christine romans, how much can the policy makers move the markets? >> reporter: they have a lot of power in that way and a statement at 2:15, kyra, on whether they signal that the fed is ready to try some new things to keep the economy going, to keep juice in the economy and money flowing, that could really move markets here. people are going to be parsing that statement. as you know, they always do, to see if ben bernanke and the fom have any new ideas. they are already lowered the interest rate to zero and now need other items. two rounds of bond purchases. the second round has died down. it's almost done. what will they do next, if anything? that is what people will be closely watching. here is the risk, though, you can't predict how global markets are going to react because here is the risk. some are saying the fed comes out too strongly and says the economy is very, very weak and they are doing x, y, and z to keep it moving. that could scare people into thinking things are worse than we thought and why what the fed says this afternoon will be ve

let me get back to christine, romans. u looked at the fed statement a little longer there. anything more to share with us? >> reporter: just quickly a downgrading essentially of the economic outlook and the economic forecast which is something we all feel every day, right? as i said, they expect -- the economy is growing slower than they had expected. also saying that inflation was picking up a little bit and also that the jobs market, they're not expecting a quick pickup in the jobs market. a slower pace of recovery overcoming quarters. they're expecting now. they don't think that the unemployment rate is going to go anything more than a gradual decline in the near term here. so they say -- this is sort of the money line. downside risks to the economic outlook have increased. also, the date. 2013. it's the first time i've heard them say, put an expiration date on how long or a target date on how long they're going to keep interest rates so low at zero percent. they're going to continue to find all the ways they can to kee

they don't think that there will be massive forced selling because of this. >> christine romans joins me now. christine, markets will open again, asian markets will open 8:00 p.m. eastern time on sunday night and our markets on monday. what a week we've had, a lot of people, a lot of our viewers out there would like to know what this means for investors when markets open on sunday night and monday. what do you think? >> it's absolutely impossible to know because you might ironically have huge safe haven buying into the treasury market pushing yields even lower. so you're hearing a lot of people talk about how higher interest rates are coming, it is inevitable. that could be a long time off if indeed you still have the u.s., the biggest most liquid debt market in the world, that's where everybody wants to go. i've learned a long time ago, 15 years of krovricovering crises you don't try to predict what the stock market is going to do. currency markets are huge as well. commodities markets, they'll all interact. one thing i can tell you is our biggest investor is out there scorning and c

christine romans. doing a great job.. >> thank you. >> stories making news later today. 2:15 eastern, 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. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. >>> the u.s. is pledging

christine romans, what's wrong?smile about. >> yesterday after the downgrade we got on friday we knew this would come because if you're a government-sponsored entity, a gse, you're going to get a downgrade too if you depend heavily on the federal government, fannie mae and freddie mac got downgraded. a lot of people said what does that mean? >> it means could it be harder to get a mortgage. i've long held that the reason it's hard to get a mortgage is because we don't have 20% down, not a perfect credit score and you don't have a job. those who watch the housing market say it's another hit. they were downgraded because they have a lifeline from the government. they didn't exist without the government. they can't have a higher credit rating than the government. fannie mae and freddie mac officials and american government officials say the bonds of those big companies are, you know, they are clear, they are good, they will be paid, don't worry about anything like that and those are widely held. don't forget you have t

christine romans. thank you. >>> the iowa state fair kicks off today.ial candidates to reach voters but someone is planning to crash their party? who's rolling into town? i bet you can guess. that's coming up. >>> here's today's "get smart" question. how much in sales have uk retailers lost because of the riots? a, $129 million, b, $161 billion, or c, $242 million. we'll have your answer coming up in two minutes. it's 38 minutes past the hour. >>> its sis 40 minutes past the hour. time for the get smart question. how much in sales have uk retailers lost because of the riots? a, 129 mlt dollars, b, $161 million, c, $242 million. the answer is a, $129 million. sorry, you don't win a thing but you can feel very proud of yourself. >>> now for your our political ticker let's bring in cnn political reporter shannon travis live on the phone from des moines, iowa. is anyone up there yet, shannon? >> hey, there, carol. i'm up. we're up. it's going to be a big political day in iowa. not just because you can get the fried stick of butter at the state fair but for

christine romans is in new york. christine, you're actually calling it awful august. >> i know. it is awful august because you've got the dow down 9.5% for the month, more than a thousand points the dow has lost and yesterday's route wiped out any kind of advance we had seen the last week. it's an awful august because a lot has happened. we had the debt ceiling debacle news. even though you have job creation it's not enough to really assuage the fears and nerves of people out there who do not feel like the unemployment situation is working well enough for them and their families and this coming together as we have a big deadline coming up for the super community to figure out how to get our debts and deficits in order. the rest of the world looking at us and worried how serious the u.s. is about political harmony. a lot of different fronts all moving at once. you add in europe and the sense of confidence, this lack of confidence around the world and that is what we are dealing with still this morning on a friday morning. kyra? >>. >> we are sitting back wondering where the heck

i'm christine romans. plus, america's future leaders, where will they come from and how do you raise one? we go straight to depak chopra for that answer. find out the top five spots for jobs in this country. let's get to it. elsie granderson, a cnn.com columnist and steve perry an education contributor. the latest act scores show only one in four high school graduates is ready for college. the test used for college admissions shows only 66% of the 2011 class met the benchmark for english. 45% for math. 30% for science. so steve, do these figures accurately reflect student preparedness? >> it absolutely does reflect how prepared students are because if it were the a.c.t. in and of itself we may be able to write it off. at least one third, one third of children going into college are taking remedial classes. in addition to that, we can look at the state standardized examinations in addition to some of the internationally normalized standardized examinations and what we're finding is that american students ar

i'm christine romans. plus, the state of states, from unemployment to housing, budget cuts and education, what states are doing to stay on top of this economy. and do you have aaa finances? it's time to take stock and take charge. we'll show you how. >>> but first, we begin with fears of a double dip recession, home price taking another dip and 13.9 million people are still out of work. we just can't seem to catch a break. don pack is features editor for "the atlantic" and wrote "can the middle class be saved?" don, what's the answer, can it? >> the middle class can be saved but we need to take a wide array of aggressive action to save it, i think. it's interesting the middle class itself has in many ways been downgraded in this recession. the housing bubble amassed a host of problems. the middle class has been slowly hallowing for years, wages in the middle class were stagnant throughout the odds. but the middle class retained a sense of optimism and forward progress because of increase in housing wealth

we're going to do it with the help of cnn's christine romans.hristine, let's start with why s&p found it necessary right now to do this credit rating downgrade. >> all right. well, wolf, it's all about the faith in the united states to continue paying its bills. standard & poor's downgraded the credit rating for a number of reasons. but the one s&p focused on is the political climate in the u.s. right now. >> i just want to highlight again the fact that the political process, as it comes to grips with the fiscal policy issues, we think itself creates a bit of -- a lot of uncertainty, which we think itself is an issue in terms of the rating of the u.s. government. >> too much debt, wolf. and too much political acrimony to solve the problem. the bickers and last-minute moves over the debt ceiling took a toll here. the u.s. political climate, one of the main factors. our sources at s&p say that was number one. but there were five factors in all that they consider. they look at the overall state of the u.s. economy. the u.s. economy is not in great

christine romans. >> bye. >> covering this a lot. >>> before we go, the united states was downgradedlet's take a look at the countries that have aaa ratings from s&p. there are about 15 of them, australia, austria, canada, denmark, finland, france, germany, netherlands, norway, singapore, sweden, united kingdom and switzerland. we'll show you which countries have the aa+ rating along with the united states now. 38 minutes after the hour. >>> this is your "a.m. wake-up call." back to our get smart question. we showed you the country's with aaa ratings by s&p. let's take a look at s&p's aa+ countries. the united states a new member of this club. new zealand and belgium exist in that environment. curious about a double dip recession, we've been talking about that possibility with the bad economic news we've been getting lately. it's not a done deal. i'm going to let jay leno do the explapg on this one. >> a lot of talk about the possibility of a double-dip recession. some people -- do you know what that is? maybe this will help. >> and now a video met fa for for a double dup recession.

i'm christine romans. the rebels rolling into moammar gadhafi's last stronghold, reaching the heart of tripoli, celebrating on his turf and cnn was on the back of the truck to witness it all. >> amazing. i'm carol costello. president obama telling moammar gadhafi to face the facts and give it up. the white house already hoping the rebels are ready to lead out on this "american morning." >>> all right. good morning, carol. good morning, everyone. it is monday, august 22nd. this is "american morning." i'm christine romans. >> i'm carol costello. thank you for joining us. ali has the morning off. a lot going on. let's get to it. >> that's right. up first, breaking news, new explosions overnight coming from moammar gadhafi's tripoli compound. three of his sons are in custody but gadhafi's whereabouts are still unknown as history continues to unfold in libya this morning. >> quite a sight. rebel forces say they control most of the capital and gadhafi's forces in one tripoli neighborhood are negotiating their su

let's go to christine romans live here in new york for a check on your money this morning. nk it feels like next friday. this has been one of the busiest, craziest market weeks you and i have seen in years. >> i'm going to be honest with you, i don't even know what day it is. i just know the market opens at 9:30 eastern time, and i'm telling you, futures are down right now. but i don't really put much stock into how it means for the rest of the day, and it's still volatility. it's still fear. it's still data driven, as they say in the pits, in the offices now. every headline, ali, is what's driving a very skittish market. fragile world economy, fragile world psyche. earnings reports. you know, the fed meeting behind us, thank goodness. we had a lot of volatility for monday, tuesday, wednesday behind us. i just don't think you can, with a straight face, make any kind of prediction. people will. people will put money behind their predictions. but it could be another very rocky day. >> i would not ask you to make a market prediction. however you do know a lot about commodities

christine romans, cnn, new york. >> so let's take a look at how the asian markets are now responding. nikkei is down a little. hong kong's hang seng also down. kospi down as well there by just over 1%. the australia stock exchange, sydney, down just by.1% as well. isha >>> stocks in the u.s. were lifted by that surge in the price of oil. it led to major advances. here's how it looked at the close. the dow came very close to gaining 3%. the s & p pushed past there getting close to 3.5%. but the nasdaq rose the most, gaining more than 4.25%. >>> a group of journalists in tripoli are stuck inside a hotel unable to cost story. >> including our own matthew chance. they've now actually become the story, and we will take you inside the rixos hotel. the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. >> translator: as we've been tell

so what about tooed in christine romans is joining me now from new york. christine, is the word calm that we are looking for and are there some signs, at least some new info coming out that could calm investors down? >> reporter: maybe. but even when you see the market going up, it's not calm when it's going up either. this is about volatility. tell you why you see days like that. it's because the market investors and sentiment of the world is trying to figure out is the world going into a rut or recession again? specifically the biggest economy in the world, the united states. every time a little bit of news that tips things one way or the other from rut or recession, you get a big swing in the market. today, it tips us toward just rut. there is a retail sales number from the census department that shows that retail sales in the most recent month were up 0.5%. what that shows you is after consumers saving a lot of money in june, they spent a little bit on gas, on electronics, on some other things in july. 390 billion dollars worth of stuff we bought in jul

christine romans breaks down the jobs numbers, brianna keilar is at the white house, poppy harlow at the new york stock exchange, alison kosik. what are the markets doing? >> we are in the red again. easy come, easy go with that relief rally that lasted just about a half hour. we saw stocks turn from the solid gains back into the red despite the better than expected jobs report in july. but the good news about this is that investors had been bracing for another disappointment. they didn't get disappointment. now the focus is turning back again on the broader problems, the problems about the euro zone, about the european debt issues. that's really what's gotten wall street back into the negative column. but still, they're also turning their head to the fact that we added 117,000 jobs in july. the jobless rate ticking down to 9.1%. it's getting that question of whether or not we're headed for a resegsz, it's moving that question little by little off the table because we're seeing these jobs actually added to the economy, added in manufacture, in health care, in hospitality. so for a mo

let's begin with christine romans in new york. christine, let's talk about all the things that this downgrade actually affects. >> sure. >> and impacts us right now. >> clearly, kyra, it will be a line in the history books. what will it mean for your pocketbook? first up, stocks. stock futures are down 242 points for the dow jones industrial average, hitting your stock holdings today. we'll watch to see what it means for your stock investments long term. i will caution you in the case of japan and canada, when they lost aaa status, their stock markets rallied in the next year because markets had been anticipating it. it's not clear what will happen longer term with stock markets. how about loans? if interest rates rise, longer term, it will make home loans, car loans, college loans, even credit card loans more expensive. i'm going to caution you again, keera it is not written in stone what will happen in the markets right now. we are seeing interest rates fall, which means in the near term, you could have lower rates for some of yo

christine romans in new york for us. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange for us. christine, 29 minutes away. what is going to happen? >> reporter: futures are lower and alison can tell you about that. the market after a prehistoric fed decision trying to figure out what it's going to do next, what investors are going to do next. they are still blaing the risk we are in a rut or another recession. the fed's decision yesterday was to keep interest rates low through 2013. weakness in the economy and jobs and housing and spending and saying things were weaker than they thought a few months ago but saying they have a range of policy tools and that is key word we are keeping rates really, really low but if we have to do something we might be able to do it and will be able to do it and it's those words there is one of the reasons got going on the upside yesterday. but you got to be careful here. we have a lot of people talking how bad it feels in the economy and does this big stock market rout the past few days set the stage for more weakness in the economy and how weak w

i'm christine romans. will protecting programs meant for grandma and grandpa leave washington no choice but to cut spending for your kids' feature. find out what issue compelled matt damen to get off the movie set and march side by side with america's teachers. and, a man whose own career comeback story was so inspiring, they made it into a movie. he's here with some timely advice for you on how to permanently improve your career prospects no matter how bad this economy gets. the debt ceiling deal is done. what does this mean for you, cuts mean for you? don is chairman of the peebles corporation. it's a real estate developer and a member of president obama's national finance committee. the economic policy institute estimates that the debt ceiling deal will cost america 1.8 million jobs by 2012. now most of those are expected to be government jobs. don, you're an employer. do you think that we're going to see job loss as the nation tries to tighten its belt? something like this, the debt ceiling deal make y

i'm christine romans. another night of unrest in london as police struggle to take back control of their streets. now americans are being urged to use caution when traveling around the city. >>> good morning again. i'm carol costello. three members of the congressional super committee have been chosen. nine more to go. there are 12. they will have 90 days to come up with $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. the selections and reaction to them on this "american morning." >>> all right. good morning, it is wednesday august 10th. ali is off today after working i think 15 or 16 straight days covering the markets and all that. more on the markets and the economy in just a moment. you seem a little short today. >> i know. >> i have a high chair. >> i think so. >> i like that. >> you're taller than i am, carol. >> good morning. i'm carol costello. actually we have to talk about this first, london is burning a fourth night of looting and violence in the streets, parts of london resemble a war zone with burned out build

i'm christine romans. investers heading for the exits in europe and asia after yesterday's sharp slide on wall street. are we nearing a second recession or are there still signs of hope? >>> mr. president, want to get away? i'm carol costello. as president obama begins a ten-day vacation republicans go on the attack saying a economy of high anxiety is not the time for r and r on this "american morning." >>> good morning. it's friday, august 19th. and welcome to "american morning." carol, good morning. you said something interesting, i don't feel like there's anything i can do about the markets but what a lot of people are doing, trying to refinance. mortgage rates are at record lows and noticing how cheap interest rates are and is there a way that i can shave some money off my monthly bill. that's really the only thing people can feel like they can have control over now, if you can get through to the bankers. >> we're trying and it's not cheap to refinance. >> that's right. >> you have to think about wheth

pink panther look like a petty thief thinking they were tasty dog treats our friend and all of christine romans last week belonging to john ross jewelers in albany georgia the owner of the store and the owner of honey bun had a hunch this caper was an inside job and took anyone to the animal hospital for x. rays sure enough the x. ray showed. ten thousand dollars worth of arc lee diamond stashed in his gut eventually the diamonds were passed cleaned up to the shop. makes the afternoon truro slewing button two diamonds recovered. i hear the republican presidential candidate and i'm in love or newt gingrich is now i guess really trying to adopt anybody. coming up i'll speak with one of the act searchers clearheaded a project that exposing the lies behind the threat and because of the islamic religion if america. let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime. i think. either well. we never got the shows the safe get ready because of their freedom. you know sometimes you see a story in the scene so. you think you understand it and then he glimpse something else you sure see some other part of it

to help to ease your fears, christine romans is here with us in new york. ease my fears, christine?to ease your fears. the dow drop was 116th worse percentage drop ever. >> that's more important than the point drops. >> we'll probably do it again, maybe not tomorrow or today but in three years, who knows. a big move for the markets. four out of fife times for the s&p, it's really the big gains people care about. four out of five times in the past 20, 25 years we had a move like that. the day after or the next day stocks are higher. you bail out, stocks could move higher again because you cannot time the market. you pull your hair out, be careful here. >> there's no need for a hair joke. but here's the issue. you have to be smart twice. you have to get out at the right time and get in at the right time. when you got out in 2008 because of the crazy markets and didn't in 2009, you missed one of the best years in the market's history. >> i'm going to tell you with 100% certainty, most people aren't smart enough. you have to work your plan. you hear this from us when the market does som

christine romans of our money team joins us live in new york. e driving this plunge? >> it's a global story at this point. i will be quite honest with you. it started this morning with more nerves about the pace of the recovery around the world and what that will mean for strained countries and their finances, and what central banks have been doing around the world to shore up their currencies and financials. japan stepped in to weaken the level of its yen, because as its yen were rising people were putting into the yen out of the dollar as a safe haven, and that actually was making it harder for them to recover from the tsunami and earthquake. so that country was moving. you also had the swiss central bank moving yesterday. an then the comments from the european -- the european central bank chief, and he basically, the ecb president, and he said the global economy is still a concern. he said that it's true that we're in a period of high level of uncertainty, not only in the euro area but in the economy, and he outlined that maybe the ecb decided

christine romans, let's keep talking about the u.s.rating for a moment, if you don't mind and talk about the impact on the larger economy. >> okay. so our credit rating now seems to have dodged a bullet according to aaa i according to moody is. we haven't heard from s&p. they're not commenting. but this is an issue, kyra, with what's hurting the u.s. economy right now and our overall unresolved debt picture, because it is still unrevolved. we still have unsustainable debts and deficits, these are things that are going to drag on the united states until it ges s resolved. one of the big things they're concerned about is they've shown such political acrimony that getting together to solve america's big financial problems could be difficult given the climate. that's one of the reasons why they're pessimistic. also, kyra, you just look at the drumbeat of economic news and it's been pretty negative. friday we're going to get a jobs report that shows not enough job creation to absorb new entrance into the work force. so this is the issue goi

more money news this morning, let's go to christine romans live in new york with me. ll this debt stuff was done, we would be looking at stronger markets. we have not been. the dow has been down eight sessions in a row? >> yeah. yesterday was a bad day overall. a lot of people are telling me the whole thing with the debt deal was there was a lot of downside if you didn't do it, but not a lot of upside if you did. eight down days for the dow. futures are looking a little higher this morning. after a big day like yesterday, you know futures at this hour can be kind of funky to predict what the stocks will look like. we'll continue to watch that. watching stock twits, i don't know if you follow that. the etf or s&p is trending lower. we'll continue to watch to see how the market is going to be hope. it's going to be hard to make a call this morning though. >> some major ones this week, of course friday the big jobs report for the month of july. >> be careful about the adp report, the private payroll report that will come out today. remember last month it showed that maybe

christine romans, we will start with you.f our team keeping an eye on markets here and overseas. again, i can't help because i was sitting here yesterday and saw literally 300, 400 points down just minutes into the trading day. i see 132 points up. i will take it. >> you will take it. you still have, let's see, 1400 points go to get back to where we were in july. put tonight perspective and it has been pretty rotten for investors because the world is trying to figure out if there could be another banking crisis. trying to figure out how slow the economy is. investors are trying to figure out if the most recent period of weakness in the market that began in july but exacerbated by s&p downgrade. if that's going to hurt confidence enough to tip the u.s. back into a recession. clearly, you know, consensus from cnn money is 1-4 chance of that happening. but it is -- there is a chance. that has people worried. we are watching the banking sector for any kind of rebound today. we have seen a little bit of a rebound in many of the ba

. >>> i'm christine romans in new york.nt needs to do now to create jobs, and why his critics say, kyra, it is not what he does, but what the president must un-do to create jobs. the biggest political fight that you have seen yet over jobs coming up at the top of the hour. >>> i'm amber lion in vermont where the floodwaters have turned some communities in the state to essentially islands and some residents say they have been left to fend for themselves. i will have more coming up at the top of the hour. >> all right. thanks, guys. are natural disasters a sign from god to clean up our act? we will talk to a religious scholar, and regardless of what the pundits are saying, he says that natural disasters are firmly rooted in science and not religion. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single

i'm christine romans. what could be a deadly outbreak of salmonella poisoning has now spread to half of the country. it's been linked to ground turkey. what you need to know about this recallo keep your family safe. >>> i'm ashe velshi. burning up another day of searing heat. it's already proving deadly on this "american morning." >>> good morning to you. are you awake yet? >> you will be. >> happy thursday. it's august 4th. this is "american morning." there's a lot going on today. >> we should get right to it. >> i want to talk first about the heat. heat is on congress to finish their business as we've been reporting. they've left washington without resolving a dispute over funding the federal aviation administration. that's resulted in tens of thousands of american workers not getting a paycheck today. on last night's "in the arena" with tom foreman, one worker voiced his frustration. >> running ourselves into debt, selling assets. unlike our congressmen and senators who are on vacation. nice congression

as i always tell christine romans, i love talking about gold. >> gold fell 95 bucks an ounce. about 5%. check this out. here's the chart yesterday. a big drop there, the reason, we've got an interestings goods. it was very good. showing increasing 4% in july. that pretty much dashed the hopes of any more stimulus from the fed when he speaks friday. ahead, again, carol, everybody is looking to that speech on friday to see what the fed chief has to say. >> they certainly have. many thanks to you. "american morning" continues right now. >>> hurricane eye preen barrelling through the bahamas. i'm ali velshi. fears of the united states may be next. officials warn something coastal residents to get out or get ready. >> walking free from the hotel. christine romans. 33 journalists are out this morning and are talking after a terrifying ordeal. held at gunpoint by gadhafi loyalists growing more desperate by the second. >>> the end of an era at am. i'm carol costello. steve jobs, creator force behind apple, resigns. what will this mean for the company? the change the way you live on th

christine romans live in new york.igns about the economy and mixed signs make people think about another recession. what do you think? >> you have larry summers, we told you on this program yesterday morning, we have a one of three chance of falling back into the a recession. he said the economy was in a stall. we know that first quarter gdp was rotten, barely grew. we know that second quarter gdp grew a little bit. i'm on the record saying, ali, that things will be difficult until we get the jobs report on friday and show whether indeed the economy has stalled or whether it is slipping backward again. housing is a terrible overhang. you have an economy that's not growing enough. martin feldstein yesterday morning raised concerns, a lot of people are talking about today, he basically gave an outlook that was similar towhat he gave back in january of 2008 when he was the well-known economist from the opposite side of the political spectrum of larry summers. basically our ideological spectrum, i should say, basically giv

christi christine romans has been analyzing the impact. first of all, why did s&p do this? >> because america faces an unknown financial future and there is acrimony in washington and the inability it appears for these problems to be solved in a meaningful way. s&p to go out of its way to point out a hurdle or a roadblock against real reform. s&p would like to see more than $2.5 trillion in cuts. it would like to have seen a bigger deal to get america's debt smaller as a size of the overall economy than it will be here. wolf, clearly it's something that many people have feared. it's a day that ken, a very important economist told me will be in the history books. this has never happened before. not since 1917 has that aaa been downgraded. wolf. >> the u.s. aaa rating survived the depression, world war, vietnam, everything in between. and now down to aa plus. we're going to have to wait until monday in asia, elsewhere on sunday, no one knows the answer right now, but how bad could it be? >> no one does know that answer. we've already had a very rough week in the markets. we'v

a special report tonight with wolf blitzer and christine romans is coming up here at 7:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. >>> the latest estimate, 29,000 children dead from lack of food and water in the past month alone. coming up, we take you inside the crisis and show you what the u.s. is doing to help. >>> and many of you are seeking information from us through social media, you can reach out to us through twitter and facebook. [ male announcer ] walls can talk. but it's our job to make them say something interesting. so how about this weekend we learn some new tricks of the trade... then break out our doing clothes and get rolling. let's use some paint that helps us get the job done in record time and makes a statement when we're finished. we're lowering the cost of a new favorite color. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. take your painting skills to the next level at one of our free paint workshops. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be a

christine romans, part of our money team, joining us once again from new york. where do things stand now? >> reporter: we have been watching this unravelal the past four hours or so. morgan stanley come out with a global note cutting its global growth forecast and saying the u.s., the world is dangerously close to recession quite frankly and naming a couple of different reasons why they think that global growth will not be as strong as they thought. among them, europe's debt problems and also mentioning what they call policy mistakes in the u.s. and also the drama about the debt ceiling. they say, overall, consumer confidence, business confidence, almost this negative feedback loop we are on the verge of people being so worried and not able to break out of that. lowering their global growth forecasts and enough to shake a shaky market which bank stocks in europe are down and real concerns about the debt crisis in europe. still even after france's aaa rating was reaffirmed. an icky situation here this morning. the dax and ftse is down and cac is down also. bracin

christine romans is here with a closer look. >> randi, it's been said if you drill to the heart of everyly you strike oil. it's critical to the rebuilding of libya. in good times, libya supplies 2% of the world's oil. but when will that oil come back online? estimates vary from a month to a few years. >> when this is their only export, only hope of putting this government together and tieing this country up, i've got to think they're going to move heaven and earth to get it. i expect it's going to be a lot sooner than anybody guesses. i think that they're going to have some oil almost within a month, and i think within a quarter, they're going to have a decent amount. >> even before it exports another drop, there are moammar gadhafi's riches frozen around the world. more than $30 billion in the u.s. alone. gadhafi's stash of gold is worth more than $8 billion. but nation building can be littered with thievery and a waste of resources. how to make it different for libya? it's why transparency is crucial. >> it's going to take the commitment on a part of a transparent national government t

cnn's christine romans joins us from new york with that part of the story. istine, if you can, help us put into perspective what we saw yesterday, in that huge plunge in the stock market. >> i tell you, it felt pretty horrible, didn't it? it felt as though it was the worst day we've ever seen. look, the dow was down some 600 points. and we've been there before. and we'll be there again. investors lost a trillion dollars in stocks. that's according to the wilshire 5,000. the broadest index of u.s. stocks. standard & poor's downgrade of u.s. debt, overall economic concern, worries about the debt crisis in europe, they all had wall street in the vice grip yesterday. let's look at the dow joins industrials, down 634 points yesterday. that's the sixth biggest point drop of all time. the sixth biggest of all time. and think, the dow index has been around since 1896. but the number of points really isn't as important as the percentage drop. so let's look at that. the dow lost 5.55% of its value yesterday. that's a lot but doesn't even rank in the top 20 worst days f

we'll explain it all with the help of christine romans and richard quest in new york tonight. brianna at the white house. let's start at the white house. the administration has a lot of issues with s&p assessments, right? >> reporter: that's right. they are really taking issue, especially, don, with the math behind this decision because the treasury department, when it got wind that this was under way, went through the numbers and found a discrepancy. this is what you will hear administration officials refer to as a $2 trillion error in calculating deficits. today we saw surrogates for the president, administration officials just blanketing the sunday shows including larry somers, former top economic adviser to the president. here's what he said about how this -- really about the math that s&p did on this. >> look, s&p's track record is terrible and its arithmetic is worse. there is nothing good to say about what they have done. >> so on one hand it's interesting. you hear administration officials criticizing the math that s&p did, but on the other hand, s&p says the reason --

i'm christine romans. welcome as the u.s. and around the world to a cnn special report. the debt mess. what happens next. the first asian markets opened in tokyo an hour ago. others will follow this hour are closely monitoring to see the reaction to the news that standard & poor's downgraded from aaa to aa plus rating. the u.s. stock futures are also trading tonight and they are trading lower. about 2% lower. they are one of the first gauges of investor attitudes to s&p's down grade. timothy geithner this evening taking part in a conference call with other member nations of the group of seven nations strategizing as republicans call for his head over the downgrade. a downgrade of america will be a line in the history books someday but what does it mean for your pocket book today? we'll break down how and why and we'll do it with the help of our own richard quest and candy crowley. we'll get to them in a moment. to help us make sense of all of this. first to the white house. president obama returned there earlier after spending the weekend at camp david. our white house c

. >>> for money news, we have christine romans in new york.six days of bad markets leading into this debt debate. and the bad gdp numbers -- i think we're going to get a break this morning. roy >> reporter: i'll take your six days and raise you to a month. the dow was down 2% for the month 4,% for the week. the dow fell, there's been a steady drumbeat of economic reports that haven't been great. friday we'll get a jobs report. political risk for today, the week, friday jobs report futures looking better. dow futures up 133 points. but i guarantee you every little peep out of washington will probably move futures this morning and throughout the day. the stock prices. >> yeah. things are softening up in europe, in europe trading now. we'll have to see what happens. u.s. futures already a little lower than they were earlier. what about the u.s.' reputation? i know you've got thoughts this. >> reporter: i do. there's a lot of people who have been saying does the u.s. deserve a triple credit rating. even with the political uncertainty resolved for

christine romans has much more. >> after six months of civil war, already world markets wondering when producer will be back on-line with oil for the world markets. it may seem crass to talk about economics when it is freedom that is being celebrated in the streets of libya. it is that money, that oil-richness that will help drive whatever comes next for this country. it is the engine of the libyan economy. it is accounts for 95% of libya's economy as the oil infrastructure. before the civil war, what was the situation with libya and the oil supply? it was the 17th largest oil producer. that was about 2% of world oil supply. about 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. the u.s. consumed only 3% of libya's oil exports. most of its light sweet crude went to the european market. it's the kind of crude that's very easily refined to use in automobiles for example. it's a palatable kind of product for the european markets. what happens next? remember, having that oil off line was big enough deal that even the president of the united states tapped into america's emergency supplies of oil because j

. >>> i'm christine romans. with a downgraded credit rating and sinking economy, timothy geithner was thinking about stepping down. not the best time for the president lose his treasury secretary. that's one thing the white house won't have to worry about this morning. >>> the downgrading of the credit carries consequences. you could soon be paying more. will you? we'll break it down on this "american morning." >>> it's monday! good morning to you. it is august 8. this is "american morning." >> slow news day. >> yeah. >> nothing happening. >> it's going to be a long day, boys and girls. we're seeing the consequences globally of that unprecedented downgrade of america's aaa credit rating by standard & poor that happened friday. in asian, they closed down by about 2% and in europe the markets have been fickle, up and down all morning. they're currently down. this is all setting the tone for what could be a rough day in the u.s. when markets open in just three and half hours. andrews stevens is live in hong kong. s

i'm christine romans. stocks in the united states come roaring back.at can we pecket when the opening bell rings in 90 minutes, though? >> i'm carol costello. after weeks of holding his cards, texas governor rick perry is going all in for 2012. perry set to announce he is joining the republican race for president. >> i'm ali velshi. a gop face-off in iowa. the debate featuring the usual attacks on president obama and a bitter war of words between two candidates from minnesota on this "american morning." ♪ >>> good morning, everybody. it's friday. let me say it again. it's friday! august 12th. >> that means no more trading days after today this week. >> i know but you can still have politicians raising money. >> that's true. there is politics. >> still money made and lost. >> yeah. >> spending money in iowa, however. we don't blame you if you feel dizzy after watching the markets bounce up and down all week so we have to think about the financial things first before politics. right now, futured are up after the dow fell nearly 4% yesterday to close abov

i'm christine romans. hurricane forecasters feeling the heat because the wrath of irene didn't live up to all that hype. >>> and i'm carol costello. like a hurricane, rick perry stormed to the front of the gop presidential pack. the latest cnn polling gives him a double-digit lead over mitt romney. is the texas governor built for the long run? >>> well, good morning. it is tuesday, august 30th. we are still dealing with the after effects of this hurricane. things for a lot of people starting to get back to normal. >> the river still cresting and could happen over the next day or two in some spots. water is still rising in parts of the country. we begin with hurricane irene. the storm's impact will be felt for months after the winds died down. the death toll rising to at least 27 people. along with the estimated cost, the cost of cleaning up this mess from north carolina through new england, obama administration officials will visit three states today that were hit hard by hurricane irene. virginia, north c

i'm christine romans. president obama signs the debt ceiling compromise into law, but the budget battle far from over. plus, why the markets are less than impressed with the debt deal. >> and good morning to all of you. i'm carol costello. egyptians never thought they would see this, their former president hosni mubarak on trial. he and his sons facing the death penalty. we are live in cairo just ahead. >> you're about to meet a cop who can't be stopped. run him down with a speeding car but you won't get away. the video that has everyone talking on this "american morning." >>> good morning. it's wednesday, august 3rd. this is "american morning." a lot going on today. we should get right to it. >> yes, we should. >> isn't the debt deal done? >> it's not done yet. they have to do the super committee. >> and decide what they will cut, cut food inspectors, education grants, they are going to cut stuff out of education. >> at least some of it is done? >> some of it done. >>> one of the bitter and dangerous deba

i'm christine romans. another 500-plus point drop for the dow. world's markets reacting. what's behind the wild ride on wall street? and what will stop it? >> the calm after the storm. i'm ali velshi. heavy police presence in britain following four days of rioting. prime minister david cameron about to address an emergency session of parlmeiament of despicable violence. >> the raid of osama bin laden set to be released one month before next year's election. good morning to you. it is thursday, august 11 now. this is "american morning." lot going on today. let's get right to it, folks. >> good morning, good morning. so much for comeback. haven't seen these kind of wild swings on wall street since the darkest days of the financial meltdown. the dow diving 520 points yesterday. this time fueled by fears or at least triggered by fears. that france is on a verge of a credit downgrade. every day it seems to be something new trying terg sell-off or the buying. that's because this is a global economy. your investments feel it here. wild swings. take a look at the week. monday the

i'm christine romans. water rising, the death toll rising, millions without power. one of the most widespread emergency responses in history under way right now? i'm ali velshi, one of irene's last stops dealt one of its hardest blows. parts of vermont completely unreachable as rivers start to roar. one official describing the aftermath as awful. >> cut off in carolina. i'm carol costello. thousands who ignored evacuation orders stranded on the outer banks. emergency supplies heading there by ferry today on this "american morning." >>> good morning. it is monday, august 29th. you lose track of it on these type of weekends when so much happens. there is a lot going on for a lot of people who say we missed -- we dodged the bull letsz, a lot of people who didn't dodge any bullets. >> whoever says that is not listening to the chainsaws humming in connecticut, vermont, new jersey, all the way up and down the northeast coast. >> i think people thought it would be worse. we're lucky we dodged the bullet. i expect