From the white house thats making traders pull back. As john kerry spoke about what the government would do on friday, the markets slid. Heres where things stand as we await the bell this morning the dow, nasdaq and s p were all down for the day and the month. Gold opens just under 14 hundred dollars an ounce. And oil down 1 percent on friday even as supplies are strong. How are you feeling American Consumer . Not whipping out the credit card as readily . Consumer sentiment, from a 6 year high in july fell in august. The university of michigans index dropped from 85. 1 to 82. 1 this reflected pessimissm about the future of the economy with higher Interest Rates and slower growth. Still waiting to see if theres going to be an attack on syria. Lets talk with chris gersch of altimus capital. Chris, how would this affect traders if and some people would say when there is an attack . Good morning. What happened as far as last week is concernedwe had a lot of traders position themselves for that attack and thats going to continue to happen. You see a lot of put buying as far as the s p in the future months. Really this week is going to be all eyes on the news but a lot of traders have already positioned themselves for that followthrough on the s p and no ones really having any buy orders put into the 1590 level which is a key psychological level here on the floor. So, as far as the fears are concerned i think traders are well positioned if there is any action and if not those are gonna be slowly unwound. Were not gonna see a huge marchup in the market this week regardless. Weve also heard that the government doesnt want to make this a protractedits gonna be a Surgical Strike so maybe once it happens it will almost be a sense of relief . It will be a sense of relief and i think once it does occur i dont think youre gonna see an equity follow through but i do think youre going to see an immediate pullback filling a lot of those orders. But i believe the prolonged nonaction is going to hurt the market even more. September is usually a negative month for the markets. We have the fed meeting and also the spending bill has to be dealt with. What does it look like to you in the weeks ahead . It doesnt look good if im a long time holder. We are positioning ourselves more into a stronger dollar situation. But at the same time i think gold is going to continue to be a safe haven as it hovers around that 1400 level. And an area of safety again as we go into a wartime trading session. Chris, you have a good week out there. You too. Its been 20years since indiana legalized gambling and the money has grown each year contributing 700Million Dollars to the state budget two years agomore than Corporate Income taxes brought in. But not everyone is cashing in. Our cover story looks at casino employees locked in a labor battle involving bankruptcy. Employees at the Majestic Star casino in gary, indiana say they havent had a raise in nearly three years and have been working without a contract for ten months. Jeri elliott, a housekeeper here for 13 years makes 1330 an hour. I try to keep to a minimum budget and hope things dont get worse. On labor day, workers from the Majestic Star and nearby casinos gathered the support of unite here local onewhich represents Hotel Workers and is the force behind fightfor15 minimum wage demonstrations. We want our contract, we want our raise, we want our health care. The boats were brought in to provide good jobs and good benefits. We want what they promised us. Health care and its rising cost has become a hotter issue to deal with and its not getting any better. Took control two years ago as part of Majestic Stars bankruptcy reorganization. Wysata did not respond to our request for an interview. But according to the labor union, the casino under wysata laid off a hundred workers last year despite an upturn in admissions and reportedly taking in more than 200million in gross receiptsmaking it the seventh highest grossing out of indianas 12 casinos. As companies Economic Health improves some Companies May give raises but not all of them do. Its still adversarial in many companies. Unite here says the last bargaining session was in july. The new month dawns with no signs of constructive dialogue on the debt limit. With the economy growing and the sequester cuts making budgeting more difficult nobodys talking compromise. Last week treasury secretary jack lew told congress the government would run out of cash in mid october. Republicans say they wont raise the debt limit unless the president accepts additional budget cuts. Lew says the president has already offered plenty of cuts and will not bargain on making more. Congress and the white house also have to come to terms on a new spending bill to keep the government running past the end of this month. Chinas bank loan programs are backfiring. Banks expanded credit programs and relaxed lending rules to boost the economy. But some industries overused their credit capacity, and attracted consumers with bad credit histories, or no Credit History at all. China Construction Bank claims that 2. 33 of its loans went without payment by the end of june. Thats up from 1. 97 six months earlier. Chinas showing its appetite for oil and technology. Chinese Petroleum Company sinopec signed a 3 billion dollar deal with egyption company apache. Sinopec has been looking to refocus on north american onshore holdings, which it believes are more predictable and consistent in growth. Its a bold move during a time of middleeast turmoil, but it shows a confidence in the Oil Production market, says price futures groups phil flynn. And it advances chinas goal toward selfreliance. Now it looks like china wants to partner with apache because apache is a leader in Fracking Technology and directional drilling. So now only does china want to take the risk of investing in egyptian oil fields for the supply thats only part of the answer they also want to get access to the technology so they can develop their own oil and gas fields at home. The sinopecapache deal is expected to close by year end. Flynn adds that the us is relying less on overseas Oil Production, and crude prices will not take as heavy a hit as past times of political unrest. For the second month in a row, the unemployment picture in europe improved. New stats show unemployment is down by 15 thousand, a small, yet optimistic figure. The rate still hovers at 12. 1 , an alltime high. An eu official notes the situation is still very fragile. Meanwhile, an index tracking Business Sentiment rose in july, to a twoyear high. November 25th. The date set to consider the governments lawsuit to block the merger of American Airlines and us airways. The 2 carriers want this resolved soon and like that date. The Justice Department wants the trial to start next march. Its a very complex case and the government says it needed at least a half a year to prepare. But the companies say, waiting that long could scuttle the merger that would create the Worlds Largest airline. The Justice Department and six states say it would reduce competition and raise ticket prices. United airlines has been fined by the government. The carrier is said to have filed false reports about mishandled bags and for delaying refunds to passengers. The fine, 350 thousand dollars. Fighting those pesky bank fees is easier than you may think. New Research Finds 44 of consumers have had bank fees reversed simply by asking. The most common reversals were overdraft charges. Followed by annual fees and returned check fees. However, not all banks are quick to hit the brakes on charging customers. Due to the rise in mobile and online banking, pnc and capitol one are trying out a new service. That charges you to talk to a teller in person. On the ipo watch, ge capital. Its reserves are so deep, if it were a bank, it would be the 5th largest in the country. The wall street journal says it may be spun off by its parent company. Potbelly has been growing too. The sandwich chain is in 18 states. It hopes to raise 75 Million Dollars by going public. And a spin off for xbox . Thats the rumor from bloomburg. The Gaming Platform is the 4th largest Business Unit for microsoft bringing 7 billion dollars. Seaworld attendance is slipping from bad weather or, according to some reports, blackfish backlash. Attendance dropped 6 percent in the first half of the year. Seaworld blames the slowdown on weather troubles in Southern States and the timing of the easter holiday. But others suggest the documentary blackfish which involves how orca, sometimes known as killer whales and blackfish are treated in captivity. Seaworld told First Business that it denies any direct impact on attendance due to the documentary released earlier this summer. In detroit thousands of stray dogs have animal groups across the nation concerned. The stray problem has actually been a problem in the motor city for decades , but is gaining attention now following detroits bankruptcy filing. Tom mcphee of the World Animal Awareness Society says the problem largely has to do with economics. Alot of people have dogs, get dogs, buy dogs and you know look at them as an item, something to have as opposed to something to a living being. Just as people walked away from their houses, with all of their material goods left behind, theyre leaving their houses with their pets behind too. The organization is accepting volunteers for later this month. For more information, check out wa2s dot org. Baby teeth are going for big bucks these days. Leaving a lost tooth under the pillow now has a rate of return of 3 dollars and 70 cents, up 23 from last year. However in some cases the tooth fairy has been known to leave as much as 20 or even 50 dollars per tooth. Still to come your menu for the rest of the show, 1. 7 billion and growing. We look at the charts of some of the companies profiting from the sale of e cigarettes. Whats sucked all the excitement out of new smartphone releases . And first, the good, the bad and the ugly in new numbers about manufacturing in america. Thats next, after this in the know message. Good morning on a new season and a new month. Weve got some new numbers. These have to do with manufacturing later today the National Report from the institute for supply management is released and that comes on the heels of the monthly mni chicago report from mni indicatorsthis is a closely watched indicator of us economic activity. It boils down to one number and if its above 50, well, weve got an expanding economy and it turns out that for august its 53up 7 10ths of a percent from july. Alice andresfrantz is with mni. Lets look at the good first alice, and that concerns orders. Thats right. We have new orders up 3. 3 to 57. 2. That was a decent jump. Weve also got order backlogs up 3. 5 to 46. 5. The story here is that in our barometer waiting on the new orders is a little bit heavier than the order backlogs and so new orders is really the story and the thing that carried our barometer forward this month. We are also getting the same type of commentary from the manufacturing side that while new orders continue to come in, it is the order backlogs that are carrying companies across. For those new orders theyre also paying a bit more and you look at that side as well. An indicator of inflation there. Thats right. Our prices pay component was up 1. 6 to 65. 2. Thats the highest since november 2012. Its also the 4th consecutive month of increases so this is really a big eye catcher. We hearing price increases across the board. We hearing that suppliers are absolutely insistent on passing these prices across. Were hearing it the corrugated space, chemicals, plastics, education, foodlots of things rising. Looking at the numbers here. You look at lead times. Tell us what you see there. Were seeing lead times lengthen out. Back in june, we had lead times really really short but were seeing those extend out a bit and that is certainly adding to the backlog. The reason is that the lead time for purchasing production material has lengthened out quite a bit. Were hearing that there are some disruptions in the supply chain largely linked to transportation, specifically trucking. Were hearing that theres not a whole lot of excess capacity there. A lot of job retirements by truck drivers. And so if you dont have a lot of capacity in the trucking space then its really difficult to get the goods to the factories. And rail cant compensate in any way for that . Rail is also experiencing the same type of lack of capacity because of new found oil and gas in the west. I see a lot of trains going by my housetheyre all those oil tankers. So, if 53 is where things stand for august is there an optimal number we should look for . Well, you always want to be above 50 to be at expansion. We are about right on target this month. This is about where consensus was. The good news is on the barometer that weve had 2 back to back monthly gains. We havent had that in 2 1 2 months so i take that as a small positive. Alice, thank you so much. Coming up. It used to be a front page headline why new releases of smartphone has become a minor event. And later in chart talk e cigarette sales. Its not smoke and mirrors. Well be right back. In a few weeks another couple of new iphones will be revealed. Remember a few years ago how each new phone rollout sent the world reeling. But now its become a matter of ho hum. New sam sungs are coming. There was the new moto x. But releases no longer engender lines around the store excitement. Whats the problem . Phil rosenthal is a business columnist for the chicago tribune. We dont want incremental. Its gotta be it seems, earth shattering dramatics. Well, i wouldnt say there wont be lines. There are always lines. Its sort of a happening. If youre a traditionalist its the same reason people line up for film sequels. But the people behind them in the line isnt going to be there and part of it is its harder to get great all of a sudden. Everybody has caught up to what the iphone can do. Everybody solved those problems soall the products kind of look alike. All the improvements kind of look alike. The first iphone blew everyones socks off. I dont know what could do that now. Probably nothing involving a phone. It sounds like in the Consumer Market were spoiled. Weve come to expect that and we need that if they want us to get off our duffs and buy something. Part of it also is that people are satisfied with what they have. The improvements have been so great that theyve met satisfaction. Youre no longer looking at your phone and saying i gotta get a new one. Theres gotta be Something Better here. You look at what theyre offering in the new phones and you say a little more memory. Nothing makes you say i gotta have that. And thats the thing. Part of it is were satsified with what we have. What does it say about the Business Model behind the phones . Do they need every 6 months a real reason for people to go out and buy a new one . Obviously with apple you never know anything until it actually happens. But theres talk that they may try to encourage tradeins. They may say well buy back some of your phones and you take that credit and buy this one. This would do two things it would get new product out there and it would also make them the point of sale as opposed to places like your local phone dealer. I think the model is changing and i think well see it in some of the phone company deals. Theyre no longer necessarily locking you in for 2 years. Some companies are saying were going to make it easier for you to switch. Come on in please. I think it becomes a different kind of business. Hard to believe that the iphone is now part of a mature industry. I know. But thats the thingif everything turns over in 18 monthsits now how many cycles in . Cant count them. Well, i can but im not going to. Phil rosenthal, thanks so much. Pleasure being here. Meanwhile whats old is news today. Apples trade in tactic is in the midst of expansion. The service, unveiled last week. Lets consumers trade in older iphones toward credit for a newer model. Its not clear yet whether the tactic will payoff. Tech analyst rob enderle says the new service is a sign of weakness. One of the reasons they need this is because their phone and market position has weakened so much. Under steve jobs they would have never needed to do this because pretty much everybody was coming back and they were getting new people on the devices all the time. That clearly isnt the case now. Apples market share has dropped to a fraction of what it once was. And they are struggling to hold on to customers. Meanwhile traders will likely be watching samsung this week. That company is getting ready to up the anti in the marketplace, with a new smartwatch. The galaxy gear will be unveiled tomorrow. Puff on this e cigarettes. Theyre going mainstream and bigtime. Well talk about some of the companies burning up the sales next in chart talk. Th a deadly disease. I was one of them. Im a nurse and i knew how damaging the disease was to my life. Nothing i tried seemed to work. My brother died. From complications of the exact same preventable disease and i knew i had to do something to get healthy. My disease was obesity and after consulting with my doctor, i received the effective treatment i needed. Obesity is a second leading cause of preventable death in the united states. But its a treatable disease, and theres effective Treatment Options available. Now is time to get help. Please join the Obesity Action Coalition and acknowledge obesity as a disease for acceptance, for access to all effective treatments, including diet and exercise, pharmacotherapy and weightloss surgery for obese adults with at least one obesity related comorbid condition. Visit obesity action dot org and sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about your weight and your Treatment Options. Together we can make a choice to end obesity now. A Public Service from the Obesity Action Coalition. Ecigarettes are selling like crazy. 1. 7 billion dollars in sales by the end of the year. James ramelli is with keeneonthemarket. Com. I know you havent tried one of these but youve seen a lot of people who have. This is something that has seen explosive growth. Especially in the past 5 years. Electronic cigarettes arent really a new product. Theyve been around ofr over a decade. But weve really seen growth in this market over the past 5 years. In 2008, total year sales were around 20 million. Last year, 500 million. And like you said, this year theyre projecting well over a billion dollars in sales. Theyre already looking at the use of Electronic Cigarettes for other methods of delivering medicines and for prescriptions to wean people off of traditional cigarettes. The fda hasnt approved that yet however officials in the European Union are taking steps to do that. So its really not that far off and could be a huge Growth Opportunity for Electronic Cigarette makers. Even Insurance Companies dont know what to make of them as well. Lets talk about some of the charts. Lorilar, altriasome of the Big Companies are getting in on this and youve got hundreds of small players. Theres a lot of different small cap stocks that produce these Electronic Cigarettes that i might look at as a pure spec play as a takeover play or Something Like that. However, i think that the best play in the space is lorilar. Now, altria is getting into the Electronic Cigarette space however they Just Announced their first Electronic Cigarette in june to be released some time in august. They havent really snapped up that much market share. Lorilar is an established player in this space. Their brand of Electronic Cigarette bluhas 37 of market share. And i think they are in the best position to capitalize on further growth in the market. So id want to play lorilar in a very long term view maybe looking at a deep in the money call in january around the 35 strike for around 8. 50. My break even would be a dollar higher from where the stock is trading right now. Its going to give me a lot of time for this to play out and its gonna behave just like the stock. Alright james, theres a lot of people betting this isnt going to be a novelty or a fad and its gonna have some traction. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thats our show for today. Coming up tomorrow. Millionaire state of mind. Well reveal the money secrets of the worlds wealthiest people. Thats next time. From all of us at First Business, we wish you a great day. Now a paid presentation for meaningful beauty advanced by cindy crawford. With special appearances by debra messing. Valerie bertinelli. Christa miller. And stars from tvs royal pains and the mentalist. Hosted by network Tv CorrespondentKatrina Szish. Brought to you by guthyrenker. Hi, everyone, im beauty and style journalist Katrina Szish on location in beverly hills. In just a few minutes well meet one of the most beautiful women in the world, supermodel cindy crawford. At age 45,