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CNN Live At Daybreak
Pentagon Will Take Bets on Possible Events
Aired July 29, 2003 - 06:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for some business buzz. Investors who are tired of the stock market will soon be able to place their bets on, get this, terrorist attacks and assassinations. Not kidding. You might be surprised at just who is backing this project.
Let's go live to New York and the Nasdaq site. Carrie Lee will fill us in.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, this is an unusual story, certainly, but believe it or not, the Pentagon is behind this setting up a commodity-style trading system where investors can get -- can bet on the probability of things like terror attacks or assassinations.
Now the Web site is PAM, P-A-M, stands for policy analysis market. And traders who think an event will happen can buy a futures contract. Those who think an event is unlikely can sell a contract.
Why is the Pentagon doing this? Well, it's pretty much looking for information. The Pentagon hopes that trends will help it predict events based on investor information and analysis.
Here's a look at DARPA. That stands for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This is basically the pantograph of how it will use the trading system to predict events.
Now two Democratic senators are highly critical of this project. They call the idea a federal betting parlor on atrocities or terrorism grotesque. They want the project stopped. The Pentagon says it will reevaluate this. So kind of in the testing phase, Carol, but registration is scheduled to begin on Friday and then really kind of trading set up to start on October 1. So that's the latest...
COSTELLO: You want -- you want my bet on it?
LEE: What's that?
COSTELLO: It will end soon.
LEE: What's that, what is your bet?
COSTELLO: I don't think it will be around very long.
LEE: Yes, it's very unusual. You know they're kind of basically casting a wide net in trying to get information, see maybe what people know, whether there's any sort of correlation. It's an unusual story and an unusual idea, certainly. COSTELLO: Yes, bizarre is more the proper adjective.
Quick look at the futures before you go.
LEE: Yes, things look pretty good. We are looking for a slightly higher open this morning. We will get a July reading on consumer confidence in half an hour into the session, so that certainly will affect trading.
Two Dow components reporting this morning as well, DuPont and McDonald's. Remember McDonald's did swing back to profitability during the first quarter of the year. We are looking for profits, though, on both companies lower than the year ago period. So that's the latest in business news -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Carrie Lee live from New York this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 29, 2003 - 06:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for some business buzz. Investors who are tired of the stock market will soon be able to place their bets on, get this, terrorist attacks and assassinations. Not kidding. You might be surprised at just who is backing this project.
Let's go live to New York and the Nasdaq site. Carrie Lee will fill us in.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, this is an unusual story, certainly, but believe it or not, the Pentagon is behind this setting up a commodity-style trading system where investors can get -- can bet on the probability of things like terror attacks or assassinations.
Now the Web site is PAM, P-A-M, stands for policy analysis market. And traders who think an event will happen can buy a futures contract. Those who think an event is unlikely can sell a contract.
Why is the Pentagon doing this? Well, it's pretty much looking for information. The Pentagon hopes that trends will help it predict events based on investor information and analysis.
Here's a look at DARPA. That stands for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This is basically the pantograph of how it will use the trading system to predict events.
Now two Democratic senators are highly critical of this project. They call the idea a federal betting parlor on atrocities or terrorism grotesque. They want the project stopped. The Pentagon says it will reevaluate this. So kind of in the testing phase, Carol, but registration is scheduled to begin on Friday and then really kind of trading set up to start on October 1. So that's the latest...
COSTELLO: You want -- you want my bet on it?
LEE: What's that?
COSTELLO: It will end soon.
LEE: What's that, what is your bet?
COSTELLO: I don't think it will be around very long.
LEE: Yes, it's very unusual. You know they're kind of basically casting a wide net in trying to get information, see maybe what people know, whether there's any sort of correlation. It's an unusual story and an unusual idea, certainly. COSTELLO: Yes, bizarre is more the proper adjective.
Quick look at the futures before you go.
LEE: Yes, things look pretty good. We are looking for a slightly higher open this morning. We will get a July reading on consumer confidence in half an hour into the session, so that certainly will affect trading.
Two Dow components reporting this morning as well, DuPont and McDonald's. Remember McDonald's did swing back to profitability during the first quarter of the year. We are looking for profits, though, on both companies lower than the year ago period. So that's the latest in business news -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Carrie Lee live from New York this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM AT www.fdch.com
