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CNN Live Today

America Under Attack: American Financial Markets Struggling to Resume Normal Operations

Aired September 12, 2001 - 14:12   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: As we look behind us, again, we can't see any longer. Just go ahead and zoom past me here. We don't need to see me now. We can no longer see building No. 7, the third of the buildings that collapsed.

I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest, that this is anything more than a shift in the wind. It just feels to me like the wind is kind of moving up from the south now, and this cloud of smoke and dust and asbestos -- and who knows what else, frankly -- moving kind of directly in front of us.

In the World Trade Center, of those 50,000 people who went to work there, many of them were involved in the business of money: analysts, investment bankers, brokers and the like. The largest tenant Morgan Stanley.

Our colleague, Lou Dobbs, the anchor of "MONEYLINE," has been working that part of the story, and Lou joins us now -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, thank you. As you say, 50,000 people worked in those towers, the tragedy only now being -- beginning to be counted in terms of human life that has been lost. But certainly, there will be thousands, not only in the towers themselves, but in buildings surrounding.

And Morgan Stanley, the largest occupant of those towers, some 2,500 people working in the south tower in the mid-floors, 11 floors there, those 2,500 employees have been certainly the focus of management at Morgan Stanley over the past 24 hours. And Phil Purcell, who is the CEO of Morgan Stanley, had some good news for employees of Morgan Stanley and for everyone here in New York today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL PURCELL, CEO, MORGAN STANLEY: Miraculously, I'd say we had 2,500 people in the World (AUDIO GAP), a thousand people in World Trade Center 5. It appears the vast majority got out safely. We will have some -- we have some missing people that we are looking for. We have all efforts trying to track down everybody that we know who worked in the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DOBBS: Well, that search for other people in that building and the other tower and the surrounding buildings will, of course, go on, and the tragedy is beginning to mount for all of us who work in New York and live in this area. Already we have learned of friends and colleague who have lost their lives in this tragedy. And as we begin to count the human toll, as it exacts its pain on all of us, we are also looking at a community that is resolved to get back to business as quickly as possible.

At this hour, the New York Stock Exchange, the principal brokerages and banks in this town, are meeting at the New York Stock Exchange. Dick Grasso, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange leading that meeting. There are efforts to determine when and how soon they can get business back to some semblance of normal.

The desire by everyone I've talked with in this town is that business return to that semblance of normality as soon as possible, certainly tomorrow. But as you look at that devastation behind me, what was once the World Trade Center and all the debris and the devastation that surrounds it, and the pain and the loss of life, there are also some very practical issues involved.

They trade $43 billion a day at the New York Stock Exchange, and that huge amount of money also is supported by operations group, SIAC and DTC, the clearinghouses. And they are in buildings, in part of what was once the World Trade Center, but in buildings surrounding it.

And no one knows at this point how secure those buildings are, when perhaps they themselves might collapse. So, that will be an important part of this determination that this group of business and financial leaders are meeting to resolve at this hour.

Also is a statement of resolve, the New York Bond Club, certainly the leadership in fixed income in this -- this world, canceled a meeting for yesterday -- yesterday that would be held tomorrow night. At the request of Lawrence Lindsey, the president's chief economic adviser, they have been requested to restore that meeting and to go ahead as had been planned. So the Bond Club will again be holding that meeting here in New York City tomorrow.

And for now, Lou Dobbs in New York.

BROWN: Lou, before you get away, quickly, when I left last night the Nikkei had dropped significantly. Can you give me a quick pulse on the world markets and how they're reacting to this atrocity here, this tragedy here?

DOBBS: Certainly. We saw, as one would reasonably expect, human nature being what it is, an immediate decline in the dollar yesterday as news of this devastating tragedy was spread around the world. We saw major markets decline sharply. Most specifically amongst those, of course, the Tokyo market, the Nikkei average, plunging to what is now a 17-year low. And we are also seeing today the return of some stable thought and stable markets. In Europe, there has actually been an improvement in the dollar and those markets stabilizing, as I said, and in fact a couple gaining on the day. BROWN: Lou, thank you for the information -- Natalie.

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