Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Minding Your Business: Bah Humbug, Holiday Sales to Slip!
Aired November 25, 2003 - 07:51 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tax cuts are supposed to boost consumer spending, but will that translate into more gifts comes holiday time?
Let's find out from Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Can we start with the markets?
SERWER: Yes, let's do that, because it was such a great day. Let's celebrate. Let's celebrate, because yesterday was a banner day for the stock market. Look at that. The Nasdaq up almost 3 percent yesterday, the biggest one-day gain since July. I'm crunching some numbers for you all. The stock market up --- let's see, the Dow up 17 percent year-to-date. The Nasdaq up 45 percent.
And just to give you an idea of where we are, the Dow would have to drop 1,415 points for us not to have an up year for 2003. So, in other words...
O'BRIEN: It's pretty much that we're going to have an up year.
SERWER: ... more than likely we're going to have an up year.
O'BRIEN: Unless it plummets.
SERWER: Right. For the first time since 1999, we're breaking this streak here.
O'BRIEN: Good news.
SERWER: Twenty-five trading days left, and I am holding my breath.
O'BRIEN: That's the first time I've ever heard that.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, 25 trading days, because you're closed on Thanksgiving...
O'BRIEN: Right, right.
SERWER: ... you're closed on Christmas, open a half0day on Friday, that counts, open the day after Christmas as well.
I want to talk about the news about Christmas shopping, though. Maybe a little tempered stuff going on here from the consumer side. The Conference Board coming out and saying that holiday spending could be down. Online shopping is expected to be up however. You can see that, a slight drop. There are other surveys, however, that says shopping will be up, Soledad. So, I'm not taking too much stock in that.
O'BRIEN: OK, so those numbers are kind of close anyway.
SERWER: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: So, it's not that traumatic.
All right, let's talk a little bit about the big spenders. We're going to get a chance to see inside the Tyco chief's shower bathroom.
SERWER: Yes, his house, his mansion on Fifth Avenue.
O'BRIEN: Do you think we'll see it?
SERWER: We don't know yet. Here's what's going on. There is a tape of Dennis Kozlowski's Fifth Avenue pad, and last night the judge in his trial was reviewing to tape to see whether he wanted to show it to the jurors. And, of course, we saw his tape of the Sardinia party, which was way over the top. This is the apartment with the $6,000 shower curtain, with the $15,000 umbrella stand.
O'BRIEN: If you have a $15,000 umbrella stand, then you have a great-looking apartment inside.
SERWER: You do.
O'BRIEN: And I think we should all have rights to see that tape.
SERWER: I think we should.
O'BRIEN: Just out of nosiness.
SERWER: And I think it's relevant. And surprise, surprise. His attorneys don't want the jurors to see.
O'BRIEN: Shocking!
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I'm shocked.
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks, as always.
SERWER: OK, Soledad.
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 November 25, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tax cuts are supposed to boost consumer spending, but will that translate into more gifts comes holiday time?
Let's find out from Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Can we start with the markets?
SERWER: Yes, let's do that, because it was such a great day. Let's celebrate. Let's celebrate, because yesterday was a banner day for the stock market. Look at that. The Nasdaq up almost 3 percent yesterday, the biggest one-day gain since July. I'm crunching some numbers for you all. The stock market up --- let's see, the Dow up 17 percent year-to-date. The Nasdaq up 45 percent.
And just to give you an idea of where we are, the Dow would have to drop 1,415 points for us not to have an up year for 2003. So, in other words...
O'BRIEN: It's pretty much that we're going to have an up year.
SERWER: ... more than likely we're going to have an up year.
O'BRIEN: Unless it plummets.
SERWER: Right. For the first time since 1999, we're breaking this streak here.
O'BRIEN: Good news.
SERWER: Twenty-five trading days left, and I am holding my breath.
O'BRIEN: That's the first time I've ever heard that.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, 25 trading days, because you're closed on Thanksgiving...
O'BRIEN: Right, right.
SERWER: ... you're closed on Christmas, open a half0day on Friday, that counts, open the day after Christmas as well.
I want to talk about the news about Christmas shopping, though. Maybe a little tempered stuff going on here from the consumer side. The Conference Board coming out and saying that holiday spending could be down. Online shopping is expected to be up however. You can see that, a slight drop. There are other surveys, however, that says shopping will be up, Soledad. So, I'm not taking too much stock in that.
O'BRIEN: OK, so those numbers are kind of close anyway.
SERWER: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: So, it's not that traumatic.
All right, let's talk a little bit about the big spenders. We're going to get a chance to see inside the Tyco chief's shower bathroom.
SERWER: Yes, his house, his mansion on Fifth Avenue.
O'BRIEN: Do you think we'll see it?
SERWER: We don't know yet. Here's what's going on. There is a tape of Dennis Kozlowski's Fifth Avenue pad, and last night the judge in his trial was reviewing to tape to see whether he wanted to show it to the jurors. And, of course, we saw his tape of the Sardinia party, which was way over the top. This is the apartment with the $6,000 shower curtain, with the $15,000 umbrella stand.
O'BRIEN: If you have a $15,000 umbrella stand, then you have a great-looking apartment inside.
SERWER: You do.
O'BRIEN: And I think we should all have rights to see that tape.
SERWER: I think we should.
O'BRIEN: Just out of nosiness.
SERWER: And I think it's relevant. And surprise, surprise. His attorneys don't want the jurors to see.
O'BRIEN: Shocking!
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I'm shocked.
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks, as always.
SERWER: OK, Soledad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
