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American Morning

America Recovers: U.S. Markets Open on Good News

Aired October 17, 2001 - 09:30   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: U.S. markets are open, and for the first time in a long time, we are seeing Andy Serwer of "Fortune" magazine with a smile on his.

That's because futures were pretty strong this morning?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Oh yes, we have a -- thank you, Paula -- a slew of good news, and boy, we need some good news nowadays, on the economic front and the business front. The European markets were rocking this morning, up 2 to 3 percent. Asia is up. Futures is up. Dow is up 100 points. IBM is up over 6 points in Europe this morning in early trading. So we should be off to a rollicking start here.

ZAHN: Wait, wait, wasn't there an earnings report not so great yesterday, but they said next quarter would be OK?

SERWER: Exactly, so it was a mixed bag, but people are looking ahead, and housing starts, the story this morning, came in robustly in September. That's a key part of the economy, and looks like they are going strong, maybe tailing off a little bit going forward, but right now, people are very excited about that particular report.

ZAHN: Now earlier this morning, someone was saying they were kind of surprised that this anthrax scare didn't have more impact on markets yesterday. You just heard the news now, the Associated Press confirming that some 20 people in Senator Daschle's office have tested positive for anthrax exposure. What impact will that likely have today?

SERWER: You know, Paula, so far, we have been able to shrug off these reports, in terms of Wall Street. It is really surprising to me, and I think they would make the president proud, the people on Wall Street, because they are going about their business, they are looking at stocks, they are looking at fundamentals. We have a slew of earnings reports coming in, and the traders on the street are really focusing on that. Because expectations for these earnings are so low, companies have been coming in, hitting those numbers and actually exceeding them at some point.

So right now, it doesn't seem having impact. I'm kind of surprised. I think at some point, some of these anthrax reports have to take their toll. There was a rumor that there was an anthrax scare in London that swept through the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, unfounded. But, and that had a little bit of effect at end of the day. We are moving ahead. Tech stocks are strong, and rally keeps on going right now.

ZAHN: I was surprised to see a poll this morning that show 38 percent of all Americans actually believe the economy is in relatively good shape. That number was up slightly from the last time the poll was taken.

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: That surprised me, because last time you and I talked about consumer confidence levels, it wasn't looking so hot.

SERWER: You've got be wary about this, but the housing starts numbers that came out this morning point to some confidence in terms of consumers. They're going out, they're buying houses, and they're building them, and boy, Wall Street loves that.

ZAHN: OK, thanks so much, Andy Serwer.

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