christine romans in new york.s behind the scenes at the new york stock exchange. >> why you are seeing the dow jump 400 points right now is because central banks around the world have sort of gotten together and they've agreed to work together to hold up struggling economies. the federal reserve, european central bank, bank of england, central banks in canada, japan, switzerland, all of them are getting together. what they're going to do is make it cheaper for banks to trade and borrow in u.s. dollars. the hope is that those banks will lend that money out to businesses and lend that money out to consumers because the more credit that people have, the more they're going to tend to spend because the goal here is to just get more money circulating through the economy. by the way, china is loosening credit too in separate programs. all of this is happening all at once. it's giving the market the huge boost today. don? >> let's go to christine romans. we see it back up 406 points. here's a question. how common though i

christine romans is here with some cost saving tips. >> hello holiday hype machine.ll do whatever they can to separate you from your money whether you have it to spend or not. so holiday buyers beware. here are five steps to out smart them. don't open a store credit card. most have high interest rates and credit limits are too low. applying for them hurts your credit score. that one time 10% off isn't worth it. or they are pushing the extended warranty. don't waste your money. in fact you really very seldom should take the extended warranty. "consumer reports" mandy walker says your credit card may already cover you plus. >> they seldom break during the extended warranty period which is only two or three years past the time you bought it. >> gift carl edwards are not always a great gift. a quarter of all gift card are still lying around in your purse or desk drawer ten months after you get it. and two-thirds of people who get them spend more than the carl edwards face value. they are basically paying for their own present. unless you know for a fact the recepient wan

i'm christine romans. plus, my number is 63. what's yours? what do you want your number to be? do you know what it is? do you even know what we're talking about? aisle explain and tell you why your ability to influence has become a numbers game. we begin with a question. give a co-worker a hug. is that sexual harassment? bun definition. sexual harassment is unwelcome verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment. in 1990, 6,000 charges were filed. 20 years later, nearly twice as many. it's not just happening at work or associated with politicians. it's even happening in schools. 48% of seventh to twelfth graders experienced some form of sexual harassment either in person or electronically through texting, e-mail and social media. rick newman is with u.s. news & world report, joining us from washington, the vice president of education and employment at the national women's law center. let's talk first about the statistics. the fact that we are now talking about sexual harassm

christine romans joins us now. ine was hot about this this morning. >> i've worked an awful lot of thanksgivings, a lot of thanksgivings. so i feel like everyone should know that when i do this story. a guy named anthony hardwick works at target in omaha, started a petition on change.org, you can pet tigss on there. he was having to work a ten-hour shift on thanksgiving day. everyone from target to macy's to gap to kohl's, toys "r" us is opening earlier and earlier and earlier so they can get you for the day after thanksgiving for your shopping. last year 22 million people, carol, went and actually spent money on thanksgiving late at night to buy things, to buy holiday presents. this guy says, look, he wants to have thanksgiving dinner with his family, that it's just not fair. it's not right to make retail employees work on the most important retail spending day of the year. this guy has 79,000 people, carol, who have signed up and say it's just not right. >> let me play devil's advocate for just a moment. i know al

i'm christine romans. ali velshi is in cannes france at the g-20. i'm taking over the show.ill and pete for your viewing pleasure. >> we want to take over the show from you and ali. we're forced to read and buy this book, which is by you and your work husband it's called the bald and the beautiful. >> it's called "how to speak money." i throw it to my co-host. >> thank you, sweetheart. christine you write in here everybody speaks money differently, they have different dialects and accents. >> my worry is since the crash in 2008 we're as financially literate as we were before. we run up credit card as soon as we get a chance to downtown again. even though we're trying to make mortgages simpler and student loan debt easy to one i worry about these kids coming out college. i'll tell you something interesting. i'm profiling a university that's giving college credit for kids with financial literacy. >> how much of it is financial literacy or individual responsibility? people using their credit cards, how much is it responsibility versus understanding what's going happen if they r

it is written by christine romans and alley vel chi she. e market is down 373 points now. we will continue to monitor that for you. >>> an epic storm is blasting alaska right now. we will take you inside the storm with a boat captain who just survived it. that's next. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you ne

christine romans joins us to explain what the heck that means. what does it mean?redit rating agencies on the u.s. has a negative outlook. meaning there's more than a 50/50 chance that there could be a downgrade from fitch or another downgrade from any of the others. so i remember it was s&p that so famously downgraded the u.s. from aaa, that stellar gold quality credit rating after congress basically punted to the super committee on its debt issues. the super committee has been a super failure. here we go, major debt and deficit issues in this country that rah still unresolved. over all the debt and deficit issues in europe are more unresolved at this point. that's where the focus is. it's why you see the stocks up 300 points one day and today we have features up about 30 points, but european markets turning lower. this morning what we're talking about is europe on the brink until december 9th to figure out how it will fix this. an italian bond market auction today. this is going to be critical because these countries are out there raising money, auctioning off th

let's ask christine romans at the new york stock exchange. new york, with a preview of today's market trading. i'm always so used to seeing the nyse. christi christine, we were talking moments ago with john morton from i.c.e. talking about all the frauds out there. we have to be careful. >> well, you have to be careful about your own economy, don't forget. because as we know the last two quarters, kyra, people are taking home less money. that's not as much money as there used to be in the average person's paycheck. where is the money coming from for these record sales? it's coming from savings and on credit cards. so you have to be very careful about what kind of debt you're taking on. earlier today, marshall cohen told me that about 44% of people who shopped this weekend shopped for themselves. it was pent-up demand. not necessarily holiday shopping. but really people who have been waiting for bargains to buy for themselves. the national retail federation, which is of course the big trade industry, trade group that critics say is actually a

job of regulators, a good example of why regulation matters to our broader economic health. >> christine romansake it from here, i'll go back to covering g-20. christine? >> thanks. >> i want to bring in ian, president of euro asia group. ian, nice to see you. the focus on the crisis in greece. in time we could face scenarios with other european countries like italy, spain, portugal. when will this constant threat of financial crises recession in europe, and what it could mean for america, when does that subside? >> it can't subside for quite a while, and in part, that's part of the plan. if you're germany, france, core european states or european institutions, you know that the only way you end up fixing european institutions is by continuing to use market pressure to ensure austerity continues. so you can't write a check. talking to angela merkel last year at davos, she was basically saying the only day she really has leverage is right before she cuts the check. everyone understands that. and so it's not going to be a german marshall plan. this isn't the post-war environment. you have to chan

cnn's christine romans shows us how it is definitely doable. >> all right, you have seven weeks until are you going to pay for it? time to start planning so you don't begin the new year with a debt hangover. what if i told you could be on the way to saving a thousand bucks by the holidays? you can and i'm not going to tell you that old standard make your own gifts. this is real money. the biggest savings comes from your house. your mortgage. refinance if you can. lower a 6% mortgage on a $200,000 loan, lower it down to 4.2%, you're going to save 221 bucks a month. you can also save money when you ditch your gym membership. throw on a pair of running shoes. you could be saving 120 bucks if you cancel or you just put your gym membership on hold until after the holidays. some gyms let you do that. also, you need to be really smart about how you're shopping for groceries. don't buy your groceries ever at the drugstore. a recent study of the basics purchased at boston drugstores shows they cost as much as 50% more than at a grocery store. you could be saving on average 25 bucks a week if y

christine romans, thanks so much.it. >>> still to come, one of the menstrual to the case against the former assistant football coach jerry sandusky is speaking out for the first time. we'll tell you what mike mcqueary is saying. >>> plus, why republican presidential candidate rick perry wants to turn congress into a part-time gig. it's 26 minutes past the hour. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. >>> i am much like reagan and margaret thatcher, i'm such an unconventional political figure. z >> he's the new guy on the block who's been around for more than 30 years. newt gingrich now surging in the polls. can he convince the tea party he's an outsider and something fresh at the same time? and good morning to you. this is your "a.m. wake-up call" for wednesday, november 16th. i'm carol costello. here are this morning's t

christine romans joining us out of new york, alison kosik at new york stock exchafg. ine, let's explain what is happening in greece and why we're watching the numbers so closely this morning. >> the prime minister of greece said he wanted an international referendum and that adds a very big layer of uncertainty to europe getting its problems in order. we know what the greek people think about austerity. we've seen it in the streets over and over and over again. there are those that are very concerned that this puts a real wrench in that whole deal and you look at all the european and banking stocks are down very, very heavily because a couple of the big european banks, all of that feeding into this feeling that a very good month last month, the s&p was up like 10%. very good month, people are taking their money off the table, kyra. >> alison, we're already seeing the effects of this on european markets. >> exactly. we're watching european markets. they're down anywhere from 3% to 5%. asian markets also down 2%. of course, what you see is the u.s. markets. they're follo

christine romans live in new york, alison kosik at new york stock exchange. ll has everyone worried. >> greece, the 32nd largest economy in the world has the entire world watching and waiting to see what is going to happen next year. absolutely right. greece has been the center of this drama. the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis for europe and now the beginning of the end of the sovereign debt crisis with europe depends on what greece does here. the prime minister has been summoned to france to meet with eu leaders. he wants to have a national referendum on a yes or no to the european bailout. yes or no to staying in the euro. yes or no to europe, basically. that has surprised and shocked many in europe who said, look, we worked very hard to put together a deal to save you, to save europe, to save the euro and now you want to put it up to your own people for a vote. that is just going to cause too much of a delay and too many months of uncertainty until that happens. so, really big concerns about where we go forward from here and whether greece is onboar

christine romans, thanks so much.t. >> you're welcome. >>> it was a tough week for herman cain. will this one be any easier and how has the allegations against him, how has that affected the polls? we have new polls coming up in our political ticker. >>> first, a special get smart question for you. we paid tribute to the legendary tv personality andy rooney who died on friday at the age of 92. >> funny thing is, over the years, our opinion of how our hair looks best changes. i used to think i looked best with long side burns. why in the world would i have ever thought that? i didn't realize i looked so funny back then or i probably would have never gone on television at all. >> but he did go on tv and what a career he had. rooney used his dry whit and unique style to close cbs' "60 minutes" for 33 years. his rants earned him the nickname grouch in chief. today's get smart question, how many essays did andy rooney perform on "60 minutes"? it was 478, 876 or 1,097 in the answer comes your way in two minutes. it's 39 min

let's check in with christine romans. she's live in new york with me. christine, what's the plan?an is a bipartisan group of senators, so the hope is if you get republicans and democrats in here together, you can try to find a way to fix the problems of the postal service. remember the postal service volume is down 20% over the past two years, lost $20 billion over the past four years. the plan would be tapping a $6.9 billion overpayment in a retirement fund, offering a cash buyout to workers -- to take a buyout or give two years of credit toward retirement. that would allow them to cut the payroll there by 100,000 workers. that would save them ultimately $8 billion. also you would cut saturday service, that would start in two years. and close post offices, probably a lot of post offices. we know, carol, some of these post offices in really small towns or where there's overlap in postal service. a lot of talk about having to get rid of that redundancy. we know the postal service is facing some deadlines for payments into its retiree health care fund and the like, that this is a pr

christine romans, cnn, new york. >> thanks to our christine romans.he bottom of the hour here, we need to let you know we'll have clive anderson coming up. if you get a big tax refund, a lot of people look forward to that every year. you actually could be missing out on money now, hundreds in your paycheck you could be taking home now instead of the big refund. clive will be along to tell you how to give yourself a raise. that's in our 7:00 half hour. he's coming up in just about 30 plus minutes from now. let's turn back to politics in a moment. herman cain, can the republican presidential candidate keep his white house hopes alive? he's talking about the controversy that won't seem to go away. an occupy protester in trouble with the law. he tells the june, i want to go home with my wife. find out why that might not happen any time soon. a $100 cream. flabbergasted when we creamed a $500 cream. for about $30 regenerist micro-sculpting cream hydrates better than over 20 of america's most expensive luxury creams. fantastic. phenomenal. regenerist. it's

i'm christine romans. carol has the morning off. here are your top stories this morning. unoccupy. cities around the country telling protesters your time is up. police in riot gear facing off protesters in portland after cops dismantled their camps. protesters in denver and other cities being told to go home. >> i will continue to fight for the american jobs act so that we can put our people back to work. >>> talking business in paradise. president obama hosting asia-pacific leaders in hawaii saying jobs are job number one, and also getting tough with china and iran. the president saying no options are off the table as new details come out about tehran's nuclear program. >>> jerry sandusky's neighbors now fearing for their safety after two cinder blocks were thrown through the accused pedophile's window. penn state trying to move on after an emotional saturday, but questions about how the coach could allegedly get away with these alleged crimes for so long. rob marciano is in atlanta. let's check on weather. >> good morning. we do have a threat of severe weather. one tornado warnin

christine romans talked about solutions with economist diane swank and peter. >> the jobless rate standst 9%. that number has nearly dounld when you look at the underemployment rate that includes those who want to work full time but can only find part time work. that's 16.2%. each month brings slight progress at best but what other long term real solution. diane, let's start with you. we've gone over the problems. what needs to happen to return to the days of 200,000 jobs added each month and 5% unemployment? >> it's going to be difficult. there is missouriy fix. we've always talked there's a silver bull tloebt shot. that said there are things that could be done in the margins and changes in regulation. easing up on regulation. if we had more fiscal stimulus. that would help. we won't get it to go along with the on going monetary stimulus. i think it's important the issue we talked about discrimination against long term unemployed. we got to eliminate that. that just can't happen because you close those workers out for good out of the labor force and many states now pass anti-discriminat

christine romans joins us live with today's money headlines. >> let me think, a money issue from theslim and sexy malibu republicans and democrats that have a few days to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction so that we can get the financial house of this country in order somewhat and get moving forward. they've only got a few days and there have been conflicting and i would say -- i would say conflicting and vague reports every single day about how far along they're doing. it looks like the real issue is the bush tax cuts. the golden ticket for the republicans would be to be able to preserve those bush tax cuts somehow in this process and of course with democrats, they want to raise taxes for the wealthiest people who make more than $250,000 a year. there are other things they have to do, don't forget. there's defense spending and entitlements. i want to really reiterate something, carol. you and i have talked about this a lot. $1.2 trillion in deficit reduck has been political difficult, so torturous. $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction doesn't even stop the growth of the

christine romans now explains. >> reporter: this has lasted much longer than any other protest i've seen on wall street and i've seen a lot of sit-ins and protests and marches. this is definitely one that has more legs than any i've ever seen. occupy wall street has been trying to raise awareness of this growing income gap, this growing opportunity and wealth between the richest people in america and the rest of us, the 99% they say. they're protesting inequality, lack of opportunity, a jobs market that's not working for everyone. too much student debt and kind of they feel like they've been sold a bill of goods that they've taken on this student debt for a place in an economy that's not giving them a job that's going to help them pay off that student debt. what they're protesting, they're protesting business as usual in washington and business as usual on wall street. both of those two big institutions, two big power structures in america, that they think have conspired to make the wealthy wealthier and not serve the middle class and poor people. when you talk to them, they say we're no

christine romans will explain what it means in your "morning money."ck. >>> 34 minutes past the hour. one of the most important employment reports will be released in just a few hours. the october jobs report. so what can we expect and how will it impact your bottom line? for morning money news, let's head live to christine romans. she's live in new york. what will this tell us about the health of the economy? i hope something good. >> i hope so, too. we've had little signs of strength in the economy or at least stabilization in the economy of late. carol, when you look at piece by piece the economic news i'd say of the past six weeks it's been telling us that we averted a second recession. it's telling us we averted that so-called double dip. will this number confirm that trend? we're looking for the unemployment rate probably steady at 9.1%. but that's not getting worse and maybe 102,000 jobs added. so we'll be closely watching to see if the private sector is confident enough to start to add jobs. you know, it takes well more than that, 150,000 every

accusing the police of brutality and christine romans is in new york. ristine, we're now going on two months since the protesters first descended on wall street and look at how it's grown and it's continuing. >> it really does. and that is making headaches, quite frankly, for public officials who say that they feel as though there's a turning point we might have reached here in the "occupy movement" as more and more cities are trying to move these protesters out of public spaces. i want to start with oakland because right now you have protesters in oakland at this very moment who are bracing, who are bracing for trouble with the police, quite frankly. the police moving in to try to keep people off public grounds. they're forming a wall right now as we speak around protesters. you can see some of these pictures here. the second and third notice to vacate have been issued and the third one came on saturday and right now we're following very closely the movements of the police and the people in oakland and that's happening now in portland more than 50 arres

christine romans is with me now to explain what this all means, especially for your 401(k).ing, christine. >> good morning. it means that s&p a little more pessimistic on the health and outlook, but some of the biggest banks, a couple reasons, they're closely monitoring what's happening in europe and how easy it is for banks to fund themselves, watching the credit markets, watching the overall economy and also they're looking at the countries where these banks do business and reevaluating how they look. so jpmorgan chase, bank of america, citigroup, goldman sachs, morgan stanley, wells fargo, the top six u.s. banks all downgraded by s&p. s&p quick to point out, however, that some of these banks still have among the highest credit ratings in the world. just not as high as they used to be. so that's really important to note here as well. also, looking at europe, in particular, this morning we're seeing, you know, funding, overnight very short-term funding problems for some of these banks. i mean, you're looking back at october 2008 was the last time we saw dollar funding costs

christine romans in new york. thanks.ext epicenter of the debt crisis. its embattled leader denies rumors that's about to resign. matthew chance has the latest now on silvio berlusconi. >> reporter: the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi under renewed pressure today as his country's economic crisis sends tremors through the financial markets. at one point mr. berlusconi was forced to deny consistent rumors that he's poised to resign over his handling of the economy. italy has enormous public death and markets appear to have lost faith in berlusconi's ability to push through much needed austerity measures. it's more than greece, spain, portugal and ireland put together. bailing out italy isn't an option and there's fears of an italian default that could bring down the entire euro zone. at the weekend in rome, tens of thousands of protesters marched through the center of the city to demand that berlusconi step aside and call fresh elections or allow a caretaker government to take over. the public lost patience with a

i'm christine romans. the shocking tricks companies use to get you to spend, spend, spend, and how not to fall for it. plus, it's t-minus four weeks until the holiday. common mistakes people make on everything from gift cards to warranties. you've got to hear this before you buy anything. >>> but first, the classroom. it's the incubator for the future lead workers and taxpayers of america. where we are grooming our kids for what america will become. you've heard a lot about where we are failing in education. maybe the best way to fix our problems is to identify what is working. jamie fiddler is a first grade teacher at ps-261 in brooklyn. we're seeing success in what's known at enhanced curriculum. enhancing what we're doing in the classroom. a new study for evidence based policy shows 19-year-olds who participated in enhanced curriculum, 21% were more likely to graduate high school. 61% more likely to go on to college. how is this working in the classroom? >> well, i think across the board you have a lot