what s happening in europe, but a lot of pressure other than the banks there. banks like the general, a lot of pressure, rumors, off by 7% impacting the banks here. you re looking at big banks like bank of america, their stock off before the market now, about 4%. we re just back to that sort of same grind again where a lot of rumors are taking over, and sort of fear and panic about what s going to happen in europe and how that will eventually, or not, affect what we re doing on this side of the pond. andrew, let me ask you, what do you make of this report about the department of justice investigating standard & poor s and their ratings? how much stir is that causing? it s not necessarily causing stir in the markets so much as, again, it is one of these issues about the credality of the rating agencies. oddly enough, s&p, moody s and fitch, you know, got criticized before the financial crisis, not oddly enough that because of their bad ratings on so much of the subprime and now on t
side, they ve downgraded the united states in the past two weeks, the s&p has, and their credibility is now come under fire on the opposite end. there is some people talking on wall street about how this investigation, know, may have started before that downgrade, but may 2340u9 now be ramped up because of the downgrade and if there s political pressure. i think it s actually oddly more a washington story than a wall street one. all right. andrew, thanks for the perspective. thank you. the president s new plan to jump-start the job market can t come soon enough for many americans. and even some of obama s most ardent offenders are running out of patience. people are hurting. they re unemployed. we don t know what the strategy is. up next, how unemployment is causing friction between the president and his base. and the way some lawmakers are trying to help struggling americans. and don t forget we re less than three weeks away
yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful. the opening bell on wall street is just a few minutes away. let s get a look at where the markets are headed. with me now, co-anchor of squawk box and financial columnist for the new york times, andrew ross sosrkin. how you doing? give me a sense. what are we looking at and what do we expect? not good. if we opened, the dow off 270 points. a much lower opening. all of this is a result of what s going on in europe right now. a lot of pressure over there. morgan stanley coming out with a new report this morning downgrading their forecast and