Transcript of: Italian financial woes cause market stumble
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:
While we're talking about money, this was another one of those scary days for anybody with money in the
stock market
. Stocks plunged on
Wall Street
.
The Dow
ended the day off about 400 points.
Nasdaq
,
S&P
down as well.
WILLIAMS:
It's a domino effect as this financial crisis in
Italy
gets worse, and our chief foreign correspondent,
Richard Engel
, remains in
Rome
for us tonight.
Richard
, good evening.
RICHARD ENGEL reporting:
Good evening,
Brian
. Yesterday,
Italy
's prime minister,
Silvio Berlusconi
, said that he would resign, but he never said exactly when it would happen. He said it would take place perhaps after a key
reform bill
was passed in this country, but that could have been next week, that could have been in several weeks. Well, the international markets responded very negatively to that uncertainty.
Italy
's borrowing rate went up to over 7 percent. The
stock market
in this country also plummeted, sending people -- sending shock waves around the world. It also inspired the
Italian president
to try and clarify the situation. He said these economic reforms will be passed in a matter of days. So now it is possible,
Brian
, that
Silvio Berlusconi
, this prime minister, could be out of office over the weekend.
WILLIAMS:
All right,
Richard Engel
in
Rome
for us tonight.
Richard
, thanks.
“ ”