AIG's former CEO said the company has “more than enough” assets to cover the $85 billion loan it received from the U.S. government, while inflation numbers took an unexpected turn for the worse and retail sales slumped again in September. Following are today's top videos:
NYSE Market Wrap
“….PPI was pretty good, and main thing is that the energy costs are dropping—that’s good news. And you can see that with CSX, the railroad company, they had their earnings out. And they were about in line—there was nothing spectacular—but the important thing is, fuel price is dropping significantly for them.That’s good news.”
—Bob Pisani, CNBC Business News
Wells Fargo CFO On Earnings
“I think it comes back to our business model, as we talked about in the past, we have a very diversified business model—80 different businesses and financial services. And unlike other companies that are often hostage to what’s going on in the market around them, when you have 80 different businesses, there’s always something going on, and you have 80 different opportunities to grow.”
—Howard Atkins, CFO, Wells Fargo
One-On-One With Willumstad
“When the loan was given to AIG, we had very little choice. It was either bankruptcy or the government’s help. Obviously the board decided to take the government’s help…I think Hank’s proposal is much like what the Treasury is doing for banks in terms of preferred stock and smaller equity involved.”
—Robert Willumstad, Former CEO, AIG
Stay On the Beach & Watch TV
“I have a lot of respect for the hedge fund community, a lot of the smartest hedge funds I know have shut down 75 percent of their traders and said: “Do not trade this market.” There’s government intervention that you can’t anticipate what the government will do, and there’s a ban on shorts. There are land mines everywhere...”
—Simon Rose, CEO, Dalman Rose
Maria’s Market Message
“Jobless claims and inflation data as well as earnings news from Citigroup may move the markets on Thursday. It was economic data sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down on Wednesday, and at the end of the day, an acceleration of losses—down 733 points.”
—Maria Bartiromo, CNBC’s Closing Bell
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