i'm susie gharib. goodnight everyone, and goodnight to you too, tom. >> tom: good night, susie. i'm tom hudson. goodnight everyone, we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> be more.

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. on capitol hill today the focus was on the role of credit rating agencies in the financial crisis. and, tom, lawmakers heard a lot of excuses from executives of some of the top agencies. >> tom: susie, those former executives told senate investigators about conflicts of interest and pressure from wall street investment bankers. they said those factors were part of the reason they issued high ratings on mortgages made up of sub-prime loans. >> susie: today's revelations could lead to ratings oversight in the financial reform bill under debate in congress. darren gersh reports. >> reporter: senate investigators found the companies that crunched the numbers and awarded the a.a.a. credit ratings to sub-prime mortgage bonds were heavily influenced by wall street money. it's one reaso

earnings reports beginning. >> that's the "nightly business report" for friday, april 9th, i'm susie gharib. have a great weekend, and you, too, tom. >> you, too, susie. i'm tom hudson, and we'll see you back "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> more information about investing is available in "nightly business report's" video "how wall street works". to order this dvd, call 1-800- play-pbs or visit online at shoppbs.org.

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. a big speech today from president obama in new york city. he urged wall street executives to help reform the nation's financial system. >> susie: tom, the president was speaking at manhattan's cooper union college, not far from the new york stock exchange. he outlined some of the changes he wants to see: measures to prevent reckless risk taking, and more power for shareholders. >> tom: president obama also called for what he calls common sense rules that will protect consumers. >> in the end, our system only works, our markets are only free, when there are basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excesses, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system. and that is what the reforms we've been proposing are designed to achieve. no more, no less. >

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. on capitol hill today, attempts to move ahead on financial regulatory reform stalled in the senate. tom, a key vote by the full senate just to get the debate started got pushed back late this afternoon. >> tom: susie, democrats and republicans still disagree on how to fix the nation's financial system and what new rules are needed to prevent another financial crisis. >> susie: plenty of issues and politics are holding things up. our washington bureau chief darren gersh explains what's at stake. >> reporter: the test of wills over financial regulatory reform continues tonight. just before a key vote, senator chris dodd, the author of the overhaul bill, warned republicans are leaving the country at risk of another financial crisis. >> today we're just as vulnerable as we were 18 m

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening. a lot of anticipation tonight about tomorrow's important employment report. susie, from the white house to wall street to main street, the expectation is that companies were hiring in march and that we'll see real job growth. >> susie: tom, some economists are predicting about 200,000 jobs. if that happens, that would be the first gain for this year. >> tom: but one sector of the labor market is unlikely to see much improvement, and that's teen hiring. suzanne pratt takes a look at just how tough it is for those who are unemployed and underage. >> reporter: it's easy to dream about summer on a day like this. but many teens worry something big will be missing from their summer plans-- a j-o-b. >> i've been looking for a summer job ever since i have my working papers. i've been trying to fi

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. president obama kicked off a two-day summit in washington with world leaders on nuclear security. >> tom: susie, there's been a lot of anticipation about that one-on-one between obama and hu, and how they will work through tensions between the two countries. >> susie: high on the agenda: trade issues and getting china to loosen its hold on its currency, the yuan. the u.s. has been working behind the scenes to get china to raise the value of the yuan against the u.s. dollar. joining us now to talk more about u.s./china relations, david hale, chairman of his own firm, david hale global economics; and donald straszheim, head of china research at the international strategy and investment group. gentlemen, welcome to the program. don, let me begin with you. before we get into the de