Week of equities, their first after five weeks of gains, setting the average lower despite good news about Consumer Spending and a strengthening u. S. Dollar. Investors lightened up on stocks as treasuries moved higher and crude oil and prices on other commodities continued to slide. At the closing of the bell, blue chop stocks down 61, nasdaq skidded 64, the s p drifted by about four, nasdaq off a fraction and the s p down more than 1 , as for the dollar it strengthened more than other currencies for the ninth week in a row. A big factor for todays slide, a big cause of actition one, when to raise Interest Rates, two, scotlands vote, which could send markets around the world in a spin, and three, alibaba, the chinese ecommerce giant, expected to be the biggest ipo in history, steve liesman, we begin with steve and the Federal Reserve. Reporter it could be a september fed meeting to remember, the central bank is a month away from ending its bond purchases or quantitative easing, there is speculation it could take steps at the next meeting to clear the way to raise Interest Rates from the current level of zero. All the feds will be on tours, they will wait considerable time from when it ends qe until they raise rates, some guess that could go as soon as next weeks policy announcement. Many on wall street put the odds at 50 50, if they do go, the speculation is there could be earlier hikes than the market expects. Maybe in the spring of 2015 as opposed to the summer. For nightly business report, im steve liesman. A key Event Next Week is the scottish vote for independence. The turnout is likely to be extremely high, perhaps recordbreaking. The british pound has suffered on the news that the United Kingdom is not so united. And the question is intense, the supporters say that scotland will be economically stronger if they break away. The nocampaign says that it will suffer if they go out on their own. Nearly all the banks in scotland says if they do vote yes for independence they will relocate to london because they feel the need to be certain and be protected by the bank of england, whether than worry what scotland will do, because they are worried. They fear that it could emboldened other separatist movements, such as spain and parts of northern italy which has long advocated to independence. They fear it could lead to the undoing of a union they worked so hard to keep together. For nightly business report, michelle cabrera. Demands from investors for hotly anticipated shares of ecommerce alibaba, stacking up, of course they will only get a fraction of that, but the company had only said last week that it wanted to sell about 20 billion in stock, so you can see that we are already at multiples of what the company had planned to sell. That could lead it to pricey ipo above the expected range, the company had outlined a range of 60 to 66 a share. Now here is why investors are so interested in the deal, number one because of its growth. Profit has tripled year over year, and number two, because of its size. Margins of nearly 70 make this one of the best capitalized and Fastest Growing names in tech market, not to mention they do more business than ebay combined. They are expected to be the largest ipo in the u. S. Or globally and in the technologically sector ever. It looks set to best gms record of selling 2 21. 1 billion of stock. And we learn what the big events that you heard about will mean for the markets next week. He is chief market strategist. So nick, which one is the most important . It seems the one at the Federal Reserve is the most important for the markets as we go into the new week, the reason is Interest Rates, weve already seen them go from 3. 2 to 6 just in the past trading dates. High Interest Rates seem to slow the economy, such as with car sales, that is really top for investors going into the new week. Nick, does it really matter if the Federal Reserve raises Interest Rates in may, march or july . You know, the tough thing about calling Interest Rates with the fed and the cycle, you never know where they will stop. We know as soon as they start they will keep going. They create uncertainty for investors, if one thing that the wall street hates, it is uncertainty, particularly for the Federal Reserve. All right, which one is the big issue for investors . The next big important issue is the scottish vote. Investors say they didnt see it coming until two weeks ago when the polls first came in and said they were ready to leave the uk. It has driven the currency in the market, again that is not good for wall street. What could it mean if scotland secedes from the United Kingdom . It is a very tough question to answer, but basically breaking up a 300yearold marriage, you dont really know what the contours of a new scotland would be. The upshot, it will create a lot more uncertainty in the european economy. In the s p 500, fully 20 of earnings come from europe over a cycle. So hurting that growth will hurt earnings here at home. Nick, we know there will be a great turnout for the scottish vote, any predictions . My bias is thinking no, they wont want to leave the United Kingdom. But it is such a close tossup, i think you will see investors step aside next week. Lets talk about alibaba, you put together internet stock, chinese stock and you have a lot of risk. That said, you have a lot of demand for this company. Is this the kind of stock, obviously most individuals are not going to get a bite at this on the open. But on the first day they might be able to buy it, should they . I tell you, ipos are very risky for a whole variety of reasons. You touched on a whole variety of issues, the one thing i would say, it is kind of a Silver Lining in all the negatives we have talked about that the Capital Markets can absorb the biggest ipo of all time and still maintain a very strong level of stability. Where the first two points were negative, this ipo is kind of positive. Real quickly, is this a positive for the markets . Do you think it is a Successful Offering for i guess friday . Will the markets rally on that . I think very much it will be a sign of Interest Rates and stocks. The investors believe it will trade well, it does seem like a positive. All right, thank you so much, and on that alibaba news we just mentioned, yahoo which owns a large stake in the country hit its highest level in more than 8. 5 years, 42. 88. And more good news, the sales rose 1. 2 with blowout auto sales with spending and lower gasoline prices giving americans more money to spend on other things. The Department Stores were a bit weaker. Also, sales for september notched a little bit higher, that was a little above forecast. So with the americans spending more money and the dollar getting stronger how could that factor into the Federal Reserve on Economic Growth . Just ahead of next weeks policy. Steve liesman has more answers. The u. S. Consumer looks to be making a comeback, retail sales surging in august, the best numbers since april as americans bought copious numbers of cars and electronics, with retail sales showing slow in july, it was up and positive. Income growth is improving, jobs are up but Income Growth is improving. Consumer sentiment is up. And certainly the wealth effect. Both home prices and Financial Markets are up in terms of value. And looks like the strength could continue, gasoline prices are down almost 2. 5 compared to a year ago which is like giving every driver a tax cut, and spending on other discretionary items. They could lower the dollar just as stuff comes in from the season, french wines and foreignmade toys could be just a bit cheaper. The main trouble would be if better growth prompts the Federal Reserve to come off its zero Interest Rate policies sooner. All the income weve seen in the last month really have been adding to growth, we now think well do about 4. 5 for q 2, probably 3 growth for q 3, the liftup in growth should accelerate the time table. None of this is suggest were still out of the financial crisis yet. There is still a lot to do, but the consumers are feeling it just at the right time. And speaking of the Federal Reserve it is making some new moves today to protect the nations financial system. Stanley fisher will head up monitoring specific markets including equity before they get too hot and before they threaten the nations financial stability. America is getting older and that impacts how many of us work. The economists at the Federal Reserve say that the decline in the u. S. Participation rate since the start of the financial crisis is due in large part of the aging u. S. Population, not maybe so much to weakness in the economy overall. The findings also show that even if the labor market improves, a larger number of aging americans are expected to just stop looking for a job. U. S. Treasury yields have been inching higher, rising for seven straight sessions and now sitting at a twomonth high. The higher rates are putting a lot of pressure on emerging markets, especially ones that rely on foreign capital for growth. Many emerging markets posted sharp declines this week, looking at the markets and the countrys most effective, brazil and turkey down, and russia and indonesia both off 4 . The white house released details on sanctions for actions in russia and ukraine, the largest bank by assets, restricting u. S. Companies from dealing with Russian EnergyCompanies Involved in deep water arctic oil drilling. Cutting off russias access to oil giants could be part of the reason exxon sales fell, making it the worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrial average. Still ahead, looking to invest in dividend stocks . We have a list of stocks you may want to consider buying for your portfolio. It looks like apple has another blockbuster on its hands. Apple says it has received a Record Number of preorders for the new iphone six and the iphone 6plus, although the company didnt release figures the demand was so heavy on apples website that parts of it choked up early this morning. The phones will be delivered on september 19th but there are already reports of possible shipping delays due to the steep demand. Well, those two new apple smartphones are already shaking up the telecon industry as they look to fight those devices, Morgan Brennan looks at the sales hitting stores in just a week. Reporter americas biggest wireless carriers are using the iphone6 launch to battle it out for new subscriber, slashing prices and shelling out top dollar for tradeins of older models, verizon and at t are rolling out big offers betting they will be balanced out by the phones success. We are pretty clear, we think it will be the best launch ever on an iphone and were the only carrier putting on the rate plan for the iphone. So you can bet that we feel very comfortable with the iphone, it is simple, 50 only with the iphone 6. Reporter and its rival will play out much differently than previous ones. In the past, they would subsidize regarding the cancellation fees. Now, you have carriers like tmobile and now sprint who are willing to buy out all the early termination fees from contracts like verizon and at t, and that means that customers are free to leave and shop for lowerpriced plans. That is putting pressure on everybodys pricing and youre seeing all of these promotions in the market that make it easier to upgrade your phone much more often and to do it at a much, much lower price. Reporter carriers are involving swapping plans, and Monthly Payments by consumers buying the phone at full price. All of this is fuelling the market for previously used iphones. They expect the tradein market to quadruple by 2018. How all of it impacts the carriers profits, though is is up for debate. Some say it will boost revenue, others think that they will come under pressure from two directions as customers choose subsidies. There is already a winner for consumers. And darden posts a loss amid pressure from the investors. The olive garden parent just managed to beat on the top and bottom lines, but Starboard Value which owns 99 of the company is not satisfied. They are pressuring to increase the profit and stock prices at 300 pages of slides of advice for the company, including pasta water and go easy on the unlimited breads, and they need an verity tell them this. Shares fell 1. 5 to 47. 58. At ts deal to buy directtv reportedly being looked at by a number of states attorneys general. They will look into possible anticompetitive issues, shares lower today, at t, 1 , 34. 50 to close, direct off slightly, 36. 85. And buying converseant for more than 2 billion, conversant offers on line prices. They closed at 34. 80, Alliance Rose 2 . And an update on the possible cyber attack at j. P. Morgan. The bank says they have yet to detect any customer fraud related to the recent attack. They say customers wont be liable for unauthorized purchases, shares rose slightly. And our market manager, chris, good to have you with us. Thanks, tyler, great to be here. You know, we began the broadcast tonight talking about three issues on the horizon for next week, you heard it im sure. What would you be telling investors about the climate next week . Well, i think in the near term the positive on that is still going to continue. The Economic Data releases as we saw by the strong breadth of the retail sales, that momentum is positive consistent with the 2. 5 earnings rate. You will see flareups like russia, scotland and uk, and those typically we believe will create buying opportunities rather than a change in the market direction fundamentally. Lets talk about some buying opportunities, you have a couple of stocks you want to tell the viewers about. The first one is ship finance international. Tell us about this one, 18. 49 today. Sure, this is a company that owns and charters out ships. It is a great play on the improving Global Growth environment. We also believe that in an environment where russia is playing games with its Energy Exports to the rest of europe there is likely to be an increased demand with the transportation of lng, in this company that is a positive catalyst that will benefit the stock, with an 8. 5 dividend yield it pays you to wait. Lets move to the second one, you like ships, the second one is two harbors, you like ships and you like harbors, what is going on with that one . Well, the consistent theme on all of that is income which i think is important in this kind of an environment. We expect you know as the fed starts to raise shortterm Interest Rates in the first half of 2015, that is going to be a head wind on stocks. So investors who are focusing on stocks with positive and high income or investments with positive and high income are really going to we think, weather it better. So this particular company is a mortgage of the dislocation since 2008 really created an opportunity in these kind of entities. And a mortgage read has more flexibility than a mutual fund so it can deliver more in this arena, theyre great opportunities and this kind of an opportunity where you have double digit yields you really just want share price stability. All right, the next pick is also one of those with the high dividend mercury general corp, ncy is the ticker symbol, what is the attraction here. Right, this is a company primarily focused on automobile coverage in california, branching out to other states. There are also other positive catalysts, a very closely held company. Again, it is a nice place to wait out that anticipated rise in shortterm rates. Going to try to buy any alibaba next week, chris . No, i think well wait until the dust settles on that. All right, chris, remember, salt the pasta water. All right, coming up, the potentially slow season, some may go the extra mile to fix up a home. General motors issuing a rare stop delivery order on its brandnew 2015 chevy corvettes. It needs to fix problems with its air brakes and parking. And finally, getting more competitive and more technical. Simply staging a multimillion dollar home is not enough anymore. So some agents are doing virtually Everything Else diana olick has to story. This house sought after in west village will surely sell at a premium but getting top dollar will take something extra. Because this is what it looks like on the inside. There are a lot of clients out there that could see through that and have a vision and buy property based on line of sight and see where it could be. But there are others that cant see through that. So Real Estate Agents at the company did a virtual gut renovation and added it to the web listing still showing the before pictures of the living room, but then the stunning sleek after. And of course, what Everyone Wants to see, the kitchen both before and then after. All thanks to the vision of a real architect on a virtual platform. Especially in the new york market and markets where there are Foreign Investors coming in, it is more of a statistic. The agents briefed him on the potential buyer pool and what kind of renovation that buyer might want to see. The broker is a local expert. They understand the community and the architecture, they understand what belongs in the property to help sell it. It clearly comes at a cost to the agent but in a market like manhattan it takes more than baking cookies to compete for a listing. Agents say it is already paying off. Leoni says that web traffic jumped 50 after they added the virtual renovation. Halstad is not alone, another competitor, reba miller, bid for a house on the upper east side. You can choose a room and walk through it virtually impossible not to get drawn in. And agents say that is the best way to get you in the real door. For nightly business report, im diana olick in new york. And for renovation, head to our website nbr. Com. I am not sure, i want to see the way it might look, that looks like a high expense to me. I was going to say they dont say how much that new kitchen or living room with all that beautiful new furniture will cost you. Imagine how great this might look if you had another million or whatever it was. That is nightly business report, im susie gharib, have a great weekend. And im tyler mathisen, thank you for joining us, have a great weekend and well see you on monday