u.s. economy and the global economy? >> that's a great question. as far as we can see in terms of capital flows or other things we could measure, the risks are fairly small. the big issue obviously is confidence, that spreads across financial markets sometimes very rapidly. and there's also potential nontransparency through credit default swaps, the way that people ensure against default buys in a country like greece or italy. we don't know exactly who has what kind of net exposure to those contracts. that's a black box, and i don't think the regulators know either. that's a real danger, if we had more transparent markets, more disclosure, we wouldn't be so concerned about that. but right now we have to be concerned. >> susie: let's talk a little about the u.s. economy. recession or no recession, where are you in that debate? >> i'm hoping that it's not a recession. i think we can still skirt it depending on the situation in europe. but depending also on domestic policy. the fight we had over the debt ceiling in august obviously did a lot of damage

u.s. economy. first, it turns out the u.s. economy was a bit stronger between april and june than first thought. the commerce department revised its gdp report, showing the economy expanded at annual rate of 1.3%. the previous estimate was 1%. then, we saw a drop in new filings for unemployment benefits. the labor department said unemployment benefits fell to a five-month low. 391,000 people filed last week, suggesting that layoffs are decreasing. the dow surged on those reports, rising as much as 260 points early on, finally closing up 143 points. the nasdaq lost ten and the s&p added nine. >> susie: most important today, investors everywhere were reassured that germany is now fully behind europe's rescue fund, the european financial stability facility, or the e.f.s.f. here's more on what it is and how it works. it's been called "le tarp"; the e.f.s.f. is europe's version of america's tarp bailout fund. it functions like a bank providing loans for troubled euro zone nations. of the 17 countries making contributions, france, ge

u.s. economy to keep those troops there i mean the u.s. defense budgets absolutely huge well the colony that surrounds it an enormous labor force people package food court logistics transportation even the contract says but the huge economy the those jobs would be lost also do something different thank you for asking that very important point the point is well military spending creates jobs compared to nothing it's the least efficient. compared to other government spending including tax cuts in the context that we're in now with the united states is that there is a ten year window poor creature who are reducing u.s. government step to the point you control act in the supercommittee it's all about one point two trillion dollars in reducing. over ten years so you see it's like a baseball game or a hockey game you prefer where you reported the score just by talking about one side or the you know money dropping down from or to spend on the military that's not of the table every dollar spent on the military. it is a dollar taken out of us on and

u.s. economy? >> it would demoralize people at this time because i would think denying the freedom of workers, public workers to join unions. it would be incredibly demoralizing. firing people in times of massive unemployment would be a terrific mistake. and the third place it a global economy that we have now, where we need more teachers and more education to be firing teachers and wrecking the educational system more would be a terrible mistake. >> would that close state and local budget gaps do you think if we were to fire a lot of public-sector workers and reduce their pensions and health care unilaterally? >> no, the problem with the deficit is the recession. bad has been going on for years. we have 9.2% official unemployment rate. many more people are underemployed or discouraged. when you have this kind of unemployment, government revenues will go down to the extent that the safety net to help the common people on main street, expenditures will go up. that is what caused the deficit. we we w

u.s. economy. recession worries are also intensifying, even though an economic recession is still far from certain. erika miller has more on what it could look and feel like for many americans. >> reporter: there's growing concern the u.s. economy is in danger of slipping into recession. still, some economists, like drew mattus, think it's a long shot. >> if you think about what a normal probability of a recession at any given year is, it's about 15%. it might be slightly above that at this point, but it certainly is not as elevated as i think a lot of people are making it out to be. and, if there is a recession, it's not expected to be nearly as painful as the last one in 2008. banks are in much better shape now than they were back then. economist brian levitt also finds it hard to believe the weakest areas of the economy could get much worse. >> a lot of the components of the us economy are already at very depressed levels-- whether it's construction, whether it's auto sales, inventory-to-sales r

u.s. economy. forecasters like macroeconomic advisers are expecting u.s. companies will see sales overseas jump 9% next year, which is why the treasury secretary was talking up exports today. >> u.s. export growth has been really very strong in this stage of recovery, and i think it's encouragingly strong because it's happening across the american economy. >> reporter: but markets lost faith in that story today. investors began their day with fedex, a bellwether for global shipping, downgrading its outlook. it confirmed what many already feared-- that the world economy is slowing down. >> if we continue to have this kind of macroeconomic malaise, yeah, we can get through 2011 with decent profits because we already had a very good first half, but as we get into 2012, there could be some real vulnerability to consensus earnings forecasts, and that's what is really driving the selloff in the market. >> reporter: reports out today show manufacturing in europe is teetering on recession and even china's industrial juggernaut is slowing. the news left economists

u.s. economy and also how key exporters in japan will fare if the u.s. economy is not getting back on track. looking at currency markets as well a crucial factor with the strength of the yen and the problems in the eurozone economies also weighing on the euro trading around the 108 yen levels compared to upper 111 this time last year. also in germany, chancellor merkel's party lost a crucial election over the weekend and that also raised questions about germany's commitment to constantly keep bailing out the weaker or falring eurozone economies. euro yen trading around the lower 108 levels. let's keep an eye on banks and brokerage, and there's a pending lawsuit around u.s. lenders, including the u.s. unit of nimura holdings, brokerages and banks trading lower in the last few sessions. uswti crude oil prices fell another 3% in the futures, because n where mex was closed no floor trading yesterday. also fell 3% on friday so quite a drop there for oil prices, will keep track of energy related products as well. for now the nikkei and the topix trading lower t

u.s. economy will contract the fear. the u.s. jobs base on friday spooks global markets. economic worries in europe and the united states are supporting oil prices lower 2% with brent crude at $109 per barrel. the markets weren't open on wall street, it's labor day there and the holiday averting a sharp fall for the dow jones industrials. president obama chose the hard-hit city of detroit to deliver his message on jobs, the key issue which may decide whether he keeps his job or not come next november. obama is planning to pump more money into the u.s. economy. >> president obama is about to unveil a new plan which some people are calling a new stimulus plan which would bring about many more infrastructure jobs, more repairing of roads and bridges across the country, tax relief, mortgage relief, things which would pump money back into the economy. that was the message he was giving us a bit of a preview about today when he gave that speech in detroit. let's listen to a little bit of that now. >> a lot of folks have been looking for work for a long time here in detroit and

u.s. economy. the statement that came along with the decision read, "there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets." >> "significantly" wasn't in the last three meetings. he put that in this time, and that, i think, had a little trepidation to traders' minds when they saw that. we knew the economy was weak, but now it's getting significantly weaker going forward. that was a key word. >> reporter: some experts also noted that investors were upset about the division among fed members. and, traders also said the extra bit of stimulus from the fed, in the form of reinvesting mortgage debt, barely moved the needle for stock investors. >> i wouldn't say that it's a real non-event, but it's not enough to move the market. we just don't think it's going to work. at the end of the day, is this going to help unemployment? probably not, and that's the key. we need people working to get mortgages. >> reporter: the story was a bit different in the bon

u.s. or european economy. here's what you had to say. david is more worried about the u.s. economy, including the effects problems in europe might have on it. lori says first it will be the european economy. then we are next. you can do more than voice your opinion on our facebook page, you can also watch clips from our program and read excerpts from robert drach's market commentary. that's "nightly business report" for thursday, september 15. i'm susie gharib. good night everyone, and good night to you too, tom. >> tom: good night susie. i'm tom hudson. 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. to order this dvd, call 1-800- play-pbs or visit online at shoppbs.org. >> be more. pbs.>>> the following kqed production was produced in high definiti

u.s. economy slowing. but ends the quarter around $1,625 an ounce. and u.s. light sweet crude oil saw its biggest quarterly drop since the financial crisis. from the mid-'90s down to below $80 a barrel tonight. >> susie: billionaire investor warren buffett was busy investing in the third quarter. he told me today that he bought $4 billion worth of stocks in the past three months. buffett came here to the new york stock exchange to ring the opening bell with business wire c.e.o. cathy tamraz. they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the news wire service owned by buffett's berkshire hathaway conglomerate. as buffett mingled on the floor with traders, stocks were falling, but the oracle of omaha told me he's still buying and upbeat about the u.s. economy. >> the economy is doing pretty well. we own 70-plus businesses. we own about five that are associated with home construction. they're flat on their backes, and they're just like they've been for three years now, four years, almost. and so there's been no bounce there. everything else is moving forward. we

u.s. economy and if the u.s. government is trying to implement massive saving measures it will be very difficult because they increase taxes and cut spending what will be as a result probably the economy will be slowing down more at least in the short i mean i can't really afford that at this moment because the deficits are already out of control so i was saying some far off bear reorganisation s. as we have to happen in the eurozone is probably the only solution follow western countries going forward but it's not all it's not there are a lot of emerging market countries gulag a lot better ok. we are asking the fed to do much too much is it really raining do you decide to break the u.s. economy in the global economy i mean are we asking too much of the fed right now. the federal reserve should focus on one thing and one thing only which is to maintain a stable dollar european central bank actually has the right idea they have a single mandate now they're not maybe not doing a great job of it but their single manda

u.s. economy is slipping back into recession. our north american editor reports. >> obama is the first president since the second world war to witness a month where overall, no new jobs were created. no president has ever been reelected with unemployment so high. 14 million americans are looking for work. jobs were wiped out by the public sector in getting rid of exactly the same number of people. the dow jones fell 253 points. it may be a statistical free, but it is also a symbol. america might be teetering on the edge of another recession. >> it is important for obama to indicate that the administration's attempts to help the economy have failed. >> unemployment has come down, but the rate has hovered around 9%. the white house predicts it will stay that high next year, too. they're off on a holiday weekend because monday is labor day. next week, he has a big speech to the whole congress to unveil a new plan to create jobs but republicans are likely to kill it. >> if they don't support his plan, he will go out to the public and

u.s. economy exactly. president anything for the u.s. economy and certainly saved save the holders of fannie mae and freddie mac. bonds what it saved i mean basically you had fannie and freddie being completely bankrupt after having made ridiculously foolish loans into the mortgage market now i don't think there's anything criminal about offering. foolish loans or even buying shares in a company that's making foolish loans that is stupid it's not so certain this is solely criminal but as a result of the bailouts these companies that should have gone down the mortgage market should completely disappeared i mean the essential u.s. housing market should have been returned to a cash business which will which it was not but didn't happen but instead all of the losses that should have been borne by fannie and freddie shareholders and bondholders and the banks that bought and sold fannie mae braun's and fannie mae loans those people should have borne the losses i mean i think the banking system would have survived in a much more truncated form i

u.s. economy and the world economy. and i thought i would have liked a little bit more about that. >> you're feeling the details should have come together. >> well, i think that the president has three challenges tonight. he knows the corporations are sitting on two trillion dollars to three trillion dollars worth in profits. what we need to do is rebuild confidence in this economy so that people sitting on the profits start investing them again in the united states. why did he need to come and give the speech, tell them in a way he can rebuild his credibility. as you know, his popularity is quite low. i think he should put out a big picture bold agenda of what we need to do, not what's politically feasible. the measures that he's mentioning, they are the traditional measures. these measures really haven't produced the kind of recovery that we really need in the united states. >> he stressed that this isn't about the election, 14 months away. this is about people needing help now. do you think that this is still rather

u.s. economy. let's go with it with tonight's market focus. >> tom: while the major stocks averages were able to move higher for the second session in a row, oil continues to see the tug of war between worries about lower demand in the u.s. and europe and a growing thirst from emerging economies. crude oil jumped more than $2, closing just above $90 per barrel. it's at the top of its trading range since the stiff sell-off in stocks and commodities in late july. helping push prices up today was a reported drop in supplies due to tropical storms last week in the gulf of mexico. oil is at a five week high tonight. while oil prices have risen lately, the transportation sector continues around the low end of its range over the past year. this is the exchange traded fund following the dow transport index. it saw a nice 3.5% rally today. worries about economic growth have pushed this fund down 20% from i july high. airline stocks took flight today. delta jumped more than 8% after reporting its third quart

u.s. economy. he urged congress it pass this jobs plan right away. the new proposal is to tackle the jobless rate, which has stayed high at around 9% for more than two years. >>> meanwhile, u.s. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke downplayed concerns over inflation, but he did not say how or whether the bank would take steps to boost the economy. bernanke gave a speech on thursday at the economic club of minnesota. he said he sees little indication the higher rate of inflation this year has become engrained into the economy. he also said inflation is expected to moderate in the coming quarters. bernanke repeated that the f.e.d. consider a range of options in the next policy meeting scheduled for september 20th and 21st, but he did not provide details. some people are calling for more monetary easing, but others say further easing could make inflation worse. >>> the european central bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged as concerns over the regional economy are on the rise. the bank decided on thursday to keep the benchmark rate at 1.5% afte

u.s. economy has not. on both sides of the atlantic, markets fell on news that job creation is all but paralyzed. some 14 million americans are out of work. over the past year, the economy had been adding jobs at a painfully slow rate. in august, the number of hirings and firings canceled each other out. >> the american population grows each month by 130,000. we need that many jobs to just stay even. unemployment is already alarmingly high. >> barack obama, unemployment is more than just an achilles' heel. it is a big bull's-eye on his presidency. his republican opponents are gearing up to take aim. next week, the president will unveil a highly anticipated jobs package. a proposed upgrade of america's roads and rail rates, creating construction work. if this -- at this jobs in virginia, we found mixed opinions. >> i do not agree with everything that he has done. i did vote for him. a lot of it is not of his own making. >> the cash constraints are there, i am not sure there is anything that they can do. >>

u.s. economy. -- boost the u.s. economy.hocking and appalling, the official reaction of the killing of an iraqi official by british officials eight years ago. seven years on, russians remember the start of and at the siege of leningrad. it is 4:00 a.m. in london, broadcasting to viewers on pbs in america and around the world. this is newsday. hal owen welcomed. the mayor of new york michael bloomberg has confirmed there are specific credible terrorist threats just days before the 10th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. mr. bloomberg said the arrests have not been corroborated, but had to be taken as seriously. he called on the public to be vigilant. if >> as we approached the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the nypd, fbi and the entire intelligence community have been on heightened alert because we know that terrorists view of the anniversary as an opportunity to strike again. the threat at this moment has not been corroborated. i want to stress that. it is credible, but has not been corroborated. but we do live

u.s. economy out of the woods because it will create in the best scenario around one and a half million jobs but it takes a level million jobs new jobs just to get back to the pre recession level there's a lot of skepticism out there in congress many lawmakers are not happy with obama's spending plans while obama is not happy with the lawmakers unwillingness to compromise what's frustrating to many here is that this package of one hundred forty billion dollars in direct stimulus is being debated so fiercely where is the bill giving nearly a trillion dollars a year on defense purposes and on wars get passed easily and quietly that surely leaves many americans really frustrated about their representatives on a product well it's time now for the business update with dmitri. thanks to learn welcome to business and see the guests few between russia and ukraine is reaching breaking point q. of insists on lower prices most who says it's ready to negotiate but the basics of the agreement will not be changed. we are ready to discuss different ways to cooperate with ukraine including ukraine joining t

u.s. economy go slower -- our advisory committee about what would make the u.s. economy go slower. look at all these things. decline in equity values, yes. uighur external demand, -- weaker external demand, yes, because those countries are slowing down. it is everything that could happen drive the economy's slower has happened this year. and we have a self-inflicted havilland, which we have not talked about yet. -- self-inflicted head wounds, which we have not talked about yet. one of the things in thinking about china, and what of the things that struck me is that we're always looking at tons of data and charts. this is commodity prices and indexes that start at the same level in 2003. you get a sense of how quickly they are growing, and growing relative to one another. look at all the changes that are occurring. you have doubling and tripling. the whole index, if you take that all together, is doubled or tripled with all of those things. think about what that means for the u.s. economy. we have had a strong increase in all of these commodity prices. it is because of these developi

u.s. economy. and u.s. stocks are shot lower while the losses come off a steep decline in european indices investors also worried about the weakness of the u.s. economy but used to report on the u.s. service sector is expected to shoulder a full straight month of declining growth but comes on the heels of a jobs report friday that was the worst since september twentieth ten. pm markets finished minutes investors took a break from two days of heavy selling food see gained about one percent of the tax loss to same number of points at the quotes. for me is the picture in russia of the markets here have made it into positive territory at the close off to the drop target on tuesday i need to consult slowly grow from be u.s. and china and europe step towards. a new global recession rather you have greta wrote software to a straight course. we have seen a very volatile session for the russian market very stressful and certainly playing the bad sentiment from yesterday's massive sell off on the european exchanges t

u.s. economy brant blend is a down at one hundred fourteen and a half dollars per barrel w.t.r. is around eighty nine. european stocks are trading in the red zone led by losses in porsche following the lay in its merger with volkswagen agee pushes down seven point seven percent at this hour. is up more than ten percent after the company said it discovered oil off the coast of french guy and. losses are stephen ing here in moscow where the r.t.s. is now down one point seven percent on this is on profit taking will turn in the european markets also showing negative performance so what's moving the my sex is burbank is one half percent lower that's after posting a one hundred fifty five percent increase in net profit for the first eight months of the year under russian accounting standards non-performing loans of the bank have continued to decrease but their level is still double the market average rosneft is down as well is low and called is pretty much the only stock bucking the trend is a point four percent on higher gold price. so far september has been a month of respect for t

u.s. economy. blend a bit of a tongue twister there is up twenty seven cents of this light sweet is just over eighty nine cents per barrel. move to stock markets now in asia the picture has changed somewhat the nikkei is the deeper in the negative territory the hang seng has had to give up its gains despite chinese data showing consumer inflation slightly in august financials however holding up against the negative movement in japan the nikkei is indeed in negative territory following a revision of japan's april to june gross domestic product to a lower level now is take a look at the opening picture in moscow now after two days of gains i'm afraid arrows have to be read actually the r.t.s. is supposed to be down one percent my six point eight percent this is on the back of negative movement in the united states and in asia and expectations that european markets will also open the negative territory. well so far september has been a month of respect for the stock markets compared to a heavy selloff