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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Stocks Spooked?

Aired December 13, 2002 - 07:43   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Other parents need to listen in. Your time is running out. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," as always.
First, though, before we get to that and parents and that whole toy crisis thing this time of the year...

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Right.

KAGAN: ... I'm looking at the markets.

SERWER: Yes, it was kind of a downer day yesterday on Wall Street, Daryn. A lot of economic jitters, and especially political jitters -- North Korea, Iraq, et cetera. The Dow was down about 50 points. Tech stocks actually did a little bit better over there on the Nasdaq, but still, you know, when you have this kind of stuff happening, gold goes up, oil goes up, and that's what we're looking at today.

KAGAN: All right, well, a lot of parents are looking at that shopping list, which is not...

SERWER: Yes.

KAGAN: ... everything is not scratched out. It might be too late.

SERWER: This is really interesting to me, because we've been talking about holiday sales. Everyone thought it was going to be kind of a tepid holiday, so retailers didn't order that many toys and other kinds of items. So consequently, they're selling out. I mean, let's take a look at some of these companies. Mattel is out of the Chicken Dance Elmo already. Hasbro is out of its stuff -- what are those?

KAGAN: Furreal Friends...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Furreal Friends. Trivial Pursuit, 20th number. Radio Shack is out of its items, some of its things...

KAGAN: Oh, those little cars.

SERWER: Yes, the Zipzags are very hot.

KAGAN: Yes. SERWER: And the Gap is out of the striped hats and scarves. You know, they advertised them a lot, so people bought them a lot, and not a big surprise.

And it's interesting, one guy in "The Wall Street Journal" was saying a lot of shoppers are having less luck finding desired gifts, just like the arms inspectors in Iraq. He said, U.S. arms inspectors. Actually they're U.N. arms inspectors. But he's a retailing guy. What does he know?

KAGAN: What does he know? He just knows all the toys aren't where they need to be.

SERWER: That's right.

KAGAN: Now, meanwhile, a big toy retailer, FAO Schwarz, having a little bit of a problem.

SERWER: Yes, I mean, this is pretty amazing. FAO Schwarz also owns Zany Brainy and also a couple of other stores as well. They're not paying their bills. This company is in a little bit of trouble.

But you know, I've got to tell you a secret, Daryn, the toys at FAO Schwarz actually cost a little bit more than some of the other retailers, like Wal-Mart, and I think people know that. So, they're hurting a little bit. But you've got to pay your bills, right?

KAGAN: Absolutely.

SERWER: Otherwise, they're not going to -- the suppliers are saying, we're not going to send you anymore toys, so...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: That's kind of how it works. That's kind of rule No. 1.

SERWER: Yes.

KAGAN: Hey, I want -- you know, Bill is not the only one with heartwarming stories.

SERWER: Oh, OK.

KAGAN: I have a good news story left over from yesterday when we did this "Real People and Their Money" segment, Joe Bergmann, you might remember him, he was the one, he came on and talked about being out of work for 15 months. There he is. He was a great guy.

SERWER: Right, right.

KAGAN: At the end, I said, what the heck, make a pitch, Joe, why should people hire you? Well, we have job offers for Joe.

SERWER: Oh, really?

KAGAN: Lots of people called CNN, at least three or four different job offers, and we're going to go ahead and get that information and pass it on to Joe Bergmann.

SERWER: That is terrific.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: So, if you need a job...

KAGAN: Well, no, I mean, we're not...

SERWER: What is this, a help wanted show?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Yes, right.

KAGAN: No, we're not...

HEMMER: Send us your resumes.

KAGAN: Come on, guys. We're not an employment agency, obviously...

SERWER: Change the format here.

KAGAN: ... but if every once in a while a good thing can happen from one of our newscasts, what the heck, we will take it.

Andy, thank you.

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







Aired December 13, 2002 - 07:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Other parents need to listen in. Your time is running out. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," as always.
First, though, before we get to that and parents and that whole toy crisis thing this time of the year...

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Right.

KAGAN: ... I'm looking at the markets.

SERWER: Yes, it was kind of a downer day yesterday on Wall Street, Daryn. A lot of economic jitters, and especially political jitters -- North Korea, Iraq, et cetera. The Dow was down about 50 points. Tech stocks actually did a little bit better over there on the Nasdaq, but still, you know, when you have this kind of stuff happening, gold goes up, oil goes up, and that's what we're looking at today.

KAGAN: All right, well, a lot of parents are looking at that shopping list, which is not...

SERWER: Yes.

KAGAN: ... everything is not scratched out. It might be too late.

SERWER: This is really interesting to me, because we've been talking about holiday sales. Everyone thought it was going to be kind of a tepid holiday, so retailers didn't order that many toys and other kinds of items. So consequently, they're selling out. I mean, let's take a look at some of these companies. Mattel is out of the Chicken Dance Elmo already. Hasbro is out of its stuff -- what are those?

KAGAN: Furreal Friends...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Furreal Friends. Trivial Pursuit, 20th number. Radio Shack is out of its items, some of its things...

KAGAN: Oh, those little cars.

SERWER: Yes, the Zipzags are very hot.

KAGAN: Yes. SERWER: And the Gap is out of the striped hats and scarves. You know, they advertised them a lot, so people bought them a lot, and not a big surprise.

And it's interesting, one guy in "The Wall Street Journal" was saying a lot of shoppers are having less luck finding desired gifts, just like the arms inspectors in Iraq. He said, U.S. arms inspectors. Actually they're U.N. arms inspectors. But he's a retailing guy. What does he know?

KAGAN: What does he know? He just knows all the toys aren't where they need to be.

SERWER: That's right.

KAGAN: Now, meanwhile, a big toy retailer, FAO Schwarz, having a little bit of a problem.

SERWER: Yes, I mean, this is pretty amazing. FAO Schwarz also owns Zany Brainy and also a couple of other stores as well. They're not paying their bills. This company is in a little bit of trouble.

But you know, I've got to tell you a secret, Daryn, the toys at FAO Schwarz actually cost a little bit more than some of the other retailers, like Wal-Mart, and I think people know that. So, they're hurting a little bit. But you've got to pay your bills, right?

KAGAN: Absolutely.

SERWER: Otherwise, they're not going to -- the suppliers are saying, we're not going to send you anymore toys, so...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: That's kind of how it works. That's kind of rule No. 1.

SERWER: Yes.

KAGAN: Hey, I want -- you know, Bill is not the only one with heartwarming stories.

SERWER: Oh, OK.

KAGAN: I have a good news story left over from yesterday when we did this "Real People and Their Money" segment, Joe Bergmann, you might remember him, he was the one, he came on and talked about being out of work for 15 months. There he is. He was a great guy.

SERWER: Right, right.

KAGAN: At the end, I said, what the heck, make a pitch, Joe, why should people hire you? Well, we have job offers for Joe.

SERWER: Oh, really?

KAGAN: Lots of people called CNN, at least three or four different job offers, and we're going to go ahead and get that information and pass it on to Joe Bergmann.

SERWER: That is terrific.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: So, if you need a job...

KAGAN: Well, no, I mean, we're not...

SERWER: What is this, a help wanted show?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Yes, right.

KAGAN: No, we're not...

HEMMER: Send us your resumes.

KAGAN: Come on, guys. We're not an employment agency, obviously...

SERWER: Change the format here.

KAGAN: ... but if every once in a while a good thing can happen from one of our newscasts, what the heck, we will take it.

Andy, thank you.

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