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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Would War Fears Flatten Wall Street?
Aired January 29, 2003 - 07:47 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: During his State of the Union speech, the president spent much of the time trying to sell his plans for boosting the economy. So, how well will Wall Street buy that? Let's ask Andy Serwer, a guy who knows all of the answers to those questions.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Some striking developments unfolding on the economic front. You know, yesterday, the stock market rallied. The Dow was up 99 points, the Nasdaq up 16 points in the anticipation of the president's speech. You can see it there, the markets all up across the board.
This morning, however, overseas markets are down sharply, and U.S. futures are also down. Why? Because of the president's speech.
One person on Wall Street telling me this morning that the president did everything but declare war on Iraq. That is sending tremors through the market.
He also did speak about the economy directly, however. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After recession, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy is recovering. Yet, it's not growing fast enough or strongly enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: I think the impression is, though, that there really not a whole lot new was said last night in terms of economy. That was to be expected. He did tout his $674 billion stimulus package, but he offered no new details.
The big headline here ironically, while he talked about the economy, it was the non-economic news, the war talk that is going to have the greatest impact on the financial markets. I'm going to give his speech a tepid from the economic standpoint. Nothing new, nothing ventured and nothing gained really.
ZAHN: It's interesting you note that shift of opinion, though, because we had the guy that runs the Gallup Poll on a little bit earlier this morning...
SERWER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... that said by a 2 to 1 margin, those polls last night said Iraq was their chief concern. Now, that same polling organization a week ago showed that it was the economy...
SERWER: Right.
ZAHN: ... that was among the chief concerns of Americans.
SERWER: But maybe it was the people who watched the speech last night were more concerned about the war than the average American. I mean, not everyone tunes in to the speeches.
ZAHN: Yes, and that's the other point he made, that 40 percent of the folks watching the speech last night roughly were Republicans...
SERWER: Right.
ZAHN: ... 28 percent Democrats, 31 percent Independents. Nevertheless, an interesting measure of how people were reacting to the speech.
SERWER: Absolutely.
ZAHN: I like the fact that you declared 99 points was a rally yesterday.
SERWER: Oh, come on.
ZAHN: Because usually on the Andy Serwer meter, anything around 50 points is a rally.
SERWER: At some point, you've got to go with me on that.
ZAHN: It's a sliding scale.
SERWER: Yes.
ZAHN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired January 29, 2003 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: During his State of the Union speech, the president spent much of the time trying to sell his plans for boosting the economy. So, how well will Wall Street buy that? Let's ask Andy Serwer, a guy who knows all of the answers to those questions.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Some striking developments unfolding on the economic front. You know, yesterday, the stock market rallied. The Dow was up 99 points, the Nasdaq up 16 points in the anticipation of the president's speech. You can see it there, the markets all up across the board.
This morning, however, overseas markets are down sharply, and U.S. futures are also down. Why? Because of the president's speech.
One person on Wall Street telling me this morning that the president did everything but declare war on Iraq. That is sending tremors through the market.
He also did speak about the economy directly, however. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After recession, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy is recovering. Yet, it's not growing fast enough or strongly enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: I think the impression is, though, that there really not a whole lot new was said last night in terms of economy. That was to be expected. He did tout his $674 billion stimulus package, but he offered no new details.
The big headline here ironically, while he talked about the economy, it was the non-economic news, the war talk that is going to have the greatest impact on the financial markets. I'm going to give his speech a tepid from the economic standpoint. Nothing new, nothing ventured and nothing gained really.
ZAHN: It's interesting you note that shift of opinion, though, because we had the guy that runs the Gallup Poll on a little bit earlier this morning...
SERWER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... that said by a 2 to 1 margin, those polls last night said Iraq was their chief concern. Now, that same polling organization a week ago showed that it was the economy...
SERWER: Right.
ZAHN: ... that was among the chief concerns of Americans.
SERWER: But maybe it was the people who watched the speech last night were more concerned about the war than the average American. I mean, not everyone tunes in to the speeches.
ZAHN: Yes, and that's the other point he made, that 40 percent of the folks watching the speech last night roughly were Republicans...
SERWER: Right.
ZAHN: ... 28 percent Democrats, 31 percent Independents. Nevertheless, an interesting measure of how people were reacting to the speech.
SERWER: Absolutely.
ZAHN: I like the fact that you declared 99 points was a rally yesterday.
SERWER: Oh, come on.
ZAHN: Because usually on the Andy Serwer meter, anything around 50 points is a rally.
SERWER: At some point, you've got to go with me on that.
ZAHN: It's a sliding scale.
SERWER: Yes.
ZAHN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Street?>
