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COPYRIGHT 2006 Voxant Inc.
Original Source: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT
SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Investors face some soft data on the economy and a slump in the stock of Google. The Dow closes off 104 points. The NASDAQ slides 25.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: And there will be protection at the ports. That`s what a high-ranking official at Dubai Ports World tells a Senate committee today. Lawmakers are looking at the United Arab Emirates plans to take over operations at a number of U.S. ports.
GHARIB: Apple Computer takes the wraps off new products, including another version of its popular iPod, but investors aren`t juiced about that line up and Apple stock falls on the day.
YASTINE: Then more and more Americans are going overseas to invest. Big chunks of cash are falling into international mutual funds these days, chasing big returns. We`ll ask the experts if those bets could pay off.
GHARIB: I`m Susie Gharib.
YASTINE: And I`m Jeff Yastine. Paul Kangas is on assignment tonight. This is NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for Tuesday, February 28th.
GHARIB: Good evening everyone. Wall Street ended February with its biggest loss of the month and Google gets most of the blame. The Dow tumbled 104 points, closing below 11,000. The NASDAQ lost 25. Google stunned investors today, saying that its growth is slowing. Investors unloaded shares of the Internet search giant. At one point, the stock plunged as much as 13 percent. Eventually they recovered, closing the day down $27.76 or 7 percent to $362.62. Google`s chief financial officer told an investor conference in New York that the slowdown in growth is due to quote, the law of large numbers. The company still sees a lot of growth potential, but the question is, growth at what rate? Analysts say Wall Street`s reaction was overblown.
SCOTT KESSLER, INTERNET ANALYST, STANDARD & POOR`S: And I`ve been saying for a long time that a company that derives nearly all of its revenues from Internet search advertising and I think that at some point has to change.
GHARIB: Google shares have fallen over $70 or 16 percent since late January when the search engine`s earnings disappointed Wall Street. The company is set to hold its annual meeting with analysts on Thursday.
YASTINE: President Bush said today he has not changed his mind. He says he still supports a bid by a company based in the United Arab Emirates which is trying to take over port operations in some U.S. cities. Meanwhile, the company Dubai Ports World, faced off against its critics this afternoon on Capitol Hill. As Darren Gersh reports, DP World executives urged lawmakers to focus on the facts.
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The American chief operating officer of DP World told Congress his company does not pose a security threat and he rejected charges the port terminal operator owned by the government of Dubai tried to buy into the U.S. port business in secret.
EDWARD BILKEY, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, DP WORLD: I respectfully submit that DP World is a company that in good faith sought to comply with applicable U.S. legal requirements and having been told by the U.S. government that we met those requirements, now finds itself in the position of being told that that was not good enough.
GERSH: But the Republican senator who chairs the committee overseeing the Coast Guard, which is the first line of port security, says she is not satisfied the administration conducted a thorough security review.
REP. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R) MAINE: But it never rose to the highest levels of decision making and leadership, whether it was the secretary of homeland security, whether...
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