Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

America's New War: Both Exchanges up at Present Time

Aired September 18, 2001 - 10:50   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Lots of New Yorkers showing their sense of patriotism. Putting flags in storefronts. I've seen -- I've never seen so many New York City cabs with flags attached to radio antennas.

Welcome back, you joining me in New York City at a time when both exchanges are up. We're going to check in with Bill Hemmer right now for some initial reaction to -- I guess you would call it a small bit of good news coming from the exchanges Bill? With a long day of trading ahead, too, yes.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed you're right. Just about 90 minutes into it. One of the traders came out and commented that it's good news that things have stabilized at this point.

A couple of personal observations just yet. We were here yesterday., this is the second day we've been down here on Broad Street outside the exchange. The smoke today is at times overwhelming. It is difficult to imagine here we are a week later, and there are still fires burning inside the former World Trade Center facility, just about three blocks away from where we are. At times it is quite intense as the winds continue to shift. Those fires, amazingly enough, continue to burn at certain points inside that huge complex away from us.

A few other thoughts: The atmosphere today, not nearly as frenetic as we saw it yesterday. A bit calmer today. We still have the national guard, and police, and a pretty strong security presence. But, we don't have that frenetic pace that we saw this time yesterday morning.

Also, I was inside a shoe shop just about 30 minutes ago, up and to the left, about a block from here. They are open for business, but they're not doing much business at all. Inside the shoes that they have, and the products on their shelves, still covered in dust. The carpet you see inside that store still, at this point, covered with dust as well. I saw no customers doing any business inside there.

Paula, you mentioned the market. Let's take our vieweres inside here, the New York Stock Exchange. They have stabilized a bit on the positive side at this point. After yesterday's staggering loss on the Dow, 684 points on the downside, what we're seeing right now according to traders is indeed good news. They also say it's just good news to be open again and trading on day number two. Also talked with a trader who commuted in from New Jersey. He talked to me earlier this morning, saying that his favorite coffee shop was open for business again today for the first time since last Tuesday. He got a big broad smile. He thought that was good news in cases like this, certainly the smallest of things can mean so much to so many.

Back with more later. Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: All right. Thanks so much, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com