Marketplace: Monday, August 9, 2004

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A look at today's markets (closing numbers)
DOW 0.67 (0.01%) ; NASDAQ 2.25 (0.13%) ; S&P 500 1.25 (0.12%)

Newscast Thanks for joining us on this Monday, August 9th. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Federal Reserve Building tomorrow. That's when the members of the Federal Open Market Committee meet. As tomorrow creeps in its petty pace, we also await Wal-Mart's profit report. It could tell us something about the mood of consumers. Today the company said its sales this month should be 2-to-4 percent better than last year. In recent months we've been talking a lot about the changing face of the New York Stock Exchange. With new rules in the works to let computers handle more of the action, the dominance of the brokers and auctioneers who currently do most of the transactions by hand is being threatened. Listen to all newscast items

Features Is Miramax hiding something? It had a big hit recently with Fahrenheit 9-11 -- and last year, Miramax pictures raked in a billion dollars in box office receipts. Miramax's next big hit may be taken by its employees. Today, the buzz in the film industry is that Miramax is getting ready to dump 35 percent of its staff worldwide. That's almost five times as many layoffs as industry-watchers had been projecting. In fact, the move is so drastic that some believe there's more than meets the eye here. Q + A: Host David Brown with Peter Biskind Related Story: Miramax to Cut at Least 120 Jobs Put Your Seat Back - Tony Lucca Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource The deficit game Stumping in Virginia today, President Bush said the three rounds of tax cuts he pushed through Congress helped to widen the federal deficits. According to the Dow Jones newswires, that's the first time Mr. Bush has named the tax cuts as a factor in rising deficits. In an unrelated story, there was a luncheon in Washington today celebrating a new book about the budget deficits - it's called "Running on Empty". It was written by the investment banker Pete Peterson. If the book's title sounds familiar to you, you might be thinking of something from 15 years ago ... Commentator: Larry Haas Related Story: Editorial: Budget deficit is only $445 billion! Dear Diary - Patty Larkin Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Will Greece lose big with these games? There's been talk that with construction delays and terrorism fears, relatively few people would be attending the Olympics this year. But with only 4 more days before the opening ceremonies, it now appears the nay-sayers will be proven wrong. Organizers report a last-minute boost in ticket sales, and sold-out events now look likely. That's one hurdle down. For the host country, the high jump may come after the games are gone. Because despite the Olympian efforts of the Greek government, the anticipated economic boom might yet wind up a bust. Reporter: Stephen Beard Related Story: Olympic costs hit Greek deficit Running on Empty - Jackson Browne Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Retailers and the books they keep As of today, 90 percent of the companies on the S and P 500 had issued their quarterly earnings statements. The average gain was 30 percent. Not bad. But keep in mind that some big fish haven't reported yet. We mentioned Wal-Mart earlier - it will be reporting later this week. Retailers are typically among the last to close their books. Any disappointments are bound to be attributed to higher gas prices and the weather. But there's another factor that doesn't get as much attention. Reporter: Ashley Milne-Tyte Related Story: Results due for Wal-Mart, Gap, others Almost Fed Up With the Blues - John Hiatt Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource

Coming up on Marketplace... The bankers declare war and call it "Operation Credit Union"