now, something else overseas could have a major impact on wall street. good evening, everyone. >> we are in the midst of historic mood swings, and the mood tomorrow morning might be tipped off by what we know late tonight. the dow slumped more than 500 points. there are fears that the u.s. economic growth is slowing and europe's debt crisis is deepening. france could be losing its top notch credit rating. this fear set asian marketing tumbling. the nikkei is closing within the minute and right now just down less than 1%. many european markets are just now opening. we have two perspectives tonight. we begin with cheryl hurd who joins us from palo alto.

this was a global issue but there's an underlying impact right here in silicon valley,  isn't there? >> reporter: it is. whether you're a big investor or small investor, it's important to have someone in the know at the top. stock market has a lot of folks jittery but experts say it's important to take a deep breath and relax. >> we may have been too euphoric, so this is just a normal adjustment that's happening. >> reporter: that stock market adjustment may be normal for some, but nerve-racking for most. >> i think it's pretty scary right now. >> reporter: "washington post" columnist believes he knows why. >> there is reason to worry about the stock market dipping the way they are, because venture capitalists are already running scared, that their next batch of companies can't go public. >> reporter: a few of those companies are in silicon valley. some economists are looking at the south bay as a stabilizing

force for the bay area, by leading the way with a mini tech bubble that was created by money looking for a return. experts say that may end soon. >> in the long-term, america is very sound and we'll be back to normal before you know it. >> reporter: another potential help -- >> women. >> reporter: they got it right. some economists believe females are better with money. so couples might want to think who handles the investment. >> i trust my wife to manage the finances better than myself. that might be a stereotype, but most women are sensible. they are brought up in a different way and they do have more common business sense than men generally do. >> reporter: now, some men may be good with that, and some men may not. but meanwhile, he says that the volatility of the market will continue to go up and down, but eventually he says it will stabilize.

reporting live in palo alto, i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> okay, thank you. now let's turn our attention to our cnbc studios in sidney, australia. good morning to you. based on what you're seeing, what do you expect on wall street thursday morning? >> reporter: you know, that is the million dollar question. but it's nice to say it's not looking as bad as you may expect. the futures market in the u.s. is showing traders are fairly optimistic we will see buyers in in fact tomorrow. in asia, it's been a difficult day to call. korea and australia both managed to tack on some gains. japan, still under 1%, but it's a -- a lot of that has to do with the fact that investors see safety in the japanese currency.

europe's market open up soon. traders are expecting a kick up on the open. >> you're watching this so closely. from your perspective, how can the u.s. government help this crisis just in the next several days, is that possible? >> reporter: you know, that's good question. probably not in the next couple of days. the concern we're talking about here in asia is about leadership. that's not just in the u.s., but also in europe, as well. on the u.s. front, it's the fear that we could see a recession. that wasn't helped by the federal reserve, indicating just yesterday that they expect at least two more years of slow growth. this is a concern for us in asia, because most economies rely on exports to the developed world for growth. in terms of what can be done, there are calls for more definitive action. we're well aware the next year is an election year in the states, which is dimming hope we

will get immediate action. it's also hope that policymakers in europe will try to step in and calm the fierce. we know that the french president has cut his holiday short. it's tough out there for investors to say the least. but the best advice i've been given from traders today, and i've been talking to a number of them, is to keep your head down, try not to get swept up in the panic. >> very good. thank you for your insight. still ahead now, the plunge on wall street has many dreaming of gold. believe it or not, california's gold country is booming once again in the wake of the record high prices. can people expect to strike it rich? coming up, we go gold digging. in other news, the man accused of a hit and run crash that left a little boy injured last week will be arraigned in court tomorrow. meanwhile, people who have never met 9-year-old ryan white are

trying to help him recover. jean elle is live in san francisco where people are rallying around this family. is that right, jean? >> reporter: the whites have been here at san francisco general hospital since last thursday and will remain by their son's bedside until they can move him closer to home in pennsylvania. while they're now facing a long, difficult recovery, they're learning they're not alone. people here don't know 9-year-old ryan white but they're raising money for him. >> that's the way san francisco is. when they come here and something happens, we want to help. >> reporter: the tourists from philadelphia will need lots of help. a drunk driver hit white in a cross walk as he and his family walked to their hotel after watching the phillies beat the giants last week. he has several broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. his cousin was there when ryan was hit and is relieved he's

recovering. >> you can tell at this point even though he's just uttering a few words here and there that he knows what's going on. there's a lot going on behind those eyes. >> reporter: the giants and the phillies are boosting his spirits. >> both the phillies and giants presidents came by while he was in the icu and dropped off a bunch of treats for him. one of the players from the phillies came by, i believe it was shane victorino. >> reporter: they raised more than $6,000 at a fund-raiser. organizers say ryan's father stopped in to thank strangers. >> he thanked us and was holding back his emotions. >> reporter: while the family and supporters focus on the recovery, the man accused of hitting him is expected in court thursday. police arrested 21-year-old andrew vargas in hayward about an hour after the accident. the recent college graduate, who planned to attend graduate school, is now facing dui and

felony hit and run charges. ryan white's 12-year-old brother is also here and relatives say members of the san francisco police department have been taking him to giant's games to lift his spirit. as long as they're here, lefty o'doul's will continue to raise money on their charity website. >> thanks, jean. the two men accused of beating bryan stow pleaded not guilty today. louie sanchez and marvin norwood are charged in the attack on stow. prosecutors say the case is not just based on witness identification but on admissions from both men. prosecutors say sanchez was overheard confessing to the attack in jail and norwood confessed during an interview. sanchez's attorney says he's still wading through all the evidence. >> there's a lot to go through, audiotapes, videotapes, documents, photos. there's a lot of stuff to go through.

i want to make sure that i go through it thoroughly and give my client the best possible representation. >> police have portrayed sanchez as leading the attack on stow. prosecutors say he had physical confrontations with at least three other giants' fans that night and faces battery charges from those incidents. gone in 60 seconds. crooks drove a truck through a window at the blue devils bingo hall in concord. it's a fundraising hall for youth programs. here's the scene. a camera captured the 3:00 a.m. robbery. take a close look. you can see the spray of glass as the truck slams into the building. the truck was stolen and aban n abandoned. in the back was the atm, which was emptied. >> the security company said the front door had been forced open. when i got here, the whole front

wall was gone and a mess of glass and steel we're going to have to clean up and redesign the front end. >> the hall raises funds not just for the drum and bugle core but for the food bank, a swim club and the marching band. up next, cancer breakthrough and doctors are using a deadly disease to find a cure. meet the man who had weeks to live. there's about 15 people up there panning, people panning right over here. everybody is out looking for gold. >> ready to get a little dirty? dreams of riches have many across the state turning back the hands of time. but can you really expect to strike it rich? and with the cost of a college education on the rise, many people are rethinking higher education. we found five jobs with six figure salaries, no degree

needed. and i'm jeff ranieri. a stunning look at the sunset from oakland. temperatures, warm in the south bay with low to mid 80s. we we'll talk all about our seven-day forecast in this mild for august trend coming up. [ female announcer ] at jcpenney, all your back to school favorites are on sale! so get in extra early for 5 hour steals saturday,

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it's being called some of the most promising news ever in the fight against cancer. scientists believe they have found a new way to kill cancer cells and save lives. bill ludwig says doctors told him without the treatment, he would only have weeks to live. >> i'm now in a position of full health, no cancer in my system. >> reporter: he's one of only three patients who have gotten the novel treatment for the most common form of leukemia called cll. but the results are so spectacular, many believe it could mark the beginning of a major advance in cancer treatment. >> each of those patients with a two-pound tumor was eradicated. >> reporter: they removed white blood cells that normally fight inspecti

inspections, genetically manufactured them to kill cancer cells and returned them to the patients. the research concept was so new that nobody would fund it. but barbara netter did. she and her late husband edward started a charity to fund new ideas after their daughter-in-law kim died of breast cancer. >> we wanted to do something more, hoped to do something more. >> reporter: now with this first success, money from the government is pouring in. not just for the further testing on leukemia patients but to try the concepts for other cancers including ovarian and prostate. it will take years to know if the initial excitement is justified. but for now, three lives have been saved. more good news, researchers say it appears that the new t cells left them with a lasting

protection. multiple police chases and three suspects, all siblings, armed with assault rifles. police say it's a real-life story that came to a dramatic end today. the daurty gang are behind bars tonight after a chase ended in a crash and shootout in southern california. all three were wanted in connection with a shooting involving a police officer in florida. a bank robbery in georgia. and more assault charges stemming from today's chase in colorado. >> this gang was very willing to give law enforcement a firefight. at the end of the day, all three of these people are in jail and that's where the public is the safest. >> each has a police record and one of the brothers failed to register as a sex offender in florida. the eldest daughter of arnold schwarzenegger and maria shriver is saying her father's

scandal came as a shock to her. in a statement, she says -- . >> in may, they separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago. just before s&p downgraded the u.s. credit rating, a berkeley graduate caught a $2 trillion mistake at the u.s. treasury. he did the math and pointed out the u.s. debt is 8% lower over the next ten years, which means the country's public debt is more stable than ever. but standard and poors stated its decision was based on congress' difficulty to pass the debt ceiling bill and not the math. consider this, the california gold rush 2.0. so many people are selling their gold, taking advantage of the

prices. while others are actually panning for gold, literally. tonight, we go gold digging, which is becoming a popular activity. this is where it all began, a sawmill west of sacramento. in 1848, james marshal discovered the gold flake that set off a golden stampede. but the hunt for gold isn't just left for the history books. >> pull your rocks out of here. no, no nuggets. >> reporter: steve tyler and rick eddie are what you might call professional gold diggers. >> the economy in 1979 hit the skids, there was no work so i started looking at gold. >> reporter: for three decades, he's plucked 70% of his income from the streams and rivers of the gold country. >> i got some good gravel.

i'm a pretty cynical person, so i don't get gold fever. the trick is not to waste your time thinking you're going to get rich. >> eureka, he's rich! >> with the price of gold hitting record levels, they now have plenty of company. >> there's about 15 people right up there panning, a couple there, people panning right over here. everybody is out looking for gold. in fact, the price of gold is so high, even with just some hand tools i can make $50 to $100 a day. >> reporter: eddie shows off some of his work. would you believe about $12,000 worth. up until a couple years ago, the pair used dredgers to comb the rivers for gold. but a state moratorium on dredging shut them down. >> i'm going broke. i'm trying to live off gold just to make my house payments. these rocks and roots, there might be something in there.

>> reporter: the early prospectors only scratched the surface of this area's golden potential. >> gold, man. this is some good-sized flakes here. >> reporter: and now they are chasing the same flash of color that once changed the world. >> all this shining and laying on the bottom and you can just pick it up. that is definitely going to give you gold fever. >> here's a tip for you gold digging wanna bes. a giant gold nugget was found in the town of washington, which is off highway 80 near nevada city. >> probably worth about $50,000 now. gold nuggets. do you have any gold teeth? >> jeff ranieri, ready to go to washington? >> yeah, that would be very nice to stumble upon that. also, a golden sunset, across oakland, looking right towards san francisco and the north bay hills. i'm going to step off for this

one. you can see from 7:55 to 8:10, the sun was above the fog and the fog started to break a little bit as the sun dropped right back down behind the north bay hills. just spectacular. all right, expecting to see possibly some sunsets like that throughout tomorrow and more fog coming back into place and also some mild weather throughout the bay area. today, some of the hottest weather down here. liverlore close to 90. and cooler than average here by about 10 degrees in santa rosa with just 79d for your daytime high. right now it's dropping off to 50 degrees in nevado. potentially some mid to upper 50s. tonight and in the morning, fog at the coast and breezy in the morning. winds southwest 15 to 25 miles per hour tomorrow.

so it a es going to be windy across the hills. high pressure is well off to the south, so it's keeping us out of the hot, summer category. we're talking about 80s inland and friday, morning fog and breezy conditions lingering. tomorrow at 5:00 a.m., we have the low clouds. not too much in the way of cloud cover in the east or south bay. throughout 1:00 p.m., everyone expecting full sunshine all the way down across the southern coastline. for tonight, 54 in oakland. 53 in san rafael. 50 in santa rosa. for tomorrow, 85 in morgan hill. 84 in gilroy. 85 in dublin. alamo also 85. fremont 83. san mateo, san francisco, all expecting a mix of 60s to low

80s. for the north bay, maybe heading to sonoma tomorrow, lucky you, 79 degrees. you can see here next week, tuesday and wednesday, instead of upper 80s, numbers are trending downwards. okay, coming up, no degreeo needed. we're going to show you five jobs with six figure incomes, all up for grabs. .

okay, the fans are already lining up at the oakland coliseum to get ready for tomorrow's raiders game and the giants continue to struggle. let's bring in brody brazil. take it away. >> can you believe that this time tomorrow we'll have some nfl highlights for you. and if you think you're excited, wait till you hear how the raiders feel. also, we'll tell you how the giants tried to sink their offensive struggles this afternoon, or if they i woulded upal wng tkihe plank against the pirates. highlights next. .

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good evening. the giants clearly struggling as of late. they have not won a series since late july, trying to avoid dropping their fourth straight with an afternoon contest against the pirates today, closing out a three-game series. pittsburgh winning only one of their last ten coming into this one. jonathan sanchez looking to bounce back from friday's loss to philly. andrew mccutcheon is mcclutchen, a homer to left, his 16th on the season.

bucs up 3-1. matt diaz with the single here, scoring steve pearce. pirates take the series and win 9-2. >> reporter: it's been a forgettable two weeks for the stran giants. they've lost 10 of their last 13 games and they capped off a horrible home stand with a series loss to a pirates team that had come in losing ten straight. >> we're getting behind, and we're giving up crooked numbers. that's not our game. we don't try to bang it with the other club, we try to pitch and keep it close and find a way to win the game. you know, a lot of these games we let get away. >> it's tough. you go through a stretch like this, you know, it's tough not to hang your head. we have a lot of baseball left. >> reporter: carlos beltran and nate schierholtz sat out with injuries and both players seemed unsure whether they would be

ready to go on friday. fourth straight win in canada, taking on the jays. scott sizemore singles here, ryan sweeney scores. oakland leads 3-1. bottom of the 6th, rookie brett lori going yard to left. the number nine hitter in the lineup with a grand slam. the jays win 8-4. the raiders just about 20 hours away from their first exhibition contest, today going through final preparations in napa. the players are ready to put on the pads and hit somebody else. how about oakland's head coach? >> practice is one thing. that's all good, but you've got to do it when you play against an opponent.

that's what i'm looking for. >> the 49ers will practice tomorrow morning before flying out to new orleans in the afternoon and news today that the new nfl agreement with players could include game day drug testing. i got to say, in terms of performance enhancement, i think you guys need to beested for t something. you've been on fire tonight. >> we'll be right back. .

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we encourage getting a college degree, but with college costs rising, some are wondering whether it's worth it. we found some jobs that pay six figures that don't require degrees. a nuclear power reactor makes about $128,000. director of security, $123,000. all of these over $100,000. an elevator mechanic, the whole nine yards. these are for experienced positions and comes from payscale.com. >> bye. . and "tht s