this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. america went back to work today and investors went back to selling. the familiar jitters about a recession in the u.s., and worries that europe's debt crisis could get worse triggered the selling, susie. >> susie: tom, right from the open of trading here at the new york stock exchange, stocks plunged. blue chips were down as much as 300 points, but by the closing bell the dow pared its losses, off only 100 points. the nasdaq fell 6.5 and the s&p dropped nearly nine. and investors ran for cover to the bond market, buying up 10- year treasuries bills. the yield dropped to 1.9%, the lowest its been since the 1940s. >> tom: investors seem willing to accept no return on their money because they're worried about a recession. but, as suzanne pratt reports, there are reasons the u.s. can still avoid one. >> reporter: from wall street to main street, talk of another recession is heating up. many economists now put the

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. the federal reserve launched today a new plan to revive the economy. it's being called "operation twist." the goal is to lower long-term interest rates. here's how it works: the fed will sell short-term u.s. treasury bonds, replacing them with longer-term ones, creating a "twist" in rates. to help the mortgage market, it will continue buying mortgage- backed securities. operation twist is a $400 billion program lasting through june. the fed also said today it's keeping its key interest rate near 0%, saying there are "significant downside risks" to the economic outlook. three fed policymakers voted against the twist. the stock market twisted too. the dow tumbled 283 points, the nasdaq lost 52 and the s&p dropped 35. investors were troubled by the fe

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. tom hudson will be along later in the program. it's one day to go before the federal reserve reveals what more it can do for the economy. policymakers kicked off an important meeting today, and investors are hoping it will conclude with more stimulus for the economy. >> while the central bank would not confirm the contents. lawmakers, including house speaker john boehner and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell expressed reservations about further stimulus. it said anymore efforts by the fed could exacerbate current problems or further harm the u.s. economy. mien meanwhile, stocks retreated after european officials said they won't make a decision on more money for greece until october. the dow added 7.5 points after rallying almost 150 points; the nasdaq fell 22, the s&p lost

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. no jobs. precisely no jobs were created in august, the first time that's happened since world war two. tom, the only bit of reassuring news in today's employment report: the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1%. >> tom: economists expected the report to show a gain of 75,000 jobs, susie. it's a low number. the worst we have seen all this year, but it also means we didn't lose any net jobs either. here's a look at the job numbers, month by month, over the past year. we go from negative job growth last september to a march high of 235,000 jobs being added to today's report of zero job growth for august. stocks sold off sharply on today's dismal report. the dow tumbled 253 points, the nasdaq fell 65 and the s&p 500 lost 30. >> susie: no matter how you look at it, today's labor

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening, and thanks for joining us. nearly one in six americans, or 46 million people, live in poverty. that startling number comes from a census report released today. it's more than 2.5 million more people than in 2009. >> susie: tom, that's the fourth straight increase, and the largest number of people living in poverty since record-keeping began 52 years ago. the report is also a reminder that all the efforts to jumpstart the economy are not helping the nation's poorest people. today's number represents just over 15% of the country. that's a nearly 1% jump from 2009. the government defines the poverty line as income of $22,000 a year for a family of four, and $11,000 for an individual. >> tom: when viewed all together, the numbers represent the severe and widespread financial strains in the u.s

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is on assignment. u.s. stocks plunged today, joining a massive selloff that started in asia and quickly spread to europe and around the globe. investors dumped everything from oil to precious metals on renewed worries about the global economy. the federal reserve fanned those fears yesterday with its gloomy outlook about the u.s. economy and global financial markets. only the u.s. bond market was spared. investors flocked to the safety of government debt, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to a record low. heres' a look at how the major averages fared by the close. they all dropped by 3% or more. the dow tumbled 391 points. it had been down about 500 points. the nasdaq fell 82 and the s&p 500 lost 37. markets-- a big drop in gold, down $66 to close at $1,741-- and crude oil f

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. blue chip stocks finished higher today on optimism about the global economic picture, both here in the u.s. and in europe. tom, investors were encouraged that germany's parliament voted in favor of giving more financial support to europe's emergency bailout fund. >> tom: susie, investors were also upbeat about several strong reports on the u.s. economy. first, it turns out the u.s. economy was a bit stronger between april and june than first thought. the commerce department revised its gdp report, showing the economy expanded at annual rate of 1.3%. the previous estimate was 1%. then, we saw a drop in new filings for unemployment benefits. the labor department said unemployment benefits fell to a five-month low. 391,000 people filed last week, suggesting that layoffs are decrea

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. a red-hot rally on wall street today as investors bought up stocks on hopes that europe could soon announce a big rescue plan. a lot of talk today, tom, about european countries voting in favor of a bigger bailout fund to deal with the debt crisis. >> tom: susie, that could go a long way to boost investor confidence, and that's why we saw the major stock averages move back into positive territory. the dow surged 272 points, closing above the 11,000 level again. the nasdaq rose 33 points and the s&p added 26. volume starting the week on the heavy side, just over a billion shares moving on the big board-- two billion on the nasdaq. but lots of focus as the meltdown continued in gold. prices tumbled more than 2.5% percent today, or $45, to under $1,600 an ounce. this is the lowest price in go

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. susie gharib is off tonight. i'm joined by my colleague suzanne pratt. suzanne, bank of america confirmed today it's planning a massive cost-cutting effort, including big layoffs. >> susie: tom, b. of a. c.e.o. brian moynihan said today that he's trying to reshape the nation's largest bank after a series of missteps. the restructuring plan is called "project new b.a.c." it will slash 30,000 jobs from its consumer banking businesses. the goal is save $5 billion a year by the end of 2013. >> tom: is this the right medicine for ailing b. of a.? and what will it mean for the bank's competitors? erika miller reports >> reporter: whether it's the number of kids in a classroom or the amount of calories in a meal, bigger is not always better. bank of america believes the

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. my colleague tom hudson is on assignment. what a difference a day makes. stock averages were up slightly, rebounding from yesterday's brutal selloff. but the gains were small as investors continue to worry about an escalation of the european debt crisis. investors shrugged off a statement from the group of 20 finance ministers meeting in washington, saying they are committed to prevent a financial crisis. let's take a look at today's closing numbers. the dow rose 37 points, the nasdaq added 27 and the s&p tacked on almost seven. for the week, the dow fell 737 points, or 6.4%, its worst week in almost three years. the nasdaq tumbled 139 points on the week, or 5%. and the s&p 500 down almost 80 points on the week, or 6.5%. commodities also got hammered this week. investors dumped

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is on assignment. president obama today unveiled a plan to cut the nation's deficit by $3.5 trillion over the next decade. almost half of that will come from tax increases, including a new tax on millionaires. we'll get analysis from two u.s. treasury secretaries, past and present-- timothy geithner and former secretary george shultz. but first, the president's latest proposal to get america's economy back on track. >> this is not class warfare, it's math. the money is going to have to come from someplace. >> one place is by closing corporate tax loopholes. the president's plan also limits the value of deductions taken by high earners and ends tax cuts for the wealthy. that adds up to $1.5 trillion in tax increases. this includes the so-called "buffett rule," named fo

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> tom: good evening, and thanks for joining us. the white house today sharply cut its growth forecast for the u.s. economy, susie. the move underscores the importance of president obama's big speech on jobs next week. >> susie: tom, it also shows that the white house is less optimistic about economic growth and jobs, just as we've been hearing from private economists. here's the outlook from the obama administration. the office of management and budget slashed its growth outlook for this year to 1.7%, down from its earlier forecast of just above 3%. it also cut estimates for next year and 2013. as for jobs, it sees the unemployment rate averaging about 9% this year and next. >> tom: goldman sachs came out with a grim jobs forecast just one day ahead of the august report. goldman analysts cut its estimate in half. it now believes businesse

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. another greek crisis averted for now. the leaders of france and germany said today they are committed to keeping greece in the eurozone. and tom, greece's prime minister vowed to implement austerity measures so that country's economy stabilizes. >> tom: susie, the decisions were handled in a conference call between the leaders of germany, france and greece. that call was the focus of trading today after two major french banks had their credit ratings downgraded. moody's investor's service cut its rating on societe generale and credit agricole. the move came over concerns about the financial health of those firms. >> susie: but once germany and france announced they're backing greece, stocks turned positive. by the close, the dow jumped nearly 141 points, the nasdaq rose 40 and the s&p adde

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thank you for joining us. the giant merger between at&t and t-mobile got disconnected today. the justice department filed a lawsuit to block the $39 billion deal, susie. >> susie: tom, the announcement surprised at&t and investors. but in the end, the government called the deal bad for consumers, saying today "price, quality and innovation would be diminished if the merger between the number two and number four wireless carriers took place." >> tom: today's lawsuit is the biggest challenge to the merger, which has faced criticism. the f.c.c., for one, echoed concerns about competition. at&t stock fell on the news, down almost 4%, but the bulls came calling for sprint, sending its stock up nearly 6%. darren gersh takes a look at what today's move means for at&t and t-mobile. >> reporter:

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening everyone. central banks from all around the world came to the rescue of european banks today. in an unusual show of force, tom, they joined together to pump american dollars into the european banking system and to reassure investors that there won't be a repeat of a global financial crisis. >> tom: susie, the move was symbolic. exactly three years ago today, lehman brothers, the legendary wall street firm, collapsed, sending shock waves throughout the financial markets. but today's action restored confidence and investors bought up stocks. the dow surged 186 points, the nasdaq added almost 35 and the s&p was up 20. trading volume about the same as yesterday-- 953 million shares on the big board and just below 2 billion shares on the nasdaq. >> susie: today's action by the five central banks may be aimed at pumping up investor confidence as much as shoring up europe's banks. the european