working leaner, outsourcing jobs to countries with cheap labor. increasingly, manufacturing is going to be a matter of computer programming, software, and robots. reporter: that s why experts say math and science degrees are golden these days, and that stock is only going up. people here say they ve learned to take nothing for grant it. all the traders we spoke to said they re watching three things. the chinese economy, the european recession, and most of all, the gridlock in washington. linzie janis, abc news, new york. we all remember that dreadful day. almost four years ago to the date, it was march 9, the dow was 6,547, so it s more than doubled since then. that s right. just so we keep things in perspective, the last time we hit a near record was in 2007. since then, the housing market chanced. we hit the worst financial crisis since the great
politicsnation with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, michael. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight s lead. race to the top. big news today from wall street as the stock market hit an all-time tie. it s big news for business. but the middle class and poor are getting hammered. we ll talk about that in a moment. first, the market s big jump today. moments ago on the floor of the new york stock exchange, the dow jones industrial average closed at an all-time high. the dow ballooned past its previous record high hit before october of 07. march of 2009, maria, 6,547 on the dow jones industrial average. and from there it s been almost straight up. as you can see, these past
been a by turns, thrilling, soul killing, roller coaster ride. in march, 2009, the dow hit its low point, 6,547. 50% of its value wiped out. but since then, an historic surge, the fastest since world war ii. although uncertainty remains. it is a sigh of relief, i don t think it is long term. i think it is something that we get this week. and maybe next week. and then, we re off to the races again. reporter: next shoe to drop, a big one, tomorrow. the august jobs number. many of the recent reports have been very disappointing. but if this one exceeds expectations, today s rally could well continue. dan harris, abc news. new concerns this morning about syria s stockpile of chemical weapons. a published report says it may be larger and more dispersed around the country than previously thought. video from anti-government forces shows widespread clashes still raging in several cities.
6547 on march 9th, 2009. stocks have been on the rise ever since. the dow is over 13,000. if you hung in there you didn t panic you are doing just fine. you are starting to make your way back. over 13,000 looks good to me. i think interest rates on investments cd s money market accounts they were low before obama dot in over 1 percent. they are still dismally low. is it a good time to buy stocks? some of them. one thing important to know is capital gains rates are set to go up january 1st. that is something investors need to be aware of. if you are in the upper echelon the top two income brackets you really get hit. talk about home buyers. buyers are better off, of course we all know this, you are kind of stuck. buyers are definitely better off. ziloo research knows most
states. newt gingrich and rick santorum are fighting romney for the conservative vote in the south. tiger woods suffered a tournament ending injury. watch him after this approach shot on the 10th hole at doral. look at him. favoring that left leg. tiger withdrew after the 11th hole. he injured that tendon in the masters last year. we begin this hour in afghanistan where an american is accused of a cold blooded killing spree. the pentagon has not released the soldier s name but says he s an army staff sergeant in his mid 30s. he served several tours of duty in iraq but on his first deployment to afghanistan. he s now in custody. u.s. custody. the military says he acted alone. here s what we know. at 3:00 a.m. local time, afghan troops reported seeing a soldier leave his army outpost near kandahar. the united states dispatched a patrol to find him but before they found him, he reached a village 15 miles away. the military says he went door to door shooting people. most of t