Market briefing --- Matt (slow)
NYSE --- Deb (fast)
The economy is stronger
US Commerce Dept---Evans, Don---Commerce Secretary
welcome to “world financial report.” the closing numbers, interesting for a number of reasons today. not so much for the day trade but for the fact that we have closed the month, the week and are 2/3 through the second quarter. you see little change in any of the benchmark equity indexes. for the week, though, we have snapped a four-week-long losing streak. the dow up 2.2% in the past five days. the s&p, 2.5% higher and the nasdaq, 3.9% higher. for the month, we are seeing also a mixed picture. the dow actually down about 1.5% there. the s&p 500 little changed and the nasdaq also little changed. if we look on to the volume here today, also a notable superlative, it was the second slowest trading day of the year for the new york stock exchange as you see 1.1 billion shares. and the nasdaq, slowest day of the year, amazing. slower than good friday and traditionally slow trading days. if we look at the other major averages. many red arrows but no large percentage declines or surprises on this eve of a long weekend. and the s&p 500 finishing up ever so slightly. for more summary of the day, week, month that was, deborah kostroun has the wrap-up at nyse.
>> as we’re heading into this three-day holiday weekend, matt, one of the things that traders are focusing in on, they all were telling me, hey, it was a great week. we had really good gains going on. as you mentioned, it was the best weekly gain in about two months and the thing that subsided, oil prices. a lot of talk as crude oil below $41 a barrel this week as we close out $39.88 a barrel. it looks like the economy’s expansion will weather higher oil prices. we have the memorial day slowdown and next week, a busy week getting back on tuesday. talking with peter henderson with fleet specialists and he says what happens next week extends depends on a few major% -reports, including the opec meeting, the jobs report and for the week, a strong performance. many other traders talking about, hey, did we see the market before the memorial day holiday. we’ll have to wait and see. and likely what we get from the economic report, then, the opec meeting, will provide direction. for the week, the s&p 500 was up 2.5%. the dow also up, a good gain, up 2.3% and the nasdaq up a whopping 4.1%. so it was a really good week for for the month, the s&p posting a gain and the dow lower, and the nasdaq performing well for the month. that was the clear winner as we are heading into the three-day weekend. back to you in the studio.
>> thank you very much, deb kostroun. today is the one-year anniversary of president bush’s jobs and growth act. economists say recent data points to an improving economy, but large parts of the voting public are skeptical. the university of michigan’s may consumer confidence survey slowed to a seven-month low today, 90.2. and a cbs poll showed the president’s approval rating at 41%. we’re joined by commerce secretary donald evans from washington.thank you for joining us. the economy growing at a 4.4% rate in the first quarter, 5% year on year, more than 500,000 jobs created so far in 2004. inflation down from four years ago and the recent poll numbers we cited showing less than confident consumers and high disapproval numbers. why is that and what are you and the administration doing to fix it?
>> i’m coming on your program, matt, to continue to tell the american people the good news because there’s a continuation of more good news about how strong this economy is and is getting stronger. one of the indicators you left out was interest rates and the interest, lowest they have been in some 45 years because of that. we’re seeing record homeownership in this country. we’re seeing record home purchases in this country. you really want to look for consumer confidence, i think you ought to look at what the consumers are actually doing and what they’re doing is they’re going to retail stores in record numbers. the first-quarter retail stores numbers were up, very strong. we had record home sales taking place in this country. i don’t know a stronger place to go to look at home sales because that’s a long-term commitment. consumers have to feel very good about the long-term potential of the economy if they’re going to buy a home. auto sales remain high. one indicator after another. you mentioned jobs. job creation is powerful in the economy right now. we’ve seen unemployment come from 6.3% down to 5.6%. we’ve created 1.1 million jobs since august of last year. everywhere you look, there’s good economic news. you pointed to the consumer confidence number that came out today, although it may have drifted down slightly, it’s still higher than it was in 2001, higher than it was in 2002, higher than the average of 2003. so―and on top of all of that, matt, you talk to private economists across the country and they’re all talking about growth rates for this year of some 4.5% plus. this is―it’s the strongest, most powerful economy i have seen in my life time and i must say i think there’s lots of reasons to believe this will continue well into the future.
>> we had elaine elaine chao on% -earlier saying similar things but the fact remains that despite what you’re saying, which is all data that’s come out, many consumers don’t seem to grasp a hold or concur with what you would say is fact. why is that?
>> i don’t know, matt. again, there’s a lot of other good economic news. you talked about the stock market this week. listen, we’re in a political season right now and there’s a lot of politicians on the other side that want to continue to talk about, see if they can find―they’re having a hard time finding it―but they want to find pessimistic news and maybe people are hearing some of that. also, listen, you have to understand that every night on the tv there’s the news that’s hard to break through because it’s news about what is occurring in iraq. you have to acknowledge that the last four to six weeks have been a relatively tough period over there. we don’t see the great progress being made and there’s certainly a lot of progress made in iraq. what we see is a lot of the challenges that we face over there and i imagine that’s having some impact on individuals when they respond to some of the surveys. but what they’re actually doing is they’re going to the stores and they’re purchasing in the stores, they’re buying homes,% -they’re buying cars so the confidence indicators or the polling data you may be looking at doesn’t square with the behavior, the actual behavior of the american people.
>> what’s a greater concern for you right now, rising gasoline prices or the re-increased concerns over terrorist attacks on american soil? what will possibly hamper the economy more?
>> listen, matt. you cannot have long-term economic security without national security and the president clearly understands that. because the president has―is taking the steps to lead the war against terrorism and against terror and we are winning that war around the world, it means that we are more secure and we are safer here in america than we would have been otherwise.
>> clearly, these continue to be challenges. clearly, the war continues. clearly, you have to think about that. but, matt, i also have to say, think about the attacks of 9/11. they attacked the financial center of the world and what happened was we saw once again how resilient and durable and sound our economy is.
>> secretary evans, we have to cut you off because of the commercial break but we thank you and we will hear from you again in this political season. our thanks to commerce secretary donald evans. we’ll hear more on the economy from the chief economist for moody’s.
