report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib brought to you by. >> sailing through the heart of historic cities and landscapes on river you get close to iconic landmarks, to local life, to cultural treasures, viking river cruises, exploring the world in comfort. in the fast lane, auto sales sizzled. demand for tracks and crossovers sore as buyers rush into showrooms. prices are going to record levels. will that slam the brakes? power house, america's oil boom is so powerful, a study says it will boost the income of american households and will create millions of jobs. get smart, the battle has

begun. samsung beat apple to the punch but with big firms investing big money, what if consumers don't buy in? that tonight for "nightly business report" for wednesday, september 4th. good evening everybody, i'm sue herrera in for tyler mathisen. >> i'm susie gharib. the dow posted the biggest gain in more than a month even though investors are on edge about a possible military strike against syria. they were encouraged to buy stocks thanks to robust sales in august. auto makers posted the strongest month since the government's cash for clunkers incentive program at the height of the crisis. the dow jumped about 97 points, the nasdaq rose 36 on the strength of text stocks and s&p added 13 points. now to break down the august sales figures for detroit's big three, general motor sales rose

nearly 15%, that easily beat expectations. ford sales rose more than 12% from the same month last year, it's best august in seven years and chrysler had the best august in six years with sales up by 11.5% led by demand by the ram pickup trucks. with a closer look behind the numbers, we turn to phil la bow in chicago with more. hi, phil. >> hi, sue. three things were driving better than expected sales last month. let's start with the official number for august 16.09 million, that was the sales pace for the month of august. that is the strongest monthly auto sales since november of 2007. so we are in a territory that we haven't seen in six years. and one reason why is that auto sales last month were helped by a strong labor day weekend. those were actually lumped in with all of august, so that's why you had stronger than expected numbers in part. another reason, the people going into dealerships were buying in part because of low interest

loans, leases, those are attracting buyers. right now it's not uncommon to get zero percent financing for loans and leases. the average tops $31,000, close to an all-time record high and when you look at that you might say well, who is buying right now? in part, when you look at the pickup truck market, it's the contractors, small business owners. they continue to replenish their fleets by buying new trucks. large pickup sales up 19.3% in august, better than the overall sales pace for the industry and a ford sold one f series pickup every 42 seconds last month. not surprisingly. the f series was the top-saling vehicle followed by the camry, silverado and civic and last month the big three sold 44.1% of the vehicles in the united states and asian auto makers

passed the big three in the month of august. >> you mentioned the interest rates so attractive but rates are starting to rise. do you expect expect that will slow the pace of sales? >> not right now. they have to go up dramatically. the auto makers are intent on keeping the rates as low as possible. as rates move higher thanks will have some impact on auto loan rates and lease rates, but for the foreseeable future, they are expected to stay low. >> you mentioned in the report the average car price is now $31,000, so given all the demand going on, will the prices go higher? >> i think so. i think for two reasons, one people are putting more content in their vehicles. they say if i'm going to pay for this for six or seven years i'll put more content in it that's pushing the price higher and auto makers are in the sweet spot right now, suzy. they can increase production as they want to.

they are not forced to increase production and as a result, a tight supply and that's allowing dealers to push prices higher. >> a good sign we have such robust sales going on. thanks so much. to washington now, the senate foreign relations voteed to approve a resolution authorizing a limited military strike against syria. the resolution that passed by a 10-7 vote sets a 60-day limit on any u.s. military engagement on syria and bars the deployment of any troops on the ground for combat duty this also sets the stage for a debate and another vote by the full senate next week. that's when lawmakers return from the five-week summer break. president obama was in sweden today meeting with skand knave yin leaders ahead of the summit next thursday in russia. as john kerry continued to make the case, the president tried to

shift for military action away from the u.s. and on to world leaders everywhere. >> in the face of such, being a national community cannot be silent. failing to respond would increase the risk for more attacks and the possibility other countries would use these weapons, as well. >> as the president tries to drum up support from the international community and congress, americans in the nation's heartland have their own opinions about u.s. involvement in syria. in oklahoma, many people have strong views about the u.s. getting involved in syria civil war. john harwood joins us from midwest city, oklahoma where he asked residents how they feel about the syrian crisis. i know you have a lot of good stories to tell us, john. >> reporter: susie, lots on syria and budget and financial

issues, as well. we got a taste of it in oklahoma's fourth district. the republican representative went to tinker air force base and heard the base had been hurt but budget sequester and furloughs. they simply can't afford the shut down that some republicans threatened. >> i don't know what you would do on the flying operations and how that would operate, especially if, you know, with a mission if they have to do the nuclear mission that the navy is responsible for on a day to day basis. the counter drug counter operations that you have along with the north american defense. i'm not sure how you do that in a total shut down. >> come to my town hall tonight. >> reporter: and indeed, at that town hall tonight, conservatives said a shut down is what we need as a tool to get rid of obamacare. >> the republicans have got to wake up and get -- you say well,

i think this will fly, that won't fly and we can't shut the government down. let the government shut down, if that's what they want to do. let obama be guilty. >> reporter: and of course, on syria, you had speaker after speaker questioning the president's constitutional authority to act on his own and demanding that congress not give him that authority. >> where did he get this? you know, out of a cracker jack box of what? not out of the constitution. just because the president made a statement that he should not have made should not bind the congress to go ahead and approve it. [ applause ] >> reporter: now on that issue, syria, congressman cole saids with the right in his district and leaning against voting but does want to see a deal on budget and financial issues to spare tinker air force base and avoid a financial crisis this year. >> john, what exactly did the congressman say about how he'll vote on syria, and also, what

did he say about president obama? is he going to win support for military action? >> reporter: he's leaning strongly against. he said he'll listen to arguments over the next week, but he's going to be a very, very hard salefor administration. boehner influential come out in support of the president. that's a sign that he may be building some momentum in the house, but it's not a sure thing. >> yeah, john, how close will this vote be? we heard from both sides of the isle and a number of democrats say no and a couple republicans say they will vote yes, so how tight will it be? >> reporter: i think very tight in the house, less so in the senate. it moved out of the foreign relations committee today but i do think in the house it's going to be a nail biter that will require a very large democratic vote to go with a minority of republican votes. congressman cole predicted most

republicans would not vote with the speak and with the president. while syria remains the biggest worry for washington and of course, for wall street the debate rages on whether it's time for the central bank to ease back on the stimulus plans. one top official thinks that time is near. the president of the federal reserve bank of san francisco said the u.s. economy has nearly enough momentum without the need for additional monetary stimulus from the fed. in a speech in oregon he has an open mind about tapering but didn't offer a specific timetable for a pull back by the bank. >> more from the bank, the latest survey of economic conditions around the nation lived up to it's name today. there wasn't a whole lot that was new or unexpected in the fed's latest region by region break down on the cow keconomy. they report modest growth over

the past six weeks or so as consumer spending, real estate activity increased. this may be just enough for the central bank to again consider when to begin tapering back the bond buying stimulus measures. mortgage applications rose for the first time in a month, rising more than 1% after a slight dip in lending rates falling from the highest level so far for the week before and a pickup in refinancing. the mortgage banker's association said borrowing costs climbed by more than a full percentage point since late may. the u.s. is getting more competitive. the world economic forum says it's rising after four years of decline. the u.s., still the world's largest economy is ranked in fifth place for overall competitiveness, that's up from seventh last year. well, the nasdaq may not have felt very competitive for a short time today. the all electronic exchange

suffered a six-minute outage in processing quoting and orders but trading was not interrupted and in a note sent to traders, they blamed a computer failure a. backup kicked in and the problem was resolved. today's issue was not relaced to the outage on august 22nd when trading on all stocks was halted for three hours due to a trading software glitch. still ahead on the program, america is wash in energy but does the oil and gas boom help your finances? a new study says yes. that's coming up but first, how the international markets closed today.

did the s&p really commit fraud, or is a new 5 billion-dollar lawsuit rel retaliati retaliation. the suit alleges that s&p misled banks and credit unions about the credibility on mortgage backed securities. s&p says the suit is just quote retaliation for being the only major credit rating agency to take away the u.s.' triple a rating during the recession. that's when the treasury hit the debt ceiling and congress failed to reach a federal bud get. jp morgan chase agreed to pay $18.3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming it made inadequate disclosure about the resetting of interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages. delta airlines announced

plans to buy 40 new passenger jets worth about $5.5 from airbus. it's the first order from delta in two decade s. the first bach of brand-new will arrive in 2013 and the rest are due in 2016. toyota is recalling 369,000 vehicles worldwide. it's high-end hybrid suvs may stop running if an engine system alarm goes off and the luxury lexus sedans could go out. no accidents related to either problem have been reported. we begin the market focus tonight with a retailer having a rough day. shares of francescas fell sharply after the company reported weaker than expected earnings and said sales would continue to decline. it's the latest to take a hit

from cautious spending as they forgo impulse items like shoes and dresses and focus on houses and cars. the stock fell 26% to $17.79. a different story for sienna, this network equipment maker reporting a narrower than expected loss and strong revenue growth. they are benefitting from tell lacombe carrier upgrading the wireless and wire network. the stock soaring almost 14% to $23.54 and that's also a good trend news for sienn aerks's rivals that rose today. shares of navistar says it will cut 500 jobs. they say the core truck business was hurt by a failed redesign and lower industry demand. the stock fell more than 2% to

$33 and change. dollar general's earnings beat expectations. the value retailer attracted customers into the stores by selling more groceries and brand name products and reported sales growth that exceed the the competito competitors. frugal shoppers, however, are making it difficult to raise prices. the stock was up 5% to $56.39. shares of san disk rallied on heavy volume following news of a rival fire. it was forced to suspend operations at the factory in china but it expects to resume production shortly. shares rose 5% to $14.75 tlaandn dusk grow. green mountain isn't just about brewing coffee but soup. campbells superwill sale k-cups that will brew a cup of chicken

broth. it will come with noodles and vegetables you can mix in. it's the first attempt to expand beyond beverages. american family piggy banks are bulging. thanks to the oil and gas boom and lower energy prices, household incomes are up by $1,200 and according to ihs that conducted the study, the fracking boom will boost household incomes by as much as $2,000 by the year 2015 and create more than 3 million jobs throughout the economy over the next five years. joining us now to talk more about this is john larson co-author of the study. john, thanks for joining us and, you know, this is great news to hear. we all benefitted from lower prices, but as you look out and

you're making your forecast out to the year 2020, how much of your assumptions are based on lower energy prices? it might not work out that way, right? >> well, i think you're right. there is an important story that has to be told about where the energy prices will go and when you look at the supply side, the rapid growth in this technology has unlocked a tremendous amount of resource space and tremendous growth in both oil and natural gas production. so we feel confident about that underlying assessment of where that supply will go and the corresponding price paths will be. there is a tremendous wealth of availability of natural gas in this country of around 4 to $5 and btu. when you look at relative to the global prices, and that's the key, that's what determines the break even economics for the underlying plays allowing us to enjoy this energy renaissance and growth, you see an opportunity for it to continue into 2025 and beyond.

>> as susie mentioned, that's good news but your numbers seem higher than other studies. is that because you base it on something different or your met tricks or different or? >> it's a supply chain from the well head to the consumer and supply network that supports and enables the activity to take place. we're not just looking at the roughneck working the well head but the skill in pittsburgh fabricating the steel and pipe fitters and drill bit manufacturers in ohio and leading to the income effect for consumers. that's the real highlight is how profound this income effect is for all consumers and obviously, when more consumers have more hundred in their wallets they step back into the economy and purchase more goods and services

which spurs greater economic growth. i don't think we're over stating it at all. it's a profound effect and will continue to have a profound effect as the income grows for the economy. >> part of the energy boom is because on packing and you mentioned the work fracking and people say about what the environment. what type of concerns for environmental concerns will impact the household savings? >> well, obviously, look at the current set of rules and regulations. our study was based on a status quo conducted at the state level and there is a whole host of other regulatory procedures in place this is an industry that requires a significant amount of activi activity. you have to go out and explore to identify new places and conduct the underlying drilling. if that activity was curtailed, it does fairly quickly have effects down through the economy and could risk pulling the money

out of the pocketbooks of americans. >> john, real quickly, who funded this study? >> this study was founded by a coalition of organizations from the american chem mystei chemis the fertilizer institute, organizations along those helped contribute to analysis we conducted. >> fascinating study. thanks so much for coming on the program to tell us about it. john larson with ihs, sue? coming up, two major companies starting electronics, smart watches and some are calling it the most important new product since the launch of the ipad but first, how commodities, currencies and treasuries performed today. it's one of the biggest

gifts ever given to a college. new york real estate steven ross who is the owner of the miami dolphins is donating $200 million to the university of michigan in an arbor. the money will be splint between the steven m. ross school of biz and the athletic department. this rises ross' total donations to the university to more than $300 million. this sounds like something out of those old dick tracy comics but the smart watch is a wearable tech device and a reality. seema mody has more on the latest gadget you thought you didn't need. >> ladies and gentlemen, i present to you samsung galaxy gear. [ applause ] >> reporter: the battle for your wrist has begun. >> welcome to the future. >> reporter: samsung and qualcomm announcing to the world the smart watch arrived.

they are the first serious entrance to the industry. analysts say the smart watch is the most important product category to watch in a consumer electronics base. sony, microsoft, apple and google are said to be working on their own version of a smart watch device. they expect a 5 to 10 million smart watches may ship as samsung and others get it right and the trend towards wearable tech looks to be here to stay. >> great idea. >> you can carry it around with every outfit. as long as it looks cute. >> reporter: google made shock waves with google glass. >> once they get a little more slim, i think more people will be interested in it but right now it stands out and device some people love it, some people are like i'm not ever wearing that. >> reporter: for some reason, data suggests the time for wearable devices could be closer at hand, literally. a survey conducted by forester found that when consumers were

asked where they would want to wear a device, 29% said cliped to clothing, 28 percent opted for waste. samsung kel -- deliver add clear message. the battle will get more fierce in the months to come. i'm seema mody in new york. >> samsung might have more invasions to talk about in a few weeks. it scheduled a conference in south korea for november 6th for investors and analysts and the top pick the future of smart phones and on the agenda samsung's long-term growth strategy. not to be undone, apple, samsung's biggest rival has a big week ahead of it. the company announced an event next tuesday at the headquarters. the next day, september 11th apple will host an event in beijing where it's expected to announce a deal with china

mobile, the biggest carry tore sell the iphone there. a new building going up in london financial district is being called a flag scaper. it's refliecting so much sunligt it's melting cars. it melted parts of a jaguar parked outside the building last week. the build's developer apologize gie ed and offered to pay for repairs. the same architect is build tlg and -- >> oh, yeah. >> and it's a lot hotter. >> can you imagine calling home, honey, the car is melted. >> can you imagine that? >> especially a jaguar. >> that's nightlily business refor the for tonight. for more log on nbr.com. >> i'm sue herrera, have a good night everyone and we'll see you tomorrow. "nightly business report" has been brought to you by. >> sailing through the heart of

historic cities and landscapes on a river, you get close to iconic landmarks, to local life, to cultural treasures, viking river cruises, exploring the world in comfort.

>> the following kqed production was produced in high definition. >> tonight on quest: they're majestic. many would even say they're beautiful. but they, and the flurry of activity around them, can be deadly. find out what's fueling a growing fear among residents of west oakland. and have you ever wondered what your most ancient ancestor looked like? well, this man can give you more than that. he can show you what her dna looked like. and see the newest way to care for san francisco's thousands of urban trees. here's a hint: you can do it without leaving your desk. [ ♪music ] >> major funding