The New York Stock Exchange chief talked tough Sunday, arguing that jail time was appropriate for perpetrators of corporate fraud, while urging investors not to bolt as share values slide.
"Those who've misused the public's trust, I think they've got to go to jail," Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the NYSE, told NBC television.
"The public's confidence has been tested, [but] our economy is strong," he said.
He added that "public trust and confidence need to be returned to the marketplace."
Grasso said he believed President George W. Bush has "laid out a long-term plan to restore the public's confidence. We've got to wage a war against terrorism in the boardroom, against misleading the shareholders. It's a long-term project, and I think it's being successfully deployed."
"I think history has proven that individuals are the most patient. I think they're going to continue to be patient and willing to invest. ... You've got to look beyond what happens to the market beyond [Monday]," Grasso said.
"Please be patient," he implored. "Don't do something that emotionally feels good but in the long run is a mistake."
A horrific week sent the Dow Jones industrials crashing below post-Sept. 11 lows, down 665.27 points, or 7.6 percent, to 8,019.26, after briefly slipping below 8,000 in a brutal selloff Friday.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 shared in the pain, hitting lows not seen since 1997 as it plunged 73.64 points, or 7.99 percent, to 847.75.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ, while also hitting a five-year low, held up only slightly better, with a loss of 54.35 points, or 3.96 percent, to 1,319.15.
Analysts said the slump was mainly psychological, with many investors throwing in the towel after losing confidence in corporate financial data, though they said the slump was irrational in the face of a strengthening US economy.
Analyst Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs said she believed the market had hit near bottom, if not bottom.
"A good deal [of the risk] is priced into the market, and over the next period of time, I think the direction for stock prices is higher, not lower," she told CBS television.
"The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction. That doesn't mean it can't go a little further, but over a long period of time, I think stock prices are moving higher, not lower."
As far as concerns about corporate accounting, "most of corporate America has spent the last two or three quarters making dramatic adjustments already in their accounting. In the second half of the year, these numbers are going to be very, very clean," Cohen said.
US House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey, for his part, conceded on NBC: "We are nervous on behalf of the economy."
Adding fuel to the fire, WorldCom Inc said Sunday it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it buckled under a mountain of junk-rated debt.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS