reported, get this, a stunning 52% drop in first quarter profits, that was just a day after shares in the nation s largest retailer walmart had their worst day in 35 years. what is going on here? they have their fingers on the pulse of the american consumer and they say inflation was the problem, their customers are sticking to the basics when they come in, leaving with fewer items in their shopping carts. those purchasing decisions being driven by sticker shock of course. basics are getting much more expensive, gas up 44% the last year, car, food and shelter also way up. americans are also making more money. wages rising in this tight labor market, but that is also feeding into worries about inflation because of wages. and because of rising prices, people don t feel secure so they are cutting back and that is shaking market confidence. right now stock index futures are leaning lower. asia closed mixed overnight. looks like except for china all down here. let s bring in krist
we re watching a number of big races that will help define where this country is going, and where better to follow it all than outside of independence hall, birthplace of our declaration of independence and our constitution. most closely watched is the race for an open senator seat. pat toomey is retiring, which means this is the democrats best chance to make gains in the senate. lieutenant governor john fetorman currently leads the race against congressman connor lam, malcolm kenyatta and alex khalil. did fetterman s stroke change the calculus for voters? and what about the black vote? his opponents insist black voters haven t been adequately polled. on the right, there are seven candidates looming over all of them is donald trump. one in three gop ads aired here mentioned donald trump. and as charlie matthiasson put it, there are few states as deeply infect by donald trump s election fraud lie. the gop leaders are mehmet oz, cathy barnett and dave mccormick. trump picked o
Happened. It seems dubious that the Russian Military, in other words, would want to take down a major passenger plane. Certainly with not the intent of taking it down. Again, we simply dont know who brought this down. Im also here with lieu dtenant colonel rick francona. Just in terms of kants, we have not seen separatists heretofor, they have brought down at least one transport plane, but they were not flying at 33,000 feet. Yeah, this would require, as we were talking about, a more sophisticated system. Talking about, you know, hitting it inadvertently, it would be very difficult for that to happen. Generally once youre locked onto the target, it goes to that target. And if it veers off that target and is no longer being guided, they selfdestruct. But when youre targeting a plane at that altitude, are you
clear on exactly what kind of a plane it is . No, its a return on your radar. Right. It will be a certain size, you can estimate the size of the aircraft. You may have other sensors
Restricted zone at the moment. Still so many questions to be answered. And theres going to be a lot of fingerpointing over the next several hours, days and even weeks as this investigation begins to intensify. Lets take a kind of a look back now at all we know. At the top of the hour, thank you very much for joining us, it is 3 00 here on the east coast of the United States. We are following breaking news this hour. Right now it is 10 00 p. M. In ukraine where earlier today the horrifying scene was captured on camera, the moment a Passenger Jet falls from the sky, exploding on impact. The tragedy without a doubt. But was it an accident . Right now it appears very likely this plane may have been intentionally shot down over Eastern Ukraine. We dont know for sure. Theres a lot we dont know. Heres what we know right now. This was Malaysian Airlines flight a boeing 777 traveling from Amsterdam To Kuala Lumpur in malaysian. On board, 295 people, 280 of them passengers. 15 of them crew membe
Being on. Lets reset at the top of the hour now. Im anderson cooper. Thank you for joining us. Were following two major breaking stories that the hour. The downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 that killed 298 people in ukraine. And im wolf blitzer reporting from jerusalem. The other major story, the breaking story we were following, the crisis in gaza, where israel launched a major ground offensive and it continues. A lot to get you up to date on in this hour. President obama today laying out the priorities and the aftermath of the Airline Crash in the ukraine. The priorities, learning the truth first, he say then acting. There has to be a credible International Investigation into what happened. The u. N. Security council has endorsed this investigation and we will hold all its members, including russia, to their word. In order to facilitate that investigation. Russia, prorussian separatists
and ukraine must adhere to an immediate ceasefire. Evidence must not be tampered with. Inves