Money & Politics --- Mike (fast)
NYSE --- Deb (fast)
>> hello, i’m michael mckee. welcome back to “money & politics.” technology companies reporting earnings after the bell today. motorola first-quarter profit, 29 cents a share, matching the thomson financial estimate on sales of just over $10 billion. i.b.m. profit, $1.08 a share, three cents better than forecast on revenue of $20.7 billion and yahoo reporting earnings of 15 cents, four cents better than consensus, revenue just over $1 billion. before the bell, the biggest and broadest rally in the markets in almost a year after minutes of the federal reserve’s march meeting showed policymakers considered an end to interest rate increases was “likely to be near.” that rally even though commodity prices were rising to records today as concerns over iran’s nuclear program sent oil to an all-time high and speculation about rising demand in china stockholder buying of metals by investment funds. the goldman sachs commodity index of 24 commodities rose to a record today, led by gains in sugar, natural gas and oil. crude oil rising as high as their 71.60 a barrel in new york, breaking the record of $70.85 set august 30 after hurricane katrina, closing just below that new record. shares in commodity companies helped lift stocks today. the dow jones industrial average rising nearly 200 points. the s&p 500, 22 points. the nasdaq, 45. for more on trading today and the broadest rally in at least two years, here’s deborah kostroun at the new york stock exchange.
>> thanks a lot, mike. yes, broadest rally in a couple of years here at the new york stock exchange. we also saw above-average volume. looking at 1.8 billion shares being traded and that was actually the most that we have seen since about march 17. also, one of the other things we were looking at in the s&p 500, 453, or 91% of stocks in the s&p 500 advancing on the day. in addition to that, stocks rising mainly on the fed minutes. however, we started the day looking very good and then really kind of seeing the market perking up even later after the fed minutes were released. all 30 dow members were higher on the day. we also saw lots of records. small caps, midcaps, russell 2000, amex broker/dealer index, all coming in at records. the s&p energy index, integrated oil. also, the goldman sachs commodity index, heavily weighted in oil, at a record. also the morgan stanley cyclical index, all coming in at records in today’s session. now, about what we did see, 23 of 24 industry groups in the s&p 500 higher on the day. real estate, interest-rate-sensitive, and as you would expect with the minutes from the fed, helping out real estate. material stocks doing well and semiconductors. and those material stocks led by freeport-mcmoran. first-quarter profit surging 83% as gold and copper prices soaring. not only that, we saw other metal stocks, many of the steel and copper stocks like southern peru copper also hitting records in today’s session. mike, now back to you.
>> deborah kostroun. a final farewell for financial industry legend sandy weill, the chairman of citigroup stepping down today at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. weill spoke to our margaret popper about his retime plans, saying he intends to go into the non-profit business. colleagues tell bloomberg they downed doubt the founder of the world’s biggest financial services company can stay away from that industry. when “money & politics” continues, al hunt speaks with lebanon none’s prime minister, fouad siniora. stay with us.
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Listen Interview: Lebanon's Prime Minister
>> president bush met with lebanon’s prime minister, fouad siniora, at the white house today. on the agenda, democracy in lebanon, the investigation into last year’s murder of former prime minister thaterery, and middle east policy. after he left the oval office, the prime minister sat down with our al hunt, saying the best way to stabilize the mideast is by resolving the israeli-palestinian issue. al asked him about efforts to obtain foreign aid from the u.s.
>> mr. prime minister, as you know, there will be a large international donor’s conference to raise money for lebanon to help pay off debt and strengthen institutions. in your meeting today, did president bush say how much the united states would contribute or whether there would be conditions on that aid?
>> i had a long discussion about this matter, which is empowering the lebanese government in order to really face the various issues that it is addressing at the present time, including empowering it politically as well as security and finally, economically. lebanon, if i may say, in brief, lebanon didn’t have any budget deficit. because of the civil war and invasions as well as occupation by israel and, as well, the syrian presence later on, we had a budget deficit and at the same time mounting debt. what we are trying is that we have a set of reforms we are really trying to develop within the country and to market this through continuous dialogue with the various groups in the lebanon so that the lebanese can take ownership of these reforms. these reforms are overdue because lebanon should have done this quite some time ago, but the problems of invasion and occupation did not allow lebanon to do so. and what we are really asking the united states to participate in this conference for the support of lebanon and the contribution of the united states is very important. and in this respect, what we are asking is to really help lebanon to restructure its debt in the manner that we want to continue honoring all our commitments, but to change a good part of our debt into a debt that is paying lower rates of interest.
>> did you mention specific figure in your conversation with president bush?
>> no, we did not discuss a specific figure. but this is something we are in discussion with international organizations and as soon as we finish with the discussion and dialogue that we are having within lebanon, i think we will be ready by then to talk more in specific figures. although the study that we are talking about speaks about several billion dollars that would be used in order to pay back the high interest-yielding debt and make it low interest and for a longer period. this will allow lebanon to overcome the difficulties that were created by the past periods and would really allow lebanon to come back again to be a beacon of freedom and democracy in the region.
>> looming over all of these discussions is the question of syria. do you believe, as the initial united nations’ report charged, that some top syrian officials were responsible for the assasination of your friend, former prime minister hariri?
>> let me tell you, i mean, as a friend to mr. hariri, definitely, like any other lebanese, we are very keen on finding and knowing the truth, who really committed that crime and who was behind it, and we want the truth and nothing but the truth. and that’s why we said we should have an international independent investigation commission. and that’s what was approved. i don’t want to rush into cctions that are not based. we have to wait until we see what are the results of the investigation. and that’s why, again, we are preparing for an international tribunal so that to be really formed as soon as possible to facilitate the process. ultimately, what we are interested is to know the truth and really give a lesson. because lebanon, throughout the past decades has been subject to lots of assasinations, political assasinations, and even after the assasination of prime minister hariri, a number of other assasinations took place and a number of other attempts were made against the lives of certain officials only for political purposes.
>> at the same time, you’re trying to find out the whole truth, you are seeking better ties or conversations with the syrians. is saudi arabia quietly urging you to seek with syria and tone down rhetoric to see masshad replaced?
>> lebanon and syria are neighboring countries and we are very keen on establishing good relations but on the basis of mutual respect and parity.
>> have the saudis encouraged that?
>> all arab countries would encourage that. we are keen on establishing these relations and we want to avoid all the little problems that are still there. there are problems that have to do with the border. we have to make the nes necessities of the limitations of the border. we have to have diplomatic relations between the two countries. we have to control the border from infiltration so all these issues are very important. it is not possible for any two neighboring countries not to have good relations with each other. but this would have to be based, as i said, that lebanon cannot be ruled against syria, but at the same time, lebanon cannot be ruled by syria.
>> are there still syrian agents operating inside lebanon?
>> well, the regular army has withdrawn about a year ago. and there remains certain intelligence groups of syria.
>> how many, would you estimate?
>> it’s very difficult to really get to know this because as you know, i mean, lebanon and syria, they are bordering each other and there are tens of thousands of syrians who really work in lebanon. doesn’t mean that every syrian is an intelligence, definitely not. but nobody can really tell how much, but we know that there are certain, let’s say members of the intelligence who are still in lebanon and they are using the lebanese environment which is quite free and open to really do their work in that regard. we are very sincere about the relationship that has to prevail between the two countries. they are sister countries. we have a long history between us and a long future together. there are a great deal of interests and it is in our interest, both countries, to have very good relations.
>> a year or so ago there was great optimism that there were internal reforms going on in syria, yet today human rights watch and amnesty international and others report crackdowns of more intolerance than before, of more repression in syria. why is that?
>> let me say something. first of all, in as much as i don’t want any intervention by syria into the domestic affairs of lebanon, i think the same thing, that we should not really interfere in the domestic affairs of the country. i know one thing for sure is that every country in our part of the world has to really adjust to change. there is quite far-reaching changes taking place and particularly in terms of communication and matters that would require that we have to adapt to change. and this applies to lebanon, to syria, to everywhere.
>> coming up, yahoo reports. did some of that revenue come from china and did they earn it by censoring yahoo content? congressman chris smith wants to know, next on “money & politics.”
