Program: Thursday, December 4, 2003

President Bush Scraps The Steel Tariffs
Commerce Secretary Don Evans Reacts To Tariff Rollback
Holiday Gift Givers Aren't Being Mousey About Online Shopping
Commentary: Greed Isn't Good For Mutual Fund Managers
Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Market Stats

12/04/03: President Bush Scraps The Steel Tariffs

SUSIE GHARIB: No more steel tariffs, that`s the word from President Bush today. In a major policy reversal, the President announced that as of midnight tonight, punitive tariffs on steel imports will be lifted. President Bush's decision to scrap the tariffs 16 months ahead of schedule comes after intense pressure from global trading partners and American steel users. Stephanie Woods reports.

STEPHANIE WOODS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Facing billions of dollars in retaliation threats from the European union and Japan, President Bush lifted the tariffs on steel imports. The President stressed that 20 months of tariffs bought the steel industry time to restructure.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I acted. I acted to give the steel industry time to adjust. I acted in time for us to say to the world that we will trade, but we want to trade in a fair way.

WOODS: The picture now is brighter for U.S. Steel (X) than it was in March of 2002, when steel prices were at 20 year lows. The industry has undergone major consolidation, reducing production costs and increasing productivity. Ailing steel companies have wiped pension liabilities off their books and the industry has begun to see profits. But steelworkers see things differently. They point out that 208,000 steel employees have lost their health care and many of the labor agreements made in the last year a half assumed three years of tariffs.

LEN SHINDEL, STAND-UP FOR STEEL: This was a promise for three years that we would have some relief from unfairly traded steel so we could complete the consolidation. And now it`s being set aside. And our members feel betrayed.

WOODS: The administration says with the economy picking up steam, the costs of the tariffs began to outweigh the benefits. Companies who buy steel say continuing the tariffs would have been a body blow to manufacturers.

LEWIS LEIBOWITZ, CONSUMING INDUSTRIES TRADE ACTION COALITION: In the face of a tight market, which makes prices go up, the tariffs continuing, in effect, which would have dried up imports, would have been devastating to steel consumers.

WOODS: Analysts say the lifting of the tariffs will have little impact on U.S. steel makers. They say a weak dollar and the soaring costs of international shipping have done more to boost domestic steel than the tariffs. Stephanie Woods, 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

12/04/03: Commerce Secretary Don Evans Reacts To Tariff Rollback

SUSIE GHARIB: President Bush's lifting of tariffs on steel imports. Our Washington Bureau Chief Darren Gersh talked with Commerce Secretary Don Evans about today`s steel decision. And he began by asking him about the impact of the administration's plans to continue monitoring steel imports.

DON EVANS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The industry will have real time information as to imports. It's a system we put in place when we began the 201 safeguard. We're going to leave that system in place. In fact, we`re going to expand that system to cover more than just the products that were covered by the 201 safeguard. So, yes, the system will be expanded, it will be extended and it will provide the industry real time information to monitor imports coming in to this country.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Now, will it make it more difficult for imports to come in or it`s just going to be a monitoring system?

EVANS: Just a monitoring system. You monitor imports. So if you see any import surges, then there are steps that the industry can take to deal with that. They can -- there are trade laws and trade remedies that are available to them. And it would give them early warning system, if you will. They`ll have real time information to deal with that issue.

GERSH: Now, one industry CEO was saying to me after all the blood, as he put it, that people have given to consolidate the industry, that he said -- as he put it, there would be holy hell if the administration didn`t act if this monitoring system saw a surge in imports. So the industry seems to see this monitoring as basically a commitment by the administration to take further action if there`s an import surge. Is it a commitment?

EVANS: It's action for the industry to take. We're going to provide information for them so they can monitor the information and if they decide to use that to petition the government, then we will certainly listen to their petition. We will listen -- we will consider their petition and we will vigorously enforce our trade laws.

GERSH: Now, there are now still 31 steel companies that are in bankruptcy, representing about 10 percent of the industry and about 30,000 workers. I've been told that this decision would make it harder for those companies to come out of bankruptcy, to get the financing they need to come out of bankruptcy. Do you think that's a fair statement?

EVANS: I would say what`s a fair statement is the President made a good policy decision 21 months ago and he made a good policy decision again today. When he put the safeguards in place 21 months ago, he said it would be temporary. And he didn`t put a specific time period on it. What he said was he would continue to monitor the industry, see if the economic circumstances changed and would warn a lifting of the tariffs. We`ve monitored the industry over the last 21 months. The ITC reported to the President in the fall that, yes, indeed, the industry was much stronger, it had restructured, it had consolidated, it was once again globally competitive and that imports were back down to 1993 levels, that exports were at record highs, that productivity was up dramatically in the industry, that costs were down dramatically in the industry. So the industry was much stronger than it was 21 months ago.

GERSH: But with 10 percent of the industry still in bankruptcy, is it fair to say that the restructuring is finished? Because there are some people in the industry who say, well, we needed more time.

EVANS: I think the that restructuring of the industry will, in some areas, continue. I think that we have seen prices stabilize. When he put the safeguard in place 21 months ago, prices were at a 20 year low. They`re above those 20 year lows now. As I said, in fact, prices outside the United States are higher than they are inside the United States. So if you look at the basic fundamentals of the industry, they`re just much stronger today than 21 months ago, as are the basic fundamentals of the domestic economy.

GERSH: There are a lot of free market conservatives and even Republicans who say that this decision hurt the United States` reputation is a free trader. What would you say to those people?

EVANS: Well, I don't know of anybody that's more of a free trader than the President, or than I am. But it has to be fair trade. You have to be a level playing field. You have to be able to look workers in the eye and tell them that they're on a level playing field with other field with other workers around the world. And so this was a strong signal to the rest of the world that, yes, America is -- favors free trade and open trade, but also, it has to be fair trade.

GERSH: Secretary Evans, thank you.

EVANS: Thank you.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

12/04/03: Holiday Gift Givers Aren't Being Mousey About Online Shopping

SUSIE GHARIB: The nation's retailers had a mixed start to the crucial holiday shopping season, ringing up mediocre sales for the month of November. But there is one bright spot this year: online shopping. As Suzanne Pratt reports, more Americans are clicking the mouse to buy their holiday gifts.

SUZANNE PRATT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: This holiday season, a growing number of consumers will let their fingers do the shopping by making their purchases online. According to Jupiter Research, online retail sales are expected to total nearly $17 billion in November and December. That`s a 21 percent increase over online consumer spending last year, most of which is coming from first time Internet shoppers. Not bad when you consider analysts are hoping sales at brick and mortar stores will grow four to six percent this year. Experts say convenience is motivating shoppers to crowd the Internet as well as the malls this holiday season.

PATTI FREEMAN EVANS, RETAIL ANALYST, JUPITER RESEARCH: I can shop when I want to. I can shop when the stores are closed. I don`t have to actually hassle with going into the store. I can find things easier online than maybe going from store to store to store offline. I also can find things online that aren`t maybe as readily available in my local market.

PRATT: Experts also say offline retailers are finally getting the message that online shopping can complement their sales, not cannibalize them. And they say Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Land`s End and Wal-Mart (WMT) are good examples of retailers that understand it doesn`t matter how consumers make their purchases as long as they buy from them. As for what's hot online this holiday season, experts say apparel, books, toys and consumer electronics top most shopping lists.

PATRICK GATES, SENIOR V.P. ECOMMERCE STRATEGY, AMERICA ONLINE: They're buying from brands that they know and trust like, you know, The Gap (GPS) and L.L. Bean. So they`re very, very comfortable with these companies and I think that`s helping fuel a lot of growth for these categories online.

PRATT: Even with the solid growth in Internet shopping, online sales still account for only three percent of overall retail sales. But in five years that number is expected to swell to six percent of all consumer purchases. Suzanne Pratt, 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

12/04/03: Commentary: Greed Isn't Good For Mutual Fund Managers

SUSIE GHARIB: In tonight`s commentary, how greed landed the mutual fund industry in hot water. Here`s Allan Sloan, Wall Street Editor of ""Newsweek.""

ALLAN SLOAN, COMMENTARY: If there`s an award for the dumbest industry in America, the mutual fund industry has it locked up. Talk about ruining a wonderful business. If you`re a mutual fund company, all you`ve got to do is sit there and wait for money to come pouring in from retirement plans, college savings plans and people who want to put money in stocks instead of getting two percent interest from banks. The more assets a fund company has, the more money it makes. But instead of thinking long-term, some greedy fools put the whole industry at risk to make a few extra fees. Talk about dumb. Mutual fund companies have two things to sell: trust and investment performance. Letting favored investors skim money from regular investors, that`s what market timing means here, undermines both these things. It shows that the fund company can`t be trusted and it hurts investment performance and doesn`t even make much money. I just don`t get it. The fund industry and the SEC are running around trying to restore faith with a whole lot of rules and legal mumbo jumbo. I happen to agree with Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general who kicked off this scandal. Instead of writing new rules, let`s enforce the rules we have, which require fund managers to treat fund stockholders like investors to whom they have fiduciary duty, not treat them like suckers. Anyone who`s not smart enough to understand this is too stupid to manage my money or yours. I`m Allan Sloan.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

12/04/03: "Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News"

PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher amid optimism that the market would make another attempt to lift the Dow above 10,000 and the NASDAQ Composite above 2,000 after yesterday`s market rally failed to surmount those levels. An hour into the session, the Dow was up 37 points. The NASDAQ gained 4. Stocks had a hard time pushing higher after today`s report that new weekly jobless benefit claims rose by 11,000, to a three week high. A mixed scenario for November sales by the big retailers didn`t make for much bullish enthusiasm either. But the market did make a nice late day comeback with the help of upbeat comments from IBM (IBM) and hopes tomorrow`s jobs report would be very positive. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 57.40, at 9,930.82. The NASDAQ Composite gained just over 8 1/2 points, to 1,968.80. The Standard & Poor`s 500 Index rose almost 5 points, to 1,069.72. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note climbed 9/32, to 99 2/32, pulling the yield down to 4.37 percent.

The most active big board issue, trading 19.3 million shares, Lucent Technologies (LU) edging $0.04 higher.

Followed by G.E. (GE), down $0.37.

Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.42.

Motorola (MOT) a $0.30 loss.

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) was up $0.33. The company reported November same store sales rose 3.9 percent.

Best Buy (BBY) down $3.27. Third quarter same store sales did rise 8.6 percent, but the company said third quarter earnings will be $0.37 a share at best. There`s a Street estimate for -- was for $0.39 at the high end. CIBC Brokerage downgraded it from "outperform" to "sector perform."

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) down $0.63.

AT&T Wireless (AWE) down $0.02. Some negative comments on the "Heard on the Street" column in the "Wall Street Journal" about it today.

Home Depot (HD) lost $0.67.

Tenth in volume was ExxonMobil (XOM), moving up $0.48 a share.

Circuit City Stores (CC) down $0.70. Its November same store sales were up four percent, but third quarter same store sales fell one percent. And Lehman Brothers repeated an "under weight" rating on Circuit City Stores` stock.

BJ Wholesale Club (BJ) down $1.68. November same store sales up 8.4 percent. But the Street was looking for nearly a 10 percent rise, so a little disappointment there.

Family Dollar Stores (FDO) down $2.35. November same store sales rose a lower than expected 7/10 of one percent.

Haverty Furniture (HVT), a bad day, down $2.78. November same store sales fell 4/10 percent and the Morgan Keegan Brokerage downgraded the stock from "outperform" to "market perform."

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) down $2.61. Its November same store sales tumbled 13 percent. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral." J.P. Morgan downgraded it from "over weight" to "neutral." Standard & Poor`s cut earnings estimates. A bad day for Abercrombie.

Northrop Grumman (NOC) up $2.48. The story here, the company, along with its partner Raytheon (RTN), has gotten a $4.5 billion eight year contract to develop anti-missile missiles. Raytheon`s stock moved up a $0.50.

And then Orbital Sciences (ORB) up $1.18. This company received a $400 million contract from Northrop Grumman for designing booster vehicles. A nice percent move there.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) down $1.22. The company warned its December load factor could fall below last year`s 66 percent level. High fuel costs are another negative for the whole airline group these days.

One stock went public on the big board today, Aspen Insurance Holdings (AHL). This was a 10 1/2 million share offering priced at $22.50. It opened at $25. The high of the day $25.75. Then it backed off a bit.

Career Education (CECO) topped the active list on NASDAQ, the stock tumbling $2.94 after falling $15 yesterday. It traded as low as $31.50 today. Yesterday, the stock tumbled after a former employee said the company had actually inflated enrollment figures. The company strongly denies that and is going to hold a conference call tomorrow, hopefully to clear things up.

Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.53.

Intel (INTC) gained $0.20 in regular trading. The story here, after the close, the company -- the stock fell to $32.45 after the company`s mid quarter update with analysts. The company did say it`s going to take a $0.06 impairment charge against earnings in the fourth quarter.

Cisco (CSCO) up $0.68. Merrill Lynch upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."

Qualcomm (QCOM) gained $4.63. The company increased first quarter earnings estimates from about $0.40 to as high as $0.48 a share. J.P. Morgan upgraded it from "under weight" to "over weight."

SanDisk (SNDK) down $3.49. There is concern that spot prices for flash memory chips are falling. That`s what hurt the stock there, and it was down sharply yesterday.

Applied Materials (AMAT) off $0.52.

InterActive Corp. (IACI) was down $0.98 a share.

But Oracle (ORCL) moved up $0.09.

And then tenth in volume was Amgen (AMGN), moving up $0.77.

Wilsons The Leather Experts (WLSN) was strapped for a loss of $1.73. The company`s November same store sales tumbled 16 1/2 percent. Wall Street was looking for a gain in sales of about 1.8 percent.

And those are the stocks in the news tonight.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

12/04/03: Market Stats

   
                                      NET    PERCENT
                         CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
DOW CLOSE              9930.82     +57.40       + .6
HIGH                                         9933.86
LOW                                          9865.78

NASDAQ COMP.           1968.80      +8.55        +.4
HIGH                                         1971.25
LOW                                          1942.67

VOLUME                                       1,470.7
PREVIOUS                                     1,418.4
UP VOLUME                                      737.9
DOWN VOLUME                                    719.6

DOW TRANSPORTS         2938.02      -1.49       - .1
DOW UTILITIES           253.52      +1.36       + .5
CLOSING TICK                                    +261

S&P 500                1069.72      +4.99       + .5
S&P 100                 527.56      +3.14       + .6
MIDCAP 400              567.26      -1.99       - .4
REUTERS/CRB             258.39       +.63       + .2

NYSE COMPOSITE         6153.90     +11.12       + .2
VALUE LINE              351.22       -.39      -0.11
RUSSELL 2000            544.15      -1.04      -0.19
WILSHIRE 5000         10431.96     +29.62       0.28

U.S. TREASURIES
5-YEAR NOTE 3.375%
Nov. 15,2008          99 29/32      +6/32       3.39

10-YEAR NOTE 4.25%
Nov. 15,2013          99  2/32      +9/32       4.37

30-YEAR NOTE 5.375%
Feb. 15, 2031        103  2/32     +11/32       5.16

LEHMAN BROS.
LONG BOND INDEX        1709.73      +3.13 


DOW CLOSE              9930.82     +57.40       + .6
ADVANCES                                        1617
DECLINES                                        1624
NEW HIGHS                                        235
NEW LOWS                                           5

                                      NET    PERCENT
NYSE MOST ACTIVES    4PM CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
LU     Lucent Tech        3.09       +.04       +1.3
GE     GE                29.15       -.37       -1.3
PFE    Pfizer            34.37       +.42       +1.2
MOT    Motorola          13.37       -.30       -2.2
WMT    Wal-Mart Stores   53.02       +.33        +.6
BBY    Best Buy Co       54.15      -3.27       -5.7
AMD    Advanced Micro    16.66       -.63       -3.6
AWE    AT&T Wireless      7.29       -.02        -.3
HD     Home Depot        34.86       -.67       -1.9
XOM    Exxon Mobil       37.02       +.48       +1.3

NASDAQ CLOSE           1968.80     + 8.55       + .4
VOLUME                                       2,117.7
PREVIOUS                                     2,247.9
ADVANCES                                        1479
DECLINES                                        1695

NASDAQ ACTIVES
CECO   Career Education  36.54      -2.94       -7.5
MSFT   Microsoft         26.20       +.53       +2.1
INTC   Intel             33.54       +.20        +.6
CSCO   Cisco Systems     23.98       +.68       +2.9
QCOM   Qualcomm          49.10      +4.63      +10.4
SNDK   Sandisk           68.41      -3.49       -4.9
AMAT   Applied Matl      23.22       -.52       -2.2
IACI   InterActiveCorp   29.98       -.98       -3.2
ORCL   Oracle            12.99       +.09        +.7
AMGN   Amgen             59.61       +.77       +1.3

AMEX CLOSE             1113.88     - 3.29       - .3

INDEX SHARES
DIA    DIAMONDS TRUST    99.45       +.50        +.5
QQQ    NASDAQ 100        35.66       +.39       +1.1
SPY    S&P DEP.RECEIPTS 107.60       +.42        +.4

STOCKS IN THE NEWS
CC     Circuit City      11.80       -.70       -5.6
BJ     BJ's Wholesale    23.20      -1.68       -6.8
FDO    Family Dollar     34.75      -2.35       -6.3
HVT    Haverty Furniture 21.05      -2.78      -11.7
ANF    Abercrombie &Fit  24.67      -2.61       -9.6
NOC    Northrop Grumman  94.36      +2.48       +2.7
ORB    Orbital Sciences  11.02      +1.18      +12.0
LUV    Southwest Air     16.60      -1.22       -6.9
AHL    Aspen Insurance   24.05      +1.55       +6.9
WLSN   Wilsons Leather    4.20      -1.73      -29.2