allowed to use insider information to help them make stock trades that would be illegal for anyone nyse. nancy cordes tells us that since that, report a bill to change the law has been gaining speed. >> reporter: it's called the stock act and it would explicitly ban members of congress and staffers from profiting on information not available to the public that they gain through their work on capitol hill. >> we must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal. >> we should not be shielding congress from laws that apply to other americans. >> reporter: before the "60 minutes" piece aired last month, the stock act had been languishing for five years. new york democratic congresswoman louise slaughter had only managed to round up nine cosponsors in the house. and now you have how many? >> now we have 138. >> reporter: slaughter was inspired to introduce her bill after a staffer to former house speaker tom delay made thousands of day trades from his office. do you think that this is a really widespread problem? >> it's really difficult to tell, but what i want to do is nip it

the losses came on continued light trading volume, just 538 million shares on the nyse and one billion moving on the nasdaq. so where's the much-talked-about santa claus rally? joya dass reports. >> reporter: since 1969, stocks have gained, on average, 1.6% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two days of january. for a number of reasons: there are tax considerations, americans investing their christmas bonuses, or maybe because all the pessimists are on vacation. with the exception of last friday, there's been little evidence here of the guy in the red suit. economist stephen guilfoyle says stocks tumbled today on saber- rattling in iran, a slide in gold prices-- on top of that, europe's debt crisis still looms large. >> just this morning, we saw the italian bond auction. the bill auction, rather. it went very well. now, tomorrow's auction is hairier. its a five-to-10-year, beyond the scope of the loans. >> reporter: headlines continued to drive market action today, but stocks could get a muc needed boost in the new year if the federal reserve launches another effor

i knew at the nyse. >> have been at the volume this week?tivo at one point call volume was six times the average daily volumes. welcome back to "options actions." you heard how tivo calls were heating up at the sizzling backs. >> wait a minute. >> you must have left it backstage. let's be on time here. >> when did you start wearing a ladies watch? >> here's the watch by the way. you have decided to head this weekend. >> okay good, very funny. but timeslot got me a confused. >> 5:00 from here and now. >> i would never miss this day. i've been looking forward to this day for a very long time and our new time slot. the traffic was a little difficulty. scott, what did you make of the action? >> you can watch the first 15 minutes of the show. c-span: how often does that happen? >> guest: that was the first time ever. i got here on time. c-span: that stuff happens all the time in television. what is the planned? how do they back it up? >> guest: they hope another anchor is around to pick up the slack. unfortunately, my colleague is a super capable