and you should expect the unexpected maybe over the next six months. >> next time you really do have to arm wrestle richard haas. doesn't get any better than that. >> all right, katty. >> yeah, the ripples from here are going to go right across the atlantic. we'll see some of this in november playing out. that's it for "morning joe." thomas roberts picks up the coverage in new york right now. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. breaking news. global shock. >> the uk has voted to leave the european union. >> as we hear there, the united kingdom voting to leave the eu and the implications are massive. world markets tumbling. wall street set for a steep drop this hour. and prime minister david cameron says he'll resign. >> the british people have voted to leave the european union, and their will must be respected. >> meanwhile, donald trump

landing in scotland to open a resort but also weighing in. >> i think it could be a great thing. basically they took back their country. >> we've got all the angles of this covered. the historic decision will have ripple effects. what it means for american security. the 2016 election and your money. want to start with keir simmons in london. a lot of people waking up to this important news. and the uk striking out on its own. explain how close this vote was and if there's going to be contagion within the eu. >> thomas, it was close. it was very, very close. about a million votes between the two sides. the implications, people just don't know. that's why you're seeing stock markets drop. you're seeing the british currency tank because there's nothing that economists hate more than uncertainty. if you just lay out the news.

you talked about one piece of news. it's news after news after news this morning. the british prime minister resigning. questions over the leader of the british opposition. lawmakers in northern ireland and in scotland calling renewed calls for independence for those two places. across europe, political leaders saying they'd like to see a referendum, too, raising questions about the future of the eu itself, thomas. what will happen in the next 24 hours will have a huge influence on where this goes. will britain and the rest of europe figure out how to compromise and move forward? will they start to signal that now or will you see a battle between britain and the rest of europe that will have a damaging effect on the world economy? there were a lot of people, thomas, who voted to leave the eu here. they are celebrating now. it's a little bit like there's a bunch of folks who are at the party while the rest of the world is suffering the hangover. >> explain what this means as

cameron announces his brexit over this and who is going to take his place? what's the timeline for his departure? >> the timeline is three months, which is another issue because, you know, world markets are looking at that and saying, here's the guy who is going to negotiate britain's position, britain's trade with the rest of europe and that's important because europe is such an important economy in the world. and yet we aren't going to see the back of him. he's not going to exit this famous address for three months. we don't know until three months time who that crucial person is going to be. it may be boris johnson the former mayor of london who led the exit campaign. and, thomas, here is an illustration of the kind of, you know, great britain populism that's spread across this country. what's your son going to do next? we're going to go play cricket tomorrow. >> this is an amazing thing to watch. we'll be watching all of this happening at the same time,

parallel to what's happening with the 2016 election here. keir simmons, thank you. markets are tumbling around the world. american investors are bracing for the worst when wall street opens this hour. the dow futures down nearly 500 points. the value of the british pound has hit its lowest level sentence 1985. german and french markets have also plummeted and japan's nikkei had its worst day in five years. olivia sterns is at the new york stock exchange. just how grim is the forecast for u.s. markets today? >> good morning, thomas. a global wave of carnage. that's how one trader down here put it. many of these traders have been up all night watching tens of billions of dollars being wiped off the market worldwide. it really is a shock to the markets. they were pricing in a remain vote for london. u.s. futures right now pointing to an open of a dow drop of 500 points. that's about a 3% drop.

that's really a huge move. many are expecting to see the largest volume of trading in several years. the biggest problem is there's so much uncertainty. nobody knows what's going to happen next. and that's toxic for u.s. growth. we even heard janet yellen say twice in the past ten days that if there is a headwnd for the u.s. economy and that means rates are likely to stay lower for much longer. >> we'll continue to watch this. the markets opening in under 25 minutes. olivia sterns, thank you. donald trump who just arrived in scotland is reacting to the brexit vote calling it, quote, a great thing. trump is there in scotland to formally open his newly refurbished turnberry golf course. he spoke with reporters when asked about the brexit a short time ago. >> i think people see a big parallel. a lot of people are talking about that. not only the united states but other countries. people want to take their country back.

they want to have independence in a seps. >> want to go to turnberry, scotland. katy tur is there following the trump campaign. you asked donald trump about the implications of this vote. what it means back home, the parallels we're witnessing. what did he say? >> i asked him if this vote specifically endorses his rhetoric at home, his rhetoric when it comes to immigration. and he did basically say that, yes, it does. there are parallels between what is happening here in the uk and what is happening back in the united states. specifically when it comes to immigration. this referendum was as much about a referendum on the eu as it was about open borders, immigration policies across europe. there's a lot of concern in this country that as the eu's recession got worse, more immigrant workers were coming into the uk and taking jobs from citizens here. there's also concerns about this refugee crisis as they've watched millions refugees

pour over the borders. this referendum certainly having to do with that. it was just as messy a campaign, just as nasty a campaign as we're seeing in the states now. the campaign was -- there were accusations of racism and xenophobia lodged against those who wanted to leave the eu. certainly donald trump and supporters are feeling that same heat back in the united states. donald trump saying he believes this is a good idea for british voters. they're taking their country back. as for what's happening in the global markets, specifically having to do with the british pound down to its worst level since the '70s, its valuation down dramatically. it's not just a bad thing because more people will come from overseas here to turnberry. unclear how that sort of statement would play in the british press. certainly people who are worried about their retirement savings, worried about their job security

with the global crash and how that might affect the global economy, it's not just people here in the uk but 401(k)s maybe tied to the u.s. that could be -- could feel negative implications from the decision here. donald trump instead saying he believes it will be good for his business. >> meanwhile, in the uk, in scotland specifically, that vote was overwhelmingly in majority to stay within the eu. >> yeah, ironically donald trump was standing here in scotland where the majority of people decided they wanted to stay in the eu. consequently, there could be another scottish referendum vote here in order for the scots to leave the uk and stay with the eu. donald trump says ultimately it's up to the people. didn't weigh in one way or the or other on that. >> katy tur. thanks so much. so the british exit from the

eu will have a huge impact on how the u.s. deals with the uk and europe. the uk is a huge trading partner, our closest ally here in the u.s. and now all of those trade agreements the u.s. had with the eu need to be renegotiated with the uk. airlines like american, delta and united will have to negotiate new flight agreements as the uk will no longer be part of the u.s./eu open skies agreement. on the national security front, the intelligence sharing between the uk and america is instrumental. the uk will have less access to greater european intelligence. kristen welker, how is the white house reacting to this? the president wasn't for the brexit. >> this is unwelcome news from the perspective of the obama administration. no doubt about that. we haven't gotten an official statement from president obama yet. he's currently out in california for an entrepreneurship summit. we got an initial reaction from the white house which reads the

president has been briefed on the incoming returns in the uk referendum and he will continue to be updated by his team as the situation warrants. he plans to speak with outgoing prime minister david cameron soon. i anticipate we'll hear from him at some time today. of course, he needs to be quite measured in his comments. but, thomas, as you rightfully point out, this is something that the u.s. was hoping wouldn't happen. for all those reasons you just mapped out, particularly because of the close trade relationship between the u.s. and the uk. vice president biden traveling in ireland. he did react. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i must say we were -- we had looked for a different outcome. we prefer a different outcome. but as the united states having longstanding friendship in the united kingdom, one of the world's great democracies, we fully respect the decision they have made. >> the obama administration has underscored the very special relationship between the u.s.

and the uk will continue, but this does call into question not only trade agreements but their ability to work together on foreign policy issues like the fight against isis. of course, they work together to put sanctions on iran and on russia during those incursions in crimea. this is calling into question all of that. and i anticipate we'll hear from president obama in the wake of this historic moment. >> all things need to be re-evaluated independently. kristen welker, thank you. some big political news being made here in our own studio on msnbc with bernie sanders announcing who he will vote for in november. take a look. >> are you going to vote for hillary clinton in november? >> yes. yeah, i think the issue right here is i'm going to do everything i can to defeat donald trump. i think trump in so many ways will be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president.

>> meanwhile, sanders says this is not a concession or an endorsement. he still doesn't have any plans to drop out of this race. i asked sanders' communications director for further clarification on that yes vote from bernie sanders. briggs told me sanders will do everything he can to defeat trump. he has not endorsed. coming up, the markets set to open within minutes. investors are bracing for this massive drop. we'll cover it live. plus, what's you need to know. also happening now, the out-of-control flooding that's sweeping through west virginia. hundreds of people now trapped at a mall. we're live on the ground as first responders are trying to get them to safety. sir, this alien life form is growing at an alarming rate. growing fast, you say? we can't contain it any long... oh! you know, that reminds me of how geico's been the fastest-growing auto insurer for over 10 years straight. over ten years? mhm,

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west virginia is reeling from historic flash floods that killed several people including

an 8-year-old boy who has been swept away. another is missing. houses have been seen floating down rivers, including one right there on fire. and a collapsed bridge has trapped some 500 people at a mall all night. morgan ratford live in west virginia. what's going on exactly where you are and then let's talk about those folks trapped at the mall and what first responders are doing to get them to safety. >> right now we're in white sulphur springs. the rain has been off and on all day. i want to show you some of the damage. you can see where these power lines have been completely ripped down. you can see this chunk of road that's collapsed here. and the water is racing by. this is the same water that has claimed four lives. the governor came out and confirmed four people have died. they are still looking for that toddler. but people, meanwhile, all around me have lost their electricity, thomas. they've lost their power, their water. they've even lost their homes.

take a listen. >> where is your house now? >> i have no idea. >> you don't know where your house is? >> no. i've been finding parts of it. some of it is right there. but i haven't been able to find the upstairs portion of it yet. >> you haven't found the roof of your home? >> not at all. it's gone. i've never seen anything like this. i've lived around here my entire life. i've never seen anything to this level. >> reporter: and thomas, it doesn't stop there. there are still up to 500 people who are trapped inside of a mall just outside the capital in charleston, west virginia. and they are sitting there trying to bide their time. authorities are trying to figure out how to get to them. they aren't sure if they should build a temporary bridge to reach them because these floodwaters prove too deadly and too strong and they collapsed the only bridge that connects them to that shopping mall. the governor released a statement in the past hour and said the flooding experienced thursday and into today is among the worst in a century for some

parts of the state. we've seen the red cross has set up certain shelters throughout the state. this is to provide relief for those displaced residents and the worst may not be over. this flooding is expected to continue today and into the weekend. >> adding insult to injury there. just looking at those images, it's remarkable how inundated they are with water. thanks for your reporting in richwood, west virginia. want to check in with meteorologist bill karins. as morgan was just saying, the worst of it may not be over. >> i'd say 95% is, though, thomas. thankfully in that area. you are going to see some of the pictures, we showed the town and the hills on the sides. that's why flash flooding is the most dangerous when you get mountain and topography involved. we've had horrible incidents in colorado and this one in west virginia. a lot of these small towns in the hill country, the appalachians, they are built by little streams. that's the water and source of life and the hill on the side and they had eight inches of rain in a short period of time.

those little creeks turned into rivers in a hurry and swollen rivers at that which still remains. here's west virginia. the worst of the flooding was north here and just to the east of charleston. that was in this area towards elkins. that's where they had the eight inches of rain. just showers out there. nothing that's going to cause additional problems. the only issues for today, severe weather, 17 million at risk. west virginia not mostly in it. it's from roanoke sout southwards through the carolinas. wind damage with small hail, too. as far as wildfires out west, these pictures from justi incredible. temperatures are so warm and all the vegetation just burning with low relative humidity. that will be a problem through the weekend in the west. today, still hot in the southern half of the country. storms in the mid-atlantic. saturday storms from minneapolis through areas of iowa. on sunday, we'll watch for chicago to st. louis. these will be fast-moving storms. we're not expecting a lot of flash flooding over the weekend. nothing like what we saw

yesterday in west virginia. >> bill karins, thanks for the update. more domestic news to cover with 350 firefighters continuing to battle this raging wildfire in kern county, california. 1,300 homes have been evacuated with up to 80 burning to the ground. two firefighters had to be airlifted to a hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. so far no fatalities. in baltimore, the police officer who drove the van in which freddie gray sustained fatal head and spinal injuries has been acquitted of all charges against him including murder. the acquittal following a hung jury in the trial of another officer involved leaving serious questions if there will be any convictions for the rest of the police officers who have been charged. last night was the nba draft. philadelphia selecting lsu's ben simmons with the first overall pick. and the lakers took huge -- took dukes david ingram with the second. we got oklahoma city traded their center surge ibaca to

orlando. victor oladipo and the rights to orlando's selection. i'm sorry. i'm not an nba guy. david cameron stepping down. we are moments away, less than nine minutes from the opening of the new york stock exchange. how will the markets react? we have it all covered. ok team,

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cornerstone. now we are over five minutes away, and we will have the opening bell on wall street. we expect the markets to have an impact of what has happened in the uk. we've seen markets drop in other global sectors that have already start the day around the world. one major consequence of today's vote, british prime minister david cameron announcing he'll resign. >> i love this country, and i feel honored to have served it. and i will do everything i can in future to help this great country succeed. >> let's go live to london's nbc's keir simmons. he's been following all of this. this news statement from the white house from president obama saying they respect the decision of the uk's people. but also, within the second line of this talking about the strong relationship the u.s. has with the uk and bringing up nato. this is not like the uk is leaving nato. >> that's right. the uk isn't leaving nato.

i think there are a lot of moving parts. let's break it down like this. short-term and long term. there's a lot of uncertainty which is why you're seeing the markets drop the way they are. why you're likely to see the dow drop as they move into the morning. in the long term, the question is, what will negotiations look like between britain and the rest of europe. i think there are going to be two sides to this. there will be those who will be saying that britain needs to be punished, there needs to be a really tough negotiation in order to try and keep the eu together in order to send a message to anyone else in europe who thinks it's a good idea to try to leave that that would be beneficial. on the other hand, there will be those who will be saying that will be very bad for the world economy. a battle between britain and other european nations. let's try and get through this. that's what i think you're seeing from the president there. by the way, we've heard from pope francis himself who is saying that european countries need to try to work together. angela merkel, the german chancellor, perhaps the most powerful lawmaker in europe,

saying she hopes for a close relationship between europe and britain in the future. th qoides will win out? that will be very important for the world economy. >> keir simmons reporting in london, thanks. we're just three minutes away from the markets here in the u.s. opening for a friday. and there is an expectation of impact from this. and a sell-off we're witnessing around the globe. i want to bring in mary thompson and also susan ox, former treasury department official in the clinton and obama administrations, and jerod bernstein, senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities, also working as an economic adviser with vice president biden. all right, gang. mary, the psychological benchmark right now with the dow jones above 18,000, that's a good thing. what are we expecting to see in over two minutes? >> well, if you look at what the futures are indicating, we're

expecting to see a decline of 400 to 500 points in the dow jones industrial average. that on the heels of the steep declines in the european markets today. we're keeping a close eye on the banking industry. especially the large multinational banks are expected to be impacted by the decision in the uk. so initially you're expected to see a decline. some traders saying we could see some investors come in and see this as a buying opportunity. this is going to be a very big day. there's going to be a lot of volume in large part because not only do you have the reaction to the uk's decision to leave the eu but also there's a big rebalancing of a specific indenindex. that's going to cause a lot of activity at the end of the day. investors keeping close watch on what's happening today. it's expected to be extremely volatile in trading in today's session. >> it's going to be a long friday. and explain why the markets are reacting or we're anticipating the u.s. markets to react. some look at this as a buying

opportunity. >> so part of why you're seeing such a huge reaction is it's such a surprise. markets got taken by surprise. everybody expected the uk to stay in. part of that is just really understanding and starting to digest this news. already we've seen a pullback from the earlier lows in the european markets. that bodes well for us here. we'll probably see a steep decline right away. going to be high volume today. it will actually start to pull back. >> how do you put steep in qualification? >> so right now the futures are looking like anywhere between 3%, 3.5% down, which is a really big move, but it is not at the cataclysmic level. >> okay. so we're not going to call this a black friday? >> i don't think so, no. again, initially we could see a severe drop. we could see 500 or 600 points on the dow. by the end of the day, it will pull back from that.

you're seeing them come back in the european markets quite significantly from where they were this morning. >> we're 17 seconds from the opening bell. we want to take that live in just under ten seconds. and we'll be on the record with the opening bell. all right. we are officially in trading right now. let's talk about, we know billions are wrapped up with trade with the uk. and the u.s. and then the global markets. so how is this going to really impact the uk leaving the eu, fo folks' wallets. are people just not supposed to look at their 401(k) today, let's check it out in two weeks? >> that would probably be a smart idea because they're going to get whacked. the dow is already off 240-plus points. in terms of trade, a big story there has been the uk currency,

the pound is down to a 30-year low. it really took a hit. especially as the expectation move from remaining to a clear leave vote. ultimately that could cheapen british exports. however, because trade barriers are now going to go back up as they leave the eu, we'll have to see how that works out. they'll have to renegotiate all their trade agreements with the european union and that's going to take a while. down 400 points. >> mary, we anticipate a 500-point drop and we're up to 400, fluctuating back and forth in the opening seconds. >> this is not a surprise. >> there was a run-up in the markets coming into this vote n anticipating the uk would vote to stay in the eu. it's down 381 points. this will be -- or could be the lows of the session. we'll have to wait and see.

again what people want to know is when will these trade deals with the rest of the eu be renegotiated? it's going to be a long process drawn out over two years. while there is likely to be a near-term impact on the uk economy, i think the question is long term, does it eventually lead to the unraveling of the eu. that is going to be the question overhanging the markets. and then in turn how that impacts that large economy that the eu represents. and how it will impact the u.s. companies that actually do business with those firms. but today, the reaction or certainly that we're seeing in the markets with the dow off 456 points is just this reaction to this point that the vote was not the outcome of the vote was not what the markets were expecting. >> we're just over three minutes in and at 462 down. susan, explain as mary is pointing out, the process that's it will take for renegotiation on certain contracts. an example of the open skies agreement. we'll have to go back to the

bargaining table of what it means with the uk leaving the eu. how quickly can those things get done? >> it's up to the bureaucrats. i think every message we've heard out of the uk this morning has been calm. we want to go slowly. we don't want to overreact. europeans have said we want to get on this and start moving quickly. we don't want this hanging over us for months and years. realistically, it's going to take years. there are so many laws intertwined. the u.s. will have to renegotiate some of our deals with the uk separately. they are still the fifth largest economy in the world. >> so we're almost near that 500-point down benchmark. let me ask you about the uk was never fully invested in the eu when it came to the euro. so we talk about the downward trend of what we've been witnessing about the pound. what about contagion for other eu countries that see what's happening with the uk and they think, okay. led by an example here.

what's does it mean? >> first of all, you are making an important point which may not be understood by everyone. the uk -- well, it's still in the european union, but soon it will be out of the european union. and, but it never took the euro. it was never in the eurozone. however, the other countries that are now thinking about how they're going to play this, people are talking about a frexit for france, nexit for the netherlands. i'd predict scotland will want to separate from the uk because they want to stay in the eu. and so we're going to see those movements affect currencies. right now i suspect almost every currency, probably not ours, that's close to the pound is taking a hit. by the way, that has implications for us as these other currencies fall in their value relative to the dollar. that could exacerbate our trade deficit over the near term as it's less expensive for those

exports relative to our own. i'm trying to think about how is this going to affect the u.s. economy? i don't think it's a huge story, although the market story today, the volatility is very important. but i do think over the next, say, two quarters, these events could shave a bit, i'd say 0.2 to 0.3 off the gdp. >> the markets responding to the uk and the vote to withdraw from the european union. right now we're down over 500 points for the dow jones. this was anticipated to be right around that low. and we are only just now roughly five minutes over trading. you want to make a point responding to jerod. >> following up on that point. what you're seeing in the european stock market is that spain and italy are hit much harder in their stock markets than the uk is. and part of that is the reason he was talking about. people worried the entire european union breaks apart and spain and italy will fare a lot worse in the global markets than

they do as the european union. >> how much drag did greece put on the eu and pivot to opinion about what they were going through with their own bailout and how people in the uk are trying to insulate themselves? >> i think greece was a huge first step and immigration has been the other big piece, right? these floods of immigrants coming up to the north of europe. people in the uk really feeling like they're taking my jobs and part of it we have to support them with all these social services and it's a drag on our economy. >> in the condensed european countries when we think about the flow of immigration, the uk has had less. they consider themselves the island. and apart from the migration that we've seen from countries at war, in war-torn situations and they've seen less of a concern. germany has had more of an impact. france has had more of an impact. they've traveled from greece. is the uk, weren't they isolated

enough already from concerns? >> i think it was the flood they predicted was going to be coming. this anticipation, fear with talk of turkey joining the european union and stories about all these people then flooding up from turkey and more southern countries and a lot of this was an emotional vote. a lot of this was based around fear. >> thomas, can i make a point here? if i were voting, i would have voted to stay, but i must say that because of the conversation you two just had, there are some plausible reasons why people in the uk look to eu administration, look to the way they've handled economies, austerity, the punitive stance toward greece, the complete unpreparedness and mishandling of the immigration crisis, and people ask themselves, do we really want to be linked to what's, i think, widely regarded as a pretty dysfunctional and ineffective eu administration coming out of brussels these days. i still would have voted to stay

for lots of reasons having to do with globalization and, in fact, the movement of people and goods is an important attribute, but if it is unmanaged and the eu has been doing a terrible job of managing it, they really hurt themselves here as well. >> all right. let's go back to mary at the new york stock exchange. here we are kind of fluctuating around the high 400s and a little over 500 in the first eight minutes of trading. is this pretty much the influx, the sell-off that we'll see, or do you think that people are going to tune in and be checking out the markets later today and we'll see the increase. do you think the worst is over as we fluctuate in this number? >> i'd never want to predict how the market is going to finish the day. we are off the lows. but again, this is the type of market, people are on pins and needles. they may be reacting to any statements that come out today. so far the statements from the heads of the world central banks, et cetera, they've attempted to have a calming

voice as we head into what is expected as we've been saying all day. a volatile session. so the markets are likely to react again to anything that comes out, any kind of news item, et cetera. but as i said, we are already off the lows of this session off 512 points. at the end of the day, the big rebalancing. that's another event traders are watching that could cause increased volatility. if you are an investors and you see one of the stocks that you like off 4% and you don't think the uk leaving the eu is going to have a tremendous impact on the u.s. economy or this firm's business, you might see it as a buying opportunity and that could limit the losses. again, that's not saying that's what i believe what will happen, but this is something that could happen today. the sell-off that we are seeing as i look over right now just to check the different sectors we follow is very broad based. the dow jones transportation average is off 244 points. so again, a broad-based sell-off

as expected. but we're just about 50 points off the low of the day right now, off 469 points. >> we have a statement that the president has reacted. he was not for the brexit. i'm going to talk about a different point within that statement but for the casual investor and the person that is expecting 401(k) growth, for those invested in this market, what does today mean to that person? >> again, something like a 401(k) if you asked an investment professional, you never want to react to one day's movement in the market. you always want to take a long-term view of your investments. and if anything, when you see a decline like this and you have a long-term view and a positive outlook for the u.s. economy over 5 to 10 years, this could present a buying opportunity. that's traditionally what you hear from investment professionals. on the other hand, if you think this is the first step to the he u unraveling and that could have negative ramifications for a long time on the global economy,

you may want to rethink it. depends what you think or whether or not you think the uk deciding to leave the eu could have long-term implications on that particular economy and the global economy as well. >> all right. so the statement from the president, it talked about respecting the decision of the people in the united kingdom n also the special relationship that our country shares with theirs. but the president went on to say, so, too, is our relationship with the european union which has done so much to promote stability, and foster the growth of democratic values and ideals beyond the continent and beyond. they'll remain partners of the united states even as they begin negotiating their ongoing relationships to ensure continued prosterity and security. our ron allen is at the white house. it seems the president is trying to balance a real point of clarity here between support for what the british people have decided but as well for the stability of the remaining countries in the eu.

>> thomas, it's clear that the president did not want this to happen when he was in london a new months ago. he was quite clear and direct in saying this would be a bad deal for uk and that the united states. he used that famous line about how in terms of trade deals that if the uk left the eu, that britain would be at the back of the queue, the back of the line essentially because the united states, the president would have a greater interest in negotiate with a bloc, 27 nations now n not just one, britain, even though britain is the fifth largest economy in the world. the message was clear from the president. the united states sees britain and the special relationship as a key bridge into europe. and the president was essentially saying that in europe, britain has more leverage. because it's sitting at that table. and that's part of the relationship that the united states values n and has tried to cultivate. britain remains in nato. so concerns about the security

and military aspects of this relationship, that will be different. but, clearly, on the day when the markets are plummeting and people are worried about the economic effects of this and the trade implications and it will take time for these trade deals to be worked out, it's clear the president is trying to say things are going to be the same for some -- to some extent but clearly in terms of trade and in terms of economics, things are going to be different going forward. again, assuming the next president here is, of course, because president obama is leaving office soon. but it's his view and the view of others, perhaps secretary clinton, as well, that britain would be at the back of the queue in terms of trade deals. >> we continue to watch the sell-off happening this friday on the u.s. marketplace with the dow jones down by 423 points. olivia sterns is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. i believe you have someone on the front lines of the selling. >> i do, indeed. good morning, thomas.

i'm here with benedict willis. we're off about 420 points. we are off session lows. benedict, let's start with how bid is the fear factor down here right now? >> traders are not fearful. we love this kind of stuff. >> because you're making money -- >> it's what we do. it's what motivates us one way or the other. the fact of the matter is it looks like the door buster sales as soon as we opened the stock market, those were the lows we've seen. every stock i was in on the opening is now trading slightly higher. there was selling early and now the question is whether or not after they evaluate their portfolios if they'll need to sell anymore. i don't think so. >> still the biggest drop on the day in ten days. global markets. huge losses in europe and asia overnight. you think this is it for u.s. markets? you think this is the low? >> i think you'll see a flight to safety. the u.s. markets keep an eye on smaller caps of the united

states marketplace rather than some of the big names. the story right now, we're watching the dow improve by almost 100 points from our lows. and even better from where we indicated on our opening. >> in fairness, it's down right now to about 17,600 which is where it was trading last week when the polls were showing that britain might leave. you told me earlier that traders are now betting on which european country will be next. you really think that's going to happen. if so, who do you think is next to leave? >> i have no doubt it's going to happen. the eu is one of the great political experiments they've gotten wrong. >> who does wall street think is next to leave europe? >> spain, portugal, italy, france and germany is in the mix, too. >> benedict, thank you for your time from princeton securities. as you can see, a wild day down here. a lot of frenzy. >> i wanted to see if he'd give a prediction on where he expects the markets to level off. that was interesting about the

futures of other countries in the eu. you gave a pretty shocked face when he talked about spain. why do you think that prediction could be so off the mark? >> well, because we know across europe that there is this rise of nationalism and that there are lots of countries with sort of an independence movement and there are lots of countries that have real anger towards what's going on in europe which, let's be honest, economic stagnation and an immigration crisis. they have nearly a million refugees pouring in from the north of africa. europe is in a tough spot and there are lots of domestic forces throughout europe that are very nationalistic right now and pretty sick of getting told what to do by brussels. but to actually talk about poor countries in europe like germany and spain voting to leave does sound to me extremely far-fetched. but you are actually seeing some traders make some bets on those kinds of things. you see that turning up in particular in the debt markets. you see those bets being placed

in the treasuries of countries like germany and spain. >> olivia sterns, thanks so much. just a recap. we've been watching the fluctsuation of the dow jones. the markets opening here in the u.s. just over 16 minutes ago. down by 450 points. we're back in a moment. hmmmmm... [ "dreams" by beck ] hmmmmm... the turbocharged dream machine. the volkswagen golf gti. named one of car and driver's 10best, 10 years in a row. afdave stops working, but his aleve doesn't. because aleve can last 4 hours longer than tylenol 8 hour. what will you do with your aleve hours?

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welcome back, everybody. we continue to follow the breaking news of the stock markets here in the u.s. down by 444 points. the markets only opening roughly about 20 minutes ago. this was widely anticipated, a reaction to what happened overnight with the results of the uk vote on the decision to leave the eu. we've seen a ripple effect for global markets around the world with different markets that opened before ours, all with these massive selloffs. we will continue to watch the impact of today as people react to this, but there is a longer term consequence in thinking about what this means with the

uk deciding to break away from the eu and 27 other countries. our keir simmons is in london and has been following all this for us. keir, give us the update, the reaction to this because it was such a close vote. when it comes to the expectation, many people thought it would be close, but it would not be to leave. >> reporter: just last night people thought that the vote was going to be just marginally in favor of staying in, which is part of the reason why it now seems like -- feels like such a shock this morning that the vote has gone the other way, even again by a relatively slim margin. but the way you talk about it, thomas, it's a really good point and it is this. never mind the question of what is the best system, whether it's right for britain to be in europe or not in europe, the best way to run things. what we're dealing with now is how you unravel things. so, for example, one british broadcaster is saying that jpmorgan, the bank, is looking

at whether it should move from london to paris. london, of course, is the biggest financial center in europe, this huge world economy. so how long is it going to take for all of these different industries to reconfigure themselves, to work out how to trade differently. will business leaders, city leaders, people who should be out there thinking about how to build their business actually be focused for the years to come on how to rethink everything and what will that mean for the world economy. so it's a real issue, just simply figuring out how to get from a to b because in many ways what the british voted on overnight throws all of the cards up in the air. >> keir, let's just break this down in terms of numbers for everybody. 72% of more than 46 million registered voters cast their vote, and 52% opted to leave the eu. we know that david cameron has said he will resign, effective in october.

but what was the threshold for them to reach? we say 52%. i mean why would david cameron maybe say we need a recount? >> it's 16 million to stay in the eu, 17 almost and a half million voted to leave the eu. i don't think he felt like he had any choice. what you're looking at is a ground swell of popular opinion that you're also seeing in the united states. that is something. if the prime minister stepped up and said i think we need another vote, imagine the anger that would cause amongst those who voted to leave. so it's not -- it's really almost impossible for the prime minister to come out of this very famous address and say i want to have another vote. >> keir simmons, thank you very much. stand by, we also have richard haass joining us. richard, we had that president

from the statement coming out saying he respects the decision of the people of the uk but also trying to find the balancing act with what this means in support for the remaining countries of the eu. how does this position the president going forward in between a rock and a hard place of the uk and the eu? >> it's actually not a choice between the uk and the eu. with the uk, you try to make the best of it. the special relationship will become a lot less special and the eu's future has come into doubt. it becomes less valuable to us. more importantly we need to support the european union. it has provided tremendous stability and prosperity to europe. europe has been our principal partner in the world. that said, this vote has sent in motion centrifugal tendencies. just as the united states weighed in, it failed to make a

difference in the british vote. whatever the president does or doesn't say won't make a difference throughout europe. >> we're watching the markets and what is taking place with the reaction here as the markets just opened over 24 minutes ago. down by 430 points. richard, back to your point about the united kingdom, in scotland, they were overwhelmingly in favor of staying within the eu so i just want to expand or ask you to expand on that point of why you think that this puts the united kingdom in danger of breaking apart. >> the leader of the most important party in scotland has already said that she wants to have a second referendum. one was tried about two years ago and wasn't passed. the argument is it's more important to be part of europe and that market than it is to be what's left of the united kingdom. so i think that's the first brick, if you will, to go. i think the second one will potentially be no northern

ireland where the leader of the second largest party there has called for a referendum on whether northern ireland should join with ireland, because ireland is in the eu. so this is the beginning of the end of the united kingdom and i think that's simply one of the most expensive consequences of this vote. >> richard, thank you. stand by for me because we did just get a statement from hillary clinton and her campaign. we covered the press conference that donald trump gave this morning from turnberry, he was there to open a resort but was asked questions about the brexit. hillary clinton put out a statement saying we respect the choice of the people of the uk and what they have made. our first task has to be to make sure that the economic uncertainty created by these events does not hurt working families here in america. we also have to make clear america's steadfast commitment to the special relationship between britain and the transatlantic alliance with europe. this time of uncertainty only underscores the need for calm study leadership in the white house to support our friends and allies, to stand up to our

adversaries and defend our interests. it also underscores the need for us to pull together to solve our challenges as a country, not tear each other down. susan, let me ask you about this. have you endorsed or supporting the candidate? >> i am supporting hillary clinton. >> how much does this statement mirror president obama's? >> it feels pretty close. talking about we want to make sure this doesn't become a global economic con taj 81. this isn't the next 2008 financial crisis, which it's not, and focusing on working families. i think that sounds like it's right in the ballpark of what you would generally expect that she would be talking about. i do think it's a difficult position to figure out how to navigate these relationships. i would maybe disagree a little bit with richard haass that i do think the europeans will look for very strong signals that we are supporting them. the uk is still an important ally to us and they're the fifth

largest economy in the world so they are an important partner to us. >> a closest ally and we talk about that relationship all the time. i think it's a shock to the white house to see david cameron, who was a huge supporter, leading the campaign to making sure that they did not follow through with the brexit, trying to make sure that his country felt stabilized remaining within the eu and i think the relationship certainly that obama has with cameron, now that is on a limited time scope, much less than with the president leaving, you know, at the end of his term. we've been watching the ripple effect, the markets down now by a little over 400 points. the expectation was that the market sell-off would be right about 500. we witnessed it teetering at that mark just several minutes ago, roughly 10 minutes ago, breaking that 500-point threshold. now the dow jones at 17,600. opening again over 18,000. that really is a psychological benchmark when you think about it about where we want to be.

18,000 is typically really good. so 17,000 is also very good when we know what this market has done before. we will continue to follow this breaking news coverage right here on msnbc. much more to go, and my colleague peter alexander picks things up now. >> good day to you from washington, d.c. we continue with our breaking news coverage on this historic day. wall street and world financial markets right now effectively in panic mode after that stunning vote, seismic, an earthquake as it's been described, overnight in the united kingdom. not so united, it appears today. the dow jones industrial average down, as you can see right now, about 385 points, dropping below 500 at one point earlier this morning. it is expected to be a volatile day. it is likely to get worse throughout the day. traders going off this uncertainty after the united

kingdom voted to cut ties with the european union. we want to take you right to our msnbc business correspondent. of course that's olivia sterns on the floor of the new york stock exchange right now. olivia, we're about half an hour into the day. we've seen the market rise up from some of its lows on the day, but this is a volatility that's certainly going to stick around for a while. >> yes, and in fact many of the traders here are expecting their busiest day of trading in two to three years. the truth is that the market was pricing in a vote for england to remain in the european union and that was not what happened. nobody saw this coming and nobody knows what's happening next. that uncertainty is what is really toxic for the markets and for economic growth. right now the dow jones is off by about 400 points. as you say, that is off of session lows. we did hear janet yellen come out earlier this morning, the head of the u.s. central bank, the chair of the fed, and she actually said she is ready to put more