alison kosick live at the new york stock exchange. allison, what do you make of this? ugly day today. this had a lot to do with what the broader economy is doing. the nasdaq off 2 3/4%. really just an awful day. we're below the 12,000 mark, the psychological marker for the dow as well. things just went south from there. why do we see this selloff? i tell you, we've had a series of down beat reports starting with friday. we we had a very weak gdp report, showing there's little growth here in the economy right now. we also had a weak manufacturing report. and what spooked investors today was a report showing consumer spending fell for the first time in two years, that americans are essentially socking away more money. they're saving more money for a rainy day because they don't know where the economy is headed. this, of course, all spooked investors. also one more thing to point out. the s&p 500 is at negative now for the year. you know what, brooke, our 401(k)s closely mirror that s&p 500 index. don't look at your portfolios tonight, brooke. >> alison kosick, thanks for

al alison kosick, the stock market plunged today. >> it did. the economy not out of the woods yet.hat's interesting is it never was out of the woods. the focus of everybody just changed to the debt ceiling issues. and now that that uncertaincy is off the table, eve got more certainty on the debt issue, the focus is being put on the broader economy and wall street doesn't like what it sees. investors got spooked today. consumer spending fell for the first time for almost two years. it shows that saving rates are up. and that means that americans, they're socking away their money. they don't know what to expect in the economy. they're afraid about jobs so they're trying to put away more money. add to the mix here, we had a weak manufacturing report, weak gdp reports. that's the broadest measure of economic growth here in the u.s. those are also weak. so all signs point to a lot of weakness in the economy and that is why you saw stocks tank today, brooke? >> also speaking about not out of the woods. will our credit rating be downgraded? we've yet to hear from s&p, we have yet to hear

let's go to the new york stock exchange, cnn's alison kosick standing by with the latest. a lot of people thought once this deal was done, the president signed it, there would at least be a temporary boost in the stock markets but it didn't happen. of. >> and traders were surprised as well, wolf. they were surprised we didn't see more of after positive impact on the marks with the uncertainty off the table with the debt deal. but you know what, for wall street, the focus is no longer on the debt ceiling. investors have moved way bond that. now they're worried about a series of economic reports. today what spooked the markets is consumer spending reports. consumer spending fell for the first time in two years. people are saving more because they're unsure of where the economy is headed. then you throw in the other down beat report wes eve gotten. on friday, that weak gdp report, it's showing there's just not enough growth out there to create jobs. and also the manufacturing report we got yesterday. manufacturing is actually at its slowest rate of growth in two years. we're

let's go to alison kosick, she's standing by for me at the new york stock exchange.ng all the traders down there on the floor? >> yes. just felt it as soon as the closing bell rang. >> it's really made for some wild swings. it began with the relief rally when we got the positive jobs report. we saw the dow jump in the early going. everybody took a nice, deep breath. but before we knew it, we were down on unsubstantiated worries that standard & poor's, that's a credit rating agency would downgrade a credit rating after the closing bell. the s&p had no comment on that. then we had positive news out of the europe. the ecb said it's ready to buy up italian and spanish debt. then we saw stocks spike 118 points because there were all these worries that no one would buy these italian bonds, these spanish bonds. and italy cam out and said you know what, we're going to take steps to take care of our huge debt problems. >> you talked about italy and today berlusconi called a meeting and talks of a balanced budget amendment because of that. and sarkozy of france on the phone wi

alison kosick talks about the downgrade. >> reporter: volatility was the word on wall street.he bulls and fear driving the train. the big headline when the dow plunged more than 500 points on thursday. the investors were worried that the recovery was coming apart at the seams. especially with the european debt crisis. and whether italy is the next shoe to drop. the stream of negative reports on spending and service earlier in the week added. thursday's tumble marked the 9th biggest drop ever. it was only the blue chip's 116th. the dow and s&p have dipped into correction mode. on friday, the july jobs report seemed to stem the pessimism. u.s. employers added 117,000 jobs last month. one positive report does not make a trend. traders tell me they are still worried about the double-dip recession. deb. >> thanks, alison kosik. >>> with everything made in china, it is nice to see something made in the u.s. business is booming. we will take you there next on our passport. [ male announcer ] imagine all of your missed opportunities in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never boug

. >> alison kosick is at the new york stock exchange. alison, we're less than half an hour away. how are things looking? >> we are about half an hour away. this will be the first chance for investors to react, kyra. it's looking ugly. get ready for major averages to tumble. the major averages are are down more than 2%. dow futures, in particular, are down over 230 points. this, of course, follows the sell-off that happened around the world while all of us were sleeping. gold prices, they hit another record high above $1,700 an ounce. this all coming after the worst week for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. this, of course, was all of last week. that's when the major averages fell 5% to 8%. as far as today goes, most analysts expect this initial shock in the markets at the opening bell and see a will the of emotional trading throughout the day. then, they say, you know what? we may see stocks stabilize a bit. this downgrade is unprecedented. it's expected that you'll see this kind of shock at the open. but, believe it or not, some of the fear was priced in last week when we

alison kosick is the debt drama to be -- is some of that obviously affecting the numbers on wall streetell, yes. actually, we ended lower on the dow, 10 points. nasdaq is half a percent.. >> oh, it's in the red. >> that's okay. >> sorry about that. >> it's quite all right. wall street has kind of put the possibility of default behind them, and the focus is on the km i. we found out that manufacturing last month was much weaker than expected. many analysts believe, brooke, that manufacturing really needs to help lead the way in getting the economy back on track. debt ceiling issues, everybody looking ahead, looking forward, and the future not looking so bright according to these number, not with manufacturing, not with job growth and not with housing. brooke? >> i think that was truly sub conscious on my part. wishing it and it wasn't. >> i hear you. >> but the debt uncertainty -- >> i get it. >> the 401(k)'s, investments, huge concerns as we've been talking about for a lot of americans. should the country, should we brace for a long-term hit? >> you know what, for sure. this is all debt