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American Morning
Previewing Stocks That Will Drive The Market Today
Aired January 08, 2002 - 09:34 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to preview the stock market, which has been open now for about 8 minutes.
We'll talk about a couple of the stories that may drive stock prices today, with "Fortune" Magazine's Editor-At-Large, Andy Serwer. How are you doing?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I'm okay. But, you know, I'm kind of looking. I'm lost here.
CAFFERTY: What are you looking for?
SERWER: I'm looking for $60 billion.
CAFFERTY: Don't look at me. I haven't got it.
SERWER: I'm looking around because that's what AOL...
CAFFERTY: What do you need $60 billion for?
SERWER: AOL said it lost $60 billion last night, and we're all looking around for it. Actually, of course, I'm talking about this massive write-off that AOL did announce last night. All eyes will be on AOL shares this morning, as we see how that will impact trading on Wall Street. A lot of people saying this is anticipated. It has to do with some accounting charts, very complicated stuff. But, basically, it just shows the extent to which values of securities were inflated during the Internet bubble, and where we are today.
$60 billion, about the size of the GDP of New Zealand.
CAFFERTY: Wow, all out of one company.
SERWER: Yep. That's a lot.
CAFFERTY: They got gizmos for the couch potato everywhere out there. Where is it? Vegas?
SERWER: Las Vegas, The Consumer Electronics Show is going on right now. And, you know, increasingly, Jack, this is an important part of the economy. These things are really what's carrying the economy. The consumer buying all this stuff. Microsoft saying it's selling over 1 million X-Boxes. Things are flying off the shelves. And you know, I like to look at some of these companies like Best Buy and Circuit City.
Circuit City, of course, the giant consumer retail company. And the -- just look at the stock has really gone up. It's gone up from 10 to 30 bucks just since September.
CAFFERTY: Didn't they say their fourth quarter, their Christmas shopping season was a little better than expected, their gross retails up? SERWER: Absolutely. And more that, they said that going into the next year -- everyone expected Christmas to be good for them -- but next year, this year, 2002, they said that's going to be great too. People buying more DVDs, more X-Boxes, and, still, the consumer is carrying the economy. Which is good, I guess.
CAFFERTY: You just wonder how much of an appetite they can have for this stuff. And especially the new things that come out. They tend to be more expensive when they're first introduced. The price comes down after it's been on the market a while.
SERWER: Well, yeah. That's right. But, you know, people are buying stuff. And also, we want to take a look at hamburgers this morning. Of course, there's a report that Dave Thomas of Wendy's passed away. That's the number three hamburger chain after McDonalds and Burger King. And I was checking out their stock, and it's really been a great stock over the past decade. The stock's gone from 3 to 30, over the past 10 years, which is great. But, the question is, "where do we go from here with that company?"
CAFFERTY: Particularly with a brand that is so closely identified with the face and personality of the founder. I mean, those commercials he did were tremendously effective.
SERWER: He must have done a million of those commercials. Don't you think? I mean, ubiquitous.
CAFFERTY: Yeah. All right. Thanks, Andy, very much. Andy Serwer, Editor-At-Large, "Fortune" Magazine.
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