endangering the lives of civilians who could be caught in the crossphile. jurlists, three being held after five days at the tripoli hotel. cnn's chaunce was one of them. steve jobs will step down. jobs is on his third medical leave of absence. he didn't mention his health problems directly but he said the time has come to resign. portions of the u.s. east coast are likely to be under a hurricane watch in just a few hours. hurricane irene is tearing through the bahamas right now with sustained winds at 160 miles an hour. it could hit the populated, northeast this weekend. those are the top stories. i'm zain veer gee. "world business today" starts now. >> an ipod, a phone. are you getting it? the innovator steve jobs steps down as ceo of apple. we'll look at the company's future under new leadership. hello. i'm andrew stevens in hng kong. >> and i'm nina dos santos in london. you're watching "world business today." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com let's start with the markets. they were higher for your the second or third trading day. let's look at where they stand at the moment. we've got the heaviest gains comes. the cac 40 in france up the most and germany up to a tune of 1%. the ftse still up following yesterday's positive close by markets on the other side of the atlantic. andrew. >> yeah, that was certainly helped by better than expected economic numbers in the u.s. and that boosted the markets across asia. a fairly positive day all in all here in the nation. and also news of that resignation of steve jobs filtering through, boosting share prices. let's face it. asian come poet tors will be breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief as he steps away. that's how the markets finish up. shanghai comp up 2.91%. australia, will north of that 1% gain, nina. >> let's take a look at how the u.s. markets are fairing at the moment in the united states. the futures indicate is that we could have a little bit of a mixed open after three straight days worth of gains. this is where the premarket stands and the futures on the dow and the s&p 500. the nasdaq, the heavy index that's currently down to a tune of a quarter to 1%. showing some signs of potentially opening a little bit higher but not all that much given the kind of gains we've seen of late, andrew. >> it's interesting. down to a quarter of 1% because shares of apple dropping 5% in the after-hours trade. steve jobs announcing he will be stepping down as ceo. jobs will stay on as chairman but his replacement certainly has big shoes to fill. ed simon has the story. >> today apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> reporter: he's been called a modern-day thomas edison. >> you can do multifingered gestures on it and, boy, have we patented it. >> reporter: others have tried to emulate his style. >> amazing. and the screen literally floats in mid air. >> reporter: but rarely with the same success. the apple story is well known. two kids in the garage, jobs and steve wozniak launched a company that changed the world. >> we worked hard and in ten years apple had grown from two of us in a garage with a $2 billion employee with over 4,000 employees. >> reporter: in 1984 jobs introduced the macintosh, the first mainstream computer with a mouse and with multiple thoughts but sales were sluggish and there were internal divisions in the company. jobs was forced out. his second act a decade later is considered one of the greatest ceo tenures of all time. >> it's called the ipod touch. >> reporter: jobs brought us the iconic ipod and of course a string of other life-changing technologies like the iphone and the ipad. for a few years now, jobs has looked thin and frail. his health problems including a bout with pancreatic cancer are well known and two years ago he had a liver transplant. in his letter to the apple board jobs writes, i have always said if there ever came a time when i could no longer meet my duties and expectations as a ceo i would be the first to let you know. unfortunately that day has come. >> and we have computers like the imac. >> reporter: as the new ceo takes the reins, jobs will become chairman of the board while the company he started enters a new phase. >> the question is who will run the day-to-day business of apple now. apple says that tim cook would be promoted to ceo. he was previously the company's chief operating officer and he took charge during jobs' medical leave back in 2009. cook is a 14-year apple veteran and he's worked for some of the bic competitors like compaq and ibm. he's largely responsible for the way that apple products look and feel for the last 10 or 15 years. schiller became chief inventor takes his place on the stage. and then we have scott. he's currently in charge of iphone software. jobs is being called as a modern-day thomas edison. many are concerned with how the company will fair without him. we asked one apple watcher for his best guess. >> he's put together a very good team and i think a team of people could fill his shoes. i think they have enough of a skill set to sort of proximate a team-based steve jobs. >> jobs made his most public recent appearance back in june and, of course, andrew, as we all know, there's been a lot of speculation for years hanging over when jobs could be resigning as ceo of the company. we now know he has done so. >> yeah. as you say, enormous shoes to fill, nina. tim cook certainly has his work cut out for him. it was steve jobs that created things that people didn't even know they wanted. when they saw them, they certainly did. here in asia lg's electronics is sending best wishes to steve jobs and his family. let's bring in eunice eun. it's been a big reaction, hasn't it? >> that's right. apple is such a huge player in the tech world. it actually manufactures and assembles a lot of the products right here. so apple has several different suppliers across china. many of them putting together their i pads and i phones. there's the steady flow of business to a loet of these suppliers. i wanted to take a look at one of the statements out of a very important supplier of apple, a company called foss con. they have every aspect and its ability to innovate. investors, though, not quite as certain. if you take a look at how the overall markets have done in asia, actually prb good. but when you look at the individual stocks of some of the listed companies that make apple products such as han high, fox con. >> you you >> eunice, i wanted to ask you. when it took off it branded itself as a maverick. that message wouldn't played well in china for obvious reasons so how did apple manage to capture the chinese audience? what was their message to china? >> well, the position itself is a very trendy and young and hip brand but there are a lot of people, especially young professionals who prefer the iphone and see it crucial as part of the incrowd. in that way it's not very different from anywhere else in the world. the product is seen as a must-have for a young professional. and it's really the reason why apple has been so successful in china. in fact, for the first time ever, apple overtook its chinese rival lynn oh voe in greater china sales. they have four stores here and those four stores generate the highest amount of revenues and also brings in the highest amount of foot traffic in the world. it goes to show how important the traffic is for apple. andrew? >> it actually took over lynn know voe. eunice yoon in beijing. thank you so much for that. let's stay in china for a moment because the chinese microblog is jumping on it. jobs was the top trending term within an hour of his resignation announcement. it was early in the morning on this side of the world as well. so what are they saying? let's give you a few examples. there has been a huge response. we can only get to two or three to illustrate it. 10 million i pads, 100 million i phon phones. certainly appreciate his business acumen in china. this one is short and sweet. steve jobs has resigned. i no longer believe in apple. tim cook is not going to want to hear that. take a look at this. jobs resigned. apple stated the is the newly release released iquit2. a little fun. it's not the first time he left the company. in 1980 hi was actually fired from appleby the new ceo there so probably one of the worst calls in corporate history. he did come back but it took him 12 years before he actually came back to apple. >> he did, and what a resurgence it was. now, on the streets of new york, andrew, we managed to get some reaction to steve jobs' announcement. take a listen to this. >> i think apple is going to tumble whether he stayed or not. it's hard to believe a company that sells ipods in an economy like this is going to stay that strong for a long period of time. so i suspect that the stocks are going to have a hard time. >> i think apple should be fine because the whole technology world is gaining so they should have more new technology come up. >> still ahead on this show. you are watching "world business today." when we come back with the recent gains and record levels, many of them wondering how high gold could go. over the past couple of days, we may have found out. we'll check the price in just a moment. coffee doesn't have vita. unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. welcome back. latest developments now from libya. rebel leaders are claiming they control roughly 80% of the libyan capital, but they say there are still pockets of strong resistance from gadhafi loyalists particularly in the southern part of the city. meanwhile one of gadhafi's sons e-mailed nic robertson to say he wanted to broker a cease-fire. he said he wants to keep tripoli from turning into, in his words, a sea of flood. as for the father, moammar gadhafi, he's still nowhere to be found. the rebel stronghold is hoping someone will bring the former leader in. he's offering $2.5 million as a bounty for gadhafi's capture. well, several countries at the united nations are offering support. as soon as thursday the uniunit nations could vote. conflict with the regime intensified. >> so when we talk about assets, what exactly are we talking about? how much are we talking about? it's estimated anywhere from $100 billion to $150 billion, even as much as $168 billion of libyan government assets currently held overseas. the united states holds more than $30 billion, more than any other country. 10% of that is cash. the result in non-liquid assets which include things like property. right now the u.s. plans to release about $8 billion. united kingdom holds about $19 billion. et the dutch government is holding $4.4 billion and $144 million of that has been released. the government holding about $823 million and plans to hold it. the banks hold $153 billion worth of libyan assets. nina. >> we want to turn to the situation in libya. we were able to talk by phone right now with barrett. he's onboard that ship. can you hear me? >> yes, i can, nina. >> let's start out by talking about how close you are to docking in tripoli? are you managing to dock successfully? how far away are you from the shor shore. nato -- it was the latest example of -- >> okay. we're going to be moving away from barak barfi. it's difficult to communicate with him at the moment. we'll be back in touch with him from the new american foundation. he's one of the people onboard that ship, the ship of reshl fighters that is at present trying to dock at tripoli. for your the past several days they've been moving from benghazi to the libyan capital and will now it's very different from the days when they set off. we'll try to get back in touch with him later on in the show. well, for weeks investors have been flocking to gold as the ultimate safe haven asset, but on wednesday this particular commodity proved it can be just as volatile as other financial investments. the price of gold dropped over 5% after a very strong start during the week. right now you can see it's currently trading down around $14 at a price of $1735.40. >> the biggest dollar fall, ever, nina, over two days. $160 from record days. it certainly marks an abrupt turnaround after the steady decline we even ebb seen this year. take a look at the chart here. it's hit several new record highs in that process. u.s. growth concerns and problems on both sides of the atlantic, sending investors to the safety of gold, but certainly when you see an 8% fall like that over two days, it doesn't act or it's not acting, i should say, like a safe haven place. certainly it does show how much speculative money is in there if you're getting that sort of volatility, swings in the price. >> yeah. those are the reports earlier on the week but the libyan government could have about eighth tons worth of gold in its coff coffer. we'll going to be moving on after the break to stormy weather. >> we certain will i are. the a massive storm is moving toward the eastern united states. we've got details just ahead. evacuation orders are currently in place for parts of north carolina's outer banks as hurricane irene hits the bahamas. jennifer delgado is standing by at the cnn weather center to tell us how. good morning, jen. how is it looking? >> you're right. hopefully everybody is paying close attention to hurricane irene. this is ma i superior hurricane, a category 3. as you mentioned, a mandatory evacuation through the outer banks. you can still see that eye working through parts of the bahamas. it's been moving through there over the last 12 to 24 hour. you can see the rain still coming down. some of the outer bands working in through the northern part of the bahamas. that's what's going to happen as we go through the next several hours. as i said, a category 3, but notice as it gets toward the northern part of the bahamas, notice the winds coming up to 213 kilometers. that could take it to a category 4. and then it's going to be moving through open water as we go through friday and weather conditions start to deteriorate saturday through parts of the north and south carolinas. looks like it's getting close to the outer banks or making landfall across the region as we go through saturday evening. the winds dropping down to 167 kilometers. earlier some of the models had it going through the region as a major hurricane. let's go to the video coming out of north carolina. they're taking it seriously. you can see visitors being evacuated or look at cars being ferried away. this is a good idea. with hurricane irene being so large and the winds being so strong, it's going to cause damage. right now we're hearing reports in through parts of bahamas, down toward the south, 90% of the homes have been destroyed. here's the area right now under the hurricane warning. you can see through the bahamas. and as i said, as we go through the day, the weather conditions are going to deteriorate for the northern parts of the bahamas. but also for the southern part of florida because you've about got to keep in mind, tropical storm force winds are at 110 kilometers. roughly 255. so some of that outer band action working into the southern apartment of florida. so we're talking rough waves as well as strong winds and of course some heavy rainfall. to give you an idea after that, as i said, going very close to the outer banks on saturday, notice, it's going to be going very close to the eastern seaboard and potentially in toward new england. this storm system still has a way to go. back over to you too. >> okay, jennifer delgado. many thanks. >> you're watching "world business today." when we come back, we'll take a look at the career and impact of apple computer founder steve jobs. ever, i'd like to let macintosh speak for itself. >> hello. i'm macintosh. >> useful geoff jobs adding a touch of theater to the launch of the apple macintosh computer. jobs is a living legend in the world of computers but even legends step down. in his regulation ig nation, apple's long-time ceo said he could no longer fulfill his duties. he's been on medical leave since january. he plans to stay on as chairman of the board of directors. as we've been telling you throughout the course of this show, tim cook will be taking over jobs' place as ceo of the company. but let's have look at jobs' impressive resume. a college dropout turned ceo. he founded apple computer back in 1976 and he turned the company into an industry innovator, creating all sorts of products like the apple macintosh computer, the ipod, the iphone, and the ipad. he also co-founded pixar studios which includes animated movies like "toy story" a. in early 2009 jobs announced he was taking a six-month medical leave of absence from the firm. now, during that time, the 54-year-old underwent a live transplant. he was reunited with his work later on that year, but took medical leave once again in early 2011 and then late on wednesday, as we now know, he announced his resignation as ceo. >> amazing reaction on the stock price of apple. not surprising really, nina, because certainly steve jobs was sin on news with apple's performance. that was apple's trade right there. the apple stock down 5% at $356. interesting, though, that bloomberg came out with an interesting stat. when the announcement was made, the s&p 500, the futures contract which is the 500 company actually dropped in direct response to that announcement by about 0.5%, which is the equivalent of $52 billion being wiped out. that's across all companies. it gives you an idea of the breadth of steve jobs. hef really will forever be regarded as one of the real sort of colossal talents of the corporate world in the u.s. one quota he told business week back in 2000 that's really telling. he said basically he doesn't use focus groups. he said you've about got to back yourself and do it yourself. he had a talent for thinking things and then convincing people that they actually wanted them and he did it so well. >> and, andrew, he really has revolutionalized the electronics consumer center. this ipad, which many of our viewers will be intimately familiar with. this one unfortunately is not my own. it's being borrowed from the director. but large-scale items like this one that cost a pretty penny to, of course, these little fellas, ipod fellows. they cost something like $60 a piece. from one end of the market to the other, steve jobs and his entire team of designers really have revolutionized the consumer electronics industry themselves, haven't they, andrew? >> it's interesting, just you showing those products there. i wouldn't say my family is particularly tech savvy. we've got like seven or eight apple products and we're not geeks by any stretch of the imagination. et it gives youen a idea how apple has managed to insinuate itself so deeply into people's lives. >> that's absolutely right. and now, of course, it's a new era for apple and it's a new era for us because we're going to be moving from apple to talk about how stocks have been fairing at early trade. here's how the stocks are at the moment across the european region. remember that the stocks trade on the front in germany. not having much of an effect on the broader index over there in germany as the big companies like the dax. you can see that one up to the tune of 1%. we've also got the likes of the cac 40 up, even more, about one and one third. even the ftse has outperformed the markets. it's still about 0.5% even though it has been a little laggard the last couple of days. steady gains, an drew. >> worth pointing