane isaac is on the move. up next a trip to the weather center for another update on when and where it will hit land. as isaac strengthens will the price of oil soar? we'll have at the break. there is the 10-year. people continue to seek out the perceived security of u.s. government debt. and the 30-year also rising pushing the yield down to 2.73%. back with more after this. . . release me! you should eat something that's good for you 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. >> i'm adam shapiro with your fox business brief. european central bankhead mario draghi will miss the annual conference of central bankers later this week in jackson hole, wyoming. draghi's decision not to attend comes as the ecb prepares for a key meeting of its own on september sixth where it will continue would, on plans to lower borrowing costs for the struggling governments in the eurozone. the obama administration is announcing new fuel mileage standards that aim to double gas mileage over the next 13 years. the president reached a deal with automakers for new fleets of cars and trucks to average 55 miles per gallon by 2025. it will raise car prices but the obama administration says it will be offset by savings at the pump the. stocks drift between gains and losses following mixed reports on the u.s. economy. the dow is down three points. that's the latest from the fox business, giving you the power to prosper . . >> we're dealing with a big storm and there could be significant flooding and other damage across a large area. now is not the time to tempt fate. now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. you need to take this seriously. lori: okay, president obama of course speaking earlier today on the dangers of hurricane isaac. fox meteorologist janice dean is tracking isaac's path from the fox business wetter center. janice, we heard from the mayor of new orleans, say let me be explicit. a category 1 storm can kill you. this is a serious storm. don't mess around wit it. >> the threat i'm seeing this storm will move, very, very slowly. we're going to see 24 to 36 hours of after least tropical storm force winds over very vulnerable areas across louisiana, mississippi and alabama. just got the latest 2:00 p.m. advisory early. no significant changes. it is still a hurricane, category 1 but the results are going to be the same as if it was, you know, a 70 mile-an-hour tropical storm. but the fact that they have up graded it to a hurricane means that maybe more people will pay attention and that is the good news because all along the coast here, very, vulnerable to storm surge and flooding and we're going to see very gusty winds for a prolonged period of time and the risk of tornados. tornado watch in effect from louisiana, mississippi, alabama, florida panhandle because of those counter clockwise winds scraping across land and bringing some protation. a quick look at the track. it will be a category 1 hurricane for an extended period of time. overnight tonight we expect landfall but into tomorrow and even into wednesday and thursday, dealing with with the effects of this storm system. then eventually moving up into the plains states. if there is one pies of good news from this, lori, we'll get much-needed moisture into drought-stricken area. however for the short term this is the concern right here. back to you. lori: as you said. hurricane, you say tornados. that grabs people's attention. janice we'll look forward to your continuing updates. >> thank you. nicole: energy traders glued to the latest hurricane isaac forecast. let's bring in the editor of the oil and gas newsletter, the shork report via skype. we know when we're watching all the news, janice dean gave us the latest update, it causes death, it causes destruction but we wanted to take a close look at oil and your thoughts of what's going on with oil here. we're seeing it above $96 today. >> right. the indeed we have what we have now in the gulf of mexico is kind of a double-whammy. not only do we have the disruptions to gulf coast oil and gas production as well as refinery production along the coast of louisiana and texas, but we also have over the weekend a distalkance at a remeanry in venezuela which is part of the largest refinery complex in the world. so at a time when u.s. refineries are closing down, the ability to make gasoline therefore is closing down, we now have a refinery in venezuela that is also closing down. so what we've seen over the past 24 hours, an extreme shock to volatility in gas prices. gasoline prices surged yesterday on the thought we were going to be in a significant supply deficit. gasoline prices are now correcting back lower. extreme volatility with this system now. nicole: steven, talking about supply, you were just noting we had the explosion in venezuela, we have what we're dealing with rigs and platforms in the gulf that are shutting down, so a lot of balls in the air here when it pertains to oil and gas. what about the reserves? what is your thoughts on that? is that less likely to get the reserves and that is another why we're seeing the pop in oil today? >> well the reserves, and i've been talking extensively now for three weeks because the u.s. consumer now is in a peculiar situation. we're in a situation now where we're going to be paying more for our gasoline in the month of september than we did in the month of july at the height of the demand season. gasoline prices now have already averaged $3.75. we've had in the month of august another 10% rise in the month of crude, crude oil market. which for september means, probably another 15 cent rise in retail gasoline prices. so by the end of september, gasoline prices could be pushing $3.90 on the eve of the presidential debate. that will be something that the huge hammer for romney to clobber obama with. so the potential, i think, is very high that we do see spr relief, some sort of attempt by the white house to thwart the oncoming onslaught from the romney machine. nicole: steven schork, you were right on. as gasoline rises this is a big, big deal right, for american consumers. >> indeed. nicole: every penny counts at the pump. lori: let's see what is going on with the stock market. after you will it is quarter to. this is what we do every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti at the new york stock exchange. we're watching steel names. >> mark newton pointed this out every single day i've been down here. it is the worst-performing sector, in fact the worst performing second for five days in a row, shedding nearly 2%. ubs coming out and cutting ak steel to sell, giving it a $4 price target. trading at $5.20 for ak steel. down to 2004 level for that stock. i also want to point out u.s. steel. it is down nearly 1% today it actually shed 10% of its value over the past five days. while in past five days the materials sector is down as well with. but, gold and silver, the precious metals they have been doing a little bit better as of late. back to you. lori: covered it all. thanks, lauren. nicole: the next three weeks have a variety of major events happening and events that could determine the winner of the presidential election. up next, find out what they are and how they can favor or hurt each candidate. lori: as we head to break, let's check some of the other days winner and losers on wall street. there is a look at nasdaq. autodesk with a nice pop. up 2.9%. back with more after this. . . forcing 78% of the oil production to shut down. we have sandra smith. >> oil climbing to the highest levels of session and in fact the highest levels of past couple days we've been watching oil prices. remember they fell yesterday but came back today. oil prices up .7 of 1% right now. closely watching natural gas. this has been on the decline. actually down more than a percent today. and has been a dropping for the past couple of days. but rbob gasoline is the one everybody is watching right now. this happens to be the biggest mover. it is still down about 1.6%. this was the big mover to the up side yesterday when many of the refinery closures were announced. they got a boost. now it has come back and taken back a lot of gains from yesterday. here is what we're watching in the stock market. particularly watching big oil companies like exxonmobil. collectively now we're seeing a lot of big oil companies moving to the upside in afternoon trading. exxon is up. chevron shares are moving higher. royal deutch shell. valero happens to be one of leaders if. i look back over the past year, this stock hitting a 52-week high. i know you twice mentioned it earlier in the hour. not just because of isaac. but because of that refinery blast in venezuela over the weekend. so that is a fresh 52-week high for valero. a lot of stocks collectively moving to the upside. however, buys, bp, apache, still moving lower. these stocks are in a wait-and-see. it is important we watch it all the way through the development of it. lori: we'll do that. thanks, sandy. nicole: with a little over two months until the 2012 presidential election our next guest thinks that the winner will be determined within the next three weeks. joining us today, with more, on what outside factors are influencing voters is jim bianco, president of bianco research. jim, you cover so much. i know you do a lot of commentaries on money flow and also vesting to. you think, that the election really will be determined sooner than later. why? >> you've got a bunch of stuff coming together between now and say the mid of september. you have the two presidentialal conventions. history shows you usually get big movements in the polls coming out of conventions almost as much as you do off the debates. you've also got ecb making a decision. the german court making a decision. you have the fed not only with jackson hole this friday but that meeting on september 12th, september 13th. you have a new iphone coming out september 12th. when you add it up by the 15th of september, the conventions are over with. we'll have a better idea who will win the convention. we have idea whether the fed is behind us. whether or not we'll have qe3. know what bond purchases are. you add it up i think markets will be ready to discount the outcome of the election and where with the markets will go the rest. year. nicole: one. comments you made recently you see the markets are showing a slight edge right now for president obama. why do you think that is? >> you know, if you look at, i'm a big fan of looking at daily polls and betting markets. right now obama has got a probably about a 55% chance, 56% chance of winning election. he is above 50. historically, those numbers change right around the convention. now, obama could go to 75. he could go to 45 over the next two or three weeks. and so, he is the incumbent. he is at a, advantage right now. he is leading but not by much. and it wouldn't take much to change it as we move forward. nicole: by the same token you noted just that, which any major selloff for any major movement in anything for that matter, for the economy or whatever could have negative implications for this administration right now. right? like what would be some examples of that? >> well, one of things that we found with looking at the daily tracking poll of obama is if you, if you don't see one with, just look at the s&p 500. he trades up and down or he moves his tracking poll up and down with the trading of the s&p 500. and so we've referred to him as a risk-on asset. he goes up and down with the market. anything that would happen, say qe3, ecb bond purchase that would push equity prices higher through the fall would probably benefit him. anything that could happen, say a hurricane isaac or no qe3, that would hurt stocks prices it would hurt his, election chance as well too. nicole: jim, we don't have too much time left but your thoughts, i know you briefly mentioned at the top talking about qe3. you think that is likely, right? >> yeah. nicole: what form, quickly. >> what the if you had shed do, what they will do. what i think they will do q 3 in the for of a mortgage purchase program of half a trillion dollars. i don't agree with it but that's what i think they would do. nicole: we talked about options how they would execute that. jim bianco of jim bianco research. >> thank you. lori: we'll have another update on hurricane isaac. ashley webster and tracy byrnes will bring it to you live. much more on the storm's economic impact. so keep it here on fox business. . . . . . . >> waiting for another national hurricane center update. and we know really just from the last hour, right, that conditions are worsening. this is not a storm to mess around with. >> that's right. we heard the mayor saying just that from new orleans. don't be complacent. don't panic but prepare and be ready. ashley: absolutely, sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, up to 20 inches of rain. the storm surge. lots to worry about. tracy: katrina anniversary. ashley: thank you, guys. tracy: i'm tracy byrnes. ashley: i'm ashley webster. hurricane isaac is building strength as it bears down on the gulf coast. we'll have the latest when and where this massive storm will hit. tracy: stocks on the fence today after another round of mixed economic data. coming up we've got a wall street strategist who tells us how all the big news this week, from isaac to, the fed, the presidential race, could shape the economy and the market ahead. ashley: and the grand ole party kicks off its convention with a heavy emphasis on the economy. so will the republicans message resonate with voters or will isaac steal the show? we're live from tampa coming up. tracy: we have some breaking news. the national hurricane center offering the latest on tropical storm isaac. let's listen in. >> you see the bands wrapping around way around from the south and southeast side, around the north. it's a little bit larger to the south than it is to the north right now which has spared the coastal areas of mississippi and louisiana from constant rain this morning. it has been some intermittant bands but those are coming onshore and those bands will get more frequent, more potent. there is a chance of isolated tornados even in the outermost bands on the northern gulf coast, today, tonight, into tomorrow. the hurricane has a little bit of an opportunity to strengthen but i would focus even more on the fact that this is a large hurricane. and the size of it means that the storm surge and the rainfall can both produce flooding that are going to be probably the biggest story out of this system. the inland flooding from the heavy rainfall could extend hundreds of miles from the coast as this makes its way inland over the next several days. moving northwestward, about 10 miles per hour, look at forecast path, you can see this on our website all the time. this is giving you a general idea where it is headed, the cone projecting the probable path at the center of the cyclone is going to go. i want to caution everyone, when the cone gets close to the coastline like this, it does even poorer job conveying area by particular hazards. look at watches and warnings outside of the cone because of size of the storm. hurricane warning remains in effect for the coastline of mississippi and southeastern louisiana, all the way to ore gone city including, lake pontchartrain. and florida panhandle over to destin. on the western side, tropical storm warning and hurricane watch from morgan city to coastal louisiana and tropical storm warning extending farther than that. a large area of the coastline will be impacted. if you're in the hurricane warning area many in the storm surge areas under this scenario may be under evacuation orders. this is the time to heed those. not the time to come back in. the weather will go downhill from now on. storm surge is reason people are told to evacuate from coastal areas. follow the evacuation warnings. six to 12-foot of storm surge flooding above-ground level in portions of mississippi and southeastern louisiana coastal areas. the other hazard of course is the rainfall. not just near the coast but well inland over the next few today's. seven to 14 inches of rainfall widespread possibility. and then isolated spots could see as much as 20 inches of rain. inland flooding again has taken many lives in past landfalling tropical storm and hurricanes especially if you get outside and on the roads. that is the way many people get in a lot of trouble. the storm surge, the inland flooding, the strong winds, and the tornados, all hazards that we have to contend with as the large system moves very slowly inland over the next few days. could be up to two days of bad weather for some folks. stay inside until the storm has passed. be careful in the aftermath when cleanup can be dangerous as well. another update within the hour. i'm dr. rick knab from the national hurricane center. tracy: to recap, ash, a large storm and lots of rain and storm surge of six to 12 feet. ashley: it is moving slowly. raining in the same place for a long time. tracy: exactly, why we worry about the floods. ashley: absolutely. let's look at stocks for you as we do every 15 minutes. let's head down to lauren sim sill on the floor of the nyse. stocks drifting slightly lower, lauren. >> kind of flat. i'm looking at s&p 500 all day and seeing down.01 or up.01 percent. so completely flat. we have several stocks hitting not only annual highs we like to talk about but highest levels ever. consumer names and discretionary sector are leading the market right now. retail stocks are up for the most part across the board. we have heinz hitting an all-time high, up 2.6% right now. essentially they declared a dividend and they expect to report higher profits and revenue for the quarter that just wrapped up. that is the news out of heinz. as for movado, the popular watchmaker, their profits grew more than 80% in the quarter. so that stock surging to the highest level ever. back to you. ashley: love heinz. love me some ketchup. lauren, thank you very much. tracy: oh, ketchup. bet you put it on pasta. ashley: oh god, no. tracy: good. ashley: that is awful. tracy: sacrilegious. ashley: only on fries. tracy: eggs? okay, i will do that. tracy: latest poll show president obama and mitt romney are virtually deadlocked into going into the conventions but is the market already showing signs what the results will be in november? joining us now, jeff klinetop, lpl financial chief market strategist. jeff, we want to hear about this. this is really interesting to me. basically split the stock universe between red and blue, right? you have democratic sectors and republican sectors. just go through them really quickly you. >> bet. there is, about eight industries very much favored by the democrats. these are things like health care facilities and life sciences, construction materials for more highway spending those types of things. on the other side you have got a number of industries more favorably disposed toward a republican outcome. things oil and gas exploration. coal industry. big banks like diversified financials. this is how we break down the universe. we're taking a look what the stock market is sighing what is priced in on wall street in terms of what might happen during the election and what it looks like is the markets are, like many of the larger polls, begun to predict more of an outcome democrats keeping seats in the senate and maybe retaining the white house. that is big shift from what we saw earlier this year. tracy: why? were the republican sectors in the lead for a while? is that what you're saying? >> the republican sectors had been faring better over the course of this year and increasingly, gosh i would say early this summer, right around when the supreme court upheld the affordable care act, that create ad big shift towards some of these sectors that, certainly are very affected by regulation and legislation. that will be more favorably biased toward the democratic outcome. they led the market since then. although in the last month or so we've seen that flatten out. so very early in the year, january, february, we saw a move towards the democrats. that echoed again in june. since then it stablized but certainly next few weeks will be pivotal. tracy: that's for sure. talk about the dogs of dow. we have a lot of people holding dividend stocks these days. highest yielding telecom utilities they outperformed but isn't it time or do you think it is time people start pulling money out because they're kind of getting top heavy? >> they do seem to be getting top heavy. you know it is interesting because yield was the theme. the dogs of the dow through the dog days of summer have been the winners. yet in much of august we've seen the cyclical stocks do a little better. today for example, utilities not so great. telecom, not so great. but consumer discretionary doing pretty well. tracy: yeah. >> we're seeing more cyclical companies. think that is sign the market pricing in qe3 for the fed which kills the yield trade which we've seen in the stock market and bond market pushes yields higher. pushes people into cyclical rather than higher yielding stocks. tracy: the market is loving more money, more money thing. jeff klinetop, thanks for sharing your study and your insights. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me on. ashley: let's talk more about hurricane isaac. by the way the u.s. saying 93% of gulf oil production now shut down by hurricane isaac. 66% of the natural gas. certainly having an impact on the energy sector. isaac continuing on collision course with the gulf coast as the national hurricane center upgrades the storm to hurricane status. jeff flock on the scene in gulfport, mississippi. looks cloudy and windy but could be worse i guess, jeff. >> oh, my gosh, that is the headline of this storm, ashley. for several days we were thinking it was right on the edge of becoming a hurricane. it didn't. talk about the oil and gas rigs, if you look out there you can almost see them. but it is very cloudy today. you can typically see the gas and oil rigs out there, they're so close to the shore here in the gulf. what you typically don't see however are the waves and white caps you see in the gulf right now. still a lot of people --. tracy: i think we lost jeff. ashley: we apparently lost jeff flock in gulfport, mississippi, as he was saying weather not as bad there. of course we're expecting hurricane isaac to come in further west from where jeff is, pretty much taking dead aim against new orleans. tracy: makes me novice that calm --. ashley: before the storm, exactly. we'll see if we can get ahold of jeff again. we're tracking hurricane isaac's every move at this hour. coming up very latest forecast. plus how isaac is impacting oil and fast prices right now. tracy: the storm is taking some attention away from the gop convention which is underway in tampa but we'll have a live report on how republicans are still hoping their message will break through loud and clear. don't forget chris christie speaking tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. first as we do every day at this time, let's take a look how oil is trading right now, up 70 cents a barrel. actually has not move ad whole lot considering hurricane isaac. $96.24 a barrel. . . . . tracy: we're going to try this again. our very own jeff frock -- flock in gulfport, mississippi. having trouble all day with with the feed. at least you didn't blow away. >> some -- it may blow away. i want to see this sign. you're welcoming the hurricane. >> not exactly. the weather channel referred to mississippi as that land mass between new orleans and mobile, which we're not. >> so our friends at the weather channel taking a bit of heat. we would never refer to you as a land mass. you're happy this isn't worse. >> i'm definitely happy it is not worse. it is katrina was awful. i know this won't be that bad. >> all of these ladies went through katrina. how old were you when that took place. >> i was, maybe 10 or no? >> what recollections you have? >> i was in the third grade. i remember not having an elementary school after that. we went to school in fema trailers for a couple years. >> just some little window on the impact that these storms can have. hopefully this one nothing like katrina. although about as big as katrina. not as strong. uh-oh. strong enough to launch the young ladies. tracy: jeff flock, adding color. although to jeff's point, a large storm with a lot of rain. not necessarily a lot of wind. still really dangerous. ashley: jeff, thank you. well with the other big story of course after a one when day delay the republican convention is underway with both mitt romney and paul ryan arriving earlier today. our very own rich edson is in tampa with the latest. rich? >> well they have arrived. isaac never did arrive but still republicans had to cancel yesterday. moved everything up today. the presentation we'll get today was what we expected for yesterday. as you mentioned the presidential nominee, vice-presidential nominee, they're not official yet, i guess the presumptive once are here at the convention site in tampa. ron paul making an appearance. his delegates have not been released. the way it works, some of the other challengers, if you don't have enough delegates you release them to vote for the presumptive nominee. that is what we expect later on today. that roll call vote starting at 5:20 this afternoon. that symbolic moment they go around the convention hall and cast their votes or most of them for governor mitt romney. the keynote address tonight by governor chris christie at 10:00. before that mitt romney's wife ann will speak. ashley: thank you, rich. in tampa. tracy: set the dvr for 10:00 p.m. eastern, ashley webster. watch my fine governor. 16 minutes after the hour. we're a little late because of the hurricane. we have to check on the markets. lauren sim some on the floor of the new york stock exchange. lauren, production of the chevy volt being halted, huh? it is hitting the gm stock. >> it is. gm is down 1% right now, tracy. yeah, once again gm is halting production of the chevy volt out of a detroit plant starting next month t will probably last four weeks. because of this production halt, a company called pollypore down. it makes lithium-ion batteries used in the volt. that's why they're down with sympathy. the issue with the volt not because they're not selling them. they are. selling more than three times what they sold last year for the volt. dealers have too many on hand right now. that is the issue. they have to have the temporary production halt. they're also getting ready for the chevy impala. so they're preparing plants for that as well with. back to you. tracy: good stuff, lauren. see you in 15 minutes. ashley: very quickly, some break news. the white house saying option by the way of tapping into the strategic oil reserve still on the table. doesn't say it is going to happen but still one of options being considered if we start to see oil prices spike. as we continue to track isaac as tracy mentioned earlier we've seen oil prices move slightly higher today but 70 odd cents. nothing to write home about. we'll keep an eye on that. the white house saying, tapping into, releasing some of those strategic oil reserves certainly on the table as a possibility. want to get that in. tracy: good stuff. president obama hitting the campaign trail in a couple of battleground states. will he steal the spotlight from the gop convention? we'll have that next. ashley: first put the spotlight on currencies and see how the green back is faring today. here we go. against the euro. the euro up against the dollar as is the pound, as is the dollar, as is the peso. guess what, complete set, as is the japanese yen. we'll be right back. . . and waiting in line. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. 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[ male announcer ] get a 4-week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. . . >> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm juliet huddy with your fox news minute. isaac has been upgraded to a your kind and headed toward new orleans. nearly seven years after the city was devastated by hurricane katrina. the national hurricane center says the storm which has sustained winds of 75 miles an hour was moving northwest at 10 miles-an-hour. it is less than 165 miles from that crescent city. landfall expected tonight or early tomorrow. isaac could bring welcome relief to the drought stricken states. not only a deluge of rain expected from the storm when it comes ashore but the national weather service is predicting rain for eastern arkansas, southeast missouri and southern illinois. all very dry there. speaking of illinois, governor pat quinn rejected a pran to ex- -- plan to expand gambling in the state. he vetoed a bill for land based gambling hall. he said the bill lacked proper regulatory oversight. the lawmakers can vote to override the veto. we'll watch i'm sure. those are the headlines from the fox business network. back to lovely ashley and tracy. ashley: what are the odds of a veto? tracy: stealing some of the spotlight away from the republican national convention, president obama is planning on campaigning in three different battleground states this week. peter barnes joins us with more on this, peter. i thought there was a gentleman's agreement that you don't campaign during conventions? >> i'll tell you, that's the way it used to be but now, you know, you sit at home and sit by the fire, if you're, let your opponent have time during their convention and give them the limelight. that was kind of the tradition here but that is all out the window. the president is hitting the campaign trail to get some airtime during the republican convention and some face time with younger voters who he needs to turn out for him again this november. the president is speaking right now, to students at iowa state university. then he moves onto a college in colorado for an event this evening. tomorrow he will be traveling to virginia for another event with college students. all three visits are to key battleground states. >> the president obama is worried. he is looking at poll numbers. he sees a very close race. he is worried about mitt romney getting a big bounce out of tampa. what he is doing to counteract that is trying to get his message out and push back on the republican's message. >> in 2008, candidate obama won 66% of the youth vote. voters 18 to 29. but in 2012 his support among them is shakier. in a gallup poll in april, 56% of registered voters 18 to 29 would definitely vote this fall. that compares to more than 80% of voters over age 30 who plan to definitely vote and they tend to be stronger mitt romney supporters. and in the latest "fox news poll", just 48% of the voters 18 to 29 plan to vote for the president. while 39% said they plan to vote for governor romney. hence the president is going back to school. by the way, tracy, ashley, mitt romney will hit the campaign trail next week during the democratic convention in charlotte. ashley: why not. tracy: shocker. peter barnes, i'm sure since the unemployment rate is over 20% for the age group, 18 to 29 has something to do with the fact that why those kids may be voting. >> i think you're right. ashley: this is story you will have something to say. back to school shopping season underway but some items at urban outfitters may have parents running out the door. the retailer coming under fire yet again, this time for slowing fwans on some of its shirts. several shirts promoting alcohol use, including this one saying, i vote for vodka. this one with, which treats, drinking like an olympic sport. yes the usa drinking team. several groups have spoken out ends if the shirts. urban outfitters has a shirt for them, which is more politically correct. it says, dare. tracy: against drugs. ashley: against violence. tracy: come on now. ashley: what do you think? tracy: as a parent i won't walk my kids in the store. as a result, we see it in the stock. people are not, kids are very fix kill. if parents are paying bill like i am, guess what we're not buying. ashley: go somewhere else. not only one. urban outfitters. tracy: abercrombie & fitch same way. clean your acts up!. ashley: yeah. tracy: hurricane isaac now just hours away from striking the gulf coast. we'll [ male announcer ] let's level the playing field. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. so what i'm saying is,free people like options. when you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. the point is, you have options. oh, how convenient. hey. crab cakes, what are you looking at? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ashley: welcome back. hurricane isaac packing winds of 75 miles per hour as it moves towards landfall on the gulf coast later today. forecasters say it could dump up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, of course, we have flooding inland from the coast as well. we will bring you the very latest on this massive storm as it continues to develop. economic news. home prices rising. they did rise in june from the same month last year. the euro increasing the first time in two years. consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since november. european central bank president mario monte canceling his trip to jackson hole, wyoming. despite having a heavy workload. ahead, he will be meeting next week. probably a good idea. tracy: i know it is time to go back down and learn more about the new york stock exchange floor today. reporter: we have the managing director, albert freese. where is the catalyst coming from? >> it will be the calendar when summer ends. we will wait until labor day. until then, we are in a very sleepy market and will stay that way. unless ben bernanke surprises most of us and quite simply we don't expect much to come out of that. we are just going to sleep her way through this next few days. reporter: will you make of the consumer? we have several in the consumer sector reaching highest levels in history today. >> the groups themselves have actually been performing very well. some of those are on the rotation that we have been seeing in the broad market. money seems to be going into some areas of it. be cautious on housing. just ending what we call the christmas season for the housing stocks. we have to be a little bit cautious there. he put on a great performance, but we are not sure, particularly with rising interest rates -- the bond action did not go well. the indication for interest rate risk is starting to pick up. reporter: final question. materials have been the weakest performing sector for the past week. down 1.8%. it isn't that a china story? >> yes, it is a china story. it also has to do with money. the material market places are not pure supply and demand. china is the most important part of it. reporter: back to you, and thank you. tracy: we always appreciate it. ashley: forecasters hoping to narrow in on where hurricane isaac will hit once it makes landfall in the gulf. maybe new orleans. that is where it seems to be headed. janice dean is tracking it all from the fox business weather center. reporter: hello. we are expecting a landfall overnight tonight. somewhere around the new orleans area. the storm is about 135 miles east southeast of new orleans. we have a tornado watch in effect. from the outer band, we have that counterclockwise flow. weekend tornadoes with this and we could see some damage. the fact that storm is going to slow down even further than 10 miles per hour is going to add a little bit of concern to this region. very vulnerable to storm surge as well as flooding. we were were going to see it for long. map of hurricane force winds as well as tropical storm force winds. for about 36 hours in this area. new orleans, we do think a landfall possibly just to the west of that. still feeling the effects all along the gawkers. this is a massive storm. 400 miles wide. we are actually feeling the effects all the way to south carolina. there is a quick look at the track. category one hurricane for a prolonged period of time. battering this region with 12, 18, even 20 inches of rain. tropical storm force winds for 36 hours in this region. those levees are going to be tested. it is not hurricane katrina, but it could certainly cause concern over the next several days. ashley: janus, a category one -- don't be fooled by that. they can still pack a punch. tracy: 36 hours -- it's moving so slow. ashley: it will dump a lot of rain. moving on to the economy, taxes are a big issue in the presidential election. according to a new survey, most americans think that some are not paying their fair share. 58% of americans don't think the rich are paying enough in taxes. 26% think that they pay their fair share. only 8% think that they pay too much. gerri willis joins us with more on the survey. and what it could mean for the election. a familiar theme. reporter: it is a familiar theme. a lot of people think that romney's tax plan is one that would reward the wedge. people said and the pew research survey, which people are intelligent, hard-working and they are greedy and lie a lot. [laughter] looking at this mantra of the rich against the poor, doing exactly what president obama has been doing. tracy: still 46% of federal taxpayers do not pay federal tax. reporter: absolutely. let's go through some of these numbers for the top 1% pay only 37% of all income taxes collected. the top 5% pay 56.66%. the top 10% pay 71%, practically. you can see that if you are wealthy, you are really picking up the tab for everybody. one other fact that i thought you would enjoy, 76% of americans take more out of the tax system than they pay in. 70%. maybe they are getting social security, medicare, medicaid. it is not there and even. tracy: back to spending on entitlements. ashley: very good. coming up tonight? reporter: senators talking about what's going on in florida tonight. we will be having a lot of that. what is coming up late in the evening with chris christie. ashley: gerri, thank you very much. don't forget you cannot miss "the willis report" at 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern time. coming up, new glimmer of hope from the housing market. is it a sign of a real turnaround? tracy: as we do every day, let's take a look at the 10 year treasury is better moving right now. the yields now at the 10 year. 1.62%. down two basis points this morning. as we move onto the 30 year, that down 2.73%, down two basis points. everyone has goals. take the steps to reach yours, with us with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way. from big steps, to little steps. since 1863 we've helped guide our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth. so their footsteps can help the next generation find their own path. all of us serving you. us bank reporter: i am adam shapiro with your fox business free. wall st. between gains and losses. right now the dow is done for points. investors remain wary. the social media stock, feeling the weight of the post initial ipo offering. the lockup. map red 6.27 million shares. bank earnings were up 21% during the second quarter. the same time last year. getting stronger. after the financial crisis, according to the federal insurance corporation, the banking industry earned $34.5 billion through june. the number of things on the fdic problem list fell to 732 compared to 772 during the first quarter. that is the latest on the fox business network giving you the power to prosper tracy: good news on the housing front. home prices in 20 u.s. cities raised for the fifth straight month in june and showed a year-over-year gain in 2010. according to the case shiller price index, earlier today dagen mcdowell off one of the co-authors of the study if we have seen a bottom. >> i think it's too soon to call it a bottom. but it might as well be. i think some people will be kicking themselves that they didn't buy now. i just can't be sure. that is the problem. too many clouds on the horizon. tracy: are those clouds going to rain on the housing great? grade? joining us now is jeff rogers. integra realty resources. jeff, so glad you are here. there are other issues. for one, the shiller report is only 20 cities. it doesn't include connecticut, which is still struggling. >> that's right. tracy: we are not taking into account all the foreclosed properties that are out there. >> we are not yet. but if you take a look at what is happening. we are on a very positive trend. if you look at all the metrics right now in the last quarter. with respect to housing. it is very positive of a trend. the trend is going up. i called the bottom a few months ago and every month is getting better and better. if you take the case of case shiller, it is showing that -- of course we have month over month. we have quarter over quarter. but we have annual appreciation. the first time since 2010. but it's very good and very important. in 2010 was propped up by the federal housing credit. that is all artificial. most federal programs, when the money runs out, so does the demand. that is why we saw a dip in housing. however, this was driven by market demand. that is more sustainable and real. when you discount 2010, we actually haven't had this since the downturn. 2006 was the last time we had annual appreciation. this is a major day for real estate. ashley: jeff, we have seen prices go up. but there is a shortage of inventory in markets. i find that interesting because i still get the sense that there is a lot of foreclosed and distressed properties would still have to come into the market. is it a little bit of a false bottom? >> the numbers are skewed just a little bit. we have about 2 million units on the market right now. that is about 40% down from the peak. 25% down from last year. however, if you look at the month over month numbers for the purchase of these homes were still appeared even with a tight market. that means if we had more inventory in the market, we actually would've had more homebuying. we are still in a buyers market. we have been for the last six years. if that is not exactly what a buyer is looking for, they will wait. ashley: but they don't want to buy something when the price is so going to go down. >> that's exactly right. buyers who have been out there in the last quarter, looking at something similar today -- it's going out. next order? it's going to be up. tracy: actually mention the foreclosures. that is because many of these homes are trashed on foreclosed properties. they have no choice but to go to regularly priced homes. consumer confidence is down. you don't think that this is a summertime blood remapped. >> because it is market driven and not a federal program, i think it is sustainable. let's talk about the foreclosures. everyone thought that this avalanche of foreclosed properties would hit the market and people would get rich again. like they had on the first time. it is just not the case. things are a lot smarter. a lot of these homes are buying these homes, rental properties, holding onto them as the market recovers. i don't think we will get the avalanche. tracy: you can't get along anyway. [laughter] tracy: we are definitely going to have you back and keep talking about this. ashley: thank you very much. talk about sports dollars. breaking news with espn reaching a deal with major league baseball. dennis kneale covering the story. dennis? reporter: espn, moments ago has a seven-year deal with major league baseball. $5.6 billion total. that is an average of $700 million per year. a critical catch her espn, which in turn, is a critical piece of the walt disney company. they are the sports channel with 30 billion or more -- that is over one third of the entire market capital. the number three cable network overall. number one about 2.3 million viewers in primetime. down 5% in the past year, but still pretty good. the lock on major league baseball ones through 2015. that assumes that ad rates must double as well. growing 10% a year. doubling 7.5 years. about the length of the contract. three words, ain't going to happen. espn making up the gap in other ways. 13% more games. a wild card. holding onto sunday, monday, wednesday -- no more local blackouts with the station. espn is to carry the game. it will turn to higher fees from cable system operators to make up that big increase in prices. what that means, brace yourselves. in 2014, more fights like the one that has direct tv yanking viacom channels on the air, over a disputable monthly fee. ashley: dennis kneale, we thank you so much. tracy: too much sports. [laughter] as we do every 15 minutes, we are going to check on the stocks with lauren. stocks are soaring, right? after cutting down? >> exactly. this is the best performer percentagewise. the s&p 500, the printer maker cutting about 13% of its workforce. 1700 workers. getting out of the inkjet and printer market. lexmark says they will save $95 million per year. they are certainly up. as for the year, that is down more than 20%. this is good news that they are restructuring for the company. back to you. tracy: thank you, lauren. ashley: they like the efficiency of it. the gop convention kicking into high gear tonight. will it do anything to sway voters minds? or is it all for show? that is coming up next. tracy: as we head out to the break, let's take a look at some of the winners and losers on the nasdaq. tracy: hurricane isaac has shot down over 93% of daily oil production in the gulf of mexico. driving oil prices higher. looking at today's trade. reporter: looking at these energy stocks right now. somewhat mixed, which is really interesting. a lot of the refineries down there have been shut down. in fact, we have the new numbers out. check it out at the lower part of your screen. we now know that 93% of oil production down there on a daily basis has been shut down. 67% of natural gas. let's take a quick look at the commodities. these are the latest numbers that we have from the golf course content -- golf course -- i want to do today look at the gulf coast. the upside that we do have an oil prices. up three quarters of a percent. right at the highest level of this or just after we got those fresh numbers. also, looking at natural gas prices. not a significant reaction there. gasoline, we have been watching this come out this is one of the biggest gainers, as you can see. yesterday's trading session, all those refinery numbers were announced. nonetheless, we are watching energy stocks. a lot of them are somewhat mixed. a lot of it when i want to point out is that chevron and exxon, they have shut down the refineries down there. stalks somewhat muted in reaction to that. they are in the green right now. both big oil producers. it's an ongoing situation down there as we continue to see the storm roll through. tracy: thank you for coming in, sandra. ashley: chris christie expected to deliver a fiery keynote speech at the rnc tonight. my next guest says that they won't have the same fireworks as the famous 19th century speech that swept an unlikely candidate for the democratic nomination. joining me is john steele gordon. author of an empire of wealth. the epic history of american economic power. before we get to that convention agenda today, an unknown politician from nebraska in 1896 swept to victory when he delivered what is considered one of the great speeches of the convention. we don't see things like that too often these days. >> we don't get a gold speech every four years. about once a century. ashley: we are talking about william jennings bryan? >> that is correct. my question to you is, what purpose of the conventions did they serve back in the early days of politicians. when i was all the decisions that were done in the smoke-filled back rooms. you never really knew what was going on. sometimes the unlikely candidate one. >> indeed. sometimes there would be two major candidates. neither of them could quite get enough. so that their guy would come in as a compromise candidate. that happened in 1844 with james polk. he was not even considered in the running. ashley: the last time the convention needed more than one ballot was one? >> 1952. there were three ballots taken together. ashley: so fast forwarding to today's situation. an opportunity for the party to, you know, have a copy, get their message out and build the momentum for the election? doesn't sway voters, do you think? >> probably not to a great extent unless something unusual happens. unless the speech is particularly compelling. some people -- i think mitt romney is one of them. people don't know much about him even though he has been in the papers. this is a wonderful opportunity for him to introduce himself to the country. ashley: what is the have to do in the speech? >> he has to present himself as a human being and a politician so that people get a sense of knowing him. even though, of course, they don't. ronald reagan in 1980 -- the race was just as tight as can be. until the last couple of weeks. especially the debate. people listening to him and saying, this guy can be trusted. i should also mention that sometimes you get future leaders of the party. >> indeed. in 2004, the keynote address was given by barack obama. a very little known senator. and then later on he was president. ashley: we have the president, obama, campaigning now while actively being aware of the republican national convention going on. is that interesting to you that when the democratic convention is held, we expect that romney should be campaigning actively? >> yes, this has been an unspoken gentleman's agreement that you don't step on the other as lines. but apparently the president president decided he needed to do that, so he's going to be one thank you so much for joining us. john steele gordon. ashley: he is such a great guy. tracy: that wraps up our alley hour. cheryl casone he will take you to the next hour of trading. we have northeast louisiana oil and gas. countdown to the closing bell is next. i will see you at 4:00 p.m. >> hello everybody. i'm cheryl casone in for liz claman. it is the last hour of