Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Stocks Soaring, Hitting Record Highs; Failing to Free Alan Gross; Weaponry Enters Ukraine; U.S. and China Strike Groundbreaking Climate Change Deal; Cold Weather Settles Across America

Aired November 12, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Well, what a ride for Wall Street. Investors are hoping for more gains today after the Dow and S&P 500 again hit record highs. CNN's money guru Christine Romans joins us now.

So, break it down for us, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

BROWN: What's going on here? Why are the stocks still soaring?

ROMANS: Well, you know what, companies are doing very well and the stock market reflects how well companies are doing. So as companies make more money and buy back their own shares and increase their buy- backs, they are -- their stock prices are going up and that's what you're seeing here. The economy is doing a little bit better. You've got the Fed not stimulating the economy anymore but you've got interest rates still very, very low.

And there's this big feeling that the U.S. economy is doing better than the European economy. It's holding up well with all of these headwinds around the world. So stocks have climbed 10 percent. S&P 500 up 10 percent this year. That's the number to remember, folks, 10 percent. The portion of your 401(k) that's in stocks most likely looks just like that. And that's been a good year for you. It's been three years in a row of double digit gains. Will it go on forever? Nothing ever goes on forever.

BROWN: Right.

ROMANS: But a lot of the stock market strategists are saying that they think that the path of least resistance is slowly inching higher for the -- to the end of the year. Now stocks down -- probably going to be down a little bit this morning and I'll tell you why, bank stocks got hit in Europe. Bank stocks getting hit because there was this big settlement, a $3.3 billion settlement, from a bunch of household name banks from manipulation in the foreign exchange pricing to benefit their own trades. Those were the allegations. They have settled with government authorities for $3.3 billion. So those stocks will ease (ph) back today.

BROWN: If you would try to -- because I think that there's some conflicting messages here.

ROMANS: Right.

BROWN: On one hand you hear that -- look at the stocks. The economy is doing well. And then you hear what people have to say --

ROMANS: Yes.

BROWN: And it seems the majority of Americans aren't happy with the -- what's going on?

ROMANS: You know, I was doing the exit polling for the election last week, the midterm election, and that's exactly what people were saying, they don't feel very confident about where things are now or about where things are going. And it's very simple. The stock market reflects the health of companies, not necessarily main street. And companies are buying back shares. They're adding jobs, but not as robustly as you would think at this part of a recovery.

People have been so scarred by what happened to us the past five or six years, they don't quite believe it yet. Their wages are also stagnant. So if your paycheck is not better, you don't really feel as villient (ph) about the economy as some of these stock market performances (INAUDIBLE). And, also, half of Americans are not invested in the stock market.

BROWN: Right.

ROMANS: So for about half of Americans, it doesn't matter to them that stocks are going up.

BROWN: All right. All right, well, thank you for clarifying that.

ROMANS: Yes, you're welcome.

BROWN: Christine Romans, thank you.

Well, a mission by two senators to bring home an imprisoned American has apparently fallen short. Alan Gross is a U.S. government subcontractor serving a 15-year prison sentence in Cuba. Gross was arrested five years ago for smuggling banned communications equipment. The U.S. says he was just trying to help the island's small Jewish community get online. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Havana with the latest efforts to win Gross' freedom.

Good morning, Patrick.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Pamela.

And in this trip by Senators Jeff Flake and Tom Udall was always a long shot. They said it was very slim that they would be able to travel back without Alan Gross. But, you know, there's a real sense of disappointment you could tell from them. They're going to be heading back to Washington, D.C., this morning. And Alan Gross will continue here. He still has 10 years, Pamela, on that sentence. He said they were encouraged though that Alan Gross would even see them. As CNN first reported last week, Gross has recently denied efforts by U.S. diplomats to see him. He's just so frustrated by the lack of progress in his case. He's even said that he will not spend another year in Cuban prison. That he will take his life rather than serve out the rest of his sentence. But Jeff Flake told us yesterday that he says there are signs of encouragement, there are signs that perhaps Gross' freedom will come soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I do feel we're closer there, one, because what Alan Gross has said himself. This is going to end one way or another. And, you know, we've gone on five years and I think any benefit that the Cuban government may have seen has to have evaporated by now in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPMANN: And Cuban officials have proposed a prisoner swap. Something that's very, very controversial. They have three intelligence officials, what the U.S. Justice Department calls spies serving lengthy federal prison terms in the U.S. They'd like to bring them back here to Cuba, where the Cuban government regards them as heroes, in exchange for Alan Gross. And neither of the senators would endorse that plan, but they did say time is of the essence. If the United States wants to bring back Alan Gross, they need to start talking with the Cuban government and talking soon, Pamela.

BROWN: Patrick Oppmann, thank you very much.

And still to come right here in NEWSROOM, a cease-fire crumbles. An ominous new sign the trouble taking root. Is Russia about to launch a new military offensive in Ukraine? CNN's Matthew Chance will join us from Moscow right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This morning there are troubling signs that a renewed military conflict may be about to explode. NATO says Russia is funneling more weaponry into eastern Ukraine. The Western Military Alliance says combat troops, tanks, artillery and air defense systems have all poured into the country. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow with the very latest.

Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, thanks very much.

Well, some startling claims being made by the NATO military alliance over the course of the past few hours. The supreme allied commander Europe, who's the -- basically the NATO military chief, U.S. general Philip Breedlove, saying that NATO has sighted Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems and Russian combat troops entering Ukraine over the course of the past several days. He said that coincided with what the international monitors on the ground had also seen. Those monitors, the OSCE, the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe, saying that yesterday they saw 43 unmarked green military trucks making their way towards Donetsk, which is the major industrial hub in eastern Ukraine, under the control of the pro- Russian separatist there. Five of the trucks, it says, were carrying artillery pieces or towing them behind. Another five were carrying multiple rocket launchers. The OSCE saying there is a rising risk that the combat situation there, the security situation, will get much worse. Remember, there has been a truce supposedly in force in that region between government forces in Ukrainian and pro-Russian rebels since September the 5th, but really it's always been very fragile at best. Hundreds of people have been killed since the truce was put in force.

The big danger now, the big concern is that the truce will be thrown out all-together and full combat operations could resume. So it looks like a very dangerous period indeed in eastern Ukraine again.

Pamela.

BROWN: Absolutely. And these pictures we've been seeing really tell the story. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And still to come, right here in NEWSROOM, the U.S. and China make history after joining forces to combat climate change. But while some are praising their efforts, others are slamming the deal, calling it unrealistic. Up next, why the political fight here at home could mean big challenges for President Obama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back.

A story we're watching very closely this morning, the historic arrival of a space probe at a small distant comet. The window for that landing happens in just about 37 minutes from now.

And take a look -- these are the first images from the Philae probe being beamed back to earth as we speak, about the size of a washing machine. The high-tech probe was released from the Rosetta spacecraft about seven hours ago and has been in a freefall toward the comet. Apparently it's spent -- more than $1 billion was spent on this project, took around ten years, the stakes are very high. We're watching it closely, as we said, and of course we'll let you know as soon as it touches down.

Meantime, another big story we are following -- "ambitious and achievable", those are the words being used to describe a groundbreaking climate change deal between the U.S. and China. The agreement aims to cut U.S. carbon emissions by more than 25 percent over the next decade and the plan also includes a commitment by China to get 20 percent of its energy from renew able resources by 2030.

The deal, which was announced at a rare joint news conference, is already being praised. In a "New York Times" op-ed, Secretary of State John Kerry writes, "In climate diplomacy, as in life, you have to start the beginning and this break-through marks a fresh beginning -- two countries regarded for 20 years as a leader of opposing camps in climate negotiations have come together to find common ground, determined to make lasting progress on an unprecedented global challenge."

But perhaps the biggest challenge for President Obama won't be meeting these new goals but rather selling the plan to a newly-elected Republican-controlled Congress.

So let's talk about this with CNN political commentators, Marc Lamont Hill and Ben Ferguson. All right, I'm going to start with you, Marc. As we know, the success of the GOP in the midterms was a huge blow to the administration here at home. So do you think this deal helps Obama regain some momentum here, even if it is abroad?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It should help him gain some momentum. In the global community, it certainly will. Among everyday people I think it will. This is a historic deal with China, getting China to admit having peak emissions by 2030 and probably before then, trying to get to pre-2005 level of carbon emissions, you know, really committing to reducing the amount of damage we do to the environment overall is an extraordinary achievement. And do it with China, no less, is something special, particularly given how much antagonism there's been alleged between the two countries.

But I don't know it will get hard core policy through, because Mitch McConnell has waged war on the environment and he has promised that the Senate -- the Republican Senate will wage war on the EPA. I mean, that's his own language. He said, "We will rein them in." When you start talking like that, it makes me less optimistic.

BROWN: All right, so let's talk about that. Because, as you mentioned, Senator Mitch McConnell did release a statement today saying, "Our economy can't take the president's ideological war on coal; that will increase squeeze on middle class families and struggling miners. This unrealistic plan that the president would dump on his successor would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs."

All right -- and we also heard something similar from Senator Inhofe, who is going to run the Senate economic -- economic, the committee on -- sorry, environmental, there you go, environmental committee. So we heard something very similar from him; he is not on board with this. So how realistic is it, Ben, to make this happen?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's about as realistic as Marc Lamont Hill saying he's going to become the next Michael Jordan and me coming on here saying that we're both going to be multibillionaires by 2030 and oh by the way I'm going to come out of retirement and be the No. 1 tennis player in the world. It's unbelievably unrealistic. This is like listening to children say that when they grow up, they're become President of the United States of America, and actually believing it. It's very --

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: What did you say?

FERGUSON: This isn't going to happen here, and the reason why is because China would literally have to double the amount of electricity that they're actually producing right now through green alternative energy by 2030. And there isn't one expert out there that says that is realistic. So the president going over there, signing this, it virtually is meaningless. China also doesn't have to back it up any time in the near future.

And here's the other thing. There's nothing they signed that has to be implemented while Barack Obama is in office. So he even knows it's unrealistic. Sure, I'll sign my name to this, because I don't have to do anything about it. I don't have to back it up. and most importantly the American people do not want this right now, and it shows that he's already focused on legacy-building instead of in reality, which is Congress is not going to work on this.

BROWN: All right, so to that point -- and by the way thank you for correcting me, environment not economy. Clearly the economy is on my mind right now.

FERGUSON: Yes.

BROWN: But to that point, the GOP likes to brand these initiatives by the White House as a war on coal. So, Marc, how does the president convince the American people otherwise here?

HILL: No, I mean, that's a great point and I disagree with Ben's other point here. First of all, China is saying that 2030 will be its peak year of carbon emissions. After that, we will begin to see the reduction and again I think that is in China's best interests, it's in the U.S.'s best interests. I'm not naive enough to think that China will simply do it because Barack Obama asked them to, or vice versa.

But the truth is we cannot reduce carbon emissions globally unless both China and the United States are players. Remember, China accounted for 60 percent of our carbon emission growth over the last 15 years. So China needs this in order for all of us to grow.

But to your direct question about coal, this is not a war on coal. This is not a war on coal miners. This is a vision toward the future. Contrary to what Ben might want to believe or hope for, coal runs out. Coal is also bad for the environment. Renewable sources are what we need. No one's waging war on the economy or coal miners.

FERGUSON: Marc!

HILL: It's on moving us toward a new direction, and at a decent pace. Remember, this isn't going to happen overnight. This is a 25-year plan.

FERGUSON: Marc, everybody that's watching would agree that we have to move to alternative energy, but to go sign a deal with China that puts basically all of the real onus (ph) on reality on America fixing things, and China's saying we're going to do this later on in 2030, we're going to hit our peak maybe, and then we're going to correct it. It wasn't even worth the time on paper to do it.

If you want to do something realistic, then have a realistic plan. This is a kumbaya pipe dream that most importantly it would hurt America's economy.

HILL: How?

FERGUSON: And the majority of the American people did not ask for this deal.

HILL: Well, first of all, that's not --

BROWN: All right, so we would love to continue on with this, but if you do take a step back, it does appear to be a positive signal that at least China and the U.S. were able to come to the table and agree on something here. So Marc Lamont Hill --

FERGUSON: It's easy to agree on something you don't have to do.

BROWN: OK, Marc Lamont Hill, Ben Ferguson -- of course you had to get in that last word there -- thank you so much. I'll be right back. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Still two weeks before Thanksgiving and it's feeling like the dead of winter in some places. Icy roads in Omaha, snow in the upper Midwest, single digits in the Rockies, and now the deep freeze is sweeping to the east and south.

CNN's meteorologist Jennifer Gray has the cold, hard facts. Isn't it a little bit early to be this cold out, Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is very early, Pamela. And just when you expect for this to melt in a couple days, forget about it. Because temperatures are going to stay well below freezing in a lot of areas for the next seven days, at least. Casper, Wyoming, their low temperatures this morning so far, 25 below zero. Feeling even colder. Denver low temperature this morning, one degree below zero. Let's look outside in Denver, I'm feeling for you because look at that. Your high temperature today, five degrees. That's about 40 to 50 degrees below normal in some of these areas.

Let's switch back to the maps, I'll show you these current temperatures and some of these areas are still falling. We're seeing temperatures 11 below zero in Cheyenne; Minneapolis at 18. When you factor in the windchill, it feels like 19 below zero in Denver, feeling like 18 in Chicago.

And this cold weather is not going anywhere any time soon. Five degrees in Denver, your high temperature, 49 below normal. We'll be 17 degrees below normal in Minneapolis. As we go through tomorrow, that cold weather continues to sink down to the south and to the east. It will be affecting the East Coast by the end of the week. And do expect a little bit of lake-effect snow, Pamela, as we go through the next couple of days. But these cold temperatures are going to last through the end of next week at least.

BROWN: All right, so time to pull out the winter clothes, if you haven't already. I certainly haven't. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)