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Marketplace: Tuesday, July 20, 2004
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A look at today's markets (closing numbers)
DOW 55.01 (.54%) ;
NASDAQ 33.24 (1.76%) ;
S&P 500 7.77 (.71%)
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Newscast
A little secret. People in public radio news like to pride themselves on not having to rely on the ten second sound bite. That takes a lot of the pressure off when we have to cover Alan Greenspan's semi-annual remarks to Congress. On this July 20th, the Fed Chief was seated at a desk before the Senate Banking committee offering his latest evaluation on the state of the economy. And like so many in the world of high finance, we paused to try to parse the dense language.
Mr. Greenspan appeared to be saying the economy's growth is solid, inflation is happening, but it's not a serious threat at the moment, and signs of weakness are only temporary. He did not really give much of a clue on whether the pace or size of interest rate hikes might change...
But rewind there. Temporary signs of weakness. What might Mr. Greenspan have in mind? Perhaps he saw this morning's news about June housing starts. They fell to the lowest level in more than a year. Rising interest rates are blamed for cooling the red-hot housing market.
And the Google-watch continues. Unless our calendars are off, sometime this week we'll be hearing from the folks at Google about how much it expects bidders to pay for its shares. Google is widely expected to post quarterly results this week.
After the closing bell Microsoft announced plans to spend up to $75 billion over the next four years on a combination of dividends and stock buybacks.
Listen to all newscast items
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| Features
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A Lame Duck Summer
Our nation's business, or at least the legislative arm of it, closes shop Friday until after the party conventions. Members of Congress come back after Labor Day and after about a month or so adjourn for the elections. Taxpayers may be wondering if they're getting their money's worth of work out of their representatives. About $158,000 each. But some believe ... when it comes to Congress, less is more.
Commentator: Jeff Birnbaum
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The Expensive Cost of Fire
Summer fires are blazing across the West. One here in Los Angeles County forced 1,600 families to evacuate. Today firefighters say it's close to containment - and most residents are headed home. But what happens when you can't go home? If you're like a lot of homeowners, you figure your insurance will pay for you to rebuild -- if you've kept up with your premiums. Our special correspondent reports that last summer's devastating fires left many homeowners wishing they'd read their policies more carefully.
Reporter: Jo Giese
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Time for Letters!
Now comes the time to hear from you, the audience. Marketplace Letters with ..... David Brown!
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That Sweet Olympic Whistle
China's making a play for more Olympic gold. Beijing announced today it's sending its biggest delegation ever to the games in Athens. The more athletes in competition, the greater likelihood some will earn medals. China's most likely to strike gold in the court sports -- tennis, badminton and volleyball. But listen closely - the whistle you hear blowing at these games has a Japanese taste ...
Reporter: Steve Herman
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Coming up on Marketplace...
The costs of war
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