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Jobs Report Reaction; Credit Card Signatures; Jay Leno Farewell; 113K New Jobs in January, Below Forecasts; Freestyle Skier Heidi Kloser Injured

Aired February 07, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Carol Costello.

The opening bell just ringing on Wall Street. Just an hour ago we learned that 113,000 jobs were created in January, far fewer than expected. The nation's jobless rate slides just a bit to 6.6 percent, but that too is cause for concern. Let's head back to New York and check in with Christine Romans as we look at the numbers this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think they're going to brush it off. I think investors, Carol, at least, are going to brush this number off. And you know why? Because it doesn't tell a dramatically different picture than they already knew at the end of last year, right? Last year, on average, we created 193,000 jobs every month. So you had a return, a resumption of hiring last year. And then something happened in December and something happened in January where it doesn't look like it was as robust as it was last year. But Wall Street at least brushing that off for a couple of reasons, I think. You still are seeing a jobless rate that is much lower than the 10 percent at the worst of the financial crisis, right?

You saw a little bit of improvement in the long term unemployment rates. It's now 12.7 percent. The long term unemployed. Those are people out of work, people who are working part time but would like to be working full time, people who've kind of been left behind. That number actually improved just a little bit. And I did see some hiring in manufacturing. We did see some hiring in leisure and hospitality. We did see some hiring in business, in professional services. So there are these little bright spots within the numbers that I think people are focusing on.

Again, though, the story is kind of the same. In the near term, the job market is slowly healing. You want it to be doing better than this, right, but it is slowly healing. For the long term unemployed, still a big slog, but that's not necessarily a new situation. I think investors shrugging off this numbers for this month, Carol.

COSTELLO: And when you think about big companies, large companies, they're not losing money, right?

ROMANS: No. Oh, no. No. I mean they're concerned about a lot of different head winds. They're concerned about any exposure to the American consumer, who has been smart and frugal more recently. You can see that where companies are seeing growth, it happens to be in higher end products, you know, luxury cars, high end appliances, not necessarily on the things that the middle class are buying. So that's something that you can see that in the numbers, you can see that in the sales numbers. You know, when a middle class is strapped, that's not good for corporate America. It means that they hire less, which means that the middle class is strapped because they're hiring less.

But, Carol, when you look at some of these numbers, Monica Mada (ph) was pointing this out about a half an hour ago on your program, companies with fewer than 500 workers are hiring. They're seeing demand in whatever their market is getting a little bit better and they've been holding (ph) the hiring so, you know, just cut to the bone that when things get better they have to hire immediately.

One other thing in this report I'll tell you about, small business, yes, hiring. We've seen that anecdotally. But you can see that temporary work and hourly earnings have both ticked up in this report. Those are leading indicators. So companies may be able to pay you a little bit more before they have to hire some more people or they start temporary workers before they have to hire some more people. So maybe that's a little glimmer - maybe Wall Street thinks that's a little glimmer, that there could be some better hiring in the spring.

COSTELLO: Oh, I hope you're right. Christine Romans, many thanks.

ROMANS: Me too.

COSTELLO: I know.

Starting next year, using your credit card is about to get a little bit safer. Instead of swiping your car and giving the retailer your John Hancock, you'll soon check out using a PIN number like you do with your debit card. And not only that, Alison Kosik has the "not only that" part now.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Kind of the end of an era, isn't it? So beginning late next year, you won't need to grab a pen and sign those credit card receipt when you purchase something with your credit card. Instead, what you're going to have is, you're going to put your card into a slot and enter a PIN number. The card is also going to be embedded with a special microchip that has security data. So the thinking is, hacking will be much tougher to do.

And, funny, though, the U.S. is late in the game on this. This system is already in place in most of the rest of the world. So why has it taken us so long? Well, because fraud rates were previously higher in other markets, but then they got their act together. They got the microchips and their cards and the hackers focused more on us. So now we're finally catching up. And with the recent hacks at Target and Neiman Marcus, it seems even more urgent to get this in place. In fact, MasterCard and Visa, they both put a deadline on this of October 2015 to have this implemented.

Carol. COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an emotional good-bye from Jay Leno, as the late night host signs off for the last time. Nischelle Turner has the details.

Hi, Nischelle.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

It was definitely a Jay Leno that we've never seen before. We'll give you the breakdown of his good-byes and see maybe what he'll do next, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: With tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice, Jay Leno bid adieu to "The Tonight Show," beginning with a tribute to the people who helped vault him to the top of the late night heap, his viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": I want to thank you, the audience. You folks have been just incredibly loyal. This is tricky. We wouldn't be on the air without you people. Secondly, this has been the greatest 22 years of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That was really touching. Leno was joined by his very first guest, Billy Crystal, and some of Hollywood's biggest names. But this is what really got me, a tribute inspired by "The Sound of Music."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY CRYSTAL, COMEDIAN/ACTOR (singing): There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall and the bells in the steeple, too. And all the executives that run NBC are popping in to say you're through.

OTHERS (singing): You're through.

CRYSTAL: You're through.

OTHERS: You're through.

CRYSTAL: Regretfully they tell me but firmly they compel me to say good-bye -

OTHERS: Good-bye.

CRYSTAL: To you.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jack Black. JACK BLACK, COMEDIAN/ACTOR (singing): So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, my dear. If Fallon tanks you'll be back here next year.

CRYSTAL: Ladies and gentlemen, Kim Kardashian.

KIM KARDASHIAN, AMERICAN TELEVISION PERSONALITY (singing): So long, farewell, last night I told my folks, now I won't be the butt of Leno's jokes.

CRYSTAL: Ladies and gentlemen, NBA superstar Chris Paul!

CHRIS PAUL, NBA PLAYER (singing): So long, farewell, you won the late night race, but I don't care the clips are in first place.

CRYSTAL: Ladies and gentlemen, Sheryl Crow.

SHERYL CROW, MUSICIAN (singing): So long, farewell, I give a little wave, but not with Jay, I want to get on Dave.

CRYSTAL: Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Parsons.

JIM PARSONS, ACTOR (singing): So long, farewell, we've watched you when we're weary. You're great success is called the big chin theory.

CRYSTAL: The one and only, Carol Burnett.

CAROL BURNETT, COMEDIAN/ACTOR (singing): So long, farewell, I'm here so what the hell, for your last show I'll do the Tarzan yell, ahhhhhh.

CRYSTAL: Ladies and gentlemen, Oprah Winfrey.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST (singing): So long, farewell, you really raised the bar. If you were me, you'd buy them all a car.

CRYSTAL: The time has come to stop the late night talking. Into the sunset now we'll see Jay walking, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye. Everybody!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: See, I told you that was awesome. I've got to talk about it with someone. Nischelle Turner, the dancing at the end of each little song was the best to me.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I think Jack Black's high knee kick was my favorite, that very first one. He set the tone, Carol, last night (ph).

COSTELLO: He did. So, Jay Leno, he turns the page. He'll do standup comedy and who knows what else. Some people want him to run for public office. The man - the opportunity -- the doors are open, right?

TURNER: Well, listen, he's got more viewers tuning into him than some politicians have, you know, tuning into their speeches or whatever. So he just may win. He had Arnold Schwarzenegger announce on his show that he was going to run for governor. Why not Jay try to do something as well?

COSTELLO: It was an effective end to his run on "The Tonight Show," don't you think? It was touching. He thanked his viewers. He grew emotional. And he was very gracious to the next host, right?

TURNER: Yes, very much so. You know, it was interesting because I did feel like throughout the entire show, Carol, he was really trying to keep it together. You could you that it was almost an awkward uncomfortableness because you know he felt so much inside. And then when he started speaking really from the heart, it just all came out and he was having a hard time getting through it.

We talked with Kevin Eubanks earlier, his former head writer, and also Joe Medeiros, his former head writer, and both of them said they heard something just really different in Jay's voice and it just really stuck with them and struck them. And, yes, he was very complementary to Jimmy Fallon. He said in an interview, Jay did, a couple weeks ago that he thinks Jimmy Fallon is the closest thing on late night television to Johnny Carson. So he really thinks that Jimmy Fallon is going to do a great job taking over.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Nischelle Turner, many thanks. I appreciate it.

TURNER: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, another disappointing jobs forecast as President Obama gets ready to unveil a new proposal to help expand opportunities in rural America. We'll tell you what that is after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: January was a disappointment when it comes to job creation in the United States. The Labor Department says 113,000 jobs were added last month, far short of the 178,000 expected. The nation's unemployment rate dipped slightly to 6.6 percent.

Our chief national correspondent and host of "Inside Politics" John King is with me now. What do you think the reaction out of Washington will be?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you have the standard political reaction Carol. People who support the administration say "Hey part of this is because of the weather and B, and why doesn't Congress do more especially the Republican House" -- the White House would say -- "to help the President would some of his jobs initiatives.

What Republicans are saying this mid-term election year is that this is the President's fault -- that his policies too much government, too much spending. And so it's very traditional and sadly predictable I would political response.

And it's almost in a way like what about the people out there who have been treading water for a year or two or more trying to find a job or trying to find full time work. When you look at that 113,000 number it tells you yes you could say some of it was weather but what about last month, what about the month before. We have a pretty anemic recovery right now and some of it is because of the political dysfunction in Washington.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Well today President Obama I guess he's going to announce -- launch some sort of new initiative to help expand opportunities in rural America. What do you know about that?

KING: Carol more evidence that the President is trying to do what he can from an executive standpoint. The President is going to be in Michigan today to sign the farm bill. And look the farm economy is actually doing pretty well in much of the country.

Now there are people out there watching me in their state who would say hey wait a minute maybe not here. What the President want focus on is he says you know farmers are already exporting a record number of products. The President wants to say let's help farmers, let's help other businesses out in rural America that may not get the help the infrastructure that you have in more urban, more developed areas like a Washington or like an Atlanta or like a Boston or a New York or a Los Angeles.

So let's create some council, let's create a network where if you're a small business or a farm out in rural America and you want some help there will be panels set up. Forums set up to give them advice and how to get involve in the export markets.

So steps the administrations can take to reach to people if they want help to say I have a product let us try to help you sell it and not only here in the United States but overseas as well.

Again, something the President can do using the agencies of government, his executive power because he knows he hasn't gotten much through the Congress when it comes to jobs programs or infrastructure spending in this election year. He is not counting on getting much more.

COSTELLO: John King, many things.

And remember to check out John's new show, "Inside Politics", Sunday morning, 8:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM. Competition at the Olympics has begun. Rachel Nichols is in Sochi this morning. Hi, Rachel.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol, you can see it's getting dark behind me. That means it is almost time for opening ceremonies. We'll have all the details coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The opening ceremony at the Olympics gets underway in a little more than an hour. But in the excitement of course there is still some concern over terror threats. The U.S. authorities are working with the Russians to disrupt several plots related to the Sochi games. Officials can't say whether the plots are aberrational or just something terrorists would like to do. The plots are not connected to the toothpaste tube terror threat which prompted a ban on liquids and gels in carry-on bags in flights between the United States and Russia. Of course we've been talking a lot about the security in Sochi but very little about the actual games.

So let's talk about the actual games now shall we. CNN's Rachel Nichols is in Sochi. Opening ceremony is about to get underway. Are you excited?

NICHOLS: Absolutely. We are already in the middle of competition here in Sochi which is pretty cool. The team figure skating event is garnering the most attention. You may know remember we've been telling you this is a new event this year. The men, the women, the pairs, the dancers, they are all thrown in there skating for their country before we get to the individual events. And the intrigue is really going to thicken this weekend with the American women.

You may remember Ashley Wagner was really the high hope coming into these games. But she had a disastrous performance at the U.S. Nationals, she fell twice and only squeaked on to the team because of an exception in the way the committee does its selections. Well she's going to get to skate the short program this weekend -- that's tomorrow -- and so just to try to redeem herself after that U.S. Nationals.

Then, Gracie Gold comes in. She is the one who won the U.S. Nationals. She'll come in and skate the long programs. We've also got men ski jumping coming up. And if you like seeing someone hurdle themselves off a 400-foot high ramp, well that's the event for you. That's about 40 stories up on the ground and then of course the opening ceremony tonight. A lot of pageantry and there's going to be a lot of money spent by the Russians trying to prove themselves on this big stage.

But don't forget to look for the small emotional moments. This is so special for so many of these athletes. The handshakes between people of countries you might not expect. And also take a look out for American skier Heidi Kloser. She was a medal hope at these games unfortunately in practice yesterday she tore up her ACL, she's is not going to be able to ski here. Really devastating for her and she was in the ambulance with her father. And her dad reports that on the way to the hospital, she said, "Daddy, does this mean I'm still an Olympian or not?" It was just heartbreaking for him and heartbreaking for anyone who's watched her.

But she is planning to try to crutch her way in with the American team tonight into the opening ceremonies. She is definitely still an Olympian and they want her there with her.

COSTELLO: She is definitely still an Olympian. Are you kidding?

Are any of the athletes that you managed to talk to even thinking about security. I mean for them, it is all about competition, right?

NICHOLS: Yes, I mean there are 230 U.S. athletes. They're going to have 230 different opinions. Some of these folks risk life and limb on a regular basis in a way you or I we never would. So their focused and their threshold's a risk -- it's a little bit different than most of the rest of us.

You've got other athletes (inaudible) are the best security but they are trying to focus on the thing that they have worked decades -- a moment that they worked decades to get to.

The only place where I have seen people make adjustments is with their family members. The American athletes are pretty protected by Russian security, U.S. diplomatic security. Their families are in more of those soft target areas. We've seen athletes ask their families to stay a little close.

And we've been seeing some athletes call their families to say hi, one of the male bobsledders really wanted his mom to come to these Olympics. Actually held a fund raiser for her to get here in this community and then last month sat down with her and just decided, you know what, it's not worth it. They didn't want to worry about here when she was over here. She is at home watching him instead.

COSTELLO: So I'm just curious. I don't know how far exactly you are from Olympic Village. I can see it there in the background. But what kind of security did you have to go through to get to where you are?

NICHOLS: Well, to get here, we didn't have to go through any security beyond just the general security you have I this entire area. There's certainly a lot of military police. The Russian government has estimated that there are 40,000 members of the military and police forces combined here to give you a picture of what that means. When we held the Salt Lake City in the U.S right after the September 11th attacks. They had, according to Homeland Security, 13,000 police and military. So this is quite a bit more.

That being said, not everything the official government statements tell you here have turned out to be true I can tell you that they have said at the Sochi airport, there is that ban on liquids, creams, gels coming in on your carry-on bags. Like any trip I take, I took a bunch of that stuff in my carry-on, not knowing that that was going to be the regulation here. Not myself or any of my fellow passengers were searched for those items.

So we just all walked in with them. Not exactly (inaudible) forum. The official narrative and then you have the practical narrative. We will see which one wins out but certainly an emphasis on security at these games.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I couldn't help but notice it's 46 degrees there with a high of fifty. Kind of warm for a winter Olympics, don't you think?

NICHOLS: this is the only subtropical climate in Russia. It is certainly the warmest place they have had a winter Olympics. It will be very interesting over the next couple of weeks to see how it holds up. They worried about the snowy events at certainly at the end of next week when it is going to be in the high 50s at times. We'll see how it goes in the mountain.

COSTELLO: Rachel Nichols reporting live from Sochi, thanks so much.