'The Early Show' Blows it on Stock Market Fears

It was supposed to be a bad day in the American stock markets according to CBS's "The Early Show." Guess what - they were wrong.

"Hong Kong's Hang Seng market was down more than 4 percent," Julie Chen said on the January 28 "The Early Show." "Tokyo's Nikkei index off about 4 percent. Wall Street may have a rough morning in advance of President Bush's final State of the Union address tonight. We'll be watching the markets throughout the morning."

Assuming American markets will follow the lead of any other international markets is an iffy proposition, as indicated by the performance on Wall Street today. After the gloomy forecast from "The Early Show" for the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) finished in positive territory on January 28 - at the highs of the day, up more than 176 points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also finished in positive territory, both up more than 23 points.

CBS used this incorrect gloomy outlook for the U.S. stock markets as a primer for guess what - another recession story.

"Now, if America slips into a recession, if Americans buy fewer goods, the Chinese will sell less, and they will make less," CBS correspondent Barry Petersen said. "Now, there is some hope here that when the Federal Reserve, the American Federal Reserve, meets later this week, it will do another cut of interest rates. A way to jump start the American economy and perhaps calm fears here."

U.S. stock markets finished higher on the day on the word the Federal Reserve would cut rates again according to CNBC reporter Bob Pisani on the January 28 "Closing Bell."