SUSIE GHARIB: A dramatic turnaround in the battle for the White House. Late today, the Florida Supreme Court blocked the certification of Florida's election results until it could hold further hearings, on Monday. Then, the Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta refused a Republican bid to halt the handcount. The news came out after the market closed. Ahead of that, the Dow fell 26 points and the NASDAQ lost five. Here's Darren Gersh with the latest on the election, and how Wall Street might react on Monday.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The election, one trader said, is leading the market around "by the nose." This morning, a clerk read Florida Circuit Judge Terry Lewis' ruling that the Secretary of State did her job when she refused to accept hand recounts.

TERRE CASS, COURT ADMINISTRATOR: It appears that the Secretary has exercised her reasoned judgment.

GERSH: The Dow immediately surged 101 points.

DAVID BLITZER, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, STANDARD & POOR'S: I think most of the market was expressing, "my gosh, it's finally going to end, by this - you know, that Monday, it will be all over and done with."

GERSH: But, of course, this election is never that easy to call. The market gains quickly evaporated, and by this afternoon, the Florida Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of State not to certify the election results, and announced it would hold a hearing, Monday. Good news for the vice president.

VICE PRESIDENT ALGORE, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's why I'm very pleased that the hand counts are continuing; they are proceeding despite efforts to obstruct them. And that is why the decision just announced by the Florida Supreme Court preventing the Florida Secretary of State from certifying the election results tomorrow, is so important.

GERSH: It was a stinging setback for the Bush campaign, but Lehman Brothers political analyst, Kim Wallace says, the Gore campaign still faces a high hurdle in Florida's highest court.

KIM WALLACE, POLITICAL ANALYST, LEHMAN BROTHERS: The biggest hurdle for the Gore camp is to prove to the Supreme Court - or to give to the Supreme Court of Florida - some reason to believe, that the Circuit Court judge, Judge Lewis, misinterpreted the laws of the state, or, he was unaware of activity of the Secretary of State that might have changed his opinion.

GERSH: Shortly after the Florida Supreme Court made its announcement, Miami's Dade County said it would begin a hand recount. Market analysts predict stocks will fall Monday morning, as traders express their disappointment that all of this isn't over. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.  The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc., Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

11/17/00: One On One With Jeff Bezos Of Amazon.com

SUSIE GHARIB: A warning today for e-tailers from the Federal Trade Commission-follow through on your delivery promises this holiday season or else. That could mean big fines. That's what happened last year when many online e-tailers promised quickie deliveries but didn't come through. Well, I talked about this today with the Chairman of Amazon.com (AMZN), who was in Fernley, Nevada checking up on his company's biggest distribution center. I asked Jeff Bezos what he expects in holiday sales.

JEFF BEZOS, CHAIRMAN, AMAZON.COM: We expect Q4 to be between about $915 million and $1.05 billion in sales. Since November 2nd, which is sort of the start of the holiday season for us, we've already taken orders for more than seven million items and that is, we've now put that on our Web site live so people can see it update second by second.

GHARIB: Mr. Bezos, it looks like you're doing a lot of promotions, free shipping, discounts. Isn't that all going to cut into your profit margins?

BEZOS: Well, one of the things is if you, the things that take good care of good customers in the short-term take care of shareholders in the long-term. So, you know, this is all part of our financial plan. We're very happy to be doing this promotion and hope to move some of the sales earlier so that everybody doesn't procrastinate, although we're happy to take care of the procrastinators, too.

GHARIB: Your core business, books, music, video, has been slowing down. What is your strategy for growth?

BEZOS: Well, you know, we are really very focused on a few things. One is new product categories. So, you know, we are a well known place to buy books, music, video, DVDs and that business continues to go very well. But we're also now becoming well known as a place to buy electronics, tools, kitchen, toys. Our electronics business is our fastest growing business ever at Amazon.com.

GHARIB: So when is Amazon going to start making money?

BEZOS: In our U.S. books, music and video business, we already are. For the business as a whole, we don't disclose that. We have some internal targets but we're not talking about it externally.

GHARIB: You know, a lot of companies have copied the successes of Amazon and they've learned from your successes, whether they're upstarts or big companies like Wal-Mart (WMT). How do you deal with that?

BEZOS: Well, that's a natural part of competition in an evolving world. What we do is we continuously innovate. So we work really hard to be better every day that goes by, every month that goes by, every year that goes by. You know, we know more about e-commerce than other companies just because we've been doing it for longer. We have a very customer obsessed culture inside the company. We're doing a great job. That's the reason we have 25 million customers.

GHARIB: Mr. Bezos, let's talk a little bit about your stock. It's a long way off of its high of 113. What do you have to do to prove to investors to come back and invest in this stock again?

BEZOS: Well, you know, I think a lot of people are invested in the stock. If you look over the short-term it's certainly true that we're way off our 52 week high. But if you look over the long-term, over the last three and a half years since when we became a publicly traded company, our stock is up roughly a factor of 20. We're very proud of the returns we've generated for shareholders. Very few companies can ever claim to have generated those kinds of returns for shareholders.

GHARIB: Mr. Bezos, thank you very much for talking to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.

BEZOS: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.


Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.  The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc., Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.



11/17/00: Corporations That Venture Into Venture Capitalism

SUSIE GHARIB: More and more corporations are trying to become venture capitalists. The goal is not only to earn some quick profits, but also to find small entrepreneurial companies that might give them a competitive edge. Diane Eastabrook has more.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So this is a folder where they can view where messages go.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Tech upstart Centerpost developed technology that lets consumers select where electronic messages are delivered - to e-mail, pagers and even phones.

"VOICE-MAIL" MACHINE: This is a smart delivery message from Future Airlines.

EASTABROOK: It is technology Motorola (MOT) may one day use in its own products and that is why Motorola has invested millions in Centerpost. A growing number of companies are setting up corporate venture capital programs. Most are financing small firms that are developing products or technology that could benefit them in the future. In its first year in the venture capital market, Motorola has financed about 25 companies and continues to look at thousands more.

WARREN HOLTSBERG, VENTURE INVESTING DIRECTOR, MOTOROLA: We look for a strategic fit with a particular business in Motorola before we'll make an investment. Now, more often than not, as we grow and as these startups grow in their life cycles, we'll identify additional strategic fits going forward.

EASTABROOK: Corporate venture capital dollars have been growing steadily and this year will account for about one sixth of all venture capital dollars. Small firms often receive financing from both traditional V.C.s and corporate V.C.s. But industry watchers say corporate venture capitalists often bring technological know-how and more to a deal.

MARK HEESEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION: They have a different set of contacts, maybe different accounting firms they know, different law firms they know. So they bring all of these different elements to the table.

EASTABROOK: For small, cash strapped companies, there can be a downside to corporate venture capital. Since corporations have to watch the bottom line, they may be less patient if the small firms they're funding don't meet performance or profit targets. Tribune Ventures, the V.C.. arm of the Tribune Corporation, admits it has pruned some investments from its portfolio.

ANDREW OLESZCZUK, PRESIDENT, TRIBUNE VENTURES: If you don't see a situation where a good idea or what we perceive as a good idea cannot get funded through to fruition, you have to cut the cord, and that that has unfortunate consequences obviously for us, because we have to write it off.

EASTABROOK: In the long run, though, industry watchers say the intellectual property and experience corporate V.C.s bring to small firms can actually improve the small firms' chances for success. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Chicago.


Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.  The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc., Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.



11/17/00:"Market Monitor"Robert Robbins, Chief Market Strategist, Robinson-Humphrey

PAUL KANGAS: My guest market monitor this week is Robert S. Robbins, Chief Market Strategist for the Robinson-Humphrey Brokerage, based in Atlanta. And welcome to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Bob.

ROBERT ROBBINS, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, ROBINSON-HUMPHREY: Hi, Paul. Great to be here.

KANGAS: Let's cut right to the chase and get your view on what kind of a stock market we're dealing with here. Is it a bull, is it a bear, or is it some kind of a hybrid?

ROBBINS: It's a Super Bowl. I think this market is going straight up to all time highs by year end and I think we're going to continue the same 16 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years that we've had over the last 18.

KANGAS: What makes you so bullish?

ROBBINS: That would mean the stock market would double over the next five years.

KANGAS: Right.

ROBBINS: I am super bullish because right now you've got the Fed that's stopped hiking rates and inflation pressure is easing. You've just been through the worst seasonal period of the year because of tax loss selling. You're now going to anticipate the new funds flows that come in with the new year's IRAs and pension accounts. You've got the uplift of moods with the holiday season coming from Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's resolutions.

KANGAS: Everybody is talking about, however, the slowdown in corporate earnings. Doesn't that matter?

ROBBINS: You know, it's amazing. It's really important to understand that robust earnings growth is very negative to the stock market because it brings with it inflation which is worse than anything else. So you've got to look at that. And that's why the market was down in the first 10 months of the year. With that inflation worry going away and earnings coming down to a healthy but not robust growth rate, you have the best of both worlds, just like in 1995 when the stock market went up 34 percent. We could do that over the next year.

KANGAS: Do you think the next move by the Fed might be to lower rates?

ROBBINS: I do, but I don't think we need that to rally sharply through year end. Just the continuing perception that inflation pressure is less and that we're moving towards a neutral bias some time in the next couple or three Fed meetings followed by maybe midyear, next year, roughly, a cut.

KANGAS: All right, so we get, before we get into your strategy and I, you know, this question has been asked a million times recently, but it doesn't mean we don't want your answer, namely, what's best for the market, a Bush or a Gore presidential victory?

ROBBINS: I think Bush is a little better because most investors pay some pretty high taxes and Bush would cut and reverse that tax hike that we had that lifted rates from 33 to 39 percent. Getting back to 33 would help. Also, I think investors tend to prefer a little less tax and spend overall.

KANGAS: All right, what are your allocations percentage wise with respect to stock, bond and cash holdings right now?

ROBBINS: Very, very heavily in stock, have only 15 percent in bonds, the practical minimum of five percent in cash and 80 percent in stocks, essentially reversing what we did a year ago, favoring a very hefty weighting in bonds, fearing that this inflation worry would hurt the stock market more than it would hurt the bond market.

KANGAS: All right, let's get specific. What kind of stocks are you holding here, and buying, for that matter?

ROBBINS: I think the finance sector now is absolutely the best place to be. There you've got the banks, the thrifts or S&Ls, the insurance companies, the financial services companies and the investment broker dealer companies.

KANGAS: Can we get specific?

ROBBINS: Sure. In the insurance area, Jefferson-Pilot (JP). Insurance companies benefit from annuities. In this case, they'll play on a, they're a play on this Super Bowl move that I'm expecting ahead. National Commerce Bankcorp. (NCBC) is a regional bank, should benefit from interest rates being in control. That's their cost of funds and less worry about the old inflation recession cycle, so their loans will be good.

KANGAS: OK, let's move into some other areas. We only have a minute left, Bob. ROBBINS: Fine. Equifax (EFX) in a hybrid area of services, sensitive to finance and a little bit of technology. That's a credit card reporting and processing company.

KANGAS: OK.

ROBBINS: Sirner healthcare, I'd be very heavily overweighted in healthcare, just like finance. Sirner is a hospital services information software company. MTechnology - be very selective here. Technology may under perform, typically outperforms in a big market move up, but being selective, a turnaround, QUALCOMM (QCOM).

KANGAS: QUALCOMM, all right. So you're not afraid of the stocks that have been hit badly? You think they're bargains?

ROBBINS: Well, I'm afraid of the ones going straight down. QUALCOMM's done that but built a big base and is turning up.

KANGAS: All right, interesting. So heavily weighted in stocks. And new highs by the end of the year?

ROBBINS: Yes, new highs, straight up. Would not be unusual to-

KANGAS: It's going to be a wonderful Santa Claus rally.

ROBBINS: I think so.

KANGAS: Thanks very much, Bob.

ROBBINS: Thank you.

KANGAS: My guest, Robert S. Robbins, Chief Market Strategist for Robinson Humphrey.


Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.  The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc., Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.




11/17/2000: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

PAUL KANGAS: The stock market began the day by moving slightly lower in a carryover of yesterday's downturn, which was caused largely by growing concern over slowing corporate earnings. At 10 a.m., however, the Dow was down only 10 points today, and the NASDAQ off 12. Moments later, a brisk rally developed on that news that a Florida judge rejected the Democrats' petition to have hand-recounted votes included in the election tally. At 10:30 a.m., the Dow jumped to a 71-point gain, and the NASDAQ Index was up 47 points. The market then quickly faded, just as hopes did for a resolution to the election stalemate, when the Gore advisors indicated they would challenge that Florida judge's ruling. By noontime, the Industrial Average fell to a 76 1/2-point loss; the NASDAQ Index was down 43 1/2 points. In afternoon trading, both the Blue Chip and NASDAQ markets staged a firming trend in defiance of the normal pre- weekend selling pressures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average trimmed its closing loss to only 26.16 putting it at 10,629.87. For the week, the Dow rose twice, fell three times, but it actually had a net gain of 26.92 points. The NASDAQ Index today fell 4.69 ending at 3027.19. And the Composite Index rose twice and fell three times this week, had a net loss of a mere 1.80 points - for the week.

Volume on the big board moved over a billion shares, up nicely from yesterday. And about a 4 to 3 margin of down volume over up volume.

The Dow Transport Index was up 4 1/3 points.

Nearly a 7 1/2-point rise in the Utility Index.

And the Closing Tick just barely bullish at +204.

Standard & Poor's 500 down over 4 1/2.

The 100 managed to gain .91.

Almost a 1/2-point rise in the MidCap 400.

The Bridge Futures Price Index had a substantial rise at 1.54.

New York Stock Exchange Composite fell a little over 3 1/4 points.

Nearly a 1/2-point gain in the Value Line.

And the Russell2000 Small Cap Index up nearly a point.

While the broadly-based Wilshire 5000 was down about 60 2/3 points.

The bond market gave back some of the gains it made earlier this week amid all of today's legal maneuvering in the election stalemate. And another slight negative was the report that October housing starts rose 0.1 percent, while building permits jumped a much stronger-than-expected 1.3 percent. Some weakness was linked to a 33-cent-per-barrel rise in New York December oil futures.

At the close, tax free and corporates ended with losses of 1/8 to ¼ point.

And the Treasury market also had a moderate drop.

A 5/32 loss in the 5-year notes.

The bellwether 10-year notes dropped 9/32, with the yield at 5.71 percent.

30-year bond down 17/32.

And the Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index off 4.60.

This morning's volatility on Wall Street gave way to a little firming trend and a flat market by the close, Dow

Industrials down a little over 26 points, and for the week up nearly 27 points, narrow movement overall. Fifteen stocks were higher for about every 13 lower today, so the broader market did all right; 82 new yearly highs as against 78 new lows.

Nortel Networks (NT) topped the active list for the fourth consecutive day, today trading 40 million shares, the stock down $0.38.

Banc of America says it thinks that Nortel is losing some of its business with QWest (Q) to CIENA (CIEN).

AT & T (T) just got to $20 and stayed there, did not break through the $20 per share mark, but still down $0.69. I believe that's a new low for the year. America Online (AOL) was up $0.71.

Pfizer (PFE) a $0.31 loss.

Compaq Computer (CPQ) dropped $0.50, fifth in big board volume.

Lucent Technologies (LU) fell $0.50 as well.

Citigroup dropping $0.31.

Medtronic (MDT) off another $3.50 after a similar loss yesterday when J.P. Morgan Brokerage said it sees a slowdown in Medtronic's second half revenues and earnings.

SBC Communications (SBC) dropping a little over $2, hurt by BellSouth's (BLS) lowered earnings expectations. We'll get to that in detail in a moment.

General Electric (GE) down $0.75, 10th in big board volume.

Agilent Technologies (A) up $5.75 on news the company is going to sell its medical devices unit to Philips Electronics (PHG) for $1.7 billion.

Georgia-Pacific (GP) off $2.63. It could be in sympathy with International Paper (IP), whose 2000 and 2001 earnings were cut yesterday by Bear Stearns.

IBM (IBM) was the biggest point gainer in the Dow today, doing well, up $3.69.

J.P. Morgan (JPM) the biggest point loser, off $3.88.

McKesson HBOC (MCK) dropped $2.63 after the Morgan Stanley Brokerage downgraded its rating from "outperform" to just "neutral."

And PPL, Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL) it used to be called, up $1.94 today, after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its "recommended" list.

Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing (BNS) the big percentage gainer today, up $1.75. The company is going to sell its metrology business to a Swedish firm for $160 million. Incidentally, metrology is the science of measurement.

Barnes & Noble (BKS) up $4.38. Yesterday it was up over $2 on a smaller than expected $0.04 third quarter loss, a penny less than expected. Today, Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney both upgraded the stock.

Titan Corp. (TTN) up $2.81. The company's SureBeam unit is expanding its inline electronic pasteurization system for IBP Corp. (IBP), specifically IBP's Omaha Steak unit.

And RehabCare Group (RHB) up another $3.94 after a similar gain yesterday on positive comments by Standard & Poor's.

Crown Cork & Seal Company (CCK) losing $2.19, big percentage drop. Bear Stearns notes the company could have problems with asbestos litigation.

And there we see BellSouth (BLS) off $7.13. Yesterday the company cut its 2001 earnings growth estimate from 13 percent down to 7 to 9 percent. That came out after the close and we did report it then.

NASDAQ trading a loss of 469 on the index today. For the week, it was off a mere 1.80, as you saw earlier. Trading volume up about 230 million shares from yesterday and about 17 stocks higher for every 20 lower.

Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list, edging up $0.13.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) gained $2.06.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $1.69.

But Juniper Networks (JNPR) moving down $7.44.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU) up $1.88, fifth in NASDAQ dollar volume.

Ariba (ARBA) fell $1.81.

Broadcom (BRCM) off another $11.50. Yesterday it was weak on a Merrill Lynch downgrade from "buy" to "accumulate."

Intel (INTC) moved up $1.50.

And Oracle (ORCL) gained a similar amount, $1.44.

And SDL (SDLI) rising $16.63.

J Baker Company (JBAK) up $2.13. Look at that percentage gain. The company is selling its footwear business for $60 million to

Footstar (FTS) corporation and it will then concentrate on its apparel sales.