good afternoon. i m brad goode with the cnbc market wrap and this is how stocks are doing on this tuesday. markets clawing back from earlier losses. look at this the dow is up 81 point right now and the nasdaq posting 25-point gain and the s&p up nine points. despite the promising report monday on uptick in consumer spending a new inp dex reinforces that we are not out of of the woods yet. consumer confidence dropped 15 points to the lowest since april of 2009. as more damage estimates of hurricane irene pour in, we have a better idea of how the retailers fared. home improvement and grocers got a bump with folks stocking up on the emergency supplies, but sales slumped for others and some over $1 billion in losses. if you were couped up watching
devastation, destruction and indeed death occurred that time around. i think that the analyses after the fact showed that, yeah, the slowness in response, and that is not just katrina, but in any disaster slow innocence response c slowness in response can lead to more damage and loss of life, and that is why you have to be leaning forward as the president said, and be prepared and work so har with the cities and the towns and the states training and exercising to make sure they have the equipment they need. because they have the lead on these things. we come in behind them, but they are on the front line. indeed. with some of the damage estimates leaning upwards to $40 billion, where is the money coming to pay for this? where is it coming from? well, i would caution against putting a firm number right now on any damage estimates. this is too fluid of a
we begin this morning, talking about the aftermath of irene, the massive storm that paralyzed and pummeled much of the east coast. today, it s blamed for at least 21 deaths in nine states from florida to vermont. and at last count, about 3 million homes and businesses are still without power. more than a billion dollars in damages is blamed on the storms winds. flooding damage will be much more costly. three navy ships should be positioned in relief efforts from new york to new england. cnn crews are in place, measuring the storm s impact and the struggle for the millions of americans trying to move on now. we ll take you from north carolina to new york to new england and give you the big picture from the cnn weather center, right here in atlanta. let s go ahead and begin in vermont, a state reeling from some of its worst flooding in decades. gary tuchman there in brat tleboro. reporter: they don t deal with hurricanes, at least not until yesterday when tropical storm ire
its foundations and swept away and as you look at it now, that is that lifeguard station, you see where it came to rest, bang up against the boardwalk, and that is where it s going to stay, one would imagine for some time while they figure out what to do with it, shep. shepard: i think we have some video of it making that move and that would be great while we talk about the damage of this thing. any idea of the damage estimates, cost of all of this? they re just beginning the assessments of the costs, shep. basically, i spoke to the national county executive, nassau county being essentially the western half of long island. he he said that this is clearly going to run into millions and millions of dollars. but, the assessment just getting underway, not only, obviously, for county officials here and further out in long island and eastern long island, but also, for every single family who evacuated this barrier island and are now coming back to being and they re all coming back
mid-atlantic and the northeast, and we will stay dry along the mississippi river in the short-term period. shepard: and the coast guard has shut down a major mississippi river shipping lane to try to avoid putting extra strain on the levees and that will affect everyone. officials say the river near the port of natchez is closed to barge traffic. that cuts off a crucial route for grain from the midwest of the united states to the gulf. officials say that closing could cost the economy hundreds of millions a day. think of that. and a clear sign of actually, no clear sign of when it will return to normal. and now, gerri s two cents. damage estimates? what are they saying? it is farmers who are getting hit hard.