Nightly Business Report for wednesday, july 8th. Good evening. Im tyler mathisen. Coming to you from the New York Stock Exchange. Something happen today that has happened only a few times before. Trading stopped for nearly four hours and it came at a time when events in greece and sharp declines in china already have investors on edge. While there was no activity here at the nyse, stocks were able to trade on other exchanges. The nyse made it clear wasnt a cyber breach but rather a technical problem that caused the suspension of trading. And the department of Homeland Security confirmed, there was no sign of malicious activity. Bob has more on what it was like at the big board when trading came to a screeching halt. What started as a day concerned about greece and china turned into a waiting game, waiting for the nyse floor to open. They had connect. Issues at the open meaning issues communicating orders between customers. It was quickly resolved and didnt appear to affect overall trading. Then at 11 32 eastern time, the nyse shut the entire floor down for what they called a technical issue. The electronic Trading Platform continued as usual as did trading in the stocks on other exchanges including nasdaq. Trading resumed at 3 10 eastern time and the all important close came off uneventfully. So what happened . The nyse has declined to name a specific name but it is possibly a Software Issue from the night before. However the process of fixing that issue may have caused other Software Problems that eventually shut the entire nyse floor down. This has happened several times before on other exchanges as well. This is the most serious of those outages if it is a software problem. It wasnt a good day for the nyse. Considering there are 11 exchanges and trillions of pieces of data that move between thernlg it is remarkable that doesnt happen even more often. The last serious problem with this type occurred in 2009 when the nyse was shut down for roughly 30 minutes. For nightly Business Report. So how concerned for that investors be when Something Like this happens . Kenny works on the floor of the exchange. He is the director of oneal security. Nice to be here with you. How concerned should the Retail Investor be when we have a three and a half hour trading halt . The investor need not be concerned. There are now 11 exchanges so the market, theres not just the New York Stock Exchange the way there used to be years ago with modern technology and after 9 11, the whole structure of the market has changed. So it is very important in what investors should know. There were other venues to pick up the slack where we were unable to perform. The markets didnt melt down them didnt get nervous. Actually a Retail Investor, if he wasnt watching the news he would have no idea this was even happening because the transition was just so smooth. So in that sense, it was very, very good. When we and investors shouldnt be that concerned it was specific to the New York Stock Exchange. It didnt affect any other venues so therefore it continued to work. So if i wanted to buy 100 shares of ford or sell 100 shares of alcoa today, i could have done it at exactly the same price i would have got if this malfunction hadnt occurred, right . Of course. There is a thing called nbbo. And brokers are forced as they should be to send or to float to the National Best offer. In this case most of the time it is here at the new york stock today exchange. Today because we couldnt function the other exchanges step up, volume trades, liquidity is there. There was no loss of liquidity in the market. So a Retail Investor wouldnt have any such idea that there was an issue. And it is important to note when the New York Stock Exchange did reopen for trading, it was orderly and the close was orderly. And that was the key part. When they finally got through the problem, we just did a resume trade. So you pick up and start trading where theyve been trading. Where they had been trading in the other venues and we jump back into the fray again. And then the closing auction went off without a hitch and i think that was key. So if i look at the price of my e. T. F. Or my mutual fund or the value of the Dow Jones Industrial average tonight, i am not going to know this glitch happened. You wouldnt have any idea. Trading went all day long and it went on uneventfully. And then the closing auction happened here. So everyone was priced off the primary markets closed. The primary market close with no issues. You wouldnt have any idea. Thats a benefit to the Retail Investor in this country. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. Well that Software Failure at the New York Stock Exchange was not the only one that happened today. Not by a long shot. Early this morning, a computer issue at United Airlines grounded its planes worldwide for more than an hour. 4,900 flights affected. 400,000 passengers. That caused a prolonged Ripple Effect of heavy delays throughout the day at united hubs in chicago, denver houston newark among others. The airline blamed a router malfunction. And for a while that is what you saw on the home page. An outage. Though other sections of the website did continue to work. While on wall street stocks fell hard. Dropping at the open and staying lower until the closing bell. Concerns about the pace of Global Growth after a selloff in chinese stocks spilled over into the u. S. Market. At the close the Dow Jones Industrial average fell 261 points to close at 17,515. The nasdaq fell 87 points and the s p 500 was off 34. As sue just said, chinese stocks took another plunge today and it was dramatic. Despite that countrys regulators taking fresh steps to bolster the market. The shanghai composite fell another 6 overnight making that indexs total decline over the past month about 30 . That translates into more than 550 billion worth of losses. And the recent plunge hasnt gone unnoticed by u. S. Treasury secretary jack lu. The concerns that is a real one, what does it mean about long term growth in china. I think that that, i would break it into two pieces. How do chinas policy makers respond to this and what does it mean by the core condition of the economy . I think the first is quite critical. In beijing a bubble bursting. Reporter we saw plenty of votes in the stock market. We went down to a brokerage amidst all this and the mood was fearful, panicked, emotions were running high. The focus was mainly on this mass trading halt that we had here and what the Chinese Media had described as the biggest ever in the countrys stock market history. Now, more than 50 of the listed companies in china have had their shares suspended. Ostensibly to stop the volatility and to protect the companies from falling prices but hit the opposite effect and it is really hurting sentiment. Many are selling whatever they can. The anger was directed mainly at the government. A lot of investors, one in particular was complaining to us saying that the government got them to buy a lot of these shares and now theyre all falling into an abyss. And that really gets at the heart of why the government is behaving the way it is with such unusual moves and throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the problem. Because the concern is that the stock market issue could become a social stability issue here. The government came in with other measures, saying that it was going to continue with its liquidity, also government authorities called on state owned enterprises not to sell their shares. More than 100 have now pledged not to sell their shares and to even buy shares. And other companies and executives have said theyre taking up a patriotic fight in order to buy its shares and save the stock market. For nightly Business Report, beijing. That drop in chinas stock market comes at a time when there are increasing signs the economy is slowing. In fact the new report shows auto sales have dropped for the first time in two years. And that could be a big blow to u. S. Automakers. Reporter this is what automakers have been fearing for years. China where. 25 of the world vehicles are sold appears to be slowing down. This tracks retail sales at dealerships says sales dropped 3. 5 in june. The first monthly decline in two years. Exactly why chinese consumers are pulling back is unclear. But it coincides with a plunge in the chinese stock market of 30 in the last month. For u. S. Automakers like ford which has been aggressively responding in china, a drop in demand is a concern as it is for gm which is in the midst of pushing its cadillac brand in client. Still, the ceo is confident her company can do well even if chinas car buyers pull back. We see an opportunity. Were at a point of launching new vehicles which will come out shortly. As the second largest auto maker in china, General Motors could be hit hard if sales there continue to fall over an extended period of time. But it is not just General Motors. Almost every major automaker has a presence in china and all of them are counting on consumers to continue buying cars and suvs. Nightly Business Report chicago. It is not just gm that has exposure to china. Other company may have to reset their expectations as well if chinas economy slows markedly. Chad, welcome, good to have you with us. We like in the media to attribute many of the days u. S. Stock market losses to worries about whats going on over in china. But as a long term matter, is what is happening in china really going to be a material driver of u. S. Stock values . Well, it will be a material driver in Global Growth which has a feedback loop into the markets here in the United States. Keep in mind that chinas gdp is roughly 15 of global gdp. So therefore, we do have to keep a careful consideration to global as well as economic friends within the chinese economy. How worried are you about whats happening with the chinese stock market ask the chinese economy, especially in light of the fact the central bank seems to be throwing in everything but kitchen sink. The chinese economy is decelerating. Several years ago it was growing about 10 . Our expectations are for about a 6 growth in 2015. And then, of course, a shift lower in growth to 4 over the course of the next three years. Now that said, that is something that will affect the u. S. Financial markets. When we look at the equity markets within china, the equity markets, were not very concerned about. The markets there are up 15 year to date, still with this massive selloff on a 12month basis. Over 50 . And the majority of the investors in the Chinese Market are chinese citizens and theyre the Retail Investor. It is very difficult for portfolio investors to invest directly into the Chinese Markets. Chad, if those chinese Retail Investors are feeling their holdings wither with, go down by 50 , that would suggest they wont spend as much and that could depress imports into that country from other economies like ours. Not only the United States but the largest trading partner is the eurozone. One thing to consider, the sectors here in the United States that will be most vulnerable like you said, and mentioned in the last segment, autos as well as oil and gas complex will be affected because chinese growth deceleration will also move the demand curve down. Henls the reason why autos, oil as well as commodities are feeling the brunt of the sell yacht. Thanks for explaining the transmission there. And according to morning star these are the three mutual funds with the great exposure to china. Fidelity emerging asia, principle markets a and templeton markets world a. For a longer list, you can go to our website. Nbr. Com. Now to the other big concern for the market these days. Greece as we reported last night that country has until sunday to strike a deal with creditors or else they suggest it wont be able to stay in the euro zone. In athens, a report on what may happened next. Reporter after lightest nights disastrous meeting, there was another letter asking for a bailout. This one softer, less strident in tone and he promised by tomorrow he would submit a list of detailed reforms that would satisfy greeces creditors. Still the endless delays, led to scathing criticism of the countrys Prime Minister as he attended a meeting of the European Parliament in strasburg france. You are talking about reform but we never see the greece proposals of reform. I am angry because we are, already five years we are sleep walking with the help and with the support, of the people of the extreme right. And not only we are sleep walking, the last months we are i have running. I have more the impression. But it is not you and it is not we who ourselves pay the bills. It is the ordinary greek citizens who are paying the bills. You cannot have your cake and eat it. They will give you no more, these people. They cant afford to. If they give you more they have to give other euro zone members more. If you have the courage, you should lead the greek people out of the euro zone with your head held eye. Get back your democracy. Get back control of your country. Give your people the leadership and the home that they crave. Here in greece the population and particularly the Business Community is growing increasingly concerned that an exit from the euro is the most likely outcome. For nightly Business Report, athens. Federal reserve policy makers also expressed concern about greece and china. And the possible effects on the u. S. Economy at last months meeting Hampton Pearson has more on what was discuss asked what hints if any were given about a potential rate hike. When Federal Reserve policy monetary makers met this june they were looking for more signs of a stronger u. S. Economy and concerned about the continuing greek debt crisis, as well as signs of an economic slowdown in china. International and domestic concerns are on the feds radar screen and appear to be the keys to the timing of when janet yellen and her fellow Monetary Policy make letters begin raising key short term interest rates. I think it is encouraging to see they were on the ball. That they could recognize that there were risks outside the u. S. That could still present a material threat to the u. S. Outlook. Reporter the economy is getting closer to achieving the dual mandate of full employment and inflation. As of mid june it has not yet been achieved. Many expect it could be absorbed by the end of the year and the fed wants more evidence inflation is moving back toward target levels. And policy makers are still worried about the lingering effects of bad weather earlier this year and the slowdown at west coast ports at Economic Growth for the rest of the year. The committee clearly remained a bit under easy about the weakness that we see in the early part of this year. Particularly the consumer piece of it which was more puzzling than the idea that the Energy Sector was reducing its cap x or exporters were having a harder time because of a strong dollar. Next week fed chair janet yellen reports to congress. To be followed at the end of the month by the next fomc meeting. For nightly Business Report, Hampton Pearson in washington. Still ahead, did the first big Company Report earnings this season knock it out of the park or strike out . Alcoas results next. Mixed mixed results after the bell marked the unofficial start of the earnings season. Earnings came in at 19 cents a share. That was 3 cents below analysts estimates. While the revenue topped estimates and was higher than last year. The companys chief says business is strong despite commodity volatility. The markets have faced a lot but here we see, the business performed the best first half since 2007. And there was real resilience. Shares were slightly higher at alcoa in initial after hours trading. Time microsoft will cut thousands of jobs and thats where we begin only thes focus. The tech jinl announcing it will slash nearly 8,000 positions with most of them coming from the phone business. The firm will take charge. Shares were off slightly to 44. 24. Sales of the apple watch have plunged 90 since opening week. Separately, a wall street journal report out today says the company is preparing for a record production of its next iphone by the end of the year. Shares fell 2. 5 . The chairman will take over as ceo. The shares were off at barclays, 1 to 15. 79. And Southwest Airlines reporting an increase in traffic capacity and load factor from last year. The airline also saying that a key passenger revenue metric is expected to increase in its second quarter. Shares of southwest all 3 on the down day. They finished at 32. 36. The town of sun valley idaho is beautiful and it is known for two things. Skiing and the coming together of media moguls and tech titans who are looking to possibly strike a deal at the allen and company conference. Julia is there with all the buzz. Reporter from disney ceo to tessa ceo elon musk. They gather moguls and tech titans to spark conversation and deals. Theres always consolidation. Consolidation is the name of thing. Were always looking