[David Haffenreffer, Cnn Anchor:] And as you might imagine, the equity markets are also open for trading in Europe this morning.
[Deborah Marchini, Cnn Anchor:] The latest numbers now and more from Todd Benjamin in our London bureau. Hello, Todd.
[Todd Benjamin, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Deb. London's up about half percent. Now, that's despite British Telecom coming out with third-quarter pre-tax profits that were certainly at the bottom end of expectations; they were down 24 percent, and the stock is off like 17 percent today 16, 17 percent. The market rather shocked by those figures. BT blames increased competition in the U.K., especially in the fixed-line side, and just too many people under its payroll. As a result, it actually plans to cut its payroll by 10 percent in its management ranks, or some 3,000 managers are to go over the next six to nine months. So BT's stock really getting hammered today, and, of course, it had been a darling last year. In terms of the overall markets, as I mentioned, the FTSE is just up about a half percent; the Dax is up a third of a percent; now, Paris is up almost 1 12 percent; and Zurich is up a quarter percent. In the currency market, the dollar is about a half-yen stronger against the Japanese currency, the euro is little changed, and the pound is a third-cent weaker against the greenback Deb, Dave.
[Haffenreffer:] Todd, Wall Street basically gearing up for a quarter-point interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve today. What's the anticipated reaction in the European markets?
[Benjamin:] Well, I think the reaction will really follow what happens on Wall Street. If, you know, if Wall Street has a fairly muted response, and a lot of it already seems to be built into the market, given the rally we had yesterday, then I think that, you know, Europe, tomorrow, will basically take its cue from Wall Street's close, because, of course, Europe will already be closed by the time the decision is announced. But, in general, I think most people here are expecting that the Fed will move by a quarter point. There's only an outside chance they feel that they'll move by a half point.
[Marchini:] All right, Todd, thanks a lot.