captioning sponsored bwpbt >> paul: the fedolds interest ras near zero and sees light at the end of the cession's tunnel economist michelle girard an market strategismike holland join us to discu the central ba's latest policy statement. >> suzanne: overhaing the tion's financial rule book it's something barney frank wants toeep on the front rner. the inflntial lawmaker says he wants a bill on the house floor by nember. >> paul: google's c.e. says get readfor a spending spree as the internet goliath ars up touy a company a month to expandts business. >> taking the stairsnot taking the elator. getting up and ming around. weake walks at lunchtime where we might just go ta restaurant

and t down. >> suzanne: boosting emploe health a wellness, it's at the heart of an innovative pgram lower employer health care costs. >> paul:'m paul kangas. suzanne: and i'm suzanne pratt. susie ghar is on assignment. this is "nightlyusiness report" r wednesday, september 23. "nightly business rert" is made ssible by:

this program was made possib by contribions to your pbs station fromiewers like you. thank you. 7//& >> suzanne: good eveng everyone. the federal serve is upbeat abouthe economy but policymakers todayept interest rates at htorically low levels again. at t close of its 2-day meeting, the fed said conomic activityas picked up". but it went on to y that activitys likely to remain ak for sometime. on inflation polymakers don't seem worried. on rates, look for tse to stay w for an extended period. the fed also streted the timetable for s debt buying

progms, including mortgage backedecurities. it wilnow remain in that markethrough march of next year. joing us now to help read today's fed tea-leaves is michelle girard, senoir onomist at rbs and mike holland of holla and company. welcome to t program. >> gooto be here, thanks. >> what is your assessment of e f's state tay? it seems to be the mos optimistic that they've been about the economy some time. do you agree with it? >> yes d yes. i think in both instaes it's been seral meetings several months since we've heard this kind of optimistic, i don't want to overste it,here's still good reference in tre to the hrible js picture and so on, b things are gettin grudgingly better, and i think that's a fair assessment as i talk to bunesses and railers, things have a the lst leveled off and are beginning to move up a littl bit.

>> so why didn't the stock market rally why do we see the sloff that weaw, do u think? >> stockarket on a day-to-day hour hourminute to minuteasiss sometimes totally irrationale andome pele say often iational. in the last half-hour there was a b program tt some people come in,here was nothin in the federal reserve stement in th openarket statement that had anything to do with people being discomforted. this is what the market wted hear,here was in surpse. >> what abouthe take inflation? i think some pple may have been sprised to see th theris absolutely no reference, they remed the talk about commodity prices that have en moving higher and clearlythey don't seem, aat least o worried about inflation. do youagreewith that? >> i thinkhey are always woied. i think their woy now includes the psibility that we would have mething that

is anathema an that's clining prices which we h in the 30s. if we geecliningrices that's a recipe for enomic nightmare. they don't wan that. we do have a huge amount of excess cacity in plant and equipment d also in the labor force. nowe he things around the world not getti a lot better, with the exceptionf asia. i think you and i spok earlier, i was inhina last week, they've got song economic activity and a lile bit inflation the air is what they're talking about having said thatthe.s. federal serve is not in any way worried about inflation right now. they're worrd about jobs, i think bs is number one, in terms of concerns right now. >> wt does thearket think in terms of wh the fed gointo start to raise rates? is it connected to what happens on the jobront? i've heard people say that until the unemployment rate peakwe're not going toee a hike in rates. do you aee with that, d is that the perception in the market right now?

>> i think the way you descbed it is exactl where wall street and the economists are. they think the middleof next ye at the earliest for the fed to raise rates. some people are sayg not until the end of nex year. but i n't think any of tse mean anything in tms of what you describe, it all up to the jobsicture. until jobs tur around, i think the feral reserve will lott to do anything to encourage people not to he pele. i think they wantobs created, get this enomy going. >> want to touch for a minute on this morning backe securities question. it's a little technical but for pple at home, is it too lat if they haven't already to rinance in terms of getti the best ratethat you possiblyould because of today's news? >> i don't think so suzan. i think what the fedal reserve saying they're going to be aund a little longero try to make the transition to their getting out of this business, and as you say it's inside baseball, but to get outf this business i don think is necessily somethinghat is going to cause mortgage rates

to jump . i thin there's eughlack the system right now that these low rates should be around for a while. >> gettingack to the ock maet for a second, a you making any changes in terms of yourortfolio because of today's fed news? >> no. as i sai elier, i thi the federal reserve said exactly what peopl hoped they would say, what they had prepared people for,or them to y. an i tnk that's very important, what bernanas done since this cris began. he and t federal reserve, i'm inhe camp of they've done a lotf good things. made a couple of mistakes,ut overall ha doneome heroic things they havenot surprised the marketnd they didn't do that today. they did not surpristhe market today >> very goodhoughts. thank you so much for joing us this ening, mike. >> okay, suzanne, sorry to miss michelle. >> my guest, mike holland. >> paul: wall street srted the day in aautious mood as

vestors waited on the fed. the dow posted a 20 pot loss with the nasdaoff 2 points by te morning. then stocks slowly recover as hopes grew tt the news from e fed would be good and when it was, the dow jued to a 60 point in. but market bears solinto the strength >> suzan: reports that efforts

to refm the financial regulatory system are ad are premature. so says barneyrank. the chairmanf the house finance committee today ded to the fray to get that legislation written anonto the house flr by november. as stephanie dhue reports, everyone agrees anverhaul's needed but no e agrees on how should be done. >> reporter: right now tre are a handful of regators overseeinghe financial system. but none has the per to dismantle finaial institutions like a.i.g., bank of arica and tigroup, if they were about fail. house nancial services committee chrman barney frank says that needs to change. >> wwill be providing a mechanism for putting n-bank financial stitutions out of evybody's misery. >>eporter: the administration wants to give that authorityo the federal reserve. but the's no consensus that's the right way to go. while the fed had thpower to regulateortgages, it didn't do it, until itas too late. and many doubt giving the d

more powerow would prevent a future cris. but treasury secretaryimothy geithner says someone needs be in charge. >> if you give that responsibity to a bunch of people, en you can't hold them accountable r performae. >> reporter:here is also disagreeme about creating a conser financial protection agency. republicaneb hensarling says that approach is heavy hded and could extend to retaers who provide creditlike walmart, target, and my's. >>e see something that is very broad, very draconn. >> reporter: but geithner ys the goal is to keep potentia prlems from slipping through regulatory crack >> if you are in the busess of providing financial cred, and that is your biness and your competing withanks and thrifts that are doing tt, there shoulde a common basic set of standards and protectis. >> reporter: but frank saynot all fis selling financial pructs will be subject to the oversight a new watchdog ency, including car dealers and 1(k) providers. anif you're looking for plain vanilla produc, those won't be quired either.

stephanie dhue, "nigly business repor, washington. >> paul: join us tomrow night in pritime as we take part in the "pbspecial report: health care reform". n.b.r. joins other pbsews and public affairs programfor this 90-mute, in-depth look at reforming the nati's 2-1/2 trilli dollar health care system. as part of that our sees "bill of health" h been looking at the challeng employers face in providing care to employee night, jeff yastine reports one program, making grt strides in cutting corporate

health care costs. >> reporter: workers athe americaniabetes association go about their daily roines the same as everyonelse. but look closely. you can see these. pedometers. tached to their belts. the hi-tecdevices measure and record how far an emoyee walks each d. digital health monitoring stations like this are at the coref virgin healthmiles one of erepreneur richard branson's companies. it's an example of newhinking. when it comes toowering health insurance cost instead of manang the cost of an employee getting sick, focuon improving eir health, which might keep them out of the hospit in the first ple. for ose employees that are trying to be respoible with their behaviornd take rsonal responsibility in their health. so lot of our clients are implementi it as of day one and ey get a return on investment the dayhey implement it because ey're sharing that portion of the cost of the progm.

those peop who don't participate, their alth insunce is a little mor than tho people who d >> reporter: here's one way think about thisew approach. if y have a car, you buy auto insunce, if you have no accidents or speing tickets, you get a 'good iver' discount. you're considered 'good risk.' suppe companies could get a discount on health pla, if its workforc as a whole, had a better 'health risk?' the towers perriresearch firm calls these companie"high rformers," and found they saved anverage of $1,200 per worker annually. employees at these health- cused firms paid $324 less than counterparts elwhere. but david ilmette of towers perrin says it takes long-term corporate focus to see tho savings. >> there are probably half dozen serious condions that drive e majority of healthcare spending. and mostf those conditions can impacted by behavioral changes. in fact almost0% of healthcare costs can be impacteby changes in indidual behaviors.

whetr it's exercise, eating right, knowing your mbers cholestorolevels, blood pressure, done consisttly across a large population people can really have a positive impact overime. >>eporter: of course, you can encourage employeeto go to the gym. even buy them a gymembership. th doesn't mean they'll use it. t insurance discounts, cash rewards and coetitive spirit, n help. ameran diabetes association emplee chad whittaker says he lost 30 poundsthanks in part to the b-carrot-little stick approach of virgin healthmes. >> i think its great becse it keeps you the mood to get up and get moving. all us. we try to excise, but are the some nights where you just don't want to do i but if you're the middle of a lk challenge, that means you've got to get up a do it. so it reallyushes you. >>eporte so, as congress nsiders its choices, so does the nation's priva sector. at stake: the cost of alth plans, a healthier wororce, profits for sharehders and solving a decades olproblem:

how to contain theising cost of heahcare, and the insurance that pays for it. jeff ytine "nightly business report" miami. >> pl: now let's take a look at some stocks in the ws tonight.

>> pl: tonight's "street critique" guest says it's en a great rally t eventually that shoe is gog to drop. he's todd harrison foundernd c.e.o. of minyville. todd, welce back to n.b.r.

>> gat to be back, paul. >> paul: wha did you make of the fed atement today? looks like policy makers are eing signs of recovery. are you positive? >> i think we'v seen a smooy before with them, i think they'll be accommodating as long as possible and they artrying to squeeze the public back into ris assets. and they've done that in lar part but the proveial saying o wall street the first move after a fed announcement is a false move you saw a gurve up and took off at the end of t da >> paul:tocks are neartheir highs of the year, as / long-time trader whaare you seeing in the maet? >> what i'm seeing is risk being shuttled back a forth between the publicnd private sector, a lotf secondaries now as companies take advantage ofhigher stock prices. and mu like energy, risk isn't created dtroyed it simp changes form. and i thinkhat's largely at we're seeing and it warns a t of caution on t part of invtors. >> paul: you were bearish on technology when yo joined us

la month. but those stocksave continued to moveigher. do you still e trouble in the teck secto >> the technology sector is a bang for the buck play for portfolio managers. but to be clear, that last trade was just that, it was a trade, a defin risksetup. once that triggered i was out of the trade and i'm trading from the sho side now, but it's vy defin risk management. pae cut your loss and let your profits r, inther rds, right? >> that's the way torade them. >>aul: okay. you're an experienced trar, that'sor sure. any particular stocks u do like a these levels? >> i cautiou at these levels and i don't wanto be a broken recd, but i will say the one thing that concerns me is the unirmity and the opinion that we're gog to continue higher. for ceain credit markets are pointing in that dirtion, but from pundits to poticians to hedge fund managers across the board there's uformity in the believthat we're going to

continueigher, and i thi every time everyone isn one side of the boatou gotta be careful. i'd procd with caution. >> paul: so caution is your by word for the moment, correct? >> it is, but you rpect the up side. i just, opportuties are made up easier than losses. >> paul: and i can chae from day-to-day. todd, i want to thank you for joining us again. >> as always, my pleasure, pa. >> pl: my guest, todd harrison founder of minyanvil and author of the-book "memoirs of a minyan." >> suzanne: tomorrow, aetn chairm and c.e.o. ron williams tells us why he thinksixing the heth care delivery system is the key to reform. >> sanne: friday october 2, will be the last pout for shareholder's ofhe money market mutual fund thabroke the buck a year ago. investors in the rerve primary fund will lit $1 billion. ter that, the fund will hold $3/2 billion which could eventually go to sharehoers.

the primary fund had $ billion undemanagement before it lost billions in the collapse o lehman brothers. >> pl: the russians are coming, to the n.b.a. ruia's richest man is buying a controing stake in the new jeey nets basketball team. mikhail prhorov's is also king over the development of new arena for thnets in brooklyn he's paying $200-million f 80% of the team d making funding mmitments for the atlantic yards project. he'll the first non-north american n.b.a. owner.

>> suzanne: in t "money file" toght, cutting your health care costs. here's personal finance journalist terri culle >> the average cost of a famy health-insuran policy has jump to nearly $13,500 a year, according to the latest surv by the kair family foundation. rse, workers who get help paying f health insurance from their employers are paying mh higher premis, averaging about $3,500ut-of-pocket each year that's double e amount they we paying just 10 years ago. and these days morinsurers are monitoring, anin some cases nalizing, individuals with higher preums for unhealthy habits such asmoking or lack ofxercise. so what can you to combat risingosts? despite the jump in priums, there are some ws to keep costs w.

if your heal-insurance provider givesou the option, nsider raising your deductible, t amount you pay fore insurance kicks in. the higher your deductle, the lower yo premiums. to proct yourself from a whack to the pocketbook, conder setting up aealth-savings acunt with your bank or insurance provider. with an h.s., you make tax- deductible conibutions up to $3,000 for singles and up $5,950 for a famy in 2009. but check with youinsurer first, to ma sure the plan you oose qualifies for an h.s.a. xt, check your credit histor for errors thamay be keeping yo score low. believe it or not, insurers ve found that people who ve fast and loose withheir credit often do the same th their health, so thecharge them more finally, if you've ever need a kick in the pants toive a healthielifestyle, this is it quitting smoki and participatinin employer- sponsored wellness pgrams can help you live a loer life, and shave your health-careosts as well as ur waistline. i'terri cullen. paw terry has more ts on the nbblog.

you'll fine that,treaming video and more at "nightly siness report" onpbs.org. you can so email us at nbpbs.org. >> paul:ecapping today's rket action, stocks lose the early gains, deste the fed's optism. the dow lost1 points and the sdaq fell almost 15 points. at's "nightly business repor for wednesday, stember 23. i'm suzanne pratt. goodnight, everyone. and good night to u, paul. >> paul: gdnight suzanne. m paul kangas wishing all of you the best of gd buys. "nightly business rert" is made psible by:

this program w made possible by contributions to your pbs station from vwers like you. thank you. captning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.or