Congress did the right thing by voting to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. and he couldn t help mentioning job growth has been steady for 23 months now. manufacturers are hiring again. and the auto industry is back. the only thing the president didn t mention, high gas prices are back, too. almost $5 a gallon in some places. but even that might not matter, says yahoo s jeff mackey. that really boils down to whether or not people can get hired. and if people are paying more per gallon to get to work, it s the part about them getting to work that matters more than what they re paying to get there. reporter: in the end the dow finished yesterday a few points below 13,000. but what s important to remember here is the last time stocks were in that neighborhood no one had heard of the great recession, the unemployment rate was 5.4%, and in this market that s driven by perception those happy memories matter. rob and paula? psychologically, they ve said now for years consumer confidence has been the main issue.
hey, pau hey, paula. happy anniversary. rob, i m a little busy right now. i m talking about the 20th anniversary. can t you see i m busy? we ve got a newscast to do in a bit. come on. 20 years live, overnight news. fun, smart, a little attitude. now i know what you re talking about. the 20th anniversary of world news now. and we should do a promo. now you re seeing the whole picture. and that s a great line to use in the promo. we need a promo. we do need a promo. hey. promo! announcer: this has been the world news now 20th
From inflating, reducing oxygen intake. tight jeans, skinny jeans, lesions, lower back pain. and for men, too, collars and neck ties can reduce circulation. did you know 67% of men buy shirts that are smaller than their necks? really? i hate that feeling. health issues. your beauty s pain. what are you going to do here? we also have some breaking news this morning, paula. despite my better judgment but encouragement from you, encouragement from jackie, one of our producers here, i have finally, 20 years after everybody else, joined twitter. yay. i am no longer in the technological stone age here. tv rob nelson is my handle. is that what they call it? i ve resisted this thing. i m a facebook addict but i m just getting on the twitter bandwagon now. you re no longer a twirgin. i m tweeting live for the first time on the air. no longer a twitter virgin. hoping to connect with all of you insomniacs out there. and a good mardi gras story s always welcome. i m going to tweet this out right now. follow me, follow paula, follow the show on twitter.
Much 13,000. and the optimism from yesterday s action on wall street seems to have fizzled on asian markets this morning. the major indexes there were mixed. still, though, it was an important milestone here at home. abc s scott goldberg has all the details. good morning to you, scott. reporter: good morning, rob and paula. today we ll see if the dow can close above 13,000. it spent about 30 seconds there yesterday. the first time stocks have been in that territory in nearly four years. the trading day was two hours old when the dow jones industrial average crossed 13,000 for the first time since may 2008. it s what they call a psychological milestone, not economically significant, but still. it s simply good enough to keep a smile on everyone s face and a song in their heart. reporter: it came after european leaders agreed on a deal to prevent greece from defaulting. it also put an extra bounce in the president s step. now my message to congress is don t stop here. keep going. keep taking the action that people are calling for to keep this economy growing. reporter: mr. obama said