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. susie gharib is off tonight. i'm joined by suzanne pratt. wall street saw its first rally this month, suzanne, after six straight losing sessions. >> suzanne: tom, stocks moved higher at the open and stayed in the plus column all day. the dow rose 75 points, the nasdaq and s&p 500 both added 9.5 points. >> tom: helping the market: word the u.s. trade deficit fell in april to its lowest level of the year. it dropped 6.7% to just over $43.5 billion. exports hit a new high, climbing just over 1% to $175 billion, while imports fell slightly to $219 billion. >> suzanne: despite today's rally on wall street, the past month has not been a good one for u.s. stocks. in fact, the major stock indexes peaked at the end of april. since then, the dow and s&p 500 are down more than 5% while the nasdaq has l

i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone. you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "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 captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. a triple-digit rally in blue chip stocks today as u.s. investors were counting on a crucial vote of confidence in the greek government after the market close, susie, and that's how it played out. a short while ago, the greek parliament supported prime minister george papandreou. >> susie: tom, that removes a lot of uncertainty and could set a positive tone for trading here tomorrow. another important factor for investors-- a key meeting of the federal reserve. the central bank kicked off a two-day meeting today and is expected to continue its policy of keeping interest rates near 0%. >> tom: investors will be looking to the fed's statement and tomorrow's news conference with chairman ben bernanke for any subtle hints about where policy is headed. darren gersh reports. >> reporter: inflation is higher than the federal reserve expected, unemployment somewhat worse, and growth a little slower. s

i'm tom hudson. good night everyone, and good night to you too, susie. >> susie: good night tom. i'm susie gharib. good night 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. 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. >> be more. pbs.

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 >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. my co-anchor susie gharib is off tonight. we begin tonight with another tough week for the economy and for investors. the major stock averages have seen six straight weeks of losses. stocks tumbled at the open today and stayed there. the dow closed 172 points lower, the nasdaq lost 41 and the s&p 500 fell 18. the losses came on heavier trading volume-- just over one billion shares on the n.y.s.e., and just under two billion on the nasdaq. here's what the week looked like for the dow industrials, falling almost 2%. the nasdaq had a tougher go, off over 3% on the week, and the s&p 500 lost 2% in the past five sessions, taking it to lows not seen since march. eaton vance's lew piantidosi say the downshifting economy is to blame for the change in investor sentiment. >> well, it'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. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. a strong warning from ben bernanke today, susie, about the risks of delaying a vote on increasing the nation's borrowing limit. >> susie: tom, the federal reserve chief warned congress against using the debt ceiling debate as a weapon to force budget cuts. he said failing to raise the ceiling could cause "severe disruptions" in the markets, higher interest rates-- the u.s. could lose its prized triple-a rating-- and could damage the u.s. dollar's special role as a reserve currency. >> tom: bernanke minced no words as he urged lawmakers to reach a deal "without resorting to brinkmanship." >> i fully understand the desire to use the debt limit deadline to force some necessary and difficult fiscal policy adjustments, but the debt limit is the wrong tool for that impor

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, everybody. the international monetary fund has a new leader tonight-- christine lagarde has been chosen to lead the global finance agency, susie. >> susie: tom, she takes over starting july 5, and is now considered one of the most powerful women in the global financial system. lagarde is also the first woman ever to head the influential i.m.f. in its 67-year history. the 55-year-old french national has been her country's finance minster since 2007, and is an attorney by training. she replaces dominique strauss- kahn, who stepped down last month after being indicted on sexual harassment charges. >> tom: lagarde will play a key role in negotiating financing for europe's sovereign debt bailouts. today, she urged greece's conservative opposition party to support the tough austerity measures nee

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 >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. susie gharib is on assignment. worry, worry and more worry about main street dominated wall street today. stocks sold off again, with the s&p 500 extending its slide to a fourth session. the index is now at its lowest level since mid march. there was no fresh economic data out today for investors, but recent reports point to an economy that has stalled. still, as suzanne pratt reports, it may be more of a speed bump for the recovery rather than a major pothole. >> reporter: two years after the recession ended, the u.s. economy should be growing at a very healthy clip. instead, new jobs are hard to come by, factory output is slowing and buyers have put on the brakes on car sales. on top of that, consumer confidence is slipping and the stock market is sliding. the big question

this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> suzanne: good evening everyone and thanks for joining us. susie gharib is off tonight. a stunner out of the opec meeting in vienna. the oil cartel did not reach a deal to increase output, and the members usually agree on most things. >> tom: suzanne, this means new worries about oil supply through the summer and potentially higher prices at the pump just as they're starting to come down. july crude futures jumped on the news-- up $1.65 in new york trading-- closing over $100 a barrel for the first time in a week. >> suzanne: talks broke down after saudi arabia couldn't convince other nations to boost production. for insight into the opec surprise, i spoke with veteran oil analyst fadel gheit and began by asking if the impasse was political or economic. >> it's a combination political and economic. the saudis and their faction don't want to see a repeat of 2008. we don't want oil prices to get out of kroll.

i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone. you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. we'll see all of you again tomorrow evening. "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 captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org  uh, sometimes, yes. okay. i'll tell you what we'll do. i'm not a gambler. i was once told to take a bet on the grand national, and i lost, and i thought, "well, this is ridiculous. - there goes £10. i'm not doing this again." - mm-hm. but, i will make an exception. this has just come out of my pocket-- what have we got here? 20, 40, 60, 80... there's about £100 there. i bet you £100 you haven't had these for very long. you would be correct. you owe me 100 quid. the best-- quickest 100 quid i've ever earned. now let me tell you. you've been going either round fairs - or auctions? - yes. not recently. it was something i did about four to five years ago... - yeah, and you add to it... - ...when i g

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. my colleague susie gharib is off tonight. within the concerns shifted to italy, trading of italian bank stocks was halted due to volatility. >> we say awe rare sign of economic activity, new orders for manufactured goods rose 1.9% last month after dropping 2.7% in april. on top of that on top of that it turns out the economy grew at annualized rate of 1.9% in the first quarter. that's slightly faster than originally reported, but much slower than last year's pace. and, as suzanne pratt reports, experts are fretting about where the economy goes from here. >> reporter: this was not how the recovery was supposed to go. two years after the great recession, the u.s. economy is only sputtering along. history suggests it should be supercharged. take a look at this chart o

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. greece and oil prices-- these were the two hot topics in world markets today. stocks and oil both sold off this morning after the international energy agency stunned investors with news it's releasing 60 million barrels of oil to help the global economy. half of that oil is coming from u.s. emergency stockpiles. susie, the move was in response to the loss of oil supplies in libya and the middle east. >> susie: tom, late this afternoon, greece and european officials agreed on a five-year austerity plan. that news helped stocks rebound on wall street. u.s. crude oil futures sold off sharply, sliding over $4 to close at $91.02 a barrel, its lowest price in four months. brent crude, which is used to set international oil prices, fell 6%. >> tom: and, as suzanne pratt r

i'm tom hudson. have a great night, susie. >> susie: thank you, tom. have a great evening everyone, and 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. 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. >> be more. pbs. >> garrison keillor: c.d. wright was born in mountain home, arkansas in the ozarks, went to college in arkansas and memphis, and lives now in rhode island. her books of poetry include one inspired by visits to louisiana state prisons. she once said, "poetry is a necessity of life. it is a function of poetry to locate those zones inside us that would be free and declare them so." >> lake echo, dear. is the woman in the pool of light really reading, or just starin