Marketplace: Tuesday, September 28, 2004

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A look at today's markets (closing numbers)
DOW 88.86 (0.89%) ; NASDAQ 9.99 (0.54%) ; S&P 500 5.54 (0.59%)

Newscast Eighty dollars. The inflation-adjusted price for a barrel of crude when Jimmy Carter was President. $50 - where oil was trading today on the New York Mercantile exchange. See, there's nothing really magic about the number 50. Except that it's a nice round number... There's an interesting twist today in the political ad wars. You're no doubt familiar with MoveOn.org, the liberal group backed in part by billionaire George Soros? The group's full-page ad in the New York Times today doesn't attack its usual target, the President. Instead it goes after the Gallup poll. On a day when two new surveys have George W. Bush leading John Kerry by significant margins...is the full page ad sour grapes, or deft political strategy? Remember the mutual fund scandal? It's not over yet. Wachovia now says the Securities and Exchange Commission may recommend action against its brokerage unit for suspected improper trading. And although the SEC isn't talking about it, sources tell Reuters that regulators are now combing through the personal financial records of mutual fund managers... Listen to all newscast items

Features Palestinians pay the price ... A CNN producer abducted at gunpoint in the Gaza Strip yesterday is now free and safe. The former hostage told reporters his kidnappers were members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Arafat and his Palestinian Authority have been coming under increasing criticism, even among Palestinians, for growing chaos in the territories. This month marks 4 years since the start of the intifada. Some feel the uprising has cost the Palestinians dearly. Q + A: David Brown with Dennis Ross Related Story: Palestinian kidnappers release CNN hostage Out of the Freedom World - Mice Parade Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Baseball battles around the beltway Major League Baseball owns the Expos and they want the Expos out of Montreal. The league seems to have decided that Washington DC is the best place for the team to move to - though that's not yet official. One problem: There's another team just up the road. Reporter: Hillary Wicai Related Story: Baseball Announcement Could Come Thursday Baseball Theme from Charlie Brown - Vince Guaraldi Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Power Trips Part Two - The Impact Whether it is a weekend in Florida - or a week-long tour through the south of France - Congressional trips give lobbyists and their clients a chance to mingle with members of Congress in relaxed surroundings. Now an investigation for Marketplace by American Radio Works shows members of Congress have taken trips totaling more than $14 million in the last four years. The bill is picked up by outside interests doing business in Washington. This may just be a sliver of the hundreds of millions of dollars special interests spend each year to influence the political process. But paying for congressional travel has an outsized impact. Steve Henn has our story. Reporter: Steve Henn Web Resource: Power Trips - Part One (from Monday) Power Trips - What Next? Marketplace host David Brown speaks with Steve Henn, who reported and produced the Power Trips series... Q + A: David Brown with Steve Henn Web Resource: Power Trips Database On the Road Again (Power Trips Theme) - Canned Heat Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource

Coming up on Marketplace... Sailing with mushroom clouds on the horizon