9 security exchange commission and commodities futures trading commission says their following six scenarios that may have led to the dow's dizzying decline in 2006. >> regulator working with the exchanges are proposing trading rules to prevent future so-called flash crashes. now, the rules would aplay to all stocks in the stoop's 500 index. trading would be paused for five minutes, if a stock falls 10% in a five minute period. now, the individual stocks sur kit breaker does take effect in mid june for a trial period of six months. >> ahead of the ftc says the circuit breakers would, quote, help to limit significant volatility and they would increase market transparency and bolster investor protection and bring uniformity to decisions regarding trading halts. the s.e.c. is also pushing the markets to recalibrate current circuit breakers which were not triggered on may 6th. >> in another market, all that dmriterred wasn't gold today. the pressures metals prices dropped about 1% today closing at $1,it 15 an ounce. today's retreat follows last week's gold mania that sent prices to a new record high. with gold up 10% this year, investors wonder ifle rally will last. suzanne prat reports. >> it's easy to understand are why gold is trading near record highs. it's long been a safe haven when fear fwrips world markets. trader mmihir dange says the dow crisis reinvigorated the gold. >> people don't know what's happening. the greece debt. that was the catalyst that put gold into the next level. >> also fuelling the latest gold mania is investment demands. years ago, jewelry makers, and central bankers were the biggest buyers. now, it's etfs and gold funds. since the beginning of 2009, gold has served about -- surged about 40%. just last week, it set a new high, reaching nearly $1,250 an ounce. the yellow metal's steady climb upward is worrying some investors. they question whether the rally will soon come to an abrupt end. t. roe price, metals and mining analyst, rick de los reyes thinks gold fever will continue. >> this gold cycle has been going on for about ten years now. historically, gold cycles it tend to last 14, 15 years. it's not an exact science like that. but the point is you're probably closer to the end than you are the beginning. the other thing to keep in mind is the end of the gold cycle is usually the best part. de los reyes says that could mean the biggest price moves up are still to come. that's as long as sovereign debt remains a crisis for many countries and inflation remains in check here in the u.s. but he says history shows that gold prices usually peak once inflation is an obvious problem and when world central banks start buying gold in a big way. >> the central banks are notorious for getting the gold market wrong. you know, the bank of england, back when gordon brown was running it, he was famous for having sold much of that country's gold, you know, back when the prices were in the 200s. >> while experts say gold prices are headed higher, range is fairly wide. some think gold will only hit 1300 an ounce this year. others won't rule out 2,000 in the next few years. suzanne prot," nightly business report. new york. >> let's get you updated on the stories on wall street. stocks soemd off this afternoon. at the bell, dow fell 115 points. the nasdaq tumbled 37. the s&p 500 off 16. volume on big board listed shares up slightly. nasdaq volume also up a touch. germany surprised global markets today saying it would ban what's called naked short selling starting midnight tonight. that's the practice of shorting shares you don't own or haven't borrowed in advance profiting if the price declines. it's been widely blamed for boosting selling pressure on stocks. housing starts rose last month as home buyer tax credit neared its end. the commerce department says builders broke ground on 672,000 homes in april, up almost 6% in march. pfizer laying off 6,000 workers, 18% of its workforce in new round of belt tighteningle following last year's acquisition of wyeth. it's closing eight plants in ireland, puerto rico and the united states. still ahead this evening, when it comes to farming it's all about the seats, and you may be surprised how complex and expensive they have become. >> susie: oil giant bp is facing new problems in washington and the gulf of mexico. the government is now look at safety concerns at a second bp well in the gulf. the lnlts "atlantis" oil platform. it comes as oil continues to gush from the deep water horizon rig that exploded a month ago. as stephanie dhue explains, bp is corralling some of that oil, but that's just one of the challenges. >> bp says it is now siphoning off 2,000 barrels of oil a day, double what it had been picking up. but crude in the gulf is spreading. louisiana governor, bobby jindal says there's thick black oil on the edge of the marshlands. >> up until now, we have seen scenes and tarballs and this is the first time we have seen this much heavy oil this far into our wetlands. >> jindal wants the federal government to complete a $350 mill dredging plan to repair barrier islands to protect the coast. meanwhile, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration nearly doubled the size of the area closed to fishing as a safety precaution to insure the seafood supply is safe and scientists are studying aerial views of the spill to see if oil has leaked into the powerful loop current that could take it to florida and up the atlantic coast. in an interview with sky news. bp c.e.o. tony hayward downplayed the spill's impact. >> everything that we can see at the moment suggests that the overall environmental impacts of this will be very, very modest. >> but lawmakers are turning up the heat with three senate committees holding hearings today. interior secretary, ken salazar took fire from lawmakers frustrated that regulators weren't up to the job. >> the fact is that there are significant regulations in place. >> mr. secretary, the regulations, but they aren't adequate, and my sense is that they are not being enforced. >> right after the bp spill, the administration put a temporary hold on new drilling in the gulf, and today, salazar raised the possibility that an auction for new drilling leases scheduled for all uft could be postponed, stephanie dhue, "nightly business report" washington. >> susie: another jittery day in the market, it looks like investors are puzzled whether they should be in or out of the markets. of course all of those problems in europe, too, weigh on investors. >> yeah, lots of uncertainty from europe and clearly here in the united states waiting for the big response to the flash crash. let's look at tonight's "market focus." you know, the markets really deteriorated throughout the day all day long giving up the early gains by mid-day. the losses seen all across the stock segments. among the week is technology after the close, the focus remains on technology with hewlett-packard turning in inflatist result. let's get you updated. h.p. was able to beat the street. it remains the world's biggest computer maker but continues to stretch into technology services and remain as big force in printing. h.p. raised its forecast looking for revenues to rise 8% to 9% even with a stronger dollar. analysts with tech insight south ridge thinks it's the services business that's an area of opportunity. >> now, you are going to see services start to be significant going forward. so, that's a very nice positive thing for h.p., and even better for h.p. is that their margin on services, it is still relatively less than the peers and they have been doing a nice job of taking out costs there, and that should be a nice bottom line tail wind for them. >> let's look at h.p.q, the stock chart closing 25% above the low. after the hours, the stock more positive moving up 2%. one to watch tomorrow. one area of concern is growing competition from cisco, oracle and ibm. all three were slightly weaker ahead of h.p.'s results. bucking the overall market, wal-mart. first quarter results popped even at same store sales in the u.s. ed to drop. wal-mart's 88 cents per share profit was better than estimate, still for four quarters in a row, sales at u.s. stores open for at least a year. have dropped. china, brazil, mexico and canada the bright spots. wal-mart shares fought the weak market all day, ending up 2% making it the only gainer of the 30 stocks makes up the do you industrials. shares have traded between $52 and $56. pretty range-bound. home depot was among those weighing on the dow, despite raising the guidance fr the year. first quarter profits jumping 41% to beat the street, some seasonal strength outdoor items and items for smaller repair jobs contributed to the positive results. the company also says stores in california and florida, which were hit hard by the housing market implosion, are seeing sales growth again. that news didn't help h.d. stock today. heavy volume with shares sliding more than 2%. several retailers in the focus as well, including the parent company of marshall's and tj maxx. tjx has benefitted from consumers looking for deals in the recession. quarterly results beating the street as margins have been growing as the stores work down inventories. but its forecast for the current quarter was muted. so, the shares reflected that lack of up-side surprise in the guidance as it fell more than 3.5%. and the high back in mid april by the way for tjx was all-time high for the stock. teen retailer, be a ber krom by & fitch continued to lose money, but up 14%. that came with lower profit margins thanks to discounts to get customers in the stores. the a & x was looking to expand overseas to fuel growth. department store sachs fell even though it pete the street and saw the nasts fall. it raised guy answer about but the higher guidance was not as much as some hopeed. last night we had at least a half dozen buyouts to report on two. tonight to tell you about one rumor and one merger breakup. first the rumor. it involves a couple of technology security firms. sim nan tech close it buying the security business of verisign. the rumored price tag $1.3 billion. it would represent 25% of the verisign value. symantec a little weaker, verisign shooting up. finally the deal that broke apart. the effort to buy financial data firm, fidelity national information services. it wanted more than the $32 per share bid after the buyout group by blackstone group collapsed late yesterday. fidelity national says it will borrow money, redammize and possibly pay a shareholder dividend. >> the chicago board of options exchange is gearing up for a major initial public offering, its own. the exchange hired a team of 18 underwriters for the ip off the. it plans to sell 11.7 shares on the nasdaq under the ticker symbol, cboe and the exchange hopes to raise $300 million on the sale. it's planting season and american farmers are making decisions that could affect the food you eat, and maybe some of the investments you make. many farmers are not planting high-tech seeds. they just have gotten too expensive. it's a big problem for companies like monsanto, du pont and dow chemical. they have spent millions of dollars to develop new high-tech seeds that are resistant to insects and drought. dianesterbrook reports. >> getting into his tractor, paul taylor is completing a spring ritual, sowing is 1,000 acres of illinois farmland with corn and soybeans. this year's ritual is different. instead of planting biocrops, taylor is planting conventional crops. he says the latest biotech seeds are drubl or triple the price of non-biotech ones. >> i do believe there's value, we do get higher yield but is it enough to pay the higher cost? that's the $64,000 question. >> when biotech seeds hit the market 15 years ago, they carried a single trait like resisting pests or chemicalsand now they have stacked traits or multiple traits. that's driven up the prices causing some farmers to back at the cost. the at recent bioindustry convention in chicago, pioneer, a division of du pont, promoted the next generation of biotech seeds, including heart-healthy soybeans and more nutritious corn. it can take more than a decade to develop a new biotech seed and three years to get government approve pam so pioneer's vice president of crop genetics says the company is doing more field work to make sure there will be buyers down the road. >> we're really -- talking to the farmers and research teams to get out with farmers to talk about what ideas they have for the future, what needs that they have. and we also go out to external folks and say we have this idea. what you do think, from stewardship perspective and regulatory perspective. >> and biotechnology has been a boon to agriculture. 90% of the corn and soybeans that will be produced in the u.s. this yooer will come from biotech seeds. that's double what was produced a decade ago. >> biotech crops are still banned in europe, they have been widely accepted throughout most of the world. life science analyst, george millstein says politics and consumer preference make it hard tore predict if farmer also buy more sophisticate the biotech seeds but he thinks they will. >> we have crossed a rubicon in genetically superior foods and food products that it just doesn't appear will turn back. the population growth needs to be fed. you have yields per acre are beyond anything that you have seen historically. it's unlikely that will actually pull back. >> taylor says he will consider using biotech seeds again if he thinks they're worth the price. >> the short answer is we'll be looking at them. >> diane esterbrook, ul know. >> here's what we're watching for tomorrow. quarterly results due in from retailers, petsmart and target and an update on what you are paying at the checkout with april's consumer price index. and the federal reserve releases results of the interest rate setting meeting and the budget crunch in california. the nation's biggest state has the worst state credit rating. so, should you invest in california. >> toyota paid uncle sam today nearly $16.5 million. the fine is over the auto maker's slow response to safety issues with some defective gas pedal. now, the company denies that it broke the law and says it set told avoid a lengthily legal battle. on thursday, the company's u.s. sales chief is expected to appear before a congressional committee investigating toyota's recalls. >> meantime, uncle sam will pay more than $800 million for the clean-up of closed general motors plants. the money will go to about 90 sites in 14 states. it's part of the $1 billion the treasury allocated last year to wind down g.m. the white house calls the effort the largest environmental and economic development for former manufacturing sites. today's proposal still requires approval by u.s. bankruptcy judge. ♪ >> if you think your iphone is nifty, head to japan. . the asian nation is cutting its lab for cell phone innovation churning out gee whiz hardware and hand sets. japan's cell phone industry has evolved in isolation and is now at at turning point. >> smart phones like the iphone or blackberry are luxury items in the u.s. but for japanese cell phone users, fancy features and thousands of applications have long been considered standard. phones have done double duty as electronic wallets. as train tickets and boarding passes. as high-end cameras and tiny tv sets. >> my customers want to be able to watch tv while riding the train to work. they also want their phones to function as credit cards, and infrared readers. >> they're far superior phones in almost every way. more range of dollar colors on the screen. more features. longer battery life. they're in general a better phone. >> japanese cell phone make verse had a major advantage over the counterparts in the u.s. and elsewhere. >> japanese network, the 3g network is the world's most advanced and most extensive network and it's about five to seven years ahead of the european networks. 3g networks. it's easily ten years ahead of the united states. >> japan has long been a mecca for the most slick cell phone applications and hardware. many of the most significant breakthroughs in cell phone technology have come from here in japan, and yet, despite their achievements at home, japanese handset make verse never suck succeeded in overseas markets. >> because the market was developed here. though thought locally, developed locally, sold locally. didn't develop the infrastructure they needed overseas to be able to negotiate with carriers to under the carrier as needs and understand the user's needs. >> jap pap's cell phone companies are in crisis mode these days as the japanese market nears saturation and with carriers no longer subsidizing handsets, manufacturers are scrambling to consolidate and go global. critics say it may be too late. am doesn't release results, but experts say apple's iphone has taken a huge bite out of the japanese handset market. >> already listening to music or web surfing or business, customers are gravitating toward the iphone but for non-business use r, our customers buy japanese model cell phones. >> some argue it's too soon to write off the japanese. sanda, a former executive of motorola and apple says that the conventional cell foerngs what he calls voice centric handsets is on the verge of becoming a low-margin commodity. >> now, you are going to be se seeing multiple devices which are not telephones but you are going to be carrying around that's going to represent the next -- the terminals for the next generation internet which is not going to be just iphones or telephones at all. but devices that you may not even recognize as phones or something that carry about. you might wear. >> so, as cell phones grow ever more complex and as mobile internet gains traction in the u.s., some observers say japanese electronics companies could finally leverage their broad band head start to gain a foothold overseas, lucy kraft, "nightly business report" tokyo. >> from cell phones to the ipad. the question is, can the ipad save the u.s. publishing business. tonight's commentator thinks it coul keep fewer magazines and newspapers from stopping the presses. he is larry lynn. >> god forbid i'm about to give apple and steve jobs more free p.r. but what the hey, let's talk about the ipad, specifically about the potential for big media to finally get it right. she, even just a few years ago, whenever big media decided to launch its products into the digital space, big media usually just translated the traditional experience into a web browser, or smart phone. wrong. a computer is not a tv. a blackberry is not a newspaper. and the ipad is not a magazine. due to lack of experience, expertise, hubris, madia companies often failed to nail the user experience in their digital extensions which why i'm so excited about what i'm seeing from big media companies about their ipad plans. they seemed to grass that this is wholly different than a magazine newspaper tv or even personal computer. an ipad is -- well, ipaddish. connected. media centric, animated, tactile. "entertainment weekly" magazine for example, publishes a section called the "must list." music, video, music, games. you have to catch. in the magazine, the must list sucks. they nailed the list in the ipad. you click to watch or listen, you download books. it's awesome. a leveraging of the form and functionality of the device and its capabilities. will ipad plans save big media's hide? i don't know. but at least they're trying. i'm harry lind. >> now, you can read more of harry lind's thought on the ipad impact on media by visit youring our blog by going to nbr on pbs.org. >> finally tonight a new twist for panera bread. customers pay whatever dough they want before you run out to panner in are a. the policy is only in effect at the bakery chain's new location near st. louis. now, it's run by panera's non-profit foundation. the sign at the entrance says, quote, take what you need, leave your fair share. customers who can't pay are asked to donate their. cashiers don't collect money, they just give customers a receipt that says what the food would normally cost. the only real difference is for baked goods. exempt for the bread used to make sandwich, they arrive a day old. tom panner in are a hop er inpa around the country. >> digital media companies tried this online and people do wind up paying what it's worth. >> that's "nightly business report" for tuesday, may 18th, i'm suzy gar rib. >> i'm tom hudson. thanks for joining us. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org