[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Anchor:] Money talk right now. We may finally see some criminal charges in that WorldCom case. Andy Serwer is on vacation this week. Back with us today, Jerry Willis, "Minding Your Business." Nice to see you, Gerri. Good morning.
[Gerri Willis, Cnn Financial Correspondent:] Thank you.
[Hemmer:] What's taking so long here, huh?
[Willis:] Well, you've got to ask, and actually the charges are coming out of Oklahoma, the state attorney general there. It's not from somebody here in New York City or even in Washington. The state attorney general in Oklahoma is saying, or is planning to say apparently today, filing charges that WorldCom violated state securities regulations in an $11 billion accounting fraud. They're saying they presented investors with false information. We're going see more about that later today probably. But a lot of people have been waiting a long time to see this kind of action taken. The company has not been charged criminally before.
[Hemmer:] And meanwhile, WorldCom is still in business...
[Willis:] Yes.
[Hemmer:] ... despite the slumping stock price.
[Willis:] Yes, you know, they are trading at a nickel a share.
[Hemmer:] Is it that high?
[Willis:] Down from 64 bucks in June 1999. That was about the time you bought it, right?
[Hemmer:] I would say. Yes, I think I had bought it the day before, as a matter of fact. A market preview. It finished strong yesterday afternoon.
[Willis:] Yes, we had a little rally in the middle of the day, stocks came higher. But not looking so good this morning. I wanted to tell you a little bit about the consumer confidence numbers. We talked about them yesterday morning. They're actually looking stronger, rebounding in August from a July dip. There were expectations that those consumers are going to feel a little bit happier. Hopefully that continues as we go forward.
[Hemmer:] Thanks, Gerri. See you a bit later, OK? Gerri Willis here. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com. Called