Stocks Fall As Investors Weigh Earning Forecasts
Associated Press
Transcript
stocks were hammered in early trading wednesday with the dow falling nearly 400 points investors shifted their focus away from the improving credit crisis to focus on a slew of earnings reports many of them disappointing they look like they're going to be weak they should be weak because in the past about six months ago our earnings were good on our multinationals because our exports were doing so great but now europe latin america many emerging nations are going into recession so those earnings that we were depending on will of course shrink and get weaker wachovia said it swung to a 24 billion loss in the third quarter drug maker merck says its quarterly profit fell 28 and it will cut more than 10 percent of its workforce boeing the world's number two commercial airplane maker said its earnings plummeted 38 in the quarter oil continued its downward slide trading below 69 a barrel in new york that's down more than 50 percent from its peak of over 147 dollars a barrel in july conoco phillips profited well from those record prices the third largest u.s oil company said third quarter profits rose 41 percent with revenues up nearly 52 percent to 70 billion dollars from 46.1 billion a year ago diane kepley the associated press
Stocks Tumble on Worries About Earnings Forecast
Associated Press
Transcript
[Music] another last hour nose dive on Wall Street Wednesday as markets tanked close to 700 points before ending the day down around 500 the improving credit markets are furthest from investors Minds right now it's all about third quarter earnings and the forecasts and the forecasts don't look good and the forecasts don't look good the Dow fell 514 points to end the day at 8,519 the S&P 500 was pummeled losing more than 6% and closing down 58 points at 897 the NASDAQ ended down 81 at 1,66 uh they're getting worried that uh earnings are going to be continuing to Tumble as we head toward a global recession earnings reports pulled the markets down today W kovia reported a $24 billion third quarter loss ahead of its acquisition by Wells Fargo while drug maker MC's profits fell 28% as they announced job cuts of more than 10 % energy stocks also took a beating oil plunged $543 to settle at $66.75 the lowest close since June of 2007 and with more earnings set to come out investors worry it could get worse before it gets better but will we get a protracted recession it's possible because you're seeing Yahoo for instance Yahoo's laying over, 1500 employees I mean that's going to Ripple across the economy right now we have over 9 million Americans out of work that's up from 6 million this time last year and to every trade on the floor every trade upstairs that is the most important number that's why they'll be watching unemployment numbers closely as the labor department is expected to report that Weekly jobless claims increased by 9,000 to 470,000 last week alone in New York Bonnie go the Associated Press
World Leaders to Meet on Economy in Washington
Associated Press
Transcript
with World Markets still reeling from the financial Seas up President Bush has agreed to host world leaders next month for a summit on the global crisis it'll bring together G8 leaders plus others from developing countries so they can assess current efforts to stop the economic bleeding and launch a likely overhaul of the financial rules of the road allies like France's president have called for a wholesale rewrite of Global Market regulation but the White House is non Comm there's lots of financial exports in all of these countries we have some in our own country will come with our own recommendations and they'll come with theirs and that's what you would expect of a meeting of this kind so I think it's too early to say what will come out of it the summit's planned for just 11 days after Bush's successor is chosen officials say it's unclear if he'll have a seat at the table in fact this Summit is planned as the first of a series As Leaders grapple with the worst Market crisis since the Great Depression so whether or not the president-elect takes part in the opening session the continuing effects of the market meltdown will be his to deal with Mark Smith the Associated Press the White House
Another Wall Street Swoon
CBS
Transcript
[Music] Here we go again. Stocks tumbled back to the lows they hit just two weeks ago with its 500 point fall. The Dow has lost 8% over the past 48 hours. The S&P 500 index, which hit a 5-year low, is now down nearly 40% for the year. Fear and concern continues to spread. The sell-off was sparked by growing concerns about a global recession fueled by worrisome forecasts for corporate earnings. In the outlook that they're describing to us, things don't look well and they're already announcing that they're laying people off. The drug giant Merc said it's cutting more than 10% of its workforce, 7,200 employees. Yahoo also announced 1,500 layoffs and the unemployment rate now just above 6% could be headed to 7 and a half% according to a forecast by JP Morgan Chase. We looking at a recession which we believe will give us the weakest consumer spending numbers uh in the postw World War II era. Americans are already cutting back on gas. Demand over the past month was down more than 4% from a year ago. While crude prices continue to plummet, falling more than 50% in just 3 months from $147 a barrel in July to $66 today, the lowest in 16 months. That'll put some money back in our pockets, of course, but with Americans increasingly worried about losing their jobs, they're less likely to spend that extra cash. That's why economists say the next six months could be rough ones for the economy. Katie and Anthony, what signs are you starting to see that the credit markets may be thawing? And when will the average consumer sense that it's changing? That's what we're waiting for, right? Well, the interest rate that banks charge each other, the Libore rate, has been coming down slowly over the past week. But it's really only gone from panic levels to crisis levels. How long is this going to take to thaw? No one's really sure. Probably months. But the sooner it does, the shorter this recession will be. And ending on a happy note, there are some positive signs. Yeah, that's a good sign. All right, Anthony Mason, thank you.
Now That Gas Is Cheaper Will We Consume Less?
Associated Press
Transcript
some relief for drivers dreading a trip to fill up gas prices are plunging Nationwide anytime you get uh uh paying less less money for gas I mean it's it's good more money in a pocket in Atlanta average prices have shaved more than a dollar since last month when drivers weathered a severe gas shortage and while it may be tempting to take all you can get of 250 gas experts warn there's a gloomy message Behind These numbers a depressed economy is among the factors driving down demand and the world's oil cartels are set to respond OPEC members are expected to slash Supply when they meet on FR Friday America seems to already forgotten what we just went through gasoline Supply Company owner Tex pitfield has another concern at $4 a gallon consumers felt the pinch and took steps to reduce consumption now as gas approaches affordable again will drivers forget the painful lessons of overreliance on a dwindling resource everything that we have learned in the last last couple of months and now try and and take preventive action to stop from happening again and we're just we're just going right down everybody forgets so quickly migrate I think that's one thing about America I mean you know people do spend stuff money on the stuff that they don't really need but when the price of gas hit High people start to think oh no you know start complaining about stuff like that if anything it sent a good message to the the gas companies that we're not going to pay those high prices and if we need to cut back we will cut back as Americans cut back across the board for now we can cross gas prices off the long list of things to worry about oh yeah Jason bronis the Associated Press Atlanta