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Emerging Markets` Negative Effect on Dow Industrial Average; President and Senate Ready for Compromise on Immigration Reform; Women`s Ski Jump Becomes New Olympic Sport

Aired February 04, 2014 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: It`s time for CNN STUDENT NEWS. It`s cost free and commercial free. It`s Tuesday, February 4 and man, it has been a bad year so far for the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just that. An average of major U.S. stocks. It includes Chevron, McDonald`s, Home Depot, Walmart. It`s one indicator of how the U.S. economy is doing, and yesterday, it took a plunge: the Dow closed 326 points lower than it opened yesterday morning. That`s after a month of overall losses. For 2014, the average is down seven percent. There are several likely reasons for this, from company earnings that were less that investors had hoped they would be to volatility or instability in some of the world`s smaller economies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a volatile week on Wall Street. The major averages all ended suddenly in the red partly thanks to mixed earnings. Big name companies like Amazon, Chevron and MasterCard, all disappointed investors with their report cards. But the major drag came from worries about emerging markets.

Wall Street is concerned the liquidity crunch in places like India, Turkey and Argentina could affect corporate profits here. And if American companies are not making enough money, they won`t grow, invest and hire. The week`s volatility was especially notable in the Dow. It alternately rose then fell in all five sessions.

Some of the frustration was also tied to the latest Federal Reserve meeting. As expected, the Fed would choose economic stimulus by another $10 billion per month, but investors won and policy makers and somewhere, at least, addressed the turmoil in emerging markets. Now the fact that the Central Bank didn`t even acknowledge it in its policy statement was a disappointment to Wall Street.

The meeting did knock the last with Ben Bernanke at the helm. The now former chairman`s term expired on Friday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: And the new leader of the Federal Reserve was sworn in yesterday. It`s Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the Central Bank of the U.S. President Obama nominated her in October. The U.S. Senate gave advice and consent as the U.S. Constitution says it should. And senators voted 56 to 26 to confirm Yellen last month.

She has worked at the Federal Reserve for more than a decade, and she specializes in the economics of unemployment. But Yellen`s also expected to continue the policies of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke. And critics who didn`t agree with those policies may also disagree with Yellen`s.

In today`s "Roll Call" we are sailing up the East Coast with some mascots you`d find off the East Coast. Talking about the Barracudas of Miami, Florida. They are hunting the waters near Coral Reef Senior High School. Now, too far from the Georgia Coast we found the Herons of Brantley County Middle School. They are watching from the Hunta (ph). And we`ll drop anchor in Yorktown, Virginia, because there are Clippers there. They are docked at Grafton High School.

Immigration, one big issue the U.S. government`s expected to debate this year. There are more than 11.5 million people living in the U.S. illegally. For years, the debate centered on what to do about that, does the country work to deport more of them, does it give them legal status allowing them to keep living in the U.S., but with some limitations. Or does it give them a path to full citizenship, and the rights and privileges that come with it. Compromises needed to pass any law and there are some mixed messages in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let`s talk about areas where you might be able to make some progress.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yeah.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In an interview with CNN`s Jake Tapper President Obama set off a flurry of headlines when he appeared to signal he`s open to a possible deal on immigration reform that didn`t include a path to citizenship. He said he`s encouraged by signs House Speaker John Boehner maybe willing to allow undocumented immigrant to remain in the U.S.

OBAMA: If the speaker proposes something that says right away, folks aren`t being deported, families aren`t being separated. We`re able to attract top young students to provide the skills or start business here and then there is the regular process of citizenship, I`m not sure how wide the divide ends up being. That`s why I don`t want to prejudge it.

MCPIKE: At the same time, Boehner showed some give.

JOHN BOEHNER (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: These problems have been around for at least the last 15 years. It`s been turned into a political football. I think it`s unfair.

So, I think it`s time to deal with it.

MCPIKE: The question, is there common ground in finding a way for undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States and legally without full citizenship.

This past week, House Republicans circulating their principles for reform insisting undocumented immigrants not get a special pathway to citizenship, but allowing them to live legally in the United States after admitting faults, paying fees and back taxes and passing background checks.

Liberal Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi backed (ph), saying legal status isn`t enough .

NANCY PELOSI: Good afternoon.

MCPIKE: Continuing to insist on a path to full citizenship. The White House responded that the president wasn`t backing down, that citizenship remains one of his key principles, but suggested the two sides were getting closer.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don`t think it would be a surprise that their principles might differ to some degree from the president`s but the fact is, what those principles represent is significant evolution in the positive direction from where they were.

MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE))

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for the "Shoutout." Which of these Winter Olympic events is oldest? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it - Alpine skiing, luge, ski jumping or snowboarding? You`ve got three seconds, go!

In the first Winter Olympics in 1924, ski jumping was the only one of these events to be held. That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.

AZUZ: Other events in the 1924 Winter Olympics, curling, figure skating, bobsleigh. Norway took home most of the medals. Norway has the most Winter Olympics medals of any country ever. But it`s never won a women`s Olympic ski jumping event. No one has, because until now, it didn`t exist. So, you could call the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, a jumping off point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice in run position. She`s super balanced, super

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Jessica Jerome the feeling of a perfect jump is like nothing else.

JESSICA JEROME: It`s effortless and it`s clean, and you just flow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jessica`s incredible Olympic journey started with these jump at the age of seven.

ANNOUNCER: Number 48, Jessica Jerome. First .

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good jump, Jesse.

BARB JEROME, JESSICA`S MOTHER: She came home one day and announced that she wanted to ski jump, and I had no idea what she was talking about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within a few years, Jessica and a few of her friends from Park City, Utah were competing hitting jumps at 60 plus miles per hour, right alongside the boys.

JESSICA JEROME, OLYMPIC SKI JUMPER: We jumped with our hair tucked back, and you couldn`t tell the difference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was decided that women would only be able to compete against each other.

JESSICA JEROME: Which was great for us, because we had our own - we wanted our own competitions, but then they would say, well, you just don`t have the depth that the guys have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The women could compete, but no Olympics and no official support.

BARB JEROME: They guys were sponsored by the U.S. ski team, they had a substantial budget, compared to what the girls - the girls had nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they kept jumping and the former mayor of Salt Lake City who had firsthand experience with the Olympics got involved.

DEE DEE CORRDINI, PRESIDENT OF WOMEN`S SKI JUMPING USA: This is discrimination, plain and simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But for decades the International Olympic Committee disagreed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A sport must be widely practiced around the world. This is not the case for women`s ski jumping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jessica and teammate Lindsey Van and 13 girls from five different countries decided to take on the IOC in court. They filed suit demanding that women jumpers be included in the Vancouver Olympics. It turned out to be another heartbreaking defeat.

JESSICA JEROME: There was a lot of times when I wasn`t sure I wanted to jump anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jessica says watching the Vancouver Olympics felt like seeing a party that she wasn`t invited to. And she was getting tired of fighting.

JESSICA JEROME: I didn`t like having to be an advocate for the sport. I would have rather been an athlete.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alan Alborn, a three time Olympic ski jumper, was one of the skeptics.

ALAN ALBORN, HEAD COACH: I would be the first to say, I was very narrow- minded when the women first started fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But now he`s a believer and he`ll coach the first ever U.S. women`s Olympic ski jumping team at Sochi.

CORRDINI: To see these athletes finally achieve their dreams is just fabulous.

(END VIDEOTAPE))

AZUZ: Before we go, we are going to show you a snowman from Indiana. Now, you might be thinking, Dude, it`s been a cold winter, what`s the big deal? Here`s the big deal! It`s 18 feet tall. It has rakes for arms, lamps for eyes and a traffic cone for its nose. It`s a traffic stopper. Two brothers built this brobding naggy (ph) in behemoth using a wheel barrow and a 20foot ladder. It took them a few days` work to stack up and their motto for the project makes perfect sense: go big or go home. Of course, they were home, so they kind of had both.

There are no plans to make it any bigger as of Yeti. Some neighbors might find the thought of that abominable like our puns. You know how they stuck those three pieces - they just iglooed them together. And now all stop, because I can feel your cold stares. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN STUDENT NEWS.

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