BofA, a ‘reflection’ of US economy, suffers

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: Let's go over to CNBC 's global headquarters. David Faber is there for us tonight. David , let's pick up on the point that last gentleman made. I'm not a historian, but I think this is a leadership moment potentially for the president of the United States . He's getting pressure to force Congress into a sudden breakout of sanity. If that happens, how long until we could get our top credit rating back?

DAVID FABER reporting: Well, it could still be some time until at least S&P comes back. These are long-term problems, they aren't solved overnight, yet that certainly would be a positive. I think you saw the president today trying to engender confidence, Brian , in that press conference. Because confidence, it would seem over these last couple of weeks, has become in short supply given the debate over the debt ceiling, the downgrade by S&P and, of course, days like this on the market, all of which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You simply don't want to do much in terms of making an investment if you're a consumer or if you're a CEO.

WILLIAMS: And, David , what happened to Bank of America today? They had a very bad day . I read somewhere, 20 percent down on the day.

FABER: That's right . The stock of the company lost 20 percent of its value in one day. Kind of shocking and, frankly, quite scary. Bank of America is a reflection of the American economy . So because of so many concerns about the slowdown in that economy, it is suffering. It's also in the middle of, for lack of a better term, the mortgage mess. The foreclosure crisis and also the packaging of securities that have been made and sold made up of mortgages that it is now in a position of buying back. Add in turmoil in Europe , well, you get all the banks down. But Bank of America really suffered today, Brian .

WILLIAMS: All right, David Faber , after what we know was a long day for all our on-air colleagues over at CNBC . Thank you, as always, for being with us. And a quick program note for our viewers. Again tonight CNBC will have special coverage of the markets this evening beginning at 8 Eastern time .