SUSIE GHARIB: Stocks finished higher for the second day in a row after shaking off a mid-day slump. The Dow rose 56 points, and the NASDAQ inched up two. Despite the rally, the ongoing wave of earnings warnings, plus uncertainty about the economy, continues to weigh heavy on investor confidence. Meanwhile, consumer confidence is at a five and a half year low. The Conference Board said today that its consumer confidence Index dropped to 97.6 in September, from a revised 114 in August. It's the biggest monthly drop since October 1990, during the Persian Gulf war. The survey showed that confidence was already on the decline even before the terrorist attacks on September 11.

LYNN FRANCO, DIRECTOR, THE CONFERENCE BOARD: I think the key here really is that there is no significant difference between the results before September 11th and after. The economy was weak and consumers are telling us it's even weaker now and we don't really see a turn around in that any time soon.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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.

09/25/01: The Travel Industry's Post Terrorist Attack Trauma

SUSIE GHARIB: Well, that decline in consumer confidence is hitting the travel industry hard. The terrorist attacks have caused many Americans to cancel their travel plans. Industry leaders were in Washington today looking for ways to restore faith that it's now safe to travel. And as Darren Gersh reports, there are signs activity is beginning to pick up.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It is 89 degrees in south Florida today, but there is no problem finding a table by the beach. In this postcard perfect vacation spot, the only thing missing is people on vacation. Hotels are reporting fewer cancellations in the last few days, and reservation lines are beginning to ring again, but the damage has been done. The south Florida economy has already lost more than half a billion dollars in the last two weeks, and the region expects a 40 percent drop in business through December.

NICKI GROSSMAN, PRES., FT. LAUDERDALE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU: It isn't the weather. It isn't something that will improve overnight. It's not the threat of a hurricane, that you can feel adventurous and take a chance. It's not the value of the dollar in Europe. This is a new impact on tourism. It's called terrorism. It's something we have never had to deal with before.

GERSH: In Washington, hotel, airline and other travel executives met with Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to talk about how the terrorist attacks have hurt tourism across the country. The group talked about possible tax incentives, but agreed the real issues are psychological.

DONALD EVANS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The most important thing that we talked about was, in my view, is continuing to deliver the message to the American people that there is every reason for them to have confidence in the safety and security of this industry.

GERSH: But for the last two weeks, at least, Americans have been staying home. Hotel occupancy nationwide is down 30 to 40 percent. Marriott (MAR) is asking workers to take paid leave or work just two days a week. But there are some signs of stability.

J.W. MARRIOTT, CHAIRMAN & CEO, MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL: Many of the conventions that were scheduled for October are holding. And the question is now of course how many people will come to those conventions and we are doing everything we can to encourage attendance.

GERSH: Airline travel is off 45 percent over last year, but reservations are creeping higher. Immediately after the attacks car rentals fell 60 percent.

ANDREW TAYLOR, PRESIDENT & CEO, ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR: It is now-and I'm encouraged by this-it is now off about 30 percent, so we're seeing gradual improvement here.

GERSH: But a tourism recovery will have to come without special help from Washington. Senators considering a stimulus package today made clear one industry bail out was enough.

SEN. MAX BAUCUS, FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We've done airlines, I'm not sure how appropriate it is to go much farther, at least not at this point.

GERSH: But Congress is considering a broader economic stimulus package. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Finance Committee at least $100 billion may be needed, but he urged Congress to get a better read on the economy before acting. Darren Gersh, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," Washington.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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.

09/25/01: Market Outlook With Neil Soss, Chief U.S. Economist for Credit Suisse First Boston

SUSIE GHARIB: Our guest tonight says the U.S. economy is definitely in a recession and it predated the September 11 terrorist attacks. He is Neil Soss, Chief U.S. Economist for Credit Suisse First Boston, and he joins us live from his firm's trading floor. Nice to see you, Neil.

NEIL SOSS, CHIEF ECONOMIST, CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON: Thank you.

GHARIB: Let's first starting talking about this consumer confidence report that came out today. As you look over the information in that report, what is it telling you about the economy?

SOSS: This decline in consumer confidence is reminiscent of what was happening in the summer of 1990 and the period that followed. You'd had an erosion. The economy was becoming more vulnerable to a recession. And then along came the shock that turned that vulnerability into the reality of a recession. That was true in 1990. I think it's true again now. Regionally, it's quite interesting, there was a decline in just about every region of the country. Most intense, of course, in the mid-Atlantic states where this tragedy occurred, but only one region didn't have a significant decline in confidence and that was the Great Plains states. So this is a national event.

GHARIB: Yes, but this, these terrorist attacks really have not been factored into this report in great detail. I mean most of the surveys were done prior to the September report. So I guess looking ahead to October, the October report will probably show more of a decline. Do you agree?

SOSS: I think you have to fear and anticipate that outcome now, yes.

GHARIB: When you say that the economy is already in a recession, how bad is it when you compare it with previous recessions?

SOSS: Well, I think the recession is going to be relatively mild. Let's be clear here, recessions are never fun. But by the standards of these things, I think this one is going to be relatively mild.

GHARIB: Why do you say that?

SOSS: We've got a lot of fiscal stimulus already on its way. A big difference from 1990 when you may recall taxes were being raised right into the teeth of that recession. Back then you had real estate in a lot of trouble. Here, as was just reported, we are at a record high level of existing home resales and the banking system is in very strong shape and I think probably pretty eager to keep supporting the mortgage market. So those are two important differences. Oil is another important difference. In the 1990-91 period, in fact, in a couple of the recessions that preceded that in the '70s and '80s, a big spike in oil prices and gasoline prices was part of the process. Here it doesn't seem to be.

GHARIB: Let me ask you-

SOSS: So I think it's going to be mild.

GHARIB: Let me ask you about Fed action. You are predicting that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by another half a percent next week. To what extent are lower interest rates going to help the situation here?

SOSS: Well, I think the only contribution they really make is to allow business to carry inventories a little bit more comfortably. Away from that, I think the real stimulus is going to come from the fiscal policy. In fact, I think these low interest rates- some of your viewers may be sympathetic to this as well-these low interest rates have a down side in the sense that they make it more difficult for people to achieve target levels of savings for the future.

GHARIB: OK, let me ask you real quickly before we go, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said today on Capitol Hill to the Senate Finance Committee that for fiscal, a congressional fiscal package to really work it has to be $100 billion worth. What do you think of that? Real quickly. We've got just a few seconds.

SOSS: Well, I think fiscal stimulus is the right solution in this case and I think the story of the next five years is going to be a bigger role for government in our economy courtesy of this shock.

GHARIB: OK. All right, thank you very much for talking to us this evening.

SOSS: Thank you for having me.

GHARIB: We've been speaking with Neil Sass of C.S. First Boston.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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.

09/25/01: The 15K Helps Sun Microsystem To Get Back to Business

PAUL KANGAS: It was back to business today, more or less, for Sun Microsystems (SUNW). In New York City this morning, the company unveiled a new line of computer servers. But as Scott Gurvey reports, the terrorist attacks were still on the minds of everyone at the company.

SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It should have been a typical high tech product announcement: Sun Microsystems topping off its server computer line with the 15K, a unit the company says is three times more powerful than anything in its class today. But it was far from typical. This was the first event of its kind in New York since the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center two weeks ago. The packed Hudson Theatre was quiet as a somber CEO Scott McNealy reported that Phil Rosenzweig, one of the company's top engineers, died in the attack. He had been a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11. But the tension lifted as McNealy told how all 346 employees assigned to Sun's World Trade Center office managed to escape. And he proudly described how they dispossessed themselves and immediately took up the task of helping customers.

SCOTT McNEALY, CEO, SUN MICROSYSTEMS: The customers didn't know how to get a hold of them. They had no phone. Your phone numbers were calling dust. They had no workstations, no email. They had lost all their files and records and all the rest of it and we had to set up disaster recovery in Bloomfield. These folks, I couldn't even give them orders. I couldn't fly out to see them. I was grounded. So they had to go off and do it all on their own. And they just on their own just kind of went home, showered, came back, didn't grieve, didn't, you know, they weren't allowed to be traumatized. They had to go help folks. So the victims had to go help the other victims.

GURVEY: Sun shipped 10 truckloads of equipment to customers setting up emergency office sites. With airplanes grounded, Sun employees drove the trucks. It was all done on a handshake without purchase orders or other red tape. McNealy said as Sun officials debated calling off the product announcement, he decided to call New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for advice. The Mayor told him Sun should come as planned and help the city get back to work. Sun executives are contributing millions to relief efforts. By the end of the presentation today, McNealy was indulging in his trademark one line put downs of competitors and the audience was laughing.

MCNEALY: Now I feel a lot better. And Rudy said come do what you do. This is what I do, gang.

GURVEY: Sun is in a quiet period prior to an earnings announcement, so McNealy would not give any specific numbers except to say that Sun, like many other technology companies, usually gets a big burst of orders in September and that for the last two weeks, business around the world has been at a virtual standstill. Scott Gurvey, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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.

09/25/01: Commentary: The Work Support System

SUSIE GHARIB: There's an old saying that going through the worst brings out the best in people. Well, tonight's commentator says that has certainly been the case in the last two weeks. Here's Suzy Wetlaufer, Editor of the "Harvard Business Review."

SUZY WETLAUFER, COMMENTARY: It's been two weeks now since President Bush exhorted Americans to get back to business. It was, he said, nothing short of a patriotic act to get into our offices and work. People everywhere complied and that's no surprise. Work has always been a kind of communal therapy. It distracts, it normalizes and eventually it heals. But there are no managerial rulebooks for times like these. True, there's a lot written about crisis leadership, but this isn't a crisis, it's universal trauma. Yet look around and you see business people everywhere improvising, many very admirably, about how to lead when everyone is feeling fragile, in the best case, or falling to pieces, in the worst. These leaders are struggling, too, of course. But most are doing that privately, so that in front of the troops, so to speak, they can serve as sources of positive energy. Bravo to them. A note of caution to these noble souls, though, and it comes from The Compassion Lab, a group of distinguished academics who study organizational dynamics. Their research shows that people who help others heal at work, they call them toxic handlers, typically nurture unrelentingly until one day, exhausted, they break. Some quit. Others just stop functioning productively. I asked members of The Compassion Lab what we could do to support these toxic handlers as the country follows the President's orders and gets back to business as usual. The answer was simple: comfort them in return. In times like these, we need the emotional strength of our leaders more than ever. We cannot forget, they need ours, too. I'm Suzy Wetlaufer.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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.

09/25/01: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened moderately higher today in an extension of yesterday's long awaited and welcome rally which lifted the Dow Industrial Average 368 points, or 4.5 percent, while the NASDAQ Index jumped 5.4 percent. At the outset of trading, the Dow rose another 90 points, and NASDAQ was up 28. But that sharp drop in September consumer confidence soon cooled buying enthusiasm, as investors were reminded that the outlook for the economy and corporate earnings was anything but upbeat. The market slowly faded for the rest of the morning and the Dow posted only a 38-point gain at noontime when the NASDAQ was up just 10. The selling picked up and pushed the Dow to an 80-point deficit by 2:00 p.m. and NASDAQ was off 13 at that stage. But upon seeing relatively little volume on the downturn and after the retailing sector suddenly came alive on the upside, the market bounced back and the Dow Industrial Average closed with a gain of 56.11 at 8659.97. The NASDAQ Index eked out a gain of 2.24, putting it at 1501.64, but above 1500. Trading volume down a little bit from yesterday to 1.6 billion shares, but about 340 million more shares of up volume than down volume.

Dow Transport Index up or down nearly 37 1/4 points.

The Utilities fell nearly 3 points.

But the Closing Tick was rather bullish at +542.

Standard & Poor's 500 up 8.82.

Almost a 5 point gain in the S&P 100.

The MidCap 400 up exactly 1 1/2.

And the Bridge Futures Price Index fell about 1 1/2.

New York Stock Exchange Composite up just over 4 1/2 points.

A little over 3/4 point gain in the Value Line.

Russell2000 Small Cap up 2.39.

And the broadly based Wilshire 5000 rising just over 69 1/4 points.

That sharp drop in consumer confidence gave bonds a boost because it fueled hopes for another aggressive interest rate cut by the Fed. The day's rally however was hindered by another report showing a solid 5.8 percent rise in existing home sales in August to a record high level. The stock market's firmness also denied bonds of safe haven buying.

Tax free and corporate issues closed up only about an 1/8 point on average and Treasuries also ended with only small gains. A 2/32 rise in the 5-year note.

10-year note up 2/32.

30-year bond up 3/32.

And the Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index gained just about a 1 3/4.

Boeing's stock today was up $1.53 to close at $34.33. And that was about seven to eight points of the reason why the Dow Industrial Average managed to come in with a gain of just over 56 points. Boeing is, of course, a member of the Dow 30. The broader market higher nicely. For every 18 stocks higher there were about 12 lower. But only 23 new yearly highs and 148 new lows.

General Electric (GE) once again topped the active list today on 32 ½ million shares, edging up $0.30.

Just as AOL Time Warner (AOL) did. And then, of course, that's even despite Time Warner's after the close comments yesterday where they lowered earnings guidance.

EMC (EMC) up $0.15. Dell Computer (DELL) is going to renew the sale of EMC's memory storage products. It will be a resale deal.

Citigroup © edging up $0.05 a share.

And the NASDAQ Qs or Cubes, as you prefer, a $0.09 gain there. Wal-Mart (WMT) gained $1.12. USB Warburg issued a "strong buy" on Wal-Mart and boosted its price target from $50 to $58 a share.

Disney (DIS) down $0.44.

AT&T (T) moved up $0.94.

Pfizer (PFE) a $0.95 and tenth in big board volume.

Compaq Computer (CPQ), which rose $0.31.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) down $0.76. The company said today it's going to cut its workforce by 2,300,m or 15 percent, and close two of its oldest chip plants down in Austin, Texas.

Agilent Technologies (A) down $1.22. The ABN Amro Brokerage began coverage with just a "hold" rating, saying that it sees a better entry point to own the stock.

American Standard (ASD) tumbled $3.48 a share. The company cut its own $1.42 third quarter earnings estimate down to $1.23 a share.

Dow Jones & Company (DJ) losing $2.13 after Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "market outperformer" to just a "market performer."

And Merck (MRK) lost $1.54. The FDA warned the company's advertising of its arthritis drug Vioxx is misleading.

And the New York Times (NYT) stock down $1.97 after Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "market outperform" to just "market perform."

Lamson & Session (LMS) the big percentage gainer of the day, up $1.40, apparently optimism about third quarter results which are scheduled for release tomorrow.

United Auto Group (UAG), this is the nation's second largest auto dealer, and it reaffirmed it will earn $0.38 a share in its third quarter, which ends this month.

Conseco (CNC) up $1.21, apparently very positive reaction to the company naming William Shea as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Also, Salomon Smith Barney upgraded it from "neutral" to "outperform."

And Orient-Express Hotels Limited (OEH) up $1.96. The company is going to buy back one million of its own shares. And separately, the firm's chairman and president will each purchase shares themselves.

Ackerley Group (AK), the big advertising firm, down $1.78. The company's policy is not to comment on usual stock movements, so no comment at all there.

General Motors H (GM) down $1.15. An ABN Amro analyst said he doubts whether News Corp. (NWS) will end up acquiring GMH.

NASDAQ trading, a gain of 2.24, not big but still a plus sign. Trading volume moved up a bit from yesterday to 2.18 billion shares and 25 more issues closed higher than lower.

Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list, down $0.71.

Followed by Intel (INTC), up $0.37.

The