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North Carolina Flooding; Volatile Day on Wall Street; Jobless Rate Ticks Down; Gov. Rick Perry Hosts Prayer Event; Volatile Day on Wall Street; Violence Rages across Syria; Deadly Mix: Extreme Heat and Football; Warren Jeffs Judgment Day
Aired August 05, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: What a week. What a roller coaster.
Ladies and gent, I'm happy to tell you that the Dow ending in the green. Keep in mind the numbers have to settle for the next couple of minutes, but we're in the positive territory as we head into the weekend, just up 60 points at 11444. Whew. Quite the difference than what we saw this time yesterday.
Let's go to Alison Kosik. She's standing by for me at the New York Stock Exchange.
And, Alison, did you feel a big sigh of relief among all those traders down there on the floor?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Just felt it. Yes, just felt it as soon as that closing bell rang, believe me, because you know what?
This has been a market, Brooke, today that has really been moving on every headline. I'll tell you what. It's really made for some wild swings. It began with the relief rally right after the opening bell when we got that positive jobs report. We saw the Dow jump 172 points in the early going. Everybody took a nice deep breath.
But before you knew it, we were down 244 points today on unsubstantiated worries that Standard & Poor's, that's a credit rating agency, would downgrade the U.S. credit rating after the closing bell. Now, we did call S&P. They had no comment on that.
Well, then we had positive news out of the Europe. The ECB, which is kind of like our Federal Reserve, said it's ready to buy up Italian and Spanish debt. So you know what? Then we saw stocks spike 118 points because there were all these worries that no one would buy these Italian bonds, these Spanish bonds. And Italy came out and said you know what, we're going to take steps to take care of our huge debt problems.
So, that kind of put the market on at ease a little bit, sent us into positive territory. But one thing is clear. This is a market, Brooke, that is still on edge. The fear is still there -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: The fear is still there. Alison, you mentioned the volatility and also the whiplash that we have seen over the past couple of days and certainly today. And you talk about Italy. And we know Silvio Berlusconi called an emergency meeting talking about maybe a balanced budget amendment because of all of this. And then you have Spain in the mix here, fears there. And you have Nicolas Sarkozy of France getting on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel today.
So that is all very much so interconnected to the numbers we are seeing flashing on the screen there.
KOSIK: It is. It is.
The big worry is that just like we have our own debt problems that could spread around the globe, the big worry is that those countries with their big debt problems can spread right here and hurt businesses and wind up hurting consumers because we're all interconnected.
One trader told me, when Europe gets a cold, we start sneezing over here. It catches really fast. We're all interconnected in many, many ways -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: We have got a trader, we have got an investor standing by a little later on in the show.
Alison Kosik, I thank you for now.
Let me move on as we continue to juggle with all this news here in the 4:00 Eastern hour.
And, Chad Myers, step on over. Let's take a look once again here at the massive flash flooding in Charlotte. And the spokesman for Charlotte's fire department tells us here at CNN the first-responders are conducting at least 16 rescues. And these are the first images we are just now getting in from News 14 there out of Charlotte. You saw them in the boats, people trying to rescue some of these people in their homes, their neighborhoods, two of which are being evacuated and also some of the cars in this -- flooded creeks in the downtown area.
And we have also heard reports of a partial hotel roof collapse. We haven't just heard reports. We actually talked to the guy on the phone -- I don't know if he's still standing by -- who shot that video. His name is Erik Slemon.
And I want to also bring in Chad. So all of us together here.
And quickly, Erik, we're looking at your video again. This is the Embassy Suites, the roof more or less imploding because of the weight of the water. What was that like just standing in there and seeing it shooting down?
Erik, you with me?
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: There you go.
ERIK SLEMON, SHOT VIDEO OF ROOF COLLAPSE: Oh, OK.
BALDWIN: Erik, let's reset here. Talk to me about what this was like see this water rushing just through this hotel roof.
SLEMON: Oh, I got to tell you, it was insane. I have never seen anything like it. It's not something that you ever expect to happen. And then the next thing you know, the ceiling is falling down and people are running around. Nobody knew how to react.
I have to give the hotel a lot of props because they really did pull it together really quickly. But it was insane. I have never seen anything like it before. It was raining so much. Just water was everywhere. It was awesome.
(LAUGHTER)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Erik. It's Chad Myers.
There was water running through the electrical circuits there. I can see water running right out of those light boxes.
SLEMON: Yes.
BALDWIN: Maybe not so awesome.
MYERS: Were they telling you to get back?
SLEMON: I think instinctually everyone was kind of keeping their distance, because you could see that was it coming through -- the light fixtures, you could see it's the light fixtures.
Everyone -- if you actually see on the video, I kind of pan down. You can see the water coming towards me as it was moving so quickly. It flooded the whole room.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Has it stopped rushing down?
SLEMON: I'm sorry?
BALDWIN: Has it stopped rushing down?
SLEMON: Yes, it has stopped rushing down. To be honest, the rain came and went so fast, but so fiercely, that, I mean, that's why the -- I mean, you can see that obviously the weight of the water -- just the hotel pipes couldn't even handle it, the magnitude of it.
But it's since receded and we have been able to keep it under control at the hotel, but pretty awesome experience.
BALDWIN: You could just see that...
(CROSSTALK) SLEMON: Yes, the fire department showed up. And they had all hands on deck. It was pretty intense.
MYERS: All right, Erik, thank you. Yes, you can see the Sheetrock.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You can see the chunks of, right, the roof just coming down. The fire department very, very busy. We talked to the captain of the Charlotte Fire Department. He was talking about, what, the 16 different rescues.
And, guys, let's look at the video, that video that we just got in from News 14. Here we go. Some people standing around. And you can see this guy. They are doing swift-water rescues. I saw a boat earlier. This is not just trying to get, you know, people out of their cars as they have driven through some of this higher water. But this is also hopping in boats trying to get people out of their homes.
MYERS: Yes, we knew that would eventually happen, even though the captain said he hadn't done any of those up to an hour ago.
The problem is now the water is still rushing downriver, rushing into rivers, into creeks and streams. Charlotte is a fairly topographic city. It's not flat like the middle of Kansas. There are hills. So when the rain runs all over the place, it runs down into the valleys. The valleys, the water is still coming up.
People are driving into that water. The cars are getting washed away and then people -- firefighters and rescue squads, rescue teams have to go get those people. So just don't do it. Turn around. Don't drive through that water. It's going to down in 1.5 hours or so. Just take your time.
BALDWIN: I like how Erik said it was just fast and fierce. And you could see it by the water coming through that hotel roof.
Let us know if anything changes, Chad Myers. Stand by.
MYERS: Of course.
BALDWIN: We're going to continue to ping-pong back between the markets and this flooding, sort of ping-ponging like the Dow did today, if I may segue on.
Let's talk to Teddy Weisberg, trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for 43 years.
Teddy and I were talking right around this time yesterday.
And, Teddy, I'm happy to be talking to you as we are in the positive territory, instead of that cannonball, if I may, down into 512 points down in the Dow yesterday. What's your reaction to seeing the numbers settle?
TED WEISBERG, PRESIDENT, SEAPORT SECURITIES CORPORATION: Well, it was clearly a dramatically volatile day today.
We opened -- very early in the morning, opened up about 170 on the strength of a better than expected employment number. It took about 20 minutes. Then we gave all that away and then we went minus. And at one point, we then went down 200 points and then back up over 100 points and ended up closing up about 60 or 65 with pretty heavy volume, much more volume than we saw yesterday.
I don't know. You know, I think perhaps the market is trying to find some legs here. I don't think we're out of the woods yet, but clearly on the strength of yesterday's big sell-off, perhaps we're just a little oversold technically.
And I think some buyers are sort of putting their toe in the water today. Sellers aren't finished, but obviously there were some buyers, and therefore that dramatic volatility.
BALDWIN: What do you mean the market is growing some legs? What does that mean in my speak?
(LAUGHTER)
WEISBERG: In your speak?
Well, it's my speak for simply saying that perhaps, just perhaps some of the buyers moved back into the marketplace today. So you had more of the internal struggle, if you will, between the buyers and the sellers, therefore, all that volatility, which news-driven during the day.
Clearly, we had plenty of news to buffer the market today. But unlike yesterday where there seemed to be a complete absence of buyers, down 5 percent on the day, over -- just slightly over 500 points, today we certainly had some downdrafts, but, you know, we didn't -- they didn't stick like it did yesterday.
And so I would say the market has legs simply means that maybe there's some buyers starting to, you know, move back into the market, some meaningful buyers, not just some traders.
BALDWIN: And why is that? Because you typically have more participants in the market in the summer months. I mean, why are more people, to use your phrase, sticking their big toe in the waters? Why?
WEISBERG: Well, because I just think the market is down over 10 percent in about eight or nine trading days. And basically that would indicate the market is way oversold, that a lot of the selling was emotional.
No question, yesterday, you had people just kind of saying you can keep the cheese, let me out of the trap. They just wanted to sell stocks. And when you get in an environment where emotion is really driving the decision-making when it comes to stock decisions, and it happens to be on the sell side, I think what happens is you attract bargain hunters. And a lot of the stocks have gotten very cheap. There's been a lot of damage done to stocks almost across the board. Very few stocks have escaped this sell-off.
BALDWIN: Let me get to the question you shared with me yesterday, that you have a son and you have a daughter. They work with you on the floor. So they don't have to come to you for advice.
But in terms of saving and investing, I know they have little ones, they have to think about this. People watching at home are saving and investing and looking, at least a sign, some relief that we're in the positive territory today. What's your advice?
WEISBERG: Well, my advice is the same today as it was yesterday. There's nothing rational about the stock market. You need to look at in the context of the really big picture. Life goes on.
Stocks are kind of -- get in very emotional trading ranges sometimes. Clearly, we're there now. And I think when you get dislocations like we're having now -- and clearly this does not indicate that we're at a bottom, because I don't know where the bottoms or the tops are, but stocks sometimes just get cheap. And I think investors, those people that have longer-term horizons can probably use these kind of moments to maybe do a little cherry- picking, if you will, or to put a little toe in the water, because clearly some stocks today are a lot cheaper than they were 10 trading days ago.
And, you know, it's a fire sale in a sense. And as I also said yesterday, when Wall Street has a fire sale, you know, nobody comes. And the reason they don't come is because they're scared to death.
BALDWIN: Scared of getting burned.
(CROSSTALK)
WEISBERG: Well, they're scared to death. But when you feel the pain in the pit of your stomach, perhaps the right thing to do -- at least what I have learned over the 50 -- almost 50 years I have been doing this, what the right thing to do is not to push yourself away from the table, but perhaps to pull yourself up to the table and basically do a little prudent investing, because the dust will settle, life will go on.
And four months, six months, a year down the road, perhaps we will look back at these prices and say, wow. You know I wish I had. You know, I wish I did. And because wishing isn't a good strategy, but there is an opportunity here if somebody has long-term horizons and they have done their homework.
BALDWIN: Well, Teddy Weisberg, I appreciate your advice, 43-year veteran trader there on the floor. Let's continue this conversation. And I would like for you to say some months down the road, I told you so.
Teddy, thank you very much. Have a great weekend. WEISBERG: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: And after the break, we're going to take you live to the White House for the president's reaction to the latest job numbers. The report is a mixed bag.
And we're also continuing to watch these images coming out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the flash flooding there. Take a look, swift-water rescues under way, two neighborhoods being evacuated, three very quick inches of rain leading to evacuations and rescues there in that city.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: OK. Just trying to get to the front, didn't make it.
The jobless rate has unexpectedly dropped. Figures released today the Labor Department shows the job picture right in last month, a net of 117,000 jobs, not great, much better than what economists had predicted, but that graphic there shows it is a lot better than how it looked in both May and June. Unemployment rate is down just a smidge, now 9.1 percent.
Let's listen to at the president saying today we have got to do better at calling on Congress to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Congress gets back in September, I want to move quickly on things that will help the economy create jobs right now -- extending the payroll tax credit to put $1,000 in the pocket of the average worker, extending unemployment insurance to help people get back on their feet, putting construction workers back to work rebuilding America. Those are all steps we can take right now that will make a difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Standing by for us: our Dan Lothian, live at the White House.
Jay Leupp, he is a senior portfolio manager. He is in San Francisco.
And Jay Powell, who's been good enough to stand by, who was treasury undersecretary for finance in the George H.W. Bush administration.
Gentlemen, thank you all for joining me.
Dan Lothian, I do want to begin with you.
The president has been saying these for weeks, talking about jobs. Do -- do they have any other ideas how they can create them?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Look, and I'll add to that list the president has ticked off. Those trade deals that are still pending.
To be fair, these things are not insignificant. It will mean support for people who are unemployed. Also, there will be construction workers who will be able to get back to work.
The point the White House is trying to make is that you have to start somewhere. Is there the magic bullet? No. But this is a good place to start where perhaps you can get some bipartisan support.
Having said that, there is a lot of frustration out there, not only among Americans, but also critics up on Capitol Hill who are saying the president has been at this now for more than to 2 1/2 years, yet the economy continues to struggle.
So, what else does the president have to offer? The White House saying there's other things they're looking at but at this point it's unclear what those other things are, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Dan, stand by.
Jay Luke, to you. I imagine you're going to echo what Teddy Weisberg just told me in that this is a great time to buy, considering how down the Dow was around this time yesterday. What advice are you giving investors who are calling you out today? JAY LEUPP, GRUBB & ELLIS AGA REALTY INCOME FUND: Right, good to be back with you again today, Brooke. And likely, we were talking yesterday and to reiterate what Teddy was saying earlier, we think this is an excellent time for investors to either be starting positions in this market a very attractive valuations, or adding to their best ideas.
Today, we see the Dow and the S&P 500 trading 4 times forward earnings. Historically, that's a good entry point. We've got GDP growth probably in the 1 percent to 2 percent range going forward. Unemployment going down every so slowly, but definitely trending down. The corporate earnings outlook is very robust. We're looking for 10 percent to 12 percent earnings growth going forward.
These are good indicators for equity investors. And as Teddy said, if you have a long-term horizon, this is an excellent entry point to take advantage of sellers' panic and to start your positions or add to existing ones where you see your best equity ideas.
BALDWIN: Let me go to other Jay we have standing by, Mr. Powell, Jay Powell.
When we left off, we were talking jobs numbers, the jobs report from July and it was, you know, semi-encouraging in that it created 117,000 new jobs. But here's another number, this is a reality check. There are still 13.9 million Americans who are unemployed. Now, I want to point this out -- nearly half of those, 44 percent, are long term, meaning more than 27 weeks without work. What does that say to you in terms of the -- just the difficulties in today's job market?
JAY POWELL, FMR. TREASURY UNDERSECRETARY FOR FINANCE: It's a very sick job market. And the reason is this is a different kind of recession. This recession is caused by both governments and households being too far in debt. And many economists predicted it will be a long, long difficult slog to get back to a level of job creation that we need, which is at least two or three times greater than what we're seeing.
BALDWIN: Dan Lothian, you know, we've been talking a lot about cutting, cutting spending, we've -- goodness, we know about, you know, deficit reduction and cuts there. But, you know, a lot of people say look, the president is cutting when the government should be spending. It creates that cycle, building confidence, people buying.
What about the White House taking that view?
LOTHIAN: Well, I think that the message that you've been hearing from the White House, the president in particle, is that there needs to be a balanced approach, cutting in domestic spending and defense, but also investing in things like new technology and education.
But when it comes to stimulus, if that's what you're asking, we heard today from Austan Goolsbee, the president's outgoing economic adviser, who said the following, quote, "Straight up government stimulus, which is warranted at a moment when the private sector is in free fall is a different moment than the economy we're in right now. Essentially, he's saying that private sector jobs, business growing ever so slightly, and so, that's where investments need to be done. But at this point, there's no need for any kind of stimulus."
BALDWIN: Jay Leupp, final question, you get it. We were looking at blue chip stocks yesterday, all 30 on the Dow down. And when you say, you know, look, this may be a great time to buy and some people have been looking at, say, let's say Apple. And it's been a little too pricey.
Would that be a good stock to buy? What's the best bet now, if you want to put money in the market?
LEUPP: Sure. Absolutely. I think Apple is an excellent idea. It's not one we own in our funds because we're focused on property and lodging sectors. But that's a great long-term core holding that investors can be confident and is going to grow earnings and keep a healthy balance sheet going forward. That's an excellent idea.
We like a few others. In our space, we like Starwood Lodging. The New York Ticker is HLT. It's a global owner and operator of business and luxury hotels.
People are still travelling. Oil now is down below $90 a barrel. And again, if you're doing traveling at all, whether it's in North America, Asia, Latin America, or Europe, both businesses and consumers are traveling. And now would be an excellent time to add to core lodging positions.
And, really, your best ideas that are good values in any major sector that has global revenue exposure.
BALDWIN: OK. Good advice on this Friday afternoon. Jay Leupp, Jay Powell, Dan Lothian -- gentlemen, I thank you. Have a great weekend.
Coming up next: for thousands of FAA workers, better late than never. They are getting back on the federal payroll. But the agency's funding turbulence, not over quite yet.
Also, NASA hopes this spacecraft here will teach us a little bit more about how the solar system formed. But it will take years to get to its destination. Details on the horizon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. If it's interesting, it's happening right now. You're about to see it -- "Rapid Fire."
Let's begin with this -- a big but temporary relief for those FAA workers. Minutes ago, President Obama did finally sign that bill that temporarily restoring the agency's funding and put thousands of furloughed workers back on the job. Congress will have to take the matter up again when members return to the Hill in September. Remember, they went on recess without providing funding to the agency, leaving many, many federal workers without pay, and costing the government millions of dollars in lost revenue.
It was one year ago today when a mine collapsed in Chile, trapping those 33 miners inside. Those rescue efforts, we all remember them well, capturing the world's attention for more than two months before they were pulled off the ground using that special capsule. Remember this special moment of celebration?
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
BALDWIN: So exciting.
Well, this week, four of the miners travelled to Washington, D.C. to commemorate the anniversary and the opening of an exhibit in their honor at the Smithsonian.
To Japan, to Okinawa Island, they're clinging up here from typhoon, heavy rains, fierce winds slammed the regime and caused some travel disruptions. The storm is now taking aim at China. Parts of it, the east coast, including Shanghai, are on alert. Land fall is expected within a couple of hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Five, four, three, two, one-- ignition and liftoff of the Atlas V --
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: NASA's -- here we go, Atlas V, you heard him say. NASA's spacecraft Juno Atlas V carrying Juno lifting off today, heading for the fifth and largest planet from the son, Jupiter. The journey is expected to reach its destination in five years, and make 33 orbits of Jupiter during the mission. The Juno satellite will get a bird's eye view of the planet and is expected to pass over the north and soul poles for a close up look of the bright borealis.
Scientists believe the planet holds secrets to the earliest days of our solar system. The last close encounter with Jupiter was 16 years ago from Galileo spacecraft.
Texas Governor Rick Perry says we are a nation in crisis, and the possible presidential candidate invited Christians nationwide to Houston to pray for God's health. So did the faithful flock to Texas? CNN's Jim Acosta answered the call. He's going to fill us in, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Jim Acosta joining us now for our "Political Ticker." He is in Houston where he is attending Governor Rick Perry's "Day of Prayer" event. And, Jim, are people expecting Government Perry to announce his presidential candidacy anytime soon?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know his aides have said all along that he is expected to make some kind of an announcement by the end of the summer. We don't expect him to make that announcement here tomorrow.
He is supposed to speak at this event from one organizers tell us, but we're not sure exactly what he is going to say, how he's going to say it. But needless to say, Brooke, as you know, this event has generated a lot of controversy ever since Rick Perry called for this event, what they call the response. There's been a steady stream of criticism here in his home state of Texas.
People say this is really tearing down the wall between church and state, and part of that is because this is really a Christian-only line-up of pastors that we're going to be hearing here tomorrow at Reliant Stadium in Houston. But besides, you know, just the prayer that is going to be going on here. They're also calling for fasting. And the reason why they say is that the country is in crisis.
If you go to the Web site for this event, TheResponseUSA.com, it says very clearly there that they hope people will pray and fast at this event to help this country. And, you know, they say there are a variety of things that are wrong -- the economy, social values and more rays and all sorts of things. And they are hopeful that coming together, bringing all these people together from all over the country will somehow help the country get on the right track.
BALDWIN: I remember you mentioning one of the last times we spoke about Governor Perry, and it was that August 16. I guess it happens tomorrow. So we'll be waiting to see if there was any announcement coming from the governor after tomorrow.
Jim Acosta, thank you so much, standing by for us in Texas.
And now back to North Carolina, back to the flash flooding in Charlotte. Now we're getting as much as five, maybe six inches in some of the areas. Rising waters, shutting down parts of three major highways. First responders are rescuing at least 16 people trapped in their cars. Clearly some of these children there popping them in some of these boats from their own homes.
They've evacuated at least two downtown neighborhoods here near some of these creeks that have clearly spilled out, part of a hotel roof we saw earlier. Remember that Embassy suites video. The water just rushing through the ceiling there.
Chad Myers, it continues.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, it does. Only because the water is still running off. And now these five and six-inch rainfall totals are people literally going to their backyard, looking at their rain gauge and saying it only rained for two hours. How can this thing be so full? Build up an outlook to tell the weather service, and they were telling a 5, in some spots 6 inches of rainfall in just two hours.
When it comes down that fast, it can't run off. Plus there's all this concrete. And then you get trash and debris in the gutters, and you can't get the water to drain down on the sewerage properly and the water rose rapidly. That's why we call it flash flooding, because it happens in a flash.
BALDWIN: That quickly. That quickly.
Let's show the video again if we still have it from the hotel. That was pretty tremendous video. We talked to the young man who shot the video, all the water that had come crashing through the ceiling.
Here it is. Look at this. Coming through, remember he said to your point, flash flooding. Flashing through the ceiling. Came very quickly. Just to show the tremendous force of this water.
MYERS: This scares me because the water is running through power lines.
BALDWIN: Through the lights.
MYERS: It could be electrical. Obviously the lights are still on. The power is still on. If you're walking in that puddle, you very well may have been shocked. So they were keeping all the people back because that was that dangerous when water is running through then, the sheet rock falls down from the ceiling because it gets so wet. No longer is it dry wall, just wet wall, as it falls down, it gets very heavy.
BALDWIN: All right, Chad Myers, thank you so much. We're going to stay on the story in Charlotte as we have half an hour to go. Things could change. You're on, and I know that. And from a very wet situation in Charlotte, we're going to talk heat here as we have for many, many days in a row. Extreme heat is the reason for several athlete deaths this week alone. And experts say there will be more if parents don't demand specific changes.
What you need to know, parents. Coming up, next.
(VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And this -- activists in Syria say security forces killed as many as 15 people today alone, and open fired outside a mosque during Friday prayers. The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leveling harsh accusations against the Syrian government. Details -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Here we go. The stock market has many, many ups and downs here. Volatility, the key word. Also, serious, a violent crackdown on protester continues. And a heat wave brings changes to high school football.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette," on this Friday.
And, Alison Kosik, let's begin with you there at the New York Stock Exchange. At least we're going into the weekend on a positive note.
KOSIK: We are. And what a wild ride it was just to get there. We had pretty tame results in the end today, Brooke. The Dow gains 60 points. You know, the blue chips, they have been up as much as 172 points, down as many as 244. Volatility really the word of the day.
For the week, the Dow, the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, all tumbling 6 percent to 8 percent, making it the market's worst week since the financial crisis in late 2008. Now we did have a couple of positives today. We had a better than expected jobs report. 117,000 new jobs were created last month. Then around at noon time, we had news out of Europe, the ECV, that's Europe's version of the FED. It said it's ready to buy up Italian and Spanish debt.
You know, there had been worries no one would buy its bonds. So this was good news. We saw the market rally on that, but clearly, Brooke, this is still a market on edge. Fear is still here in Wall Street.
And get ready for next week. The volatility expected to continue, investors are going to be getting new economic reports about the health of the economy, and still they're going to keep an eye on the Euro zone.
BALDWIN: Yes, down 512 yesterday, up 60 today. Who knows what Monday could bring.
Alison Kosik, I'm sure we will be talking this time then. Thank you very much. Next here on "Reporter Roulette," there was no end to Syrian's violent crackdown on anti-government protests. Gun fire echoing through the streets of one town.
Jill Dougherty at the State Department with latest here on the fighting. And also the secretary's harsh words. Jill, what is Secretary Clinton saying?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In terms, number one, of how many people have died, it's so hard to know, because there is very little information coming out. But it could just be, you know, hundreds. The secretary has said that 2,000 so far, they're confident in saying, unfortunately, have died in Syria, period.
And she even mentioned yesterday when she talked about this, a 1- year-old child. I mean, this is affecting men, women and children -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: How likely is Syria, Jill, to follow Ambassador Ford's request to stop the violence?
DOUGHERTY: Not likely at all. I mean, nothing has worked so far. Although when you mention the ambassador, he was back here in Washington. Remember, Ambassador Ford is the one who went up to that City of Hama, when in -- and really was mobbed by Syrians who are very happy to see him. He came back to Washington for some meetings, now he is back again. And they're making it clear at the State Department that he's going to continue to talk directly to the government and warn them that the violence has to stop.
And then also, almost more interestingly, he's going to continue to talk to Syrian citizens. And they're not saying he's going on any trip soon, but they said he's going to engage and also talk about helping them in the transition, and the transition as we know, means post President Assad transition.
BALDWIN: Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. The latest there from State Department on Syria.
And next on "Reporter Roulette," let's go to George Howell. He is at the football. I'm sure a very warm afternoon there in Gainesville, Georgia.
And, George, I know right around this time of the day, it's the hottest time of the day. Often, you know, you'd see a football practice caught on behind you. I don't see any guys in pads yet. Where are they?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were here watching the Marist (ph) High School Football Team during their summer training camp. They're not here now, because they practice early in the morning to get ahead of this head, and for a good reason, Brooke. So far this year, there have been four heat-related deaths due to the heat. So we find coaches again practicing early in the morning, late in the evening and even indoors to be safe, Brooke. BALDWIN: You mentioned the heat-related deaths, some indoor practices. What else? I mean, is there a cut-off temperature where coaches say OK, we're shutting this practice down? What are changes should parents demand?
HOWELL: Right, well, it really varies. It depends upon the school district. Even the individual school, there's no universal cut-off. However, we've talk to a lot of coaches, seen several practices. A lot of these coaches monitor what's called A Wet Bulb to watch the humidity, the temperature. That's when they make those decisions to make cut offs, Brooke.
BALDWIN: I'm sorry, they monitor a what?
HOWELL: It's called A Wet Bulb. So basically it monitors the humidity and the temperature. When it gets to a certain level, a lot of these coaches just make a decision, no more practice, let's go inside.
BALDWIN: OK, just had to clarify. I can't delve deep into my football past or anything like that. George Howell, thank you so much.
And that is "Reporter Roulette" for this Friday.
Still ahead here, our team put together a unique look at the trading day on Wall Street. You have to stick around to watch this.
Also, as usual, check in with Wolf Blitzer to find out what's in store for his next two hours. We'll be right back.
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BALDWIN: Welcome back.
Here's a new thing we're doing for you on Fridays, you ask, I answer. Take a look. We're calling it the week wind down.
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BALDWIN: How do you choose your music Monday? It's always someone that I'm into, that I'm listening. It's been fantastic. I have a whole list. I used to have my computer mostly posted with post-its, different bands who are coming into town.
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BALDWIN: It has been called the most complicated bank robbery in American history. A pizza delivery man walks into a bank and around his net sits a ticking time bomb.
What happened next took the feds years to figure out. CNN's Drew Griffin reports on "Twisted Tale" in a special CNN presents this Sunday night. Here's a preview. But first, I have to warn you, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: 911, what's your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED BANK EMPLOYEE: Yes, we have just been robbed.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Was anyone hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED BANK EMPLOYEE: No, he just walked out the door.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): August 28, 2003, Erie, Pennsylvania. Within minutes of robbing a bank, Brian Wells is surrounded by police, cross legged on the ground and handcuffed.
Under his t-shirt he tells police is a bomb. He asks police to call his boss then to save his life. Twenty five minutes tick by and then the device begins to beep. In an instant, the bank robber is dead.
(on camera): The death of Brian Wells in this parking lot that day turned out to be only the beginning of the most elaborate, intricate and some say still unsolved bank robbery case the FBI has ever had.
(voice-over): It was a hot Thursday afternoon. Jane Hyde was expecting to see her brother at a party that night, but she had one errand to run. A quick shopping trip on Erie's Peach Street, but there was trouble.
Police had blocked the road, cops and cars everywhere. She turned around and went home. It was only later that night watching the 10:00 news she learned what that traffic was all about.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My kids are sitting on the couch and then the story airs of there's a bank robbery and a man came into the bank with a bomb on him.
GRIFFIN (on camera): You're recognizing your --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother sitting there with this bomb on him and I'm thinking OK, the police have him, they'll find out who did this to him. Then as it goes on, Brian exploded. The bomb went off. Brian is dead. I'm like, I can't believe this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: It took the FBI years to sort through the evidence and decide who was responsible for the robbery and his death. Did they get it right is the question? Find out Sunday night 8:00 Eastern, CNN Presents: "A Twisted Tale."
And now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" with a quick preview of what's coming up for the next two hours, Wolf Blitzer.
And first, Wolf, we put together this video.
I want to show you this time-lapsed video of the roller coaster ride on Wall Street today, stocks going up and down, you know, before finally settling in positive territory.
But here we go, they go up, they go down, they go up, they go down, quite a week, quite a week there in New York, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes, I think a lot of traders were just relieved that it ended. They can relax a little bit over the weekend. Although, I know some of them they're going to be up Sunday night waiting to see what the Asian markets are doing around 7:00, 8:00 at night East Coast time.
They're already opening up the markets out in Beijing and Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Australia so they're all going to be watching that closely. You know, we're so self-oriented, we think so much of what's happens on Wall Street as a result of what's happening in the United States.
We don't necessarily appreciate that a lot of what's happening on Wall Street that roller coaster today is the result of what's happening in Europe or in Asia. This whole world is getting smaller and smaller. So it's one thing as we've saying for Greece or Portugal or Ireland. They have some economic issues and they've had some serious economic issues.
But when you get countries like Italy and Spain as Fareed Zakaria told me yesterday, those countries are simply not only too big to fail, they're too big to bailout. You can bail out of Greece. You can bail out of Portugal or an Ireland, you can't bail out of Italy or Spain if you think the Lehman Brothers collapse a few years ago was a big deal.
What's happening in Europe right now is an enormous deal. We have to pay more attention to it, see what's going on. I know the traders on Wall Street pay close attention to it and we will as well.
If you want to know what we're going to do in "THE SITUATION ROOM," do you, Brooke?
BALDWIN: Of course, I do. That's what I'm waiting for.
BLITZER: Let me tell you. Let me tell all of our viewers at the same time as I tell you. Austin Goolsbee, this is his last day at the White House as the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
He is heading back to Chicago to be a professor at the University of Chicago. He's an economist. We're going to be speaking with him about what's going on. He's got some strong views. Did you see him on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart the other night?
BALDWIN: No, I missed it, but I heard about it. BLITZER: He was actually very, very funny. He had a good one- liner I'm not going to share it with you now maybe we'll share it in the course of the next two hours. But he's a good guy. He's a smart guy. We'll get his stance of what's going on.
Diane Swank is going to join us as well. She's an economist out in Chicago, some practical advice. If people are worried about their 401(k)s, their mutual funds, their cash, what do they do now?
We're going to try to help sort some of that, go through some of that. We'll also have the latest from Libya, the latest from Syria, lots of news happening today in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
BALDWIN: By the way, I would like to let you know I do have your blog open. So I would like to direct people to cnn.com/situationroom because I think the headline would certainly pique some people's interest "How U.S. Can Save You More Money." You get two different examples, cnn.com.
BLITZER: Two relatively easy ways that American taxpayers can save billions of dollars. It would through Congress like that. The question is, is the Obama administration to bite the bullet and do it.
BALDWIN: Let's not tell them, go to the blog.
BLITZER: I'm not going to tell them, no. I'll just remind our viewers. Where is that blog again?
BALDWIN: Cnn.com/situation room. Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you in a couple of minutes. Thank you, sir. You got it. Thanks for the love.
Now to this, a Texas jury deciding whether polygamous leader Warren Jeffs will spend the rest of his life in prison with graphic recordings and a bizarre defense strategy. It did not take long for jurors to convict him of sexual assault.
Sunny Hostin is on this case here as it moves into the sentencing phase. That's next.
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BALDWIN: It took a Texas jury four hours to find polygamous leader Warren Jeffs guilty of raping two underage girls, but the penalty phase, the sentencing phase here could take days.
Sunny Hostin is on the case. Sunny, we know that Warren Jeffs wasn't even in the courtroom today. Now we're hearing that he is now the letting one of these attorneys takeover for him. Is he one of the, what was it, seven defense attorneys he fired initially?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: That's right and he's name is Derick Wallpol (ph). He's sort of been his stand-by counsel during the guilt phase of this.
And we now know that Warren Jeffs was not a good attorney representing himself. He did lose this case. He was convicted of two counts of raping children.
And so certainly at this point, it appears that he's letting his stand-by counsel do what he is supposed to do and represent him to the best of his ability.
BALDWIN: Can we expect this punishment phase, this sentencing phase to take longer than it would if he continued to represent himself?
HOSTIN: Well, I think so. I think it's quite possible, but the interesting thing about this punishment phase is this is really the important part of the trial because this jury will be looking at evidence, Brooke, to determine what sort of sentence Warren Jeffs will get.
Some of the evidence, it's really fascinating that we are going - this jury is going to hear about is that Warren Jeffs was married illegally 78 times, 24 of which he was married to children under the age of 17.
Another thing is apparently, he presided over 67 illegal marriages either witnessed them or presided over them and interestingly enough, the prosecution has evidence, Brooke, of 60 instances in which he broke up families.
He reassigned wives to other husbands and reassigned children to other families. And so certainly this is some of the evidence that this jury is going to look at when determining how long he's going to be in prison.
BALDWIN: I'm picking my jaw off the floor as you mention those numbers. What sentence could he get?
HOSTIN: Well, he was convicted of two counts, one aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. He married a 12-year- old. So he's looking at five to 99 years in prison or perhaps life in prison just for that count, for the sexual assault of a child under the age of 17.
He apparently also celestially married a 14-year-old. He's looking at two to 20 years. He could spend the rest of his life in prison, which is why it's so very important he has allowed his stand- by counsel to represent him during this phase of the proceedings.
BALDWIN: OK. I know he earlier today, he walked out, he had some sort of message, another proclamation of people in the courtroom and then he was escorted out. We'll pick up on it next week.
Sunny Hostin, thank you so much for joining me as always on the case and thank you for watching. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
But don't move anywhere. My pal, Wolf Blitzer starting right now. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.
