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President Obama speaks out on U.S. stock rating downgrade

US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on August 7, 2011.
US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on August 7, 2011.
(
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
)
Listen 54:23
President Obama speaks out on U.S. stock rating downgrade
On Friday evening, Standard & Poor’s announced that they’ve downgraded the U.S. stock rating from AAA to AA. The news sent stock indexes into a worldwide tailspin, with Asia falling more than 2 percent and European indexes continuing to slide as well. And at this morning’s opening bell, investor anxiety was evident - the Dow Jones quickly fell over 300 points, nearly 3 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 40 points, or 3.3 percent. This continues a two-week trend of market fallout, with prices below where they were at the beginning of the year. President Obama responds to the situation in a statement to the press today; we’ll carry his speech live, and then get a reaction from economic experts.

On Friday evening, Standard & Poor’s announced that they’ve downgraded the U.S. stock rating from AAA to AA. The news sent stock indexes into a worldwide tailspin, with Asia falling more than 2 percent and European indexes continuing to slide as well. And at this morning’s opening bell, investor anxiety was evident - the Dow Jones quickly fell over 300 points, nearly 3 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 40 points, or 3.3 percent. This continues a two-week trend of market fallout, with prices below where they were at the beginning of the year. President Obama responds to the situation in a statement to the press today; we’ll carry his speech live, and then get a reaction from economic experts.

Guests:

David Mark, Senior Editor for Politico.com

Michael Linden, Director for Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress

Chris Farrell, Economics Editor, Marketplace Money