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Stocks Down Slightly in Early Trading; Wall Street's "Awful August"; European Markets Hit Hard; Obama Watches Markets From Vacation; World View of U.S. Market Fluctuation; Iraqi, Mexican Drug Ring Busted; Pounding Hail Storm Closes Airport; Driver Stops Truck with Feet; Israel Bombs Targets in Gaza; Rare, Ancient Bibles Worth Millions
Aired August 19, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We begin this hour now on Wall Street, of course, where the markets are once again mired in the red. The Dow lost more than 100 points in the first two minutes of trading. Right now Dow Industrials down 51 points.
CNN correspondents covering all angles impacting your money from New York to London, Hong Kong, to Martha's Vineyard, we're breaking it all down this morning.
Alison Kosik, let's start with you. You're at the New York Stock Exchange, what's the word from there?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you know, it's not so bad today. You know, we saw the Dow off by the triple digits at the opening bell, now it's only down 50 points. Take those little positive as you can.
You know, about only 10 of the 30 Dow components are moving higher, but I'll tell you what. That's saying a lot lately. We've seen only one or two rising lately. The Dow would be higher if it wasn't for Hewlett-Packard, HP shares are just killing the markets, down 20 percent.
What HP is doing is it's killing off its tablet. It's killing off its PC business. So that's why you're seeing shares there get hit hard. But we are seeing the Nasdaq in positive territory. The VIX that measures the fear in the marketplace that's a little higher, but not too much. Just up about 2 percent, we saw it surge 35 percent yesterday.
That fear is definitely coming down a bit. You know, every day investors, here's the note for you, you shouldn't be following these day-to-day moves unless you've got a really strong stomach. You've got to really keep an eye on the long term, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK, keeping your eye on the long term, trying to stay positive. But there's a problem with that. Christine Romans is now calling it awful August.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It has been awful. It really has been truly awful. I think it's a really good point that Alison makes that outside of Hewlett-Packard you're seeing buying in place. We talked about that a half hour ago.
That there are professional investors who are looking around and saying, wow, you know, I've already made a lot of money in gold, for example, or in bonds. I'm going to look and see if there are big companies that I should be investing in that are going to pay dividend yields or going to have some better chance of appreciation.
Maybe I'm going to start moving some money in there, too. Also there's a dearth of new stimuli, if you will, for the market today. You've got Asia closed now. You've got European markets winding down. Then the rest of the day on a slow summer Friday, maybe people are thinking there aren't are really more reasons to sell stock today.
There's also a very technical reason, literally, you have the people who very short term trade the markets are looking at some of the levels that have held, the technical support levels that have held in the S&P 500. They're saying, maybe we won't probe any lower than that for the near term.
Those are literally people, Kyra, who just look at the charts and try to decide where they want to look at their money, not the fundamentals of the economy and stuff. So those people seem to be ruling the day this morning as well, but still watching oil, still watching gold and still watching bonds.
In terms of your own money, I will say two things you've heard me say some times, asset allocation, know what you own in your portfolio and your retirement and why you own in. And also you've got to make sure that you are adjusting your portfolio every quarter or twice a year to make sure you're in the right bring place.
That you're taking your profits and putting money into cheaper stocks and stuff so that you can catch moves like this and they can benefit you.
PHILLIPS: Christine, thanks. While you were sleeping, markets in Europe and Asia have wallowed in the red, suffering big losses. Leone Lakhni is in London with our look overseas. Leone --
LEONE LAKHNI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you know, as Christine was saying, what's driving the markets. People don't seem to be looking really at the fundamentals. You know, the whole concept of the global recession still is driving the markets, the European debt crisis still hanging over this block like a cloud.
If we look at the numbers in Europe at the moment, they are red arrows across the board. They're not down as much as they were early in the day. The FTSE is around 1 percent lower, CAC around 2 percent, DAX around 1.5, but if we look at what's happened this year, Kyra.
I mean, the FTSE is down more than 13 percent, the other main indices are down nearly 20 percent and you know, when there's uncertainty and what traders keep saying is we're looking for clear direction from the policy makers, which we're not getting at the moment.
And when there's uncertainty, what do people do? They just cash out. That's what we're seeing at the moment. Trying to figure out what they're going to do next, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we're all trying to figure out. Leone, thanks.
Well, President Obama may be vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, but I'll bet he's watching the markets this morning as well. Dan Lothian with the president in Massachusetts. So Dan, what are they saying about the sharp movements in the stock markets?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, one of the things that the White House has been very good at and consistent with is that they do not talk at all about the gyrations of the markets.
In fact, during a chat with reporters yesterday, Deputy White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said that he didn't want to speculate on the markets. But they will talk about the president's overall efforts to boost the economy and create jobs.
Even though he's here on vacation, we're that told one of his top economic advisers will be coming here next week providing him with frequent updates on what's going on with the economy. And the president is also working on his new ideas as the White House has put it in terms of job creation.
So the president might be on vacation, but very much staying in touch with not only some of his advisers here, but also some senior advisers back in Washington, the focus, of course, being the economy. Kyra --
PHILLIPS: All right, Dan Lothian in Martha's Vineyard. Dan, thanks.
Our CNN's Zain Verjee is live in London once again with reaction from around the world to the volatile markets here and overseas. Zain, what's the word?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Kyra, let's take a look what the "Guardian" newspaper is saying today. This is its headline, "Fear of risk-taking is hindering recovery." A Bank of England official, Kyra, that says psychological scarring caused by the last financial crisis and a growing reluctance to take risk in the markets is creating pessimism and threatens to delay a recovery.
Check out the "International Herald Tribune," Kyra. Its headline, "Fears grow in Europe that banks need cash." The European banking system is showing signs of a cash crunch, analysts say, but a lack of clear data may be exaggerating the gravity of the problem, sowing mistrust among banks and making them reluctant to lend to each other as well as businesses and consumers.
There are concerns that really underlines what we're seeing is a hangover from the banking crisis in 2008 and now it's really transferred to become a crisis of the state and they're riddled with massive debt piles too and the government really needs to handle that.
You have the economies of big Europe countries here that have traditionally been strong like France and Germany that are not showing that kind growth.
PHILLIPS: All right, Zain, thanks. Right now, the Dow Industrial down 14 points. We're going to keep an eye on the market all morning long.
Also coming up, our 30-second pitch. This time around, we're giving back to our military vets, spotlighting vet-owned small businesses looking to drum up work. We'll talk to an Air Force vet Alex Armor, coming up next.
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PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country now. Police in Southern California say 60 suspects were arrested Wednesday night with ties to Mexican drug gangs and in an Iraqi social club. The raid netted guns, explosives, more than $500,000 in cash, pounds of meth and nearly two tons of marijuana.
Powerful storms, one producing baseball-sized hail closed the airport in Omaha, Nebraska last night. Look what it did to the cars in the airport's parking lot. Seven planes were also damaged. The airport did reopen, by the way.
In suburban Detroit, a driver with no working brakes tried to stop his pickup truck with his feet. The Fred Flintstone like move covered 2-1/2 miles. The driver hit four vehicles along the way until he finally came to a stop.
Yes, whiplash on Wall Street. It's another day of bouncing numbers and at least for now those numbers are in negative territory. A live look at the big board right now shows Dow Industrial down 24 points.
Let's try and make sense of all this, shall we? Jeffrey McCracken, senior business writer with "Bloomberg News" and "Business Week." Clyde Anderson, finance expert and author. We've been getting a number of tweets for you guys if you don't mind.
Clyde, I'll throw some questions to you. Jeffrey, I'll get more of a wider perspective from your vantage point on this. But Clyde, a lot of specific questions about what to do with money, this one coming from Rosie - for people who want/need to retire, what do they do with 401(k)s that are depleting and they've got little time to wait?
CLYDE ANDERSON, AUTHOR: Yes, I think that's the hardest segment and that the ones that have been hit. We've a lot of pension funds been hit, but we've also watch people that have just been hurt with their 401(k).
If you're in the 50-year-old and up demographic, what we're hearing is a lot people are going to have to work a lot longer, and that's almost a harsh reality. There's no magic pill or quick fix that I can see right now for people who are in that demographic.
They've got to make sure they know what's inside of their 401(k). I think that's getting people to pay attention, where before they didn't pay attention to what was in that 401 or what they were investing in.
The reality is that they have to make they're investing smarter, but they have to make sure that they're probably going to end up working a little bit longer to try to rebuild and get some of those losses back.
PHILLIPS: And besides 401(k), the other word we've been hearing a lot of lately, Jeffrey, is free fall. So, you know, when you take a look at these numbers going up and down, what's your take on how far down the market must fall first before it actually stabilizes somewhere?
JEFFREY MCCRACKEN, SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Kyra, I have to say that the clip you've shown from suburban Detroit, the gentleman of the pickup truck trying to stop the run away truck with his bare feet, maybe how the policy - right. It's almost like maybe that's how the policy makers feel right now.
They've tried a lot of the tricks. They've tried a lot of the measures in the past that often worked, lowering interest rates, QE2. So now the question is what do they do next? I don't know that the market has to hit a certain bottom.
I think people need to see investors. People that run the big funds like PIMCO. What they need to see is some certainty. How do the jobs numbers look in August look? The fact that we actually created jobs in July when everyone assumed or thought it would be there might actually be a slip and we'd have negative job growth.
That was positive sign. So now people want to see after Labor Day, OK, how did we do in August? They're going to want to see after Labor Day, what is the Obama plan? And I think part of the reason today that we haven't dropped quite as much as maybe we anticipated was there's already been some people pushing back on all the negative comments out there.
The president of the Cleveland fed made a speech today in Columbus and she lowered her growth estimates but said, I see 2 percent GDP growth for the rest of the year. That's not robust.
That's not what you would see ideally coming out of a recession, but it's not negative and in fact, it's better than the first half of the year. So I think, again, people want clarity and they want some sense that it won't get a lot worse.
PHILLIPS: It's interesting all the different leaders within with the fed. You know, out of Dallas I heard him saying, look, you know, when you talk about setting the tone for the rest of the year, he's not worried. He said, we're going to see an upside at year-end. What do you think?
MCCRACKEN: I think -- I try to stay out of the opinion making business, if you will. If you hearken way back --
PHILLIPS: You cover this every single day. You look at history and I know there are things in your head. You're thinking OK --
MCCRACKEN: Well, I think something is striking is, if you go back to that distant time known as spring 2011, so April or May of this year, every economist virtually said there's no chance of a double dip.
I think if you surveyed 100 economists, maybe five at most would say there was a chance for a double dip. Now 40 percent or 50 percent of them think it is. So I guess from my opinion, why I try to stay out of the prediction game.
But my sense is, a lot of this is a very emotional reaction to uncertainty. It's like a very high-strung market and every speech, every data point is seized upon until something comes along that points in a different direction.
I'll go back to something I said earlier. Corporate America is sitting on a couple dollars in cash, the banks are well capitalized. Companies are doing hiring, albeit not the big numbers you want to see.
So it's OK, it's not robust. OK, it's not gangbusters, but it's also not the end of the world. So I think once people get their head around that, you'll see stability in this volatility that we've had in this awful August, abysmal August, atrocious August, whatever you want to call it. I think it will start to dissipate after Labor Day.
PHILLIPS: Clyde, I've got another question, a money question coming in asking you directly the effect of market volatility on college loans for parents and kids.
ANDERSON: Yes, I think we're seeing the effect of that. We've seen some of that come out of the deal with the debt ceiling where, you know, the market is changing. We're talking about unsubsidized and subsidized loans where some grant students now are going to have to pay interest on the loans immediately.
We're going to see some of these programs, Pell, you know, is definitely is going to be challenged and some of the other programs that provided for college funds. Interest rates are still low right now from that standpoint as far as paying the loans.
But now when you've got these loan that's are compounded with the interest and may be losing money that a lot of kids depend on to go college, I think those are some of the things you're seeing as well as costs of college increasing.
Now we've got these students out here who can't find jobs when they invest all this money to go to college. So you've got an interesting dynamic going on there and a lot of parents that are strapped because they don't have jobs can't afford this.
So it's like a trickle effect. Everybody is feeling the effects of everything in the market. We're all feeling it across the board and definitely people that are really trying to prepare for college right now.
PHILLIPS: Clyde Anderson, Jeffrey McCracken. We'll talk more in 20 minutes or so. Thank you so much. We're all keeping an eye on the markets, my analysts as well as all of us here.
Also coming up in our 30-second pitch, this time around we're giving back to our military vets, spotlighting vet-owned small businesses. We're going to talk with Air Force vet Alex Armor and see what he thinks as a small business owner about the plunging Dow and how it's impacting him. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a place with killer views of Puget Sound and is good economic shape. We'll visit a town that's easy on the eyes and wallet after the break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What town is on the economic upswing? Mukilteo, Washington, its economy is growing since nearby Boeing is hiring. Located on the Puget Sound, the spectacular views and affordable homes draw people to the Seattle suburb.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Living here is great, wonderful opportunities with employment, some really great schools. It's very family friendly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Rosehill community has opened earlier this year and the historic White House Prk is a great place to get the Pacific Northwest experience. Mukilteo, Washington is number 9 on "Money" magazine's list of the best places to live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK. We have a regular feature called "30 second pitch" where we try to help folks find jobs. We have a twist this week. We're spotlighting veteran-owned small business looking for work.
For six years Alex Armour served in the Air Force working with weapons systems and was a finance officer. Now he's retired and has started a company that works hospitals and doctors.
He joins us today live in New Orleans. We'll talk about your business in just a second. First of all, when you see the markets drop like this, as a small business owner, what's going through your mind? What are you most concerned about? ALEX ARMOUR, MANAGING PARTNER, OFFSPRING SOLUTIONS: Well, Kyra, we try not to really pay too much attention to the gyrations in the market. We try to basically pay more attention to creating value for our customers and we know that, as a result of that, we will be able to create jobs for military veterans and people in general. So we try to focus on value creation.
PHILLIPS: All right, so tell us about your business and why exactly you chose this path.
ARMOUR: Well, we're a technology consulting firm that basically uses on enterprise software and hardware solutions for the federal government as well as the financial industries. And so we basically focus on that and basically try to deliver the solutions that are necessary for the market to take advantage of those solutions.
PHILLIPS: So give me an example of one of your best assets.
ARMOUR: One of our best assets? Well, it's our innovation. We're a very innovative company. We're small. We're nimble. We pay attention to what's going on in the marketplace and we basically bring along the best candidates that we can find in the market place to help us to implement those solutions across the marketplace.
PHILLIPS: All right, tell you what, Alex. We're going to start the clock, give us your 30-second pitch hoping that there are businesses out there that will hire you. Take it away, Alex.
ARMOUR: All right, thank you. Offspring Solutions is a technology consulting firm that focuses on enterprise software and hardware solutions for the financial industry as well as the federal government.
We also have been involved in several multimillion-dollar contracts to include the implementation and maintain of financial management system, HR systems and business intelligence solutions.
We work with customers such as Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Department of Health and Human Services and many others. If you'd like to know more about our company, please visit us at www.offspringsolutions.com.
PHILLIPS: Go ahead and repeat that e-mail one more time. We're looking at your web site. That's a pretty slick web site. Give us the e-mail once again.
ARMOUR: It's www.offspringsolutions.com.
PHILLIPS: The web site address. There we go. Alex Armour --
ARMOUR: And Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Yes.
ARMOUR: Kyra, I just wanted to mention too as well that my brother has just been deployed to Kandahar. I wanted to give him a shout-out as well.
PHILLIPS: Go right ahead.
ARMOUR: Just got there a week ago.
PHILLIPS: Is he watching?
ARMOUR: Yes, he should be watching, Major Xavier Bruce in Kandahar, stay safe and come home soon.
PHILLIPS: There you go. He's streaming us live on his iPad I hear. Alex, congratulations. Thank you so much. Let us know if you drum up some business. Thank you for your service. We sure appreciate your brother as well, Alex. Thanks.
ARMOUR: OK, thank you.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
If you'd like to do a 30-second pitch, e-mail us, 30secondpitch@cnn.com. We may get you on the show as well in the coming weeks.
Lots of activities in the Middle East today. Israeli military has actually been bombing targets in Gaza. The military says it's in response to those terror attacks that were carried out against Israel in the last 24 hours.
Let's get more from our Kevin Flower, he's our Jerusalem Bureau Chief. He's joining us live actually from the Israeli/Gaza border. So, Kevin, bring us up to speed on what's happening there where you are.
KEVIN FLOWER, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Kyra, after those attacks yesterday that killed eight Israelis in southern Israel, the Israeli government vowed it would retaliate. That's what it did.
In the last 24 hours, we have seen a series of punishing air strikes against militant targets in Gaza. That's what the IDF says, various targets they've been hitting militant weapon factories, smuggling tunnels, militant cells, et cetera.
So in one of those strikes that happened shortly after the attack yesterday, they struck the house of a militant group that they said was actually responsible for the attack in southern Israel. That air strike killed five people.
So in the past 24 hours, we've seen seven people total killed in these air strikes in the Gaza strip, two of those were children. And Gaza-based Palestinian militants have are not been quiet either. They have been launching rockets into southern Israel.
So far today on Friday, we have seen 14 rockets coming into southern Israel. One of those rockets hit in a port city landed near a synagogue injuring six people. Another one was headed toward another city in southern Israel.
It was intercepted by Israel's rocket defense system known as the Iron Dome. Just a short while ago, we got reports of more airstrikes in the Gaza strip. So, Kyra, this is a very tense moment between the Palestinians and Israel and there is high expectations we will see more violence in the hours ahead.
PHILLIPS: It says a lot about the security on the border there. Kevin Flower, we'll continue to stay in touch with you. Appreciate it.
Back here in the states, of course, we're watching your wallet. Dow Industrials up 26 points. We're in better shape than we were yesterday, that's good news.
Also this week, Michele Bachmann says that if she became president she'd bring back gas for less than 2 bucks. But how would she do it? Your "Political Buzz" is next.
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PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now. Stocks slightly lower in early trading, Dow Industrials up 68 points now after yesterday's 400- point sell-off and world markets falling today. These numbers don't look so bad.
Militants attacked a high-profile British agency in the heart of Kabul today. Afghan officials say at least eight people were killed.
In the U.K., William and Kate wrap up three days of royal visits to areas hit by the heavy rioting earlier this month. Today they visited a business in Birmingham.
Folks, it's the interview that everybody is talking about, former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell getting annoyed and just saying, that's it, and walking off the set of "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL, FORMER SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, don't you think as a host if I say this is what I want to talk about, that's what we should address?
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Not really, no. You're a politician.
O'DONNELL: Yes. OK, I'm being pulled away. You know, we turned down another interview for this.
MORGAN: Where are you going?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Christine O'Donnell didn't turn down an interview on the "Today" show. She actually talked about this incident and how Piers made her feel. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: And Piers, for whatever reason, perhaps desperate for ratings, was not letting up in his creepy line of questioning. He throws it in there in the middle of these sex questions that he would not ask with a man. I wanted to stop that borderline sexual harassment that was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I think what --
O'DONNELL: It was inappropriate and he wasn't stopping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Borderline sexual harassment. As you can imagine, we've got Piers on the phone. I just want to add that, from Twitter, she went on to write, Piers, thanks for the invite, schedule's already packed, maybe another night. No hard feelings, you checky bugger. I'm ready, Piers. Sexually harass me right now.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN (on the phone): I thought you'd never offer, Kyra.
If you -- in her position, she seems to have toughened overnight (INAUDIBLE). Originally, she was seeing the funny side and thought it was all something to be amused by. Now all of a sudden, it's become this very serious situation where she felt that I was being sexist and sexually harassing her and so on.
And the bottom line of it is that if you study the whole interview and of course, the (INAUDIBLE) of her comments, we are feeling compelled to re-air the entire interview tonight on my show so everyone can decide for themselves, you can see that actually all I do is play her her own public statements and ask her for comment. And she does discuss all these public statements in her book. And let me remind you the reason she was doing my interview was to promote her book.
So, the idea that somehow this is inappropriate or I think she called me "creepy," or any of these things -- the only thing that can be inappropriate or creepy are the very things she discusses in her own books that she has said. So, I found the kind of - the argument that she's putting forward today tenuous to put it mildly. And I suspect the reaction of somebody who realizes she made a rather big mistake.
PHILLIPS: Okay. You know, let's just lay it out here. Look, you're getting great publicity for this. Everybody is talking about your show. They're booking her to talk to her. They're talking about you, talking about CNN. She's obviously getting great publicity for her book.
You know, what's your take? Do you think that this was all a part of the plan? MORGAN: Well, I don't think it was part of her plan. Certainly, if you take it back to when we booked her, I don't think you would book Christine O'Donnell right now for ratings. There's a slight flaw in her strategy because she's not exactly the biggest draw in down.
Having said that, I was keen to see -- I had met her in New York about five, six months of her and had a cup of tea with her and taught her how to make English breakfast tea. So, I thought we got along quite well. And I thought, if you watch the interview, that for the first five, 10 minutes, it was all pretty friendly. I had no really inkling in my mind had when we played her stuff that she talks about openly and honestly in her book, that she would then react in this extraordinary manner.
And what was quite good on "The Today Show," I thought, was the way the presenter actually pinned her down -- Savannah, on the moment she walked out. It had nothing to do with the any of the discussion about her views about masturbation or about satanic witchcraft or any of those kinds of things, which are well-documented but still interesting because she readdresses them in the book.
The moment she walked out was when I talked to her about the views on gay marriage. And the reason I asked her that wasn't to be sexist or creepy or inappropriate, but because quite clearly it is a massively contentious issue right now. Particularly the Tea Party candidates, because Michele Bachmann has made some pretty stringent comments about this. And I think it's perfectly journalistically acceptable and indeed -- almost you're compelled to ask that question of anyone like Christine O'Donnell because it's such an issue with their side of the Republican party.
And that was the moment she walked. So, to try to pretend that she was walking out in fury at questions I asked ten minutes previously I think is very disingenuous.
PHILLIPS: So, who are you interviewing tonight? Should be we prepared for any drama?
MORGAN: Well, as I said, we're going to re-air the entire interview tonight.
PHILLIPS: Oh, the entire interview!
MORGAN: Yes. She seems to have a slight amnesia problem over why she walked out.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: So, we're going to air the whole interview. We'll have some commentary on it. And my invitation to Ms. O'Donnell remains the same. If you feel like you can, come back on my show. Let's have round two, and maybe at some stage in that interview, you could answer the simple question, what do you think of gay marriage?
PHILLIPS: There you go. The invitation is out there. We'll see what happens. Piers Morgan, thanks so much for calling in, Piers. So, thanks for being nice to me.
MORGAN: Listen, I didn't harass you once as far as I'm aware of.
PHILLIPS: You know what? I'm feeling pretty good right now.
MORGAN: Yes. You're still there.
PHILLIPS: Exactly! I still have my mike on. I'm still sitting on set. Thank you, Piers.
MORGAN: You're a bigger woman than she is, Kyra.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Piers Morgan, I salute you. All right.
Your "Political Buzz," your rapid-fire look at the hottest topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, CNN contributor and independent John Avalon, CNN contributor and talk show host Dana Loesh. The three joining us.
I promise all of you I will not sexually harass any of you. But if you ladies would like to attack John, no problem. It's a free for all. It's three of us against one!
(LAUGHTER)
DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Sounds good, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Here's the first question -- with the markets in wild swings right now, some Republican are hitting the president for his Martha's Vineyard vacation. So, do they have a point, or is there really little the president can actually do about the markets right now? Dana?
LOESCH: Well, I'm not going to begrudge anybody for going on vacation. That being said, I think he does go on vacation quite a bit. And it just doesn't send a fantastic message, especially when you're going to an enclave like Martha Vineyard. We had jobless claims that just went up unexpectedly by 9,000 this week.
But honestly, and this may make some conservatives mad, I want him to go on vacation. I want him to go on vacation as much as possible, because whenever he's not giving a speech, the markets do better. So, I'm happy with it. He can stay up there, go on vacation, relax, and maybe we can watch Wall Street kind of recover a little bit.
(BUZZER SOUNDS)
PHILLIPS: Maria?
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, it's absolutely ridiculous, Kyra. Because we all know that a president is never really on vacation, first of all. Secondly, the markets really have nothing to do with this president. A lot of the volatility has to do with the economic situation and what's going on in Europe.
And thirdly, again, never on vacation. He is there being briefed constantly by his staff. He's working on the jobs package, which hopefully when he comes back to Washington, Republicans who have been so intransigent will be able to loosen the stranglehold that the Tea Party has had on them, and actually work with this president to create jobs for America.
PHILLIPS: John?
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, look, this is silly season situational ethics. George W. Bush went on vacation some 77 separate trips totaling over 1,000 days according to FactCheck.org. And I don't remember conservatives getting all worked up about it then. So, this is just partisan politics playing out in August. Nothing more.
PHILLIPS: All right, guys. Question number two -- this week, Michele Bachmann says if elected she'd bring back gas for less than 2 bucks. So, how the heck is she going to do it? Maria?
CARDONA: You know, these are the kind of statements, Kyra, that prove that Michele Bachmann is so not ready to be president. They're reckless and they're frankly stupid. And it shows she has no idea in terms of how the economy works.
Gas prices are one of those things very much like the market that are pretty much impervious from what comes out of this White House. So again, keep talking, Michele Bachmann, because you are doing nothing to convince sensible, everyday mainstream Americans that you are ready to be their commander in chief.
PHILLIPS: Dana?
LOESCH: I'm just trying to understand what Maria said, that the president and his economic policies don't affect the economy. I just wanted to think about that again for a minute. I think --
CARDONA: No, no. You've got to listen to what I said.
LOESCH: Maria, I'm finishing. Maria, I was polite enough to let you finish. So, you show me the same courtesy. Thank you.
No, I think what Bachmann is suggesting is not beyond the realm of possibility, especially if you understand how gas and oil work. The prices are speculative. And one of the big reasons that they're speculative is because the countries from where we get them are unstable. If we were able to be able get more of our own resources here and if we had an administration that didn't falsify -
(BUZZER SOUNDS)
LOESCH: -- reports like we Ken Salazar with the moratorium in the Gulf that killed all the jobs in that area, we may be able to get closer.
PHILLIPS: John? AVLON: Look, again, this is bumper-sticker politics. Promising voters two-buck-a-gallon gasoline is no more than bumper-sticker politics. And if the analysts and experts are so elitist in saying that somehow this can't be done unilaterally by presidential action, you know, I'm going to go with the experts on this, not Michele Bachmann.
This is just - you know, magic is not going to do it. Promises don't translate to reality on the political campaign trail.
PHILLIPS: All right, guys. Your "Buzzer Beater," now. Twenty seconds each on this one. Texas governor Rick Perry, he got some pretty nice gifts from campaign backers. Nine hunting trips, a TV, belt buckles, 22 pairs of cowboy boots.
All right. If he were elected, what gift were would you give Governor Perry as he was headed to D.C.? Dana?
LOESCH: I wouldn't give him anything. All presidents get gifts. I'm not really bothered by it. I wouldn't give him a gift. He would get the gift of governing us. And that would be a gift in and of itself.
(LAUGHTER)
LOESCH: I don't want to give anybody anything! They don't deserve anything from me.
PHILLIPS: Oh! Yes. Maria?
CARDONA: I would gladly give him a personality and a brain transplant, Kyra. Because anything to have a different person with different policies, if he does become the president, to be able to guide us because if he implements what he says he's going to, the middle class is going to be in a world of hurt. But millionaires and billionaires will do fine.
And we had a Texas cowboy once as commander in chief. Didn't work out so well.
PHILLIPS: John?
AVLON: Maria, that's just mean-spirited. I mean, you're making me defend Rick Perry here.
Look, what I'd give him is, after his recent comments about creationism and evolution, I'd probably a science textbook. I think that might be a helpful step in the right direction.
CARDONA: That's a good one.
PHILLIPS: I think all of you would look really good with a nice Stetson, some roper boots, some Wranglers, you know? Next segment all three of you! In honor of.
Thanks, guys. CARDONA: Sounds great, Kyra!
PHILLIPS: OK. The phrase on wall street this morning is yep, here we go again. Another day of market volatility. Alison Kosik on the floor of New York Stock Exchange actually talking to a trader. Alison?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is volatile today, but I'll tell you what. It feels like a new day. We're seeing green across the board. The Dow now up 18 point. The NASDAQ, S&P 500 also in the green.
I'm here with -
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN VALDEZ, DME SECURITIES: Allen.
KOSIK: I'm here with Allen Valdez. Sorry about that. It's pretty loud out here.
Allen Valdez. He's with DME Securities. What's going on with the market today? What's really driving the trade today?
VALDEZ: Well, you're 100 percent right. Very volatile today and heavy volume. I mean, the volume right now is close to a billion shares. Only an hour into the trading day.
But you know, we had early news out of CitiBank where they kind of pulled back on their GDP expectations going forward this year.
But basically that's been it. Out of Washington, very light news, out of Europe, kind of light news today. More options. A lot of option trading going on right now.
KOSIK: So, this is really still a headline-driven market, so anything could - it's one of those fragile markets. It can really turn on a dime.
VALDEZ: I know, right. We were down 100 points, and it basically had a 200-point move already. It's only a little past 10:30 here.
So, yes, these markets move so fluidly, quickly, and like you said on a dime.
KOSIK: Are these green arrows going to stick today?
VALDEZ: It going to be a tough day. Because remember options expire later on. You may see some unwinding (ph). Which, you know, they have contracts and option, and they may have to sell some positions here in equities. So, you could see some pressure later on, like from 3:15 on to the close.
KOSIK: All right. So, get ready for the volatility to pick up. Thanks, Allen Valdez. OK, Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: OK, thanks so much, guys.
Well, new doubts in the convictions of the West Memphis Three. And why after more than 15 years behind bars, they could be going home today. That's next from the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. After serving more than 15 years in prison for convictions in a trio of child murders, the so-called West Memphis Three have a shot at regaining their freedom. CNN's David Mattingly is live in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where a new hearing is just about to start.
David, why now after so many years?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this has been a very, very long time coming for these three men. They were just teenagers when they were arrested, tried and convicted in a murder trial that absolutely caught an entire community in fear back in the day.
What happened was there were three young boys who were found murdered in a swamp outside of West Memphis. Police focused in on these three teenagers and then came up with a theory that this was the result of a satanic ritual in which the young boys were killed. The West Memphis Three, as they have become known, were then sent to life in prison. Damien Nichols actually sent to death row where I spoke to him earlier this year.
And he was saying he was anticipating that the state of Arkansas would later this year grant them all a new trial because over the years so much of the evidence, or lack of it, has been called into question. And they were able to finally afford their own DNA testing which could not place any of these three men at the scene.
So, late last night, a source close to the case tells us that negotiations were going on on a deal in which the West Memphis Three would be able to walk free today and still maintain their innocence. They would, however, have to acknowledge that the state does have some evidence, that if they chose to go back to trial, they could use that to try and convict them.
So, looking for a possible win-win scenario for both the state and the West Memphis Three. But the bottom line here, the intent was to get these three men out of prison as quickly as they possibly could. And we're waiting right now to find out if that's going to happen, a couple of back-to-back hearings happening in the next couple of hours. We will see if that deal that was on the table last night does come to fruition -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. We'll follow then. Thanks, David.
Well, if you're unemployed or looking for a job, here are some good news. There are more than 3 million jobs available right now just waiting to be filled. So dust off that resume because we've got some tips to help had you stand out from the competition.
Plus, when the stark market goes crazy, are there any safe bets when it comes to investing your money. Believe it or not, our financial experts say yes.
Those stories and much more are coming up in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country now.
Another big dust storm hit the Phoenix area yesterday, shrouding visibility for drivers and temporarily shutting down the airport and knocking out power to thousands due to the high winds. It's the third time that's happened this summer.
Here's some police dam cash video out of Daytona Beach, Florida, that's gotten baby sitter in some pretty huge trouble. Can you believe this? Drivers were pretty stunned, too.
So, they called 911 to report this baby in a stroller in the back of a moving pickup truck. The babysitter says that she had a good grip on the stroller, though. She's charged with felony child endangerment.
And in New York, fired lifeguard is suing the state over a swimwear policy. Sixty-one-year-old Roy Lesser (ph), who looks pretty darn good there, says the requirement for guards to wear Speedos is just an attempt to get rid of older lifeguards like him. His lawsuit was tossed out twice before, but this time around, an appeals court has reinstated his claim.
Making your mark this week, Good Samaritan has come to the rescue of a single working mom who is left without a car. Listen to this -- the Pennsylvania woman says her car was carjacked and destroyed last week and she didn't know what she was going to do. Her son's birthday is this week and school was starting, and Christmas isn't far away.
Well, guess what? She got a new car -- thanks to this man who saw her story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLE GRILLI, CARJACKING VICTIM: I'm so thankful because I didn't think there was people out there like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, a Good Samaritan says the car belonged to his 97-year-old mother who died last year.
Coming up -- a pretty unusual family shopping spree: tens of millions of dollars on religious relics. You're actually going to get to see some of these ancient artifacts right here in our studio.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the markets have been a mess. People are flocking to safer investments like gold and other commodities. But Steve Green and his family -- well, they've put tens of millions of dollars into Bibles.
I guess you could say that Steve has a lot of faith in his investment. He's overseeing the acquisition of ancient Bibles and other rare religious relics that are now part of a traveling exhibit. He's also president of Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain.
I tell you what, this is pretty amazing, looking at the -- I can't believe actually we can touch them, too. Usually you see these behind glass.
STEVE GREEN, EXPLOREPASSAGES.COM: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Tell me, why did you want to do this? Why was this important to you?
GREEN: Well, our family has always had a love for the Bible. We have tried to operate our business according to biblical principles. And we believe in the Bible and we wanted to share the story of the Bible with as many as we could.
PHILLIPS: All right. You brought in a couple of your favorites.
Let's start with the earliest Greek text, dating within generations of the apostles, Psalm 23.
GREEN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And for those that are not familiar with the Bible, it's the very well-known verse of "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
GREEN: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: Tell us about this.
GREEN: This is one leaf of about 49 within this particular codex. It represents about 100 of 150 psalms. And this happens to be the page that starts or has the 23rd Psalm. I'm no Greek scholar, but Dr. Scott Carroll that is working with us --
PHILLIPS: Right.
GREEN: -- lets me know this is where the 23rd Psalm actually begins.
PHILLIPS: All right. And then you've got one of the world's earliest Bible, right?
GREEN: Right.
PHILLIPS: The earliest comprehensive scriptures in Jesus' household language. Tell me about that.
GREEN: This is Codex Climaci Rescriptus and it's called rescriptus because it has been rewritten on. The text underneath is what is scriptural in Palestinian Aramaic -- as you said, that is Jesus' household language.
We are working with Oxford right now. We have scanned each page 12 times under different lights to pull out that bottom text so it can be better read. There's parts of it you really can't see with the naked eye or because it was written over is not visible.
PHILLIPS: How did you test all of these to make sure they are authentic?
GREEN: You know, I go back to Dr. Scott Carroll who we are working with. He has dealt with this for many years. He's an expert in bibles.
And so, without his help, we would not be able to do, this because it's not our expertise. But with his help, we've been able to collect what we've done.
PHILLIPS: So, where can folks see these items next? What's the plan? Is there a Web site where they can go to?
GREEN: We have our traveling exhibit, which is displaying about 300 of the over 40,000 items that we currently have in our collection. It is open in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. We are working on the final details to bring that here to Atlanta in probably November. We will be in Oklahoma City until October 16th.
PHILLIPS: Fantastic, Steve Green. Tell you what? You are a blessed man on many levels. This is pretty amazing.
Thanks so much for bringing them in and sharing them with us.
GREEN: Thank you for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
GREEN: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Well, there's going to be more on the green collection and the family's planned Bible museum on our belief blog, CNN.com/belief.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stories making news later today:
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann holding a town hall meeting at the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Convention Center at noon Eastern.
GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry taking a tour of downtown Greenville, South Carolina. That's at 5:00 Eastern.
And Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul speaking to supporters in Orlando at 7:00 Eastern.
That's it for us at the top of the hour. We'll see you back here bright and early Monday morning.
Fredricka Whitfield in this morning for Suzanne Malveaux.
