>> susie: fed chairman ben bernanke focuses on the second half of the year, seeing strength despite recent signs of weakness. >> the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit a rate that is both uneven across sectors, and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers. >> tom: bernanke offers no hints at further support for the economy, so it may be up to consumers to drive the recovery. can they handle it? you're watching "nightly business report" for tuesday, june 7. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. the economic recovery may be "uneven", but it's still a recovery. that's the word today from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. speaking at a conference in atlanta this afternoon, bernanke said he's not worried about the economy slipping into recession. >> tom: but susie, bernanke did acknowledge the u.s. is not producing new jobs fast enough. he called the job market "far from normal." still, the fed chief expects economic growth to pick up in the second half of this year.

as darren gersh reports, bernanke says one critical component to that growth outlook is the consumer. >> reporter: yes, the economy is slowing, but federal reserve chairman ben bernanke does not see it stalling. >> with the effects of the japanese disaster on manufacturing output likely to dissipate in coming months, and with some moderation in gasoline prices in prospect, growth seems likely to pick up somewhat in the second half of the year. >> reporter: that would be welcome news for the president. a recent poll shows confidence in his handling of the economy has fallen. today, mr. obama tried to address those worries. >> i'm not concerned about a double-dip recession. i am concerned about the fact that the recovery that we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as i want it to happen. >> reporter: in his speech, bernanke said the economic recovery will depend on continued spending by american consumers, and the good news is they are making progress repairing their balance sheets.

economist mark zandi says, before the recession, we carried 600 million credit cards in our wallets. now, that's down to 425 million. overall, consumers have reduced household debt by $1.1 trillion. new figures from the federal reserve confirm the progress, showing consumers cut credit card debt in nine of the last ten months. >> so, households are making progress righting their wrongs. >> reporter: but we're literally not home yet. new figures from corelogic show one in five homeowners is underwater on their mortgages, down slightly from the end of the year. and surveys show workers expect their wages to grow by less than 1% this year. and then their are rising prices, falling stocks, and the weak job market. >> any change in those variables and they change their behavior very, very quickly. so, a little bit of bad news

consumers, i don't think they pull back, but they certainly hesitate. >> reporter: the key to consumer spending, bernanke says, is employment and the fed chairman is cautiously optimistic. >> i expect hiring to pick up from last month's pace as growth strengthens in the second half of the year. but, again, the recent data highlight the need to continue monitoring the jobs situation carefully. >> reporter: bernanke warned that the jobs situation will be affected by any sudden cutback in federal spending. rather than put the recovery at risk, the fed chairman called for a credible plan to cut the budget over a longer horizon. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: here are the stories in tonight's "n.b.r. newswheel." bernanke's comments sent stocks lower in the final hour of trading: the dow fell 19, the nasdaq and s&p 500 both lost a point. trading volume fell from yesterday's pace with 930 million shares moving on the big board, and below 1.9 billion on the nasdaq. another sign of weakness in the labor market-- employers posted fewer "help wanted" ads than

expected during april. there were three million job openings, down from 3.1 million in march. just a day ahead of opec's latest meeting, a ministerial committee says the cartel should boost oil production. the idea is to lift output by one to one and a half million barrels a day, helping to lower prices and meet global demand. and lower pump prices may be on the horizon. the energy department cut its summer pump price outlook. it now thinks gas will average $3.75 a gallon-- that's a six cent drop from last month's forecast and still way above last summer. still ahead, we talk with the head of the tel aviv stock exchange about how the political uprisings in the mideast are affecting business in israel. >> susie: ford motor was the hot topic here at the new york stock exchange today. from the start of trading and the ringing of the bell, ford's c.e.o. was touting the auto maker's new growth plan: ford will boost global sales by 50% in the next four years;

one-third of the company's sales will come from asia; small vehicles will account for 55% of total sales by 2020; and the vehicle maker told analysts it'll cut its debt by $2.5 billion by the end of this month. earlier today, i talked about those expansion plans with c.e.o. alan mulally. my first question-- who's going to buy all those cars? >> when you look at the automobile industry and the consumer demand for cars, last year it was about 74 million vehicles worldwide. in 2020 it's going to be 112 million because you have so many countries now that are at place now where they're expanding their economy and they're getting ready to buy even their first car some it's a tremendous growth market. the neat thing about ford is that we have a complete family investment class vehicle, and we operate globally, so we can now serve all those consumers. >> susie: the key to your whole plan is the consumer. and whether or not a consumer buys a car depends on whether

they can afford to buy it, do they have a job, can they pay for gas? how does that impact your growth plan? >> it really goes with economic development. you can almost correlate car sales with economic development. that's why it's so important in the united states for example that we are laser focused on growing the economy, fiscal and monetary policy, and the rest of the countries around the world are doing the same thing. the u.s. is a big market that's growing slower relatively, but asia pacific is a smaller market but growing faster based on their economy. >> susie: what's your take on the mood of the american consumer right now? >> well, the concern now, when you see the economy slowing down a little bit, it gives people a reason the pause. we're seeing that in car sales, too. but i think as we continue to work economic development, i think we'll see us expand the economy in the second half of the year. >> susie: so you're calling today for a huge push in asia. you know that general motors is already a big player in china. looks like you have a lot of catch up to do, big time. >> well, up until now we have been a relatively small position

in china because what we were focused on was operating our business profitably in all of the other places which we operate. we have great presence in china. we now have global products that we can bring to china more affordably, the products they really want, small, medium large cars, utilities and trucks. we now have a great foundation to be able to accelerate our investment and our service to chinese customers. >> susie: what's going to be your strategy in asia? >> the most important thing is to deliver on our brand promise of the best quality, the best fuel efficiency, the best safety features and smart design because people love that brand promise, no matter what size vehicle, whether it's a fiesta or an f-150. >> susie: you're also calling for smaller vehicles to account for more than half of your global sales over next decade or some you have a lot of popular vehicles like the fusion, luke the focus we're standing next to. do you think that americans or consumers are ready to permanently buy smaller cars? >> well, i think we already know the answer to that because over

the last 30 years there's a tremendous market for small and medium-sized vehicles in the united states. the neat thing about ford is we have complemented our industry-leading position on medium and larger vehicles. now with a fantastic array of smaller vehicles. when you walk into a showroom now in the united states, whether you want a fiesta all the way up to an f-150, you'll be able to get the vehicle you want from the ford store. >> susie: you'll be talking to analysts this afternoon. one of the questions they're sure to ask you is about who is going to be next c.e.o. of ford. when you decide to retire. what's the succession plan? >> well, first of all, i love serving ford and i don't have any plans to announce my retirement. but clearly, you know, all companies have very robust plans to not only develop individuals but also to develop the team. and we got a great, great team and many, many great leaders at ford. >> susie: all these good things you're talking about are just not showing up in the stock. what's it going to take to get the stock to move higher? >> well, it's a pretty volatile time with the economy as the

backdrop to all the stocks. clearly the most important thing we do and we've been recognized for is the focus on making the best cars and trucks in the world, also running a healthy, profitable business. and you've seen how people value ford because of that performance. the most important thing we can do is continue that performance going forward. >> susie: what about a dividend? is this the year ford will be ready to pay a dividend? >> we don't have any news about the dividend today, but we'll be reviewing that this afternoon. >> susie: thank you very much for coming. >> thanks a lot. you're welcome. thank you. >> tom: things also are looking up for general motors. g.m.'s pension plan is now 90% funded. the shortfall is less than $9 billion, thanks to an improving stock market. at today's shareholder meeting, the company said that's nearly half the deficit it faced in 2009. it's also much less than the $11 billion shortfall it had in the first quarter of this year.

>> tom: stocks have some nice gains until we get you updated. let's get you updated with tonight's market focus. stocks couldn't hold on to their morning gains, falling in the last 90 minutes of the session. it was the fifth straight loss. here is today's trade of the s&p 500.

buyers disappeared around 2:00 p.m. eastern time in advance of the speech from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. it was a broad-based sell-off, including energy. the intra-day of the energy select exchange traded fund falling about $1 in the last hour and 15 minutes. here's the past 12 months of the same e.t.f. it was unchanged today, but has been trending higher since late april. one energy stand-out was sunoco. it had the biggest gain in the sector, up 4% on heavy volume. morgan stanley increased its outlook and price target. the company will be splitting off its coal unit and selling other assets, so morgan stanley figures it will pay a special dividend of up to $20 per share.

packaging stocks were in focus after last night's hostile buyout bid from international paper for temple inland. temple inland shot up 40%, but still below i.p.'s buyout offer of $30.60 per share. temple inland's board adopted an anti-takeover stock plan today. i.p. shares were also up on the strategy. meatwestvaco, another packaging maker, saw buyers leading the s&p materials sector with this 3.4% rally. the stock was at a 52-week high just last month, and is up 47% over the past year. it wasn't alone in the industry. packaging corp of america rallied 6%; boise was up more than 5.5%; and weyerhaeuser jumped 5%. all of these have been trending lower, and today's buying came on heavier than usual volume. three dow industrial stocks hit new two-year lows today. bank of america continues sinking, down another 1.7%. cisco stock dropped another 3%,

continuing this stair-stepping lower. this is its lowest price since the spring of 2009. and hewlett packard shed about 1%. this is back in august when c.e.o. mark hurd was ousted in a scandal. back then, h-p-q was over $45 per share. a couple of very different retailers were moving in the same direction, and fast. auto parts store pep boys missed estimates and shares were pounded, down 17%. women's apparel shop talbots saw sales continue to slide, and the stock lost 40%. truck maker navistar fell to its lowest price since january. quarterly profits were disappointing thanks to costs for a new engine. finally, cablevision will split off its amc cable network. amc owns it's namesake cable channel, as well as the sundance and ifc-- independent film channel-- cable brands. this is the past 180 sessions. c-v-c shares jumped 4.5% up to its highest price since march. and that's tonight's "market focus."

>> tom: one done, a few more to do. social networking web site linkedin was the first of what may be several social web sites going public. coupon web site groupon may be the next. but with high expectations comes high volatility. that brings us to tonight's "word on the street"-- "backbone." debra borchardt is a markets analyst at thestreet.com. so, deborah, you're looking at companies providing the backbone for social media web sites. what's really important here for

investors to look at? >> well, i think what's really important is looking at these companies and what they're providing for these social networking sites. there's much lower risk in these-than-buying a linkedin or groupon stock. you look at these providing data storage and software that makes their pages load faster. so it's all those things that keep these social networking sites, you know, viable. >> tom: it's all the technology infrastructure that, as we mentioned, the backbone. that is the word here. so oracle is your first word to watch -- orcl. longtime database manager. that's what the internet is, a big database. the stock has recently traded close to all-time highs. what's to push it up from here? >> here's what i like about oracle, it is if big name, but they're also involved with the big sites, bibo, the biggest networking site in the u.k. and they own my seek well, msql,and

that's what facebook uses. there's a lot of flack on oracle. a lot of people think maybe they missed their moment and the company has fallen down, but i think they really have to gain ground again, and this is the company that you have to look at. if you want to be involved in the plumbing for the social media. >> tom: one thing about the internet is it's about measurement, being able to measure traffic, measure eyeballs, and accamite technologies has been in the forefront for a long time, but this is one ugly chart for akam. what's to stop it from falling? >> a lot of those momentum players bailed out of the stock, but this stock supports seven of the ten most traffic sites, and it's involved in probably 90% of every social networking visit that happens. and so i really think the stock if it holds above 30 it's time to get into it. here's the thing, no one wants the buy a stock when it's fallen off.

this stock has, it's down 30%, but analysts are starting to say, maybe it isn't as bad as some other people think it is. maybe it's sold off a bit too much and there's a lot of value there. >> tom: watch it above 30. any two disclosures? ownership yourself? >> no. >> tom: you can read debra's article on our web site. that's our word on the street with debra borchardt with the street.com. >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: we'll get a snapshot of economic activity around the country in the federal reserve's beige book report. we'll see weekly updates on mortgage applications, and crude oil and gasoline inventories. also tomorrow, hilary kramer is our "street critique" guest. email your questions to streetcritique@nbr.com. regulators suspended trading today in 17 penny stocks on concerns about the accuracy of their public records. the trading halt on firms like

anywhere md, calypso wireless, and kore nutrition is part of a broader s.e.c. crackdown on fraud in the over-the-counter market. the agency is targeting what it calls blatant stock manipulation by company insiders, promoters and broker dealers on the o.t.c. market. >> tom: saab slammed the brakes on production today, but may restart things up again tomorrow. the ailing auto maker was shut for most of april and may after it ran out of cash to pay suppliers. now, those suppliers are running out of parts. spyker cars, which owns saab, also said the company will change its name to swedish automobile next week.

>> tom: a strengthening economy may not overshadow upheaval in the mideast. israel's economy has picked up significantly since the height of the global financial crisis, its benchmark stock index is down about 7% this year. ester levanon is the head of the tel aviv stock exchange and she joins us tonight on "nightly business report." welcome. nice the see you. >> hello, tom. >> tom: how are your neighbors with the uprising in egypt and syria impacting business in israel?

>> well, actually it's not affecting anything in israel, but the investor doesn't differentiate between what's happening in syria or in egypt is nothing to do with israel as israel is the real democracy and the only democracy in the middle east. but for foreign investors' point of view, not all of them see the difference between all those countries in the middle east, which is a pity. >> tom: your own industry has seen a lot of consolidation lately, the exchange business. we've seen some international mergers trying to get done, the deutsch, the london stock exchange trying to do a deal with toronto. what's the strategy of the tel aviv exchange nationally? >> we really like our independence. we believe that we should stay on its own, maybe have alliances with others, but don't merge with any of them. >> tom: you drove the

abolition of the trading floors with the tel aviv exchange. it's all electronic. there's been a lot of concern about electronic trading here in the united states in the last year because of the flash crash worries back last spring. how do you address shareholders and address investors that computerized exchanges are safe? >> i agree with those things that maybe the stock exchange took it too far. in high-frequency trading, that's something that computers do and drives away the real investor, but i'm not sure anyone can know how to fight it. >> tom: our guest this evening is ester levanon, the c.e.o. of the tel aviv stock exchange. for more of my interview with the c.e.o. of the tel aviv stock exchange, head to our web site, nbronpbs.org. and while you're there, you can comment on our blog. that's "nightly business report" for tuesday, june 7. we want to remind you this is the time of year your public

television station seeks your support... >> susie: ...support that makes programs like "nightly business report" possible. >> tom: thanks for joining us, and don't forget to support your public television station. i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone. you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org