SUSIE GHARIB: A new yearly low for the NASDAQ: it closed well below the psychologically important 3000 level. More downgrades on high-profile tech stocks dragged the NASDAQ down by 151 points, or 5 percent. The Dow also posted a triple-digit loss: 167 points. Wall Street's pessimistic mood continued about the outlook for earnings, the economy and the presidential election. Today, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments from both the Gore and Bush camps. Here's Darren Gersh with the latest.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. The Supreme Court of the great State of Florida is now in session.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: After the formalities, the state's chief justice raised an issue he would return to again and again: what was the deadline for making sure Florida's vote counted in the electoral college?

CHARLES WELLS, CHIEF JUSTICE, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: What's the date, the outside date that we're looking at, in which puts Florida's votes in jeopardy?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: December 12, your honor.

GERSH: Certainly markets would not welcome the idea of waiting three more weeks for a winner. Analysts say the political uncertainty gives investors, spooked by today's wave of downgrades in the tech sector, another reason to keep their money in their pockets.

LESLIE ALPERSTEIN, POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON ANALYSIS: The political uncertainty is encouraging investors, especially institutional investors, to just hold off until they have a little bit more visibility on when this presidential election is going to be decided; and that's creating an illiquid situation in the market.

GERSH: Attorneys for Governor Bush and Florida's secretary of state argued the court would have to rewrite Florida's election laws, if it decided to allow the manual recounts to proceed.

JOSEPH KLOCK, COUNSEL, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: You're going to have to do away with the secretary's discretion, and then the court enters the great universe of "chad" to decide, on the record you have, whether or not two corners are enough, or three corners are enough …

GERSH: But time and again the justices pointed out that previous cases required the court to err on the side of counting votes, whenever possible.

MAJOR HARDING, JUSTICE, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: And even though the voter did not follow the instruction, but you can tell the intent of the voter from that ballot, that that vote has to be counted.

GERSH: Which is why attorneys for the vice president argued the recounts should continue.

DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: This is a process, that if people will simply get out of the way and let it continue, can be done in a matter of days.

GERSH: A court ruling could come in the next few days, but the legal maneuvering may turn out to be moot. So far, the hand recounts have not turned up enough votes for the vice president to beat Governor Bush's 930-vote lead. 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.



11/20/00: The Possible "Earthlink" To The AOL/Time Warner Merger

PAUL KANGAS: America Online (AOL) and Time Warner (TWX) say the completion of their merger will be delayed. The delay will let regulators scrutinize a deal Time Warner announced today, letting Internet service provider EarthLink (ELNK) use its high speed cable lines. As Stephanie Woods reports, it's a key concession.

STEPHANIE WOODS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: EarthLink is America Online's largest competitor. Letting EarthLink sell Internet service over Time Warner's high speed cable lines is a major step toward getting regulators to OK the AOL-Time Warner deal.

GARRY BETTY, CEO, EARTHLINK: It gives us sufficient margin on the access side. It allows us to set our own retail prices. It allows for consumer choice. When they are wanting to get high speed access over cable, they don't have to just take what the cable company wants to provide them.

WOODS: Time Warner is also negotiating with Juno (JWEB) and Microsoft's (MSFT) MSN on similar deals. The EarthLink agreement is expected to be the model to satisfy regulators at the Federal Trade Commission.

SUSAN LYNNER, SR. POLICY ANALYST, PURDENTIAL WASHINGTON RESEARCH: They want the AOL-Time Warner combination to sign up at least three independent ISPs in fairly short order. Well, one of those berths is taken. So the competition for the extra two seems to me now to be pretty fierce.

WOODS: Both America Online and Time Warner's stocks have been under pressure since the marriage was announced in January. Analysts say it will stay that way until the deal is finally done. AOL and Time Warner have insisted all along that the merger will close in the fall. But today the companies say that won't happen until late this year or early next.

ULRIC WEIL, SR. TECHNOLOGY ANALYST, FRIEDMAN, BILLINGS, RAMSEY: People simply no longer know what to believe. It's almost like the election, what do you believe? And so now, you know, they've gone to, AOL has gone to the well so often with their assurances that people now say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just wait and see until you pull it off completely.

WOODS: It won't be until the middle of the next year before Time Warner starts to offer AOL service on its high speed cable lines. Part of the deal with EarthLink means AOL won't get a head start over competitors. Stephanie Woods, 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.



11/20/00: View From A Bridge-Investment Outlook

SUSIE GHARIB: As we've been reporting, it was a brutal day for the market. There's a lot weighing on investors as they try to figure out what their next move should be. So let's get the view from the Bridge, our roundtable discussion at BridgeNews. On our panel tonight, Deborah Lagomarsino on monetary policy, Michael Kahn on the market, and our special guest, Sherry Cooper, Chief Global Economist at Harris Bank. Michael, the NASDAQ got slammed today. How much lower is it going to go?

MICHAEL KAHN, CHIEF TECHNICAL ANALYST, BRIDGENEWS: We still have a little more on the down side. I'm looking at some single percentage type number, going to about low 2700 area. There's a trend line there that us technicians like to follow. So, a little more damage to be done.

GHARIB: Not the kind of trend investors want to hear about. Sherry, glad to have you on the program with us. They say that the stock market is an indicator of how the economy is going to go six to nine months. Is the economic recovery in trouble?

SHERRY COOPER, CHIEF GLOBAL ECONOMIST, HARRIS BANK: Well, it is. I'm not expecting recession but we certainly are seeing a slowdown now. There has been a substantial slowing in consumer spending as well as in business activity. Manufacturing, especially basic industries, is already in recession. So the economy is not looking anywhere near as positive as it once was.

GHARIB: Deborah, I've been hearing other economists talking the way that Sherry has been and they are talking more and more about a rate cut some time early next year. What are you finding?

DEBORAH LAGOMARSINO, MONETARY POLICY REPORTER, BRIDGENEWS: Well, when you look at the statement from the November 15th meeting, they certainly gave the indication they expect growth is going to slow to below trend in the near term. That paves the way, really, for possibly for them to shift to a neutral bias, which means they see the risks as balanced, possibly as soon as the December meeting or even early next year. But I'm hearing a rate cut is still a little ways off. The Fed's going to want to see more signs the economy is slowing, the unemployment rate is still very low, the job market is still very tight. They're going to want to see that loosen up a little bit before they move.

GHARIB: What about this ongoing election mess? To what extent is that going to influence what the Fed should or shouldn't do?

COOPER: Well, it certainly does change sentiment. I mean people are just stunned by this and they're not doing anything. So investors have just moved to the sidelines and business activities are going slow as a result of it. I think ultimately the Fed will probably have to ease sooner rather than later.

GHARIB: Well, but given this scenario, Michael, any chances of a year end rally?

KAHN: Well, this issue of the uncertainty of the election certainly has put a damper on the market. The market hates uncertainty. But I think this coverage is so widespread and everybody is looking at it, that the rally may have already been factored into things and we may not get that big pop. The bounce, yes, big pop I don't know.

LAGOMARSINO: I would add one thing in terms of the election. The fact that the race is so close, even though we don't yet know who the victor is and the fact that the Republicans won by such a narrow margin in Congress, it will be tough for either of these candidates to get through their tax cut plan or spending increase plan, which people were expecting could have been more stimulating for the economy. So in terms of the Fed, that takes on a potential stimulative force down the road.

GHARIB: What impact does all this have on the dollar? It's held up pretty well, Sherry.

COOPER: Remarkably so. I mean wouldn't you think foreigners would be very nervous about putting money into our country right now? I think the dollar probably is going to soften and that's going to be further negative activity for our bond and stock markets and that's bad for the consumer. The NASDAQ is down 40 percent from its peak. People are not feeling as flush as they did last Christmas.

LAGOMARSINO: And the Fed said in the minutes of its October meeting that if the dollar were to possibly weaken, this would intensify their concerns about inflation because the dollar's strength has really helped keep a lid on inflation recently.

KAHN: And charts are definitely looking at a top in the dollar right now.

GHARIB: All right, let's go back to technology. It was the engine for our economic boom. It's been slowing down. Is the slowdown temporary or is it longer term?

COOPER: Well, I think over the very long-term the technology sector will continue to grow rapidly. But over the near term we're starving the technology sector of what it needs most, and that's capital, cheap capital. The IPO market is dead. The junk bond market is dead. And banks themselves are making it tougher to borrow money. So we are going to see continued slowing.

GHARIB: So just to wrap it up, let's find out what the three of you will be monitoring over the next couple of weeks. Michael, you start us off.

KAHN: We're just going to be watching to see if we get any kind of leadership in the stock market other than, say, utilities and real estate investment trusts. We need to see something emerge as a leader before the rest of the market can follow.

GHARIB: Deborah?

LAGOMARSINO: Retail sales to consumer, does the slowdown continue? And number two, Greenspan speaks in early December. What does he have to say about all this?

GHARIB: Sherry?

COOPER: I'm going to watch commodity prices. The softening in commodity prices outside of energy foreshadowed the slowdown in the global economy.

GHARIB: All right, thank you very much, Deborah and Michael from Bridge, and our special guest, Sherry Cooper of Harris Bank. ]

COOPER: Thank you.

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.



11/20/00:Preparing For College-Part 1: Campus Studies

SUSIE GHARIB: The calendar says November, but if you have children who are seniors in high school, now is the time to start thinking about sending them to college next fall. Higher education is a good investment, but it's expensive. Tonight we begin a special series of reports on preparing for college. Diane Eastabrook kicks it off with a look at the academic factors to consider.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Grinnell College in central Iowa isn't much larger than a lot of high schools. It has roughly 1,300 students, but Grinnell is often listed as one of the nation's best liberal arts colleges. Here, students like Ben Morgan have the opportunity to work one on one with professors on independent study projects.

BEN MORGAN, STUDENT: You almost feel like a lot of people would have to go to a graduate setting to get this kind of like close attention or training.

EASTABROOK: Academic experts say two hallmarks of a good college are small class sizes and professors who actually teach undergraduates, rather than spend full time on research. Grinnell has tried to incorporate both.

RUSSEL OSGOOD, PRESIDENT, GRINNELL COLLEGE: That's what our stock in trade is. All of our introductory courses are 20 people, roughly, or less. In a large research university you'll find introductory classes taught by wonderful people that are 600, 900, 250, maybe 100 if you're lucky.

EASTABROOK: But some research universities do offer smaller faculty led courses. Northwestern University, just outside of Chicago, is one of them. With 16,000 full and part time students, Northwestern is considered one of the top national universities. Unlike students at small liberal arts colleges, Northwestern students can receive a more focused education.

REBECCA DIXON, ASSOCIATE PROVOST, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: You have the great variety at a university of our size and you also have the advantage to change your mind. If you started out in arts and sciences but you prefer to switch to electrical engineering or switch to another field, then you have it there. You don't necessarily have to change institution in order to find that advantage.

EASTABROOK: While liberal arts colleges and universities may differ in size and mission, the really good ones share the same qualities. Here are some questions prospective students should ask. What is the class ranking of high school students accepted? What is the dropout rate among freshmen? What is the percentage of students who graduate? Does the school offer career counseling throughout the student's tenure or only during his or her senior year? Loren Pope, who has researched colleges for more than 35 years, says students sometimes offer the best insight into a school.

LOREN POPE, DIRECTOR, COLLEGE PLACEMENT BUREAU: Go into the cafeteria. Sit down at lunchtime at a table where six or eight kids are sitting and for openers ask them what are the chief gripes around here? Why do people leave? If you came back here five years from now, would you have good enough friends on the faculty that you might have dinner or spend a night at a faculty member's home?

EASTABROOK: Pope says perhaps the best way to judge a college or university is by the kind of people it turns out, not by the kind of people of people it takes in. The success students achieve upon graduation may ultimately determine the true value of their education. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Grinnell, Iowa.

GHARIB: And if you'd like more information about selecting a college, be sure to watch NBR's special Thanksgiving night program, How To Find the Right College and Pay For It.

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.




11/20/2000: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened broadly lower today, partly because of that uncertainty over what the Florida Supreme Court would decide about the vote recount. But the technology stocks were badly undermined after the Morgan Stanley Brokerage cut its price target for Cisco (CSCO) stock from 90 down to $75 per share, while downgrading Juniper Networks (JNPR) as well as Redback Networks (RBAK). By 10:30 this morning, the Dow Industrial Average was down 99 points, and the NASDAQ Index posted a 113 ¾-point loss. The market continued to lose ground for the rest of the morning and through mid-session, suffering from a buyers' boycott and further weakness in high-tech favorites, like Oracle (ORCL) which fell over $4 on news its executive vice president, Gary Bloom is leaving to become CEO of Veritas Software (VRTS). At 1:30 this afternoon, the Dow was off 162 points; the NASDAQ Index was down nearly 156. As investors focused on the proceedings in the Florida Supreme Court, the market showed little further change for the rest of the session, and the Dow Industrial Average closed with a loss of 167.22, that's 1.6 percent; now stands at 10,462.65. In today's 180-point trading range, the Dow closed down 167 points from the best level of the session; only up 13 points from the low. The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 151.55 ending at 2875.64. In its 167-point trading range, the Composite settled only 15 points above its worst level of the session.

Big board volume down considerably from Friday at 953 3/4 million shares. No contest between up and down volume. About 400 million more of the down variety.

The Dow Transport Index down nearly 21 1/2.

Utility Index lost only .89.

And the Closing Tick just mildly bearish at -179.

Standard & Poor's 500 off 25 1/10 points.

Just over a 15-point on the 100.

The MidCap 400 off 11.82.

Bridge Futures Price Index rose exactly one point.

New York Stock Exchange Composite off nearly 9 1/2.

6 2/3-point drop in the Value Line.

Russell2000 Small Cap off 12 1/3 points.

And the broadly-based Wilshire 5000 down 298.61, or 2.4 percent.

The growing election anxiety led more investors into the bond market today, especially after Lehman Brothers Brokerage recommended using any cash on hand to buy quality debt securities. The market also benefited from the continuing downward spiral in the stock market as buyers sought a safe haven for their money.

As a result, tax-free and corporate issues closed with gains of 1/8 to 1/4 point on average.

And the Treasury market also ended with moderate gains across the board.

5-year notes up 4/32.

The Bellwether 10-year note up 8/32, bringing the yield down to 5.67.

30-year bond up 11/32.

And the Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index up almost 2 1/2 points.

Let's review that Dow Industrial Average, off 167 1/4 points or 1.6 percent. Almost twice as many decliners as advancers. Only 68 new yearly highs and 127 new lows.

Nortel Networks (NT) for the fifth consecutive session topped the active list today on 23 1/4 million shares, up $1.19, a little rebound after losing 66 percent of its value over the last six weeks. And after the close, NorTel also said it's confident it will achieve fourth quarter revenue and earnings projections.

AT & T (T) down $0.69, a new low for the year.

GE (GE) lost $1.81.

Lucent Technologies (LU) down $0.25.

Citigroup, weak financials, down $2 a share.

America Online (AOL) dropped $2.47.

Texas Instruments (TXN) off $1.44. Lehman Brothers cut earnings estimates on that stock.

Coca-Cola (KO), there you see it, down $4.88 on the talk with Quaker Oats and also Salomon Smith Barney downgraded Coke's stock from "buy" to just "outperform."

Compaq Computer (CPQ) lost $0.65.

And Tyco International (TYC) fell $1.88 even though Merrill Lynch named it a focus one stock. It's just that kind of a market.

Agilent Technologies (A) down $2.75. But after the close, fourth quarter earnings came in at $0.66, up from last year's $0.39, and $0.13 above the Street estimate. In after hand recounts trading, Agilent was as high as $46.13 a share.

ALCATEL (ALA), the big French telecommunications company, caught on the high tech downdraft, off $5.75.

Gateway (GTW) down $3.53. The Wit SoundView Brokerage downgraded the stock from "buy" to just a "hold."

General Motors (GM) one of the major casualties in the Dow, off $4.31. The company says its fourth quarter vehicle sales will drop four to seven percent from last year. Alex Brown Brokerage cut fourth quarter earnings estimates by $0.10, down to $1.65 a share.

Hanson PLC (HAN), the big international building materials conglomerate, off $1.38. The company sees 2000 year profits below last year's.

And then Wellpoint Health (WLP) off $8 a share after the Prudential Securities Brokerage downgraded it from "strong buy" to just a "hold."

Old Kent Financial (OK), you heard about earlier, getting a buyout bid that's worth about $34.32 in stock of Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) today. It's about .74 shares of Fifth Third.

And McMoran Exploration (MMR) up $1.10. The company announced a natural gas discovery near Eugene Island, 25 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

Teradyne (TER) up $3.06. It's going to buy back up to 10 million of its own shares.

Humana (HUM) the big percentage loser, off $2.63. Prudential Securities cut this from a "strong buy" to just a "hold."

And Avnet (AVT) off $4.75. At the company's annual shareholders meeting today in New York, CEO Roy Vallee guided second quarter earnings estimates lower, from $0.85 to as low as $0.75, he said, if the current conditions continue. It's a major semiconductor distributor.

And Celera Genomics Group (CRA) down $7, caught in that biotech sell-off today.

NASDAQ trading, a loss of 151 1/2 points or five percent. This Index is now down 43 percent from its March 10th record high at 5,048. Trading volume down about 40 million shares from last Friday. And look at this, only 956 up, 2,946 on the down side.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) down $32.50 a share. Morgan Stanley, as I mentioned, downgraded "strong buy" to just "outperform."

Microsoft (MSFT) losing $1.88.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $1.50.

And then Sun Micro (SUNW) off $7.69.

Oracle (ORCL) lost $4.06. Gary Bloom, Executive V.P. going to Veritas (VRTS), as I mentioned.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU) fell $5.56.

SDL (SDLI) off $15.44.

A $0.38 drop in Intel (INTC), they introduced a new chip, incidentally.

And Brocade Communications (BRCD) off $31.75.

Ariba (ARBA) off $8.69, 10th