that is wall street's response to standard and poor's downgrading of the u.s. credit rating from aaa to aa plus. some economists are very critical of that decision. >> the markets were already very nervous. this was just another slap in the face to the global recovery. it made markets more nervous and spreading a web of panic. >> the other issue is eurozone debt. in a bid to calm markets, the ec be has begun buying bonds of heavily indebted eurozone countries. that caused yields on italian and spanish bonds to drop immediately. european stocks plunged on monday, with the dax closing down 5%. >> the falls had been expected after the u.s. credit rating downgrade at the end of last week. but there are other factors at play. our wall street correspondent has more. >> there was a lot of uncertainty going on. the s&p cut the aaa rating on one side, but most traders i talked to are not concerned about that. they're concerned about the fundamentals. the u.s. economy is not gaining any traction. debt problems in the euro and not solved at all. that is the basis for the

u.s. downgrade standard and poor's is coming under scrutiny as suspicions are brazen insider trading before the downing grades and change was officially announced as markets rebound after a pause downgrade slump many are questioning just how the meeting agencies give out those in the clinton credits. and sanctions filled with a gallon for next year's european football championships in ukraine maybe canceled because of new notes of vandalism and violence during much. does the headlines now a brisk discussion is next with peter love our in his guest debates the future of english.

u.s. downgrade standard and poor's is coming under scrutiny with a suspicions are raised of insider trading before the dumbing regime change was the first line outs of the us markets rebound after a pause downgrade slumped many are questioning just how the meeting agencies give him credit score. and also talk football match to commemorate chelsea will criminals shocking attitudes among the soccer fans of the euro twenty twelve organizers with a raging day unless they get the full details. coming up right now max kaiser and states ahead that show how warning signs of social unrest in britain have been there for all to see some time.

u.s. downgrade by standard & poor's. don't necessarily expect armageddon. after recent heavy losses and a weekend for investors to digest the downgrade, analysts have fingers crossed today's stock impact will be relatively modest. still, asian markets across the pacific were heavily down today. also in asia, oil continued its sharp fall. now below $84 a barrel. the downgrade may have other immediate effects. a number of key american financial components, including mortgage financers fannie mae and freddie mac are likely to be downgraded themselves later today. that could make mortgages more expensive, adding stress to the already unstable housing market. >>> today investors will also focus on europe's ongoing debt crisis. officials there worked throughout the weekend trying to help italy, the world's eighth largest economy, avoid a bailout, and halt fears of a debt default. >>> and on both europe and america's downgrade the group of seven industrial countries issued a statement late last night saying they were taking all necessary measures to night saying th

u.s. downgrade standard and poor's is coming under scrutiny as suspicions are raised on insider trading before the damning grazing trend was officially announced as markets rebound after a pause downgrade slub many are questioning just how the media agencies give out those all important credits. chile the global energy giant it's just conference biggest oil spill in a decade in the world to see two hundred and sixteen tons crude threatening thousands of animals and lives.

u.s. downgrade standard and poor's is coming under scrutiny as suspicions are raised of insider trading before they donning brazing change was officially announced on those markets rebound after imposed on great slump many are questioning just about any lady agent says give out those all important credit scores. and over to football match to commemorate snow and super bowl criminals the shocking attitudes among steve crane soccer fans maybe you're a twenty twelve organ.

u.s. downgrade standard and poor's is coming under scrutiny their suspicions are raised of insider trading but all the timing bracing change was officially announced as markets rebound after post downgrades slump many of questioning just.

u.s. has now the standard and poor downgrade which i think is more symbolic than anything else because the u.s. isn't going to default a prince it's own it bars in its own currency it can print and so the u.s. in a legal sense will never default. and i think that to some degree the the reaction of the markets to the standard import downgrade is really interesting because the treasuries have rallied and they're the ones that got downgraded whereas other including the stock market has been really heavily hit so it's really been more of a flee from risk and that's entered the downgraded instruments surely you know it's sort of ironic interesting you mentioned there defaulted i mean we're seeing that the danger there in the euro zone and also you had mentioned in one of your articles that governments are going to have to default i mean there's a lot of worry now that this is going to be similar to two thousand and eight if you say that governments will have to default is this the only solution really. you know i think it's the most likely solution i have kind of a pessimistic view of democracy

u.s. downgrade. by standard and poor over the weekend losing that aaa rating the best time in u.s. history as of today take that deal to raise the debt ceiling in the u.s. right up until literally the eleventh hour so there's still a lot of investor uncertainty at the moment is take the markets will be able to ride this out and find some stability we've heard from the deputy finance minister here in russia the russia doesn't intend to change its investment policy. the u.s. downgrade that we've heard from a lot of analysts this is remember only one of the major three ratings agencies it has downgraded the u.s. has seen really is most symbolic than necessarily having this huge apocalyptic impact that some people were fairing today say more of a ripple effect rather than the ways but certainly people are saying you know this is really challenging the perceptions that were in place that the u.s. is this understandable superpower that completely change we're now in a new financial territory and says you can see increased volatility it doesn't seem that the global markets are out to the

u.s. credit downgrade, standard & poor's. wyatt andrews looked into that. >> reporter: perhaps most baffling to investors is how just one company, standard & poor's, caused so much market turmoil. s&p which downgraded america's debt last friday is just one of the big three investment ratings agencies, but its two main rivals, fitch and moody's disagreed with the downgrade. the company acknowledged a $2 trillion error and critics say s&p was wrong on the basic facts. >> i would say they didn't look enough at the ability to pay. >> reporter: jay foyerstein the ceo of the 2100 xenon group say s&p focused too much on the gridlock in washington and too little on the size and capacity of the u.s. economy. are you suggesting that s&p overstepped its bounds? >> well, i believe so. i really do, but if you look at our ability to pay and to meet our financial obligations regarding our debt, it's some of the best ever. >> reporter: but the downgrade did tap into very real concerns about the deficit. s&p defends its decision by pointing t

u.s. credit rating slip standard and poor's downgraded the u.s. prized aaa status after losing confidence in the way the latest debt ceiling standoff was and. hundreds of thousands of israelis returned to the streets across the country average by the high cost of living and affordable housing prices many are comparing the protests to those that happened in neighboring egypt as demonstrators call for widespread reforms social inequality. and the u.s. offers its single largest loss of life in the afghan conflict as a nato helicopters reportedly downed by the taliban thirty u.s. troops including some from the same unit that killed osama bin laden died along with seven afghan soldier. next must go out stay with us. hello and welcome to the program on this week's show of exploring one of the oldest and largest museums in the world i will be taking it's a trip to the pizza hut palace with its impressive gardens and fountains founded in seven hundred sixty four by catherine the great to have its highs here post that is great million items in five histori

the credit rating late friday of the u.s., downgraded by standard & poors for the first time ever. the white house contested it. it looks like it's going to be downgraded from aaa to aa-plus. >> it's a down tick. most of us would be thrilled to have a credit rating. on the other hand, it says to the world market the united states isn't quite as credit worthy as it was before. this is the opinion of one waiting agency. it does have weight around the world. i can tell you, because i was at the stock market earlier today, had this happened while the market was opened, yesterday would have looked like a picnic compared to what happened today. they deliberately waited. the second i heard that, my antenna went up. here's what you have to understand. we make the debt deal and the market slowly creeps down during the week. they're big numbers but not gigantic numbers. yesterday, inexplicably the bottom seems to fall out. somebody is going to have to take a look and see if somebody was prewarned about this. a lot of people made money on the big drop yesterday who were betting against raises

u.s. credit downgrade. the american stock exchange will have the weekend to absorb this news, but asian markets will begin reacting tomorrow afternoon. now, keep in mind while standarde u.s. credit rating, the two other rating agencies, moody's and fitch have maintained the platinum rating of triple-a. we'll have a lot more reaction and analysis from washington on this historic downgrade. >>> meantime, new concerns this morning about computer security. after more than 70 corporations and government organizations worldwide were targeted this week by a cyber spy ring. the ring has been dubbed operation shady rat. it was uncovered by a u.s. security firm, and the targets included the united nations, the u.s. department of energy, and the associated press. cyber security experts said the intrusions may have originated in china. joining me now is daniel lyons. good morning to you. >> hi, alex. >> this has been called the beggest transfer the wealth in terms of intellectual property in history. that is saying something. do you agree with that? was it that big, and if so, what is it the hackers are looking for? >> well, if it's not the biggest, it's certainly one of them,

u.s. credit downgrade by standard and poor's. but now his administration has to convince the world and s&p the united andcc1: states is still a sound investment. aaa tripped our nation'scc1: rating, dropping us into an newcc1: t league with zealand and belgium. >> it's about the difficulty of all sides in finding, you know, a consensus around fiscal polic: choices now and in the future. >> and if the fiscal position of the united states deteriorates further or if the political gridlock becomes more entrenched, then that could lead to a downgrade. >> reporter: still, there's no sign of a partisan truce. >> this is essentially a tea party downgrade. the tea party brought us to the brink of a default. >> well, if we listened to the tea party we'll have $4 trillion reductions in debt over time and not been downgraded. >> reporter: the financial fallout starts as the world markets open for monday business. >> the initial reaction in my judgment is going to be negative. >> reporter: experts expect an increase in interest rates and the

u.s. be downgraded by standard and poor's over the weekend losing that aaa rating the first time in u.s. history as of today take that deal to raise the debt ceiling in the u.s. right up until literally the eleventh hour so there's still a lot of investor uncertainty at the moment is taking the markets will be able to ride this out and find some stability. well russian markets as we mentioned are deep in the red to jacob now from morgan stanley says the country's economy won't be hurt and that oil prices go below a certain that. the key thing to watch for russia is the oil price if the all price goes below about eighty dollars a barrel then russia's in trouble and if it stays above eighty dollars a barrel russia's following because the oil is so crucial for both the parent balance of payments and exports and for the budget. we don't expect a repeat of two thousand and eight when you had a funding crisis in developed markets which hit growth and then hit commodity prices and then hit russia at the moment we still see the support for commodity prices is still there so although we see expec

. >>> it has never happened before, the u.s., the world's largest economy has lost its sterling aaa credit rating, standard & poors downgraded the u.s. to a aa plus rating and it could directly affect you, you may have to pay higher interest rates on things like credit cards. and that's just for starters. this is just days after the ugly protracted battle over raising the debt ceiling seemed to end with an agreement that made almost no one happy. s&p is pointing the finger at washington. >> the first thing you could have done is raise the debt celling in a timely manner so much of this debate could have ended to begin with. it's been done 17 times since the 1960s. and point number two is it could have come one a fiscal plan, similar, for example to the bowles-simpson commission which was bipartisan. >> huh? we probably need a lot more political analysis about that. but first i bring in poppy harlow, this essentially kicks the u.s. out of a very exclusive aaa club. >> it does, don. up in the about 8:00 eastern last nights, we were part of 16 countries to have that pristine aaa credit rating, we no longer do. we still have it

u.s. credit downgrade by standard & poor's. but now his administration has to convince the world that s&p got it wrong. s&p stripped our aaa rating dropping us into a league with new zealand and belgium. >> it's about the difficulty in all sides finding a kong census around policy choices now and in the future. >> if the fiscal position of the united states deteriorates further or political gridlock becomes more entrenched it could le lead to a downgrade. >> it is a tea party downgrade. it brought us to the brink of a default. >> if we listen to the tea party we'd have $4 trillion reductions in debt over time and not been downgraded. >> reporter: the financial fallout starts as the world markets open for monday business. >> the mutual reaction in my judgment is going to being negative. >> reporter: they expect an increase in rates and the whole world is watching to see what happens next. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. >> treasury secretary timothy geithner was quick to take aim at standard & poor's. >> i think s&p has shown

downgrade set several million stomachs lurches into several million throats. abc's white house correspondent reported that the u.s. government was bracing for a downgrade by standard and poor's. citing two u.s. government officials. then what started off as an alarming story became a weird story when a third government official told abc the s&p made a serious mistakes based on flawed math and assumptions, and the administration was fighting back. was it ever fighting back. john harwood telling us after the s&p notified the administration at 1:30 eastern time they were going to downgrade, the treasury department argued their math was wrong. there were errors in the computation of their data. calculations that were off by trillions of dollars. john harwood will join us for more on that. since the downgrade, the white house is denouncing standard and poor's calling it amateur hour for having gone ahead with the downgrade even though the administration says the downgrade is based quite literally on a math error. word coming tonight in the wake of yesterday's 513-point drop in the dow jones. today the u.s. stock market was flat. moody's and fitch maintained the aaa dow

u.s. stock indexes plummeted between five and seven percent on monday now all of this coming just after standard and poor's downgraded the u.s. credit kicking america out of the triple a club this is already creating a climate of uncertainty or increasing this climate of uncertainty and lack of confidence among investors when they look to the stability of the u.s. economy now the u.s. president barack obama of course tried to inject some optimism into the public and into the markets on monday saying that america has been and always will be our aaa economy he says that washington's problem is not a lack of policy or plans but a lot of lack of political will and he says many lawmakers have been insistent on drawing lines in the sand and now it is urgent for all parties to come together to come up with a long term approach on how to reduce the deficit in the u.s. the u.s. has a debt of fourteen point three trillion dollars and growing and at this point many investors as we saw on monday are selling now and asking questions later clearly the markets have not been reacting favre favorably to the fact that standard and poo

u.s. was downgraded by standard & poor's. tuesday the market rose 429 points after the fed pledged to keep interest rates low. wednesday, the market down 519 points on worries about europe. and then the market up on thursday, rebounding 422 points led by energy and financial stocks. the markets continued up on friday. the federal reserve signaled that its plans to keep short-term interest rates close to zero for at least another two years after its meeting on tuesday, the fed changed the language of its statement and said the weak economy would warrant exceptionally low levels for the fed funds rate at least through mid 2013. in previous statements, the fed had not specified a date. almost lost in all of the market moves this week, it's still earnings season. disney surpassed analyst expectations while technology giant cisco beat lowered estimates. and who is number one? apple and exxonmobil have been battling it out for the largest market cap recently. and for the first time apple surpassed the oil giant. we're coming up a d

u.s. credit downgrade by standard & poor's. >> right now there is no confidence. >> reporter: for the average investor that means $16,500 erased from their 401(k) plans. yesterday s&p downgraded fannie mae and freddie mac which means the cost of buying a home couldt increase by tens of t f dollars. the ripple effect from the u.s. rates on credit could mean cards and student loans. sparking concerns that if consumers have to pay more, the economy will slow down and jobs will be at risk. >> 1% rise in interest rates equates to about a million job losses here in america. >> the most likely scenario we continue to chug along or muddle along in this economy rather than fall into a double-dip recession. >> reporter: analysts say the best thing investors can do right now is hold on, ride this out and bet on the ability of the u.s. economy to turn some profits. tanya. >> karen, a big meeting today at the federal reserve. what are we expecting? >> reporter: tanya, all eyes will be on ben bernanke to see if he announces new plans to spur economic growth and prevent the double dip recession but aren't m

u.s. stocks tumble after standard & poor's downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. for the first time in history s&p cuts the long-term debt rating by one notch to aa-plus from aaa. the move comes as investors are wary about a weak u.s. economy after a bitter political battle to raise the debt ceiling. officials at s&p also downgrading the credit rating of mortgage backers fannie mae, freddie mac and other agencies linked to long term u.s. debt. >>> nato forces continue working to recover the wreckage of a she nook hospital helicopter that c southeastern afghanistan killing 30 americans including 22 navy s.e.a.l.s. the helicopter was en route to help a group of u.s. army rangers who were under fire. initial investigations show the crash was most likely caused by a taliban shoulder fired rpg. friends and family are mourning their loss. >> i'm proud of them. they died doing what they wanted to do protecting us and keeping us safe. >>> police arrest more than 200 people during a weekend of riots in several london neighborhoods. the violence erupting amid community ange

standard & poor's. the ratings agency downgraded the u.s. aaa credit rating recently. standard & poor's also downgrading google's stock rating saying that that deal is a tremendous risk to the company and its shareholders. also says that the patents that google is acquiring in the deal one of the main reasons behind it may not be enough to protect android from future lawsuits in the smart phone wars. >>> the pc market has been weakening in recent months. over the past couple of years thanks to rising tablet and smart phone sales, dell the pc maker reporting some mixed numbers. its earns up 63% in the recent quarter but cut its sales forecast for 2011 and that's really hurting the company's stock down over 7% early on and that's weighing on the stock market. one other thing considered by the stock market wholesale side inflation rose after dropping in june for the first time in a year and a half. the overall rate was only up .2% but the core rate which takes out the volatile food and energy categories was up .4%. a number of things were up including tobacco which was up

u.s. credibility around the world because of the unprecedented move at standard & poor's downgrading the u.st from that. the president will come out in about 35 minutes or so to address all of this to the american people. >>> the action by standard & poor's is being felt around the world. i want to bring in andrew stevens who anchored cnn international hong kong. you have been following this, and obviously the international markets, you have europe and asia reacting to the credit downgrade. what has been there response today? how nervous are they? >> reporter: they are very nervous, suzanne. they are reacting not so much to the credit downgrade, because a lot of that had been expected. it was still obviously a shock when it happened, but it's more of the ramifications of the downgrade. what will it mean for the u.s. economy. let's start with asia. i am in hong kong, and it's 12:30, but sounds like it will be another rough day tomorrow. there's a lack of clarity of what it will mean for the stronger term, the strength and health of the u.s. economy. there is a potential of rising interest rat

u.s. credit rating. a major downgrade. good evening, everyone, i'm j jenelle wang. >> we learned standard & poor downgraded the u.s. credit rating from aaa held by the u.s. over 70 years to a aa-plus. scott budman is here with the breakdown. first time in history we're talking about. there have been warnings this could happen. what does this aa-plus mean to you and

standard & poor's had a mistake in the u.s. credit report and it was about a $2 trillion mistake. so let's talk about this error the u.s. said standard & poor's made and why they're still downgradingdebt anyway. >> well, the error, obviously $2 trillion is quite a hefty number. the point, though, is that wasn't what s&p was looking at, frankly, in terms of whether or not they were going to make this decision to do a downgrade. this is really about the future. this is about the future of the economy. s&p has called the american government basically broken, calling it less stable, less effective and less predictable. the word predictable is important because they want to see a government that works together and comes to decisions from both sides of the aisle. this isn't just a republican problem or a democratic problem. it's both sides of the aisle that have to come together. the markets don't want to see anything other than predictable. they don't like to see uncertainty. that's why you saw this kind of whipsaw reaction, this roller-coaster ride on friday, not really sure. for the last eight or nine days, not really sure why congress couldn't come together and make a cohesive decis

downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. the dow is down 404. i'm cheryl jennings. >> i'm kristen sze. today was the first day of trading after a standard & poor's downgrade and investors showed their worry. >> leslie brinkley talked to investors about this and tells us more. >> the rumors swirl about rumors of a double-dip recession. i'm at the floor of the new york stock exchange where things got off to a rocky start. stocks opened down 227 points on news from europe, where markets dropped 3-4%. and asia where the market lost 2%. by mid-morning the dow dipped lower down 3%, with some analysts saying it could have been worse. >> no, we could have been down 1,000 at the open. i think overall, our electronic markets all across the united states did very well. handling the increase of volume. it helped that the s&p did this on friday afternoon evening. people could digest it. we could have a little more orderly response on a monday. >> then there was more bad news from standard & poor's, the agency that downgraded u.s. on friday. they downgraded the debt of government backed mortgage giant fannie mae and freddie mac. >> we have liabilitie

u.s. economy. standard & poor's downgraded the u.s. credit rating friday night for the first time ever from aaa to aa+. that means treasury bonds are no longer considered money the safest investments in the world. joining us david beers head of s&p's government debt rating unit. mr. beers what, is the practical effect of your downgrading if u.s. debt is riskier does that mean investors can and should demand higher interest rates to buy u.s. treasury bonds? >> i guess there are two parts to that. one, in lowering the rating by one notch to aa+ we are saying there's been a mild deterioration in the u.s. credit standing relative to aaa. we'll find out tomorrow what the market makes with that. based on historical experience we wouldn't expect that much financial impact in terms of higher interest rates for example. >> chris: the tel aviv stock market, one of the few in operation sunday morning, closed -- rather it opened 6% down they had to close it for a while, because of the volume of trading. can we expect the same kind of very strong d

u.s. economy. standard & poor's downgraded the u.s. credit rating friday night for the first time ever from aaa to aa+. that means treasury bonds are no longer considered money the safest investments in the world. joining us david beers head of s&p's government debt rating unit. mr. beers what, is the practical effect of your downgrading if u.s. debt is riskier does that mean investors can and should demand higher interest rates to buy u.s. treasury bonds? >> i guess there are two parts to that. one, in lowering the rating by one notch to aa+ we are saying there's been a mild deterioration in the u.s. credit standing relative to aaa. we'll find out tomorrow what the market makes with that. based on historical experience we wouldn't expect that much financial impact in terms of higher interest rates for example. >> chris: the tel aviv stock market, one of the few in operation sunday morning, closed -- rather it opened 6% down they had to close it for a while, because of the volume of trading. can we expect the same kind of very strong d

u.s. economy. standard & poor's downgraded the u.s.redit rating friday night for the first time ever from triple a to double a plus. that means u.s. treasury bonds are no longer considered the safest investment in the world. joining us now is david beers head of the unit. what is the practical affect. if the u.s. debt is riskier does that mean investors can and should demand higher interest rate to buy u.s. treasury bonds? >> i guess there are two parts to that. one is that in lowering the rating by one notch to double a plus we say there is a mild deterioration in the u.s.'s credit rating relative to triple a and we'll find out tomorrow what the market makes. based on historical experience we don't expect that much financial impact in terms of higher interest rates for example. >> chris: let me ask you about the market. the teleavive opened six percent down and then they had to close it for a while because of the volume of trading. can we expect the same kind of very strong downward pressure in asia tonight and u.s. markets tomorrow?

u.s. credit rating slip standard and poor's downgraded america's prized aaa status after losing confidence in the way the latest debt ceiling standoff was handled. hundreds of thousands of israelis returned to the streets across the country angered by the high cost of living and on affordable housing prices some protesters are comparing the demonstrations to those that happened in a dream neighboring egypt as they call for widespread reforms social inequality. and america suffers its biggest single loss of life in afghanistan as a nato helicopter is reportedly down by the taliban thirty u.s. troops including some from the same unit that killed osama bin laden died along with seven afghan soldiers. but next martin enters explores a place that's fit for a queen in his final summertime trip to st petersburg stay with us. hello and welcome to the pride of on this week's show i'll be exploring one of the oldest and largest museums in the world and will be taking its a trip to the pizza hut palace with its impressive gardens and fountains founded in seven hundred sixty four by catherine the grea

u.s. credit rating slip standard and poor's downgraded the u.s. prized aaa status after losing confidence in the way the latest debt ceiling standoff and. hundreds of thousands of israelis returned to the streets across the country agard by the high cost of living and on affordable housing prices some protesters are comparing the demonstrations to those that happened in major neighboring egypt as they call for widespread reforms social inequality. and the u.s. suffers its biggest single loss of life in the afghan conflict as a nato helicopters reportedly down by the taliban thirty u.s. troops including some of the same unit that killed osama bin laden died along with seven afghan soldiers. the news bulletin coming your way in fifteen minutes first though kate with sports. hello and welcome to the sports news and here are the headlines. top of the table clash champions in a narrow the gap to lead astray scott to two points with a two no victory in the moscow region and the russian premier league. while finding form a little bit high jump champion a

u.s. market futures have fluctuated between up and down. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: in his first reaction since standard & poor's downgraded u.s. bonds late friday, president obama rejected the double-a plus rating. >> no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-a country. >> reporter: u.s. stock markets dropped sickeningly. the dow losing 5.55%. the s&p 500, 6.66%. the nasdaq off 6.9%, the biggest drop in years. gold was up to an all-time high, $1,700, a sign investors are scared. by last week's debt ceiling deal, not big or bold enough. >> no one touched entitlement spending or tax reform. until republicans and democrats show an ounce of backbone and actually do what's in the interest of the american people rather than what's in their own immediate political interest, i can't argue with s&p's conclusion. >> reporter: the president said the downgrade could spur on new debt talks. >> our problems are imminently solvable, and we know what we have to do to solve them. >> reporter: that, in turn, pleased the head of standard & poor's. >> it was actually a bit of a new sense of urgency we

u.s. stock markets since standard and poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating. asian markets took bit hits today. the major exchanges in south korea and china each closed down 3.8%. and japan's mi nikeii and hong's heck seng were down 3% and the s&p futures are down 1.5%. this follows the mark's worst week since 2008. it opened up a new round of partisan sniping in our nation's capital. >> i believe this is without question the tea party downgrade. >> this president has failed to lead in any other private sector enterprise, and he would be fired. >> and as for the major markets in europe, they fell less than 1% today. investors there were calmed down by a pledge from the european central bank to support the unstable bonds of italy and spain. >>> fingers crossed. 4:32 now. the biggest question about the mayor's race in san francisco gets answered this morning. unter hanson is in san francisco where the appointed mayor will apparently try to become the next elected mayor. he joins us with more. good morning. >> reporter: is he going to run or in the? that's the bi

u.s. debt downgrade by standard & poor's. >> we'll check in with you exactly in 23 minutes when your markets open there as well. don't go away. let's go to beijing. what we're seeing around the markets, one by one. big selling. then also backing off a little bit. not as dangerous as some people had thought. it is still early though. isn't it? >> it is still early. like you said, these are run-of-the-mill declines. not much to speak about. for the most part here in shanghai, what we're hearing is that the market will open down but at the same time, a lot of the talk about the downgrade was already baked in and priced into the market. because of that, there is some debate as to whether or not there will be a decline or it will be a signal to a longer term bear market. still up in the air as to whether or not, which way that would go. for the most part now, investors have been focusing on economic data coming out of china. the consumer price index is going to be released tomorrow. so people are talking about how the inflation figure in china could come in on the high end and that could possibly