sam stovall joins us as wall street wraps one of its best quarters in years. he's the chief investment strategist at standard and poor's. >> susie: then, dot-com and beyond. the number of possible web addresses will soon explode. we talk to the man in charge of keeping tabs on where you can surf in cyberspace >> paul: i'm paul kangas. >> susie: and i'm susie gharib. this is "nightly business report" for wednesday, september 30. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. 7//& >> susie: good evening everyone. ken lewis is stepping down as c.e.o. of bank of america. in a surprise announcement late today lewis told the board of the banking giant he'll be retire at the end of the year. he's leaving after a tenure marked and marred by the bank's purchase of merrill lynch january 1. lewis and b.o.a. have come under fire since it was learned merrill gave billions of dollars in bonuses to employees while getting bailout money from the government. lewis says he's co

s&p's sam stovall joins us for a review and a preview of what's next. >> susie: at&t is working on a big infrastructure investment as it tries to keep up with consumer demand. the telecom giant will invest up to $18 billion this year on its wireless and broadband networks. that investment includes adding as many as 3,000 high-tech workers over the next three months. it's all part of at&t's plan to bring whatever content you like on television or the desktop to your cell phone. >> paul: the first vaccines for the h1n1 virus were sent to the u.s. government today. sanofi aventis says the shipment was sent out this morning, ahead of schedule. the firm's under contract to provide about 75 million doses of swine flu vaccine in the united states. another 175 million doses will come from astra zeneca, glaxo smithkline, and novartis. @ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@? . >> susie: here's a look at what's happening tomorrow: on capitol hill, the house committee on oversight and government reform looks at ways to reform credit ratings agencies. also, the final reading on second quarter g.d.p. in

let's bring in sam stovall, chief investment strategist at standard & poors, gentlemen, it is nice to have you on the program. consumer confidence decline, worse than expected. were you surprised? what does that tell you about investing today, sam? >> the consumer is still nervous. we are ten points below the bottom in consumers confidence we saw in the last bear market. we doubled from march of this year, consumers are still nervous. they are a lagging indicator. pointing bottom usually three months after the fact. >> housing prices have increased. eventually that will feed in? >> sure. the housing index a little bitter again, we are coming up from the deep depths. if we continue to see housing improve that could be reason for better confidence numbers. >> you are watching the fed, correct? >> i would slightly take the other side of the consumer housing debate. i think there is a shadow inventory in housing. the can has been kicked down the road with mortgage modification. 50% of them redefault. we have a week jobs market that has to improve for the consumer who is carrying a heavy d