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London Violence and Looting Spreads; 61-Year-Old Ends 109-Mile Swim; Stocks Bounce Back from Plunge; Wall Street Sees Early Bounce; Federal Reserve Meets Today; European Investors Rattled, Results Mixed; World Markets Struggle; White House Response to Economic Problems; Teen Curfew Ordered in Philly; Polygamist Sect Leader Could Get Life; Wisconsin Voters Heading to Polls; "The Tea Party Downgrade"; Violence Flares in British Streets; Bodies of 30 U.S. Troops Arrive Today; Questions About Afghan Chopper Attack
Aired August 09, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And it's 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. out West, I'm Kyra Phillips. Thanks for joining us.
Wall Street just minutes after opening, only hours removed from its gut-wrenching plunge, U.S. investors seem to be shrugging off some of the concerns, at least for now.
Riots erupt across Great Britain. Dozens of police officers hurt, hundreds of people arrested, and a government desperately trying to tamp down public rage.
The 61-year-old Diana Nyad back in the U.S. after abandoning her attempt to swim from Cuba to Miami. She was halfway on the 109-mile journey when she became too sick, and too sore to continue.
Well this morning, millions of us are waking up to smaller nest eggs, and, of course, looking at that big board on Wall Street and watching the numbers very closely, we're covering all the angles from New York to London and Wall Street to the White House.
CNN reporters are there. Let's begin with Alison Kosik here at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, what do you think? We're seeing a glimmer of optimism here. We're still in positive territory.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Got to take what you can get, right? The fact of the matter is it's still very volatile. But at least for now that volatility is moving in the right direction.
We watched the major averages open up 1 percent each. We saw the Dow pop 141 points. We're still keeping that triple digit rally here. But traders say, wait a minute, the selling wave, it may not be over because the fact is no one wants to be the last person at the party without a chair.
So until we get a clear direction on where the economy is going, traders are telling me expect to see more selling, and sitting on the sidelines. You know, it's not about day-to-day mood swings and gyrations, it's more important just to look at the overall long-term economic fundamentals here.
You have to remember, economic growth is slowing. The job market is not great. The housing market is stuck and that's really some of the big concerns for Wall Street.
But I do want to end on a good note here. The VIX gauges the fear in the market. It's trading sharply lower after soaring in recent sessions. Once again it shows, Kyra, there's less fear in the market so some good news there.
PHILLIPS: All right, we like that. We'll take the good news. Alison, thanks. All right, let's talk about what the Federal Reserve is going to do today.
Christine Romans, you know, we were talking these policymakers can definitely move the markets today.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: They can and you know, I'll tell you that last week, you saw European policymakers issue a statement, and that's what really unnerved the markets there, and then again here.
Remember on Thursday, when everything was falling out of bed, it was because they didn't really show enough confidence to the markets that they were behind it, they were on top of it, and that they would stand ready to do something more if they needed to.
That's what the market wants to see here with the fed, but it's a fine line. Markets are finicky and fickle, as you know. If they come out too strongly or suggest something the market doesn't like in terms of what it could do to keep liquidity or money flowing in the marketplace, it could be seen as a desperation move.
So that's a problem. One thing I think is clear, those policymakers, they've seen the ferocity of the selling here. You've got the Dow down 1600 points from where it was on July 21st. so we're watching 190 points up right now.
It's got 1600 to go to get back to where we were just a couple weeks after Fourth of July. So think of that. The ferocity in selling clearly something that the fed is very keen to make sure doesn't happen again, but just what can the fed today?
Interest rates are at zero. It's already had two big stimulus measures, pumping almost $3 trillion into the economy. What more can the fed do? That's a big question, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK, we'll be waiting for that meeting, 2:15 Eastern Time, Christine, thanks so much.
You know, all the numbers on Wall Street, it's definitely rattled investors around the world. We've been talking a lot about Europe and Asia.
Let's go ahead and head to London now and talk to Leone Lakhani. How's it looking now? What's your take? You even mentioned earlier Europe will be watching what the fed does today and what it says today, as well.
LEONE LAKHANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kyra. It's been a bit of an up and down day in Europe. I mean, the main markets opened sharply lower, but they keep going up and down if I can bring you the numbers now.
The FTSE has been going in and out of positive territory. The DAX in Frankfurt is down about a percent, the CAC up about 1.5 percent and Zurich's SMI about 1.25 percent down. Kyra, we can't really look too closely at these numbers at the moment because, of course, we've seen three very brutal sessions leading up to today.
I think the change we're seeing today is because investors are looking for some clear, decisions, and clear words from the fed. Because that's what we've been lacking in the markets at the moment.
We're seeing a lot of volatility, a lot of uncertainty and that's why investors are cashing out. They've been looking to their policymakers for clear direction and that's been lacking.
Here in Europe, it's been seen as the policy leaders are reacting to what's happening, rear than making pre-emptive decisions to see -- to try and stem all the nervousness in the markets. Kyra --
PHILLIPS: OK, Leone, thanks. Now we've tackled the economics. Let's talk about the politics of this crisis. The White House facing heavy pressure to sure up convenience and do it pretty fast. Brianna Keilar, what are some of the things the administration could consider?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, it seems that at least the strategy that the White House is pursuing on jobs and deficit reduction, these are not things that move as quickly, certainly, as the panic that we are seeing on Wall Street.
And the markets, rating agencies, these are things that the White House had long said they cannot control. So on deficit reduction, the strategy remains very much the same.
And we heard the president say yesterday, he'll be making recommendations to that bipartisan congressional commission to deal with entitlement reform, and to deal with tax reform or tax revenues.
But, of course, these are things that will have to go on farther down the road, because Congress isn't even here right now. Of course, they're on their August recess.
And then the president also still pushing his jobs message, and that remains the same as well, Kyra, extending unemployment benefits, the payroll tax holiday extension, infrastructure spending, for instance, which is something that a lot of Republicans are not a fan of.
Government spending, and of course it's a very difficult atmosphere for that on Capitol Hill. Kyra --
PHILLIPS: But you mentioned last hour, the president has changed his schedule, and you got a little intel on what that might be about. What do you know?
KEILAR: You know, the White House is being mum on this. They're not saying why he cleared his schedule, but this was kind of last minute. We found out that he was supposed to be going, of course, to Virginia. He was going to be talking about fuel efficiency standards. He's no longer doing that.
Jay Carney's White House press briefing has been canceled, as well, Kyra. All I can tell you is there's a lot of speculation that he might be going to Dover Air Force Base, where, of course, the remains of those 30 U.S. troops will be coming in. But, officially we do not know and the White House is not saying what he'll be doing today.
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, thanks so much, Brianna.
Maybe you've heard Democrats call it the Tea Party downgrade. Tea Party Congressmen Joe Walsh sure has. He's going to join us to talk about that label, and what we should learn from the country's lowered credit rating.
And also later this hour, marathon swimmer's attempt to cross from Cuba to Florida falls short. We'll tell you why she had to come out of the water.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking news cross country now, in Philadelphia so far there's no official explanation for gangs of kids, anywhere 20 to 40 minors at a time, assaulting residents at random.
So now curfews have been put in place. If you're under 13 you have to be home by 10, midnight for those under 18. The mayor warns parents now, it's not our job to watch your kids, it's yours.
And next hour, Texas, closing statements in the penalty phase of Warren Jeffs' trial. Polygamist sect leader was convicted last week on two counts of sexual assault on a child. He could get life in prison.
And remember these protests? Today Wisconsin voters decide if six Republican state senators get recalled. The push for the recall came after Republican Governor Scott Walker yanked collective bargaining rights from public workers. Democrats are hoping to take back the state senate.
OK, downgrading the country's AAA credit rating for the first time, Standard & Poor's blamed Washington's long debt deadlock, more than the actual debt. Well, when Democrats heard that, they ran with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: This is, essentially, a Tea Party downgrade. The Tea Party brought us to the brink of a -- of a default. SENATOR JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I believe this is, without question, the Tea Party downgrade.
GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), MARYLAND: The Tea Party obstructionism here in Washington is keeping us from restoring that balanced approach that America's always used.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Joining us now with his take on the blame game, Republican Congressman and Tea Party activist Joe Walsh. So, Congressman, you heard it right there, Tea Party downgrade. Pretty harsh words. How do you respond to that?
REPRESENTATIVE JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: Kyra, if it wasn't so pathetic, I mean, it's almost comical. You listen to that austere voice of John Kerry, blaming the Tea Party downgrade.
Look, this is what you do. This is what one does when they've lost an argument. When they know their policies aren't working. Correct me if I'm wrong, Kyra, but they began the talking point a week ago was, the Tea Party are terrorists.
Now, it's the Tea Party downgrade. We were told months ago that a downgrade was likely because this economy is falling off a cliff, and we have a debt crisis. That's all on the door of the president.
His policies are responsible for that this and for him here at the last minute, him and his minions, to trot out this thing called the Tea Party downgrade is comical, and it won't work, because most Americans see right through it.
PHILLIPS: You and I, a couple of weeks ago, had a huge discussion about the fact that, you know, the fingers were being pointed at you, and other Tea Party members, saying, look, it's your fault.
You're stalling this whole situation. So now fast forward, we're hearing now that what has happened is because of the Tea Party. So let me just ask you this.
As you watch the markets tank, as you watch all of Americans suffer, you've, you know, admitted to me you've got financial problems. You're one of those Americans that's struggling right now in the bad economy.
You look at the recent "New York Times"/CBS poll showing that 82 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress. That's you and other lawmakers, that's your credibility, the credibility of other lawmakers, how are you going to turn this country around? Bottom line, that's what people want to know. Americans feel hosed right now.
WALSH: Kyra, absolutely. That's the question. So why -- why, again, this president never ceases to not provide leadership, why is he focused on name calling now? Why is he focused on blaming the credit agencies, and finger pointing to us, when, as you said, he should be focused on how we're going to turn this thing around.
PHILLIPS: No, I'm asking how you, and other members of the Tea Party, are going to turn this around. I'm asking you, the congressman, what are you going to do to help turn this around?
WALSH: Well, and we're going to have to because this president won't. The way we're going to turn this thing around, Kyra, is to get government off of the backs of small businessmen and women in this country.
This economy will not grow and we will not create jobs until this government moves away. Right now, they're regulating businesses to death. Businesses aren't hiring, and they're not growing because of that.
Because, directly because of the policies of this administration. The credit agencies, Kyra, are clear that we have a debt crisis. Government is spending too much money and we're not growing.
PHILLIPS: But this downgrade has happened --
WALSH: We're not going to grow by creating more regulation.
PHILLIPS: -- this downgrade is a reaction to what among lawmakers during the debt deal. So, you know, are you saying that the trillions of dollars that have been lost now in the stock market, you know, has been worth all that back and forth and that bickering? I mean, is partisan politics helping this country move forward at all?
WALSH: Kyra, folks in the market, folks in the market are a lot smarter than you and I are. They understand what the fiscal situation in this country is. They understand what's going on in Europe.
Look, the credit agencies began warning us in the springtime and it had nothing to do with an August 2nd deadline. It had to do with our debt crisis. We've known about this for ages.
And I got to tell you something, thank God for all these troublesome House Republicans who came to this town. Can you imagine what life would be like if we hadn't?
We would have raised the debt ceiling without thinking about it last February or March. We'd be spending money every single day. We would have been downgraded months ago.
And it would have been S&P. It probably would have been Moody's, as well. These House Republicans have forced this town to finally get serious about spending. That's a good thing.
PHILLIPS: Congressman Joe Walsh. Appreciate your time today.
WALSHI: Kyra, I love it. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
They were killed in the single deadliest attack on U.S. troops since the Afghan war began. Now new questions surround what happened. We're going to talk to Retired Lt. General Russell Honore.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking the markets for you. We're still in positive territory. That's good news. Dow Industrials up 162 points. Now, 66, 166 points. Our money team is on it. We'll keep talking about how the downgrade is impacted our 401(k), and how the markets are going to turn out this afternoon.
We'll keep watching them. All right, another major story that we keep watching, as well. Three nights of rioting in London and violence spreading to other British cities, as well.
Now Prime Minister David Cameron vowing to get tough with a huge call-up of police. CNN's Atika Shubert following that story for us out of London. She's joining us once again live. Atika, what do you know?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically what we know is that Prime Minister Cameron has said he's going to put out more police on the streets and looters will feel the full force of the law.
Sixteen thousand cops will be out on the street tonight, compare that to just 6,000 that were out last night. But is that going to be enough? Here in west London in Ealing, it's a relatively affluent community, without any of the history of violence they've seen in some of the other areas.
But look at what happened. I mean, the windows have been smashed in and the grocery store on the corner here just was lit on fire. And firefighters have now cleared the area so the cleanup has just started around here. But residents here say it was an absolutely harrowing, that they narrowly escaped, as kids basically set upon the area, set cars on fire, and then completely ransacked and looted shops.
So people here are encouraged to hear that there will be more cops on the street. But they're also wondering if more forceful measures are going to be taken. Whether water canons, tear gas, maybe even a curfew should be imposed.
PHILLIPS: We'll follow it. Atika Shubert live out of London. Thanks.
Well, it's going to be a very emotional day for the families of more than 30 U.S. troops killed in a chopper crash in Afghanistan over the weekend. The bodies of those killed are being taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today.
Meantime, there are some new questions, new reports surfacing about that attack, and why it happened. Retired General Russel Honore is joining me now live.
So General, first of all, the reports that are out there about this U.S. helicopter possibly caught up in a Taliban trap. What are your sources within the military telling you? Do you think there's truth to this?
LT. GENERAL RUSSELL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): Well, the possibilities are there, Kyra, till the investigation is done. I can say this. That the forces that were conducting this mission, the Army Rangers and the SEALs, are the best-trained, most well-equipped we have for that mission.
That said. This had to be a very desperate situation, for that Chinook helicopter to go in, in daylight, to make that assault to try to save those rangers. Because normally what would happen, Kyra, and I only talk about normally the way the most well-skilled, and well-trained warriors we have in the world come from that community, is normally they would have AC-130, shooting close support to them.
Normally, they would have close air support from the Air Force and normally, most of the time, be inside artillery range. This had to be a very desperate situation for them to launch this in the daytime, knowing that when they get in that helicopter, and when it's about to land, it puts them in a very vulnerable situation. No other forces are trained to do this other than the SEALs.
PHILLIPS: And yet you put --
HONORE: -- Special Forces.
PHILLIPS: You make a good point with regard to the Special Forces, and you know, we're talking about Air Force, and we're talking about Navy. We're also talking about Army and we're talking about the best of the best here.
And these reports are saying that allegedly a Taliban commander put out some sort of notice about this meeting that was going to happen with all these Taliban leaders.
And that this news lured the Special Forces to head this way and to head down this route, and the report's coming forward saying it was a trap that our warriors, our most elite warriors, got caught in this trap. Is that possible?
And if so, what does that tell us about being in this war, 10 years later and falling victim to something like this?
HONORE: Well, I think the Taliban has the luxury to make that story paint to their tactical brilliance. But the report coming from the department right now, and the officials chains, said a ranger unit was in there conducting an operation, to go after a Taliban leader, and in the process of doing that.
They became so decisively engaged, they asked for immediate help, and the SEAL team, in that CH-47 helicopter, which is one of the few helicopters we have that can operate at high altitude, went in, in daylight, to try and rescue those rangers.
And no other armed forces we have, none of our conventional forces, are trained to operate at that altitude in any, what we call, a contested LZ, to be able to do that. In this case, the Taliban got the best of them with the RPG.
PHILLIPS: Wow. And you mentioned it must have been desperate to go in to a hot LZ, a hot landing zone loaded with the most elite warriors in our forces.
We'll continue to follow the investigation. General, thanks. For more on the helicopter crash and its victims just go to CNN's national security blogs, security clearance at cnn.com/security.
All right we are watching the markets for you right now. Dow Industrials still in positive territory, 194. We're keeping a close eye on the numbers for you. We'll be right back.
Also coming up, Republican Hopeful Michele Bachmann on "Newsweek's" new cover and has blogs and conservative voices talking. We'll explain in political buzz coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, the markets continuing to go up, up 200 points the Dow Industrials. We're keeping an eye after that huge gut- wrenching plunge yesterday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will do better today. Alison Kosik, what do you think? So far, so good.
KOSIK: So far, so good. But where it starts isn't always where it ends up. You know what? Traders point out to me that you watch how the market's been moving lately. It's clearly been moving on headlines instead of logic or even fundamentals.
Meaning does the actual shape of the economy. You know, it's not really a great thing for the markets because it's not rational trading. You know, basically stocks have kind of fallen through a trap door lately and a lot of this selling that you've seen has been based on fear.
Now, stocks, they're considered an indicator of how the economy is doing and usually, Wall Street trades on the big picture. And when you see investors aren't focused on the big picture, that's when you see these wild price swings that we've been seeing. It's something that can feed on itself and kind of becomes a vicious cycle. Kyra --
PHILLIPS: OK, we're watching the numbers, up 204 points right now. Alison, thanks.
"Political Buzz," it's your rapid fire look at the hottest political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock.
Playing today CNN political analyst Roland Martin, Sirius-XM political talk show host and comedian Pete Dominick and CNN contributor Will Cain.
All right, guys. First question, the president says there's now more pressure on those 12 Republicans and Democrats yet to be named, by the way, who are going to hash it out on the next part of this debt deal. So, are we finally going to get it right with this Super Committee? Will?
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You're asking for a prediction.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
CAIN: So --
PHILLIPS: Look into your crystal ball.
CAIN: Yes, I'll be professional predictor and go out on a limb and say, no, we're not going to get it right here. What evidence do you have that suggests we would? Is it our willingness to raise taxes at all times? Our willingness to look at reforming entitlements?
Is it because we're calling these guys super? Is it because there are triggers? It says we're going to cut defense and reform entitlements if they don't get it right. No, Kyra, I don't have much hope. Look, it requires one guy from one of the parties to betray what his party stands for, to go against that. I don't see how that's going to happen.
PHILLIPS: I love our role, just grinning from ear to ear. Go ahead, Roland?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: First of all, both sides frankly have stacked the deck in terms of the kind of people they want on there.
The fundamental problem that we have right now in Washington, D.C., is that both parties essentially, especially the GOP are devoid of moderate voices, and also the elder statesmen who know how to bring cultures together.
And so they will take their side, and say, I will stake my ground, and that's the problem. You don't have the moderate, strong voices, as -- desperately trying not to look like a moderate.
PHILLIPS: All right. We sort of got the last thought there. He froze right in the middle of it. That's probably --
CAIN: It doesn't matter.
PHILLIPS: Will and Pete are like, OK, that's perfect.
PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN: Kyra, you do get buzzed when your signal on Skype drops.
(BELL RINGS)
(LAUGHTER) DOMINICK: Listen, I think Will made a good point here about why we're calling them super. We have to stop calling them super. That implies somehow that they're heroic.
They're super villains. Does anybody want to imagine any congressional leadership in tights? I mean, the bottom line here is, how do we define insanity? Remember what Einstein said, doing the same thing over and over again and getting different results. It's not going to happen. We've already heard The Riddler Eric Cantor imply there's not going to be any, any tax increases, so we already have a hint.
Will one cross the aisle and compromise? That's what it's going to take.
(BUZZER SOUNDS)
PHILLIPS: Question number two. Let's take a look at this. This is the new "Newsweek" cover. I know all three of you guys have seen this. Let's go ahead and bring it up. There we go.
Oh, boy I'm seeing the head shake, I'm hearing the laughter, all kinds of reaction here. It's a wild-eyed Michele Bachmann on the cover. All right. What are your thoughts? Roland?
MARTIN: Let me do this in case we freeze. That's what she looks like.
OK, first of all, this a ethics (INAUDIBLE) on "Newsweek's" part. I don't see this woman full of rage. It's not like the photos of Jack Nicholson from "The Shining," okay? If they had a photo of her with an angry scowl and jabbing her finger, that makes sense.
So, if I'm Michele Bachmann I'm laughing at the "Newsweek" cover. That's not somehow making her look crazed and deranged.
PHILLIPS: Will?
(CROSSTALK)
CAIN: I think that if you were under the impression - he's not done?
PHILLIPS: Okay, hold on. I know. We had a little frozen Skype there. My apologies. He's smiling. He's still smiling. That's good news. Go ahead, Will.
CAIN: No, I was going to say, I think if you were under the impression that "Newsweek" is a straight-up news organization that doesn't have an opinion or an agenda you might be disillusioned. But this is the same magazine that just a month or two ago put Mitt Romney on the cover as a dancing Mormon Broadway character. And they don't have a history of making kind covers to Sarah Palin, either.
So no, it's not fair. But here's a good question. What if you really are a news organization, like CNN? Do you have a duty to put pictures that are favorable of a candidate up or a duty not to put unfavorable pictures up?
(BUZZER SOUNDS)
CAIN: I do think it's just an interesting debate.
PHILLIPS: Hmm. Pete?
DOMINICK: If the question is, is the magazine cover biased? The answer is absolutely. If the question is sexist? Absolutely. I mean, why don't they just throw in a straitjacket and put her in a padded room? I mean, it's ridiculous. Absolutely.
But this is what they do. They're trying to sell magazines. That's what they're doing. They're trying to sell magazines. If you want to know if Michele Bachmann is a Christian fundamentalist mythology believer, then just listen to what she says. She's out of her mind with all that stuff. You don't need a crazy photo to prove it.
But it's absolutely biased and absolutely sexist.
(BUZZER SOUNDS)
PHILLIPS: I wonder what the talk would be, Will and Roland, if Pete's photo were right there on the front of "Newsweek" magazine? Exactly. That's a scary thought.
CAIN: You're going to make him take his shirt off again today.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: OK! Oh, boy, all right. All right. Keep the shirt on, Pete.
DOMINICK: You weren't here for that. You weren't here for that.
PHILLIPS: All right. Your "Buzzer Beater," you're going to get 20 seconds for that. All right. Here we go, "Buzzer Beater." Filmmaker Michael Moore, he tweeted out, quote, telling this to the president, "Show some guts and arrest the CEO of S&P. These criminals brought Down the economy in 2008, and now they will do it again."
All right, that's Michael Moore's opinion. So guys, who would you want to see arrested over this? Roland?
MARTIN: All of them. Make them all do the perp walk! Every single banker, every single credit agency. Arrest them all, the crooks.
PHILLIPS: Will?
CAIN: Arrestedfor what? Just -- I know I've got ten seconds. But let me tell you about the liberal prism of mine and the conserve perception. I think when a liberal looks at the world and sees bad things, they see malevolence and conspiracy. I see morons. You don't arrest people for being moronic.
MARTIN: Yes, you do.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Pete?
DOMINICK: Hold on, Kyra, I'm making a trade to help the Dow go back up. Oh, listen, listen, this is the fault, I say, of all of the senators who voted against the Brown-Kauffman amendment that would have led to the breakup of banks. Wall Street is just doing what they're allowed to get away with. Congress needs to regulate them and create rules they can't break.
And by the way, the Italian authorities did raid Standard & Poor's yesterday.
MARTIN: Good!
PHILLIPS: Wait, I'm just getting word we have a perp walk video of Roland Martin back from 1982. Yep, stand by.
CAIN: Wow!
PHILLIPS: Roland, Pete, Will, thanks, guys.
All right. It's 10:34 Eastern time. Let's take a look at the markets real quickly here. Dow Industrials still up, 233 points. We're going to keep watching for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Dow Industrials still up in positive territory. Good news. 214 points. We're watching the markets for you today after yesterday's gut-wrenching plunge.
Check news "Cross-Country" now. The hunt still on for the Dougherty gang. Police say a sister and two brothers -- Lee, Ryan and Dylan -- robbed a bank in Georgia and were chased by police in Florida.
(VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yep, that's gunfire you hear. Police say when they're caught, they'll face attempted murder of a police officer.
Recently, a woman came forward and said that her uncle had been the infamous D.B. Cooper. Well, DNA tests from this guy, compared to a neck tie that belonged to Cooper don't match. Still, it's not 100 percent, because the FBI isn't sure if the DNA on the tie is Cooper's to begin with.
And Monday, Miami Heat star Lebron James led a bike ride through his hometown of Akron, Ohio. His Wheels for Education attempts to spotlight the high dropout rate in Akron schools. 360 third graders get a free bike, free laptop and school supplies.
Well, pretty ominous warning from a scientific federal agency. A warning about the sun. Rob Marciano, who I just heard says he's rolling with it, having a little issue here with the maps. But are we ok? And tell us what this is all about.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm on live TV, and I love this wall. We always like to roll the dice here.
I want to show you this cool animation, describe for you what's going to be happening with the sun. A lot of you are familiar with the solar cycle. It's an eleven-year minimum/maximum. We just came out of a minimum, now we're approaching a maximum.
And there's reason to believe that this one may be fairly intense. We had a good solar flare and a coronal mass ejection over the weekend. If you live in the northern latitudes, you saw the Northern Lights. And what happens, magnetic forces in the sun get active and emit the protrons and neutrons and send them towards the earth at about 1 million miles an hour. So, two, three days later, they get involved in the earth's magnetic field and eventually, some of those particles make their way into the upper atmosphere and interact with that upper atmosphere and that's where you get the -- the aurora borealis. Which is the good stuff.
The bad stuff is, this can do damage if it's strong enough across -- across the -- the U.S., and the rest of the world, as far as the electrical grid is concerned. When these particles enter -- the atmosphere as mentioned, it happens every eleven years is what the cycle is. NOAA is predicting four extreme events.
What do we mean by that, as far as extreme events are concerned? Well, they can knock out power and in some cases, in some of these extreme events, they can knock them out for quite a long time. So, that's one of the main issues that we're concerned about. And it could cause $2 trillion in damage across the globe. Satellite interruption, communication interruption. Again, power grid can -- can be crippled at times.
This has happened in the past, back before we had an elaborate power grid, back when they had just telegraphs back in 1859. That knocked that out. And the latest one back in 1989 where at 1.6 million people were without power in Quebec, Canada.
So, we'll be watching these over the next few years, and it's not often that NOAA comes out and says something like this. But they're predicting four extreme events.
And if you think it, put things in perspective, I mean this would be an event much like a major tsunami or a major hurricane or worse than that. So, something to be taken seriously. But at the same time, don't want to scare people. But just don't be surprised when we start talking about these more often over the next few years.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Well, yesterday's 635-point drop in the stock market was the sixth biggest loss in market history. So, how does it compare to other really bad days on Wall Street? Christine Romans joins us right after the break.
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PHILLIPS: When you think of yesterday's gut-wrenching plunge it's obviously one for the history books. We're following the numbers now here. The Dow Industrials up 173 points, wondering if it's going to get to be as bad as yesterday.
But when you look at history and all the other horrible days on Wall Street, Christine Romans, what do you think? Where does yesterday rank?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to tell you, it's a pretty long history book, to be quite honest. Investors lost $1 trillion in stock value. That's if you measure it by the Wilshire 5000, the broadest index of stock -- stocks. S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt, overall economic concerns, you know this story. Worries about the debt crisis in Europe, and all of this had Wall Street in a vice grip.
The Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 635 points yesterday. That's the sixth biggest point drop of all time for blue-chip stocks since that Dow index was created in 1896.
But the number of points isn't really as important as the percentage drop, Kyra. The Dow lost 5.5 percent of its value yesterday. That's a lot, but it doesn't even rank in the top 20 worst days for percentage drops historically. On Black Thursday in 1987, the Dow lost 22 percent in just one day. And many, many times we've seen the Dow lose five percent. It hurts. But we've seen it happen many times.
Still, all the indexes took a beating yesterday. The S&P 500, that's the best indicator for the stocks in your 401(k), that lost about 6.5 percent. Every single stock on the S&P 500 ended lower yesterday.
But the financial stocks, Kyra, they were among the hardest hit. When you look at financial stocks, Bank of America down a staggering 20 percent. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley both dropped about 15 percent.
Now, stocks are down about 15 percent -- more than 15 percent, in just a few weeks. But here's some perspective. The S&P 500 is now up 64 percent from the lows in 2009. So, when you talk about the history books and day-to-day movements in the stock market, as dangerous and scary and fearful as yesterday was, you can see we've been here many, many times before. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Okay so you're basically telling us it's going to be okay, Christine. Is that okay to say that?
ROMANS: It's going to be okay, Kyra. It's going to hurt when you open your 401(k) statement. It's going to hurt. But, tomorrow is another day.
PHILLIPS: There we go. Christine Romans. Doing a great job. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Stories making news later today. 2:15 Eastern, the Federal Reserve announces the results of its August meeting. It could move to try to reverse yesterday's stock slide. We'll be watching that.
And 2:50 Eastern, President Obama has scheduled a meeting with treasury secretary Tim Geithner to talk about the economy.
And at 4:15, secretary of state Hillary Clinton meets with baseball great Cal Ripken and some young Japanese baseball players. It's part of the first International Sports Exchange with Japan.
Marathon swimmer Diana Nyad's crossing from Cuba to Florida has ended just short of her goal. We're going to have a live report from Key West right after the break.
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PHILLIPS: The U.S. is pledging more than $100 million in aid to Somalia. More than 12 million people in that region are in desperate need of help to combat drought and famine.
Here's visual proof. This is an amazing satellite image of a refugee camp in Kenya. It's so large you can actually see the camp from space.
Top U.S. officials say that hundreds of thousands of children could die unless more help arrives in that region. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is right there at the refugee camp you just saw in Kenya and brings us this report.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, these children are so resilient, as well. But he question remains, how do you take care of so many people in this largest refugee camp in the world? Hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of drought, in the middle of a war, a conflict, in the middle of staggering poverty?
Well, we give you an idea through the story of a father's love for his boys.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA (voice-over): What you're looking at may best be described as the most desperate place on earth, vulnerable children thick with misery.
(on camera): The other thing you can tell right away, you know, when you see a baby here, you take a look here, the baby's fontanel so sunken in. This is what happens when -- since the baby has had no food, no water, so dehydrated.
(voice-over): Basic, basic necessities, so hard to come by. Dust and starvation, nearly everywhere you look. This is also what happens when you're at the world's largest refugee camp -- all these folks waiting to see one doctor over here.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GUPTA: As you look at these images, consider this simple fact: these are the lucky ones -- lucky because they made it here at all. This family of five made it out of Somalia just yesterday.
(on camera): I came out here to the middle of the deserts to give you a real idea of what this family went through. They walked for 30 days and 30 nights, primarily at night because it was cooler, carrying those three kids, sometimes carrying a kid, going back and getting another kid, and just doing this over and over again in the deserts -- 30 nights worth.
They crossed the border and then they get robbed. Bandits take what little possessions they actually have.
(voice-over): But the bandits didn't take this father's dream, and his drive to keep his kids alive. It's not going to be easy.
(on camera): So, this is another thing you see here quite a bit. This child obviously now, Mohammed, 3 months old, looking listless. Just not very active at all.
But look at this breathing specifically -- breathing with his abdomen, not so much with his chest. This is something that's very tiring for a baby. He also has whooping cough, pertussis, that's because this child was never vaccinated either.
(voice-over): He will need a hospital, oxygen, antibiotics, and, yes, food and water. All of it may come too late -- so painful to realize that every single one of his ailments could have been prevented. Unfortunately, though, that hardly ever happens in the most desperate places on earth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And Kyra, these numbers just still increasing. 2,000 people a day they expect to be coming in to these camps. 2,000 a day. Think about that.
In some ways, things are starting to improve to some extent. They're starting to get more resources. They're starting to get more structure to the camps, as well.
But the real key from talking to people on the ground, is to take some of the supplies and actually get them into Somalia so people don't have to make those incredibly arduous treks. Kyra, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And this programming note, CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Somalia along with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's reporting on the region's devastating drought and famine. Tonight he's live from Somalia and at a new time, by the way. 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Breaking news to tell you about. Apparently an armed robbery -- information coming in to us right now -- at a check cashing store. On the line with us, Broward County's Sheriff department PIO Vita Coleman Wright. Vita, what exactly can you tell us?
VITA COLEMAN WRIGHT, BROWARD CO. SHERIFF PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER (on the phone): We received a 911 call about 9:30 this morning regarding this possible robbery in progress at the check cashing store. This is located in an unincorporated area in central Broward County near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And I can tell you that our S.W.A.T team, they're preparing now to go in.
We do believe that there is an employee, one female employee, still inside. And when we did try to make contact with the employee, early on, about four minutes into the call, she said that everything was OK and that she didn't need any help. Clearly that was the suspect telling her to say that.
Right now, we're getting conflicting information. We're not sure if an armed suspect is, in fact, still inside. But I can tell you that's the assumption we're going on until we get her out, until we get her out safely.
PHILLIPS: All right. So this is -- so right now, you believe that one woman could be -- actually we're looking at live pictures right now of someone on a stretcher.
WRIGHT: This person has been shot. And I can tell you that we don't know right now if that one person that's been shot if that's a victim or a suspect. Right before I got on the phone with you, they were preparing to go in.
PHILLIPS: Okay. Got it. Don't know if it's a victim or a suspect.
So, do you know if, indeed, the S.W.A.T team has made entry? Because we are looking at a live picture right now via our affiliate WSVN, and it looks like it's a bit calmer. It looks like the S.W.A.T van has actually left the scene. We're going to go ahead and get off life, just in case we don't -- we don't want to obviously compromise any type of operation right now. So, Vita --
WRIGHT: That's our Bearcat. That's our unit, our armored vehicle that's going in. So, the scene is definitely not clearing at this point. I'm listening to them on the radio.
PHILLIPS: Okay. So the S.W.A.T team is still active right now. They have not gone inside the bank yet, is that right -- or inside this check cashing store?
WRIGHT: No, we're not inside the check cashing store yet.
PHILLIPS: Okay, gotcha. All right. So, let me just make sure I have all -- well, let me ask you this. In -- you may not have any idea at this point, but you know, there's this hunt that's on for the Dougherty gang, this sister and two brothers that have been working their way from state to state, robbing banks. Do you think that they could be involved with this situation right now at this check cashing store?
WRIGHT: Based on what I'm hearing on the radio, I've heard absolutely no mention. And I know I actually heard one of our investigators say that they needed someone that spoke Creole. So, I don't think it would be the same race. Because those are three white suspects, correct?
PHILLIPS: That is correct.
WRIGHT: Yes, I don't feel that this would be related to that.
PHILLIPS: Okay, gotcha.
So, Vita, while I have you on the line, we're not going to take a live picture because we don't want to compromise any type of situation here. But the S.W.A.T. team on the scene at a check cashing store in Broward County -- do you have an exact location? You said it's near Fort Lauderdale.
WRIGHT: Yes. The exact address is 2927 West Sunrise Boulevard. And that would be the central part of Broward County. It's just an unincorporated pocket located near the city of Fort Lauderdale.
PHILLIPS: Got you. And one person shot at this time. You are not clear who that one victim is.
WRIGHT: Correct. We don't know if that victim is actual victim, or suspect at this point. We're just trying to sort everything out. But our first goal is to make sure we get that female employee out safely.
PHILLIPS: Got you. Vita Coleman Wright, the PIO there for Broward County Sheriff's Department. Vita, thank you so much.
Just to bring you update, we will stay in the coverage here right after the break. A S.W.A.T standoff, just near Fort Lauderdale at a check cashing store. One female being hold hostage, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Department. Also one person shot, has been taken away via an ambulance.
We are going to continue to follow this breaking news. A quick break. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
