Obama Meets with Democratic Senators
HOLMES: President Obama just minutes away from a working lunch with Democratic senators. And among the items on the agenda, what would you guess? The economy, of course. Our Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, hello to you, again. There have been the past couple days, I guess some good economic news, little glimmers of hope, at least with the stock market and also with Ford even reporting that sales were up. But some important things like job numbers. And also, we're talking about personal income fell 1.3 percent in June, which was worse than economists expected. Those are the things that really matter to a lot of people. So, what's the reaction from the Oval Office?</s>QUIJANO: Yes, and those are things, T.J., you're exactly right, that will no doubt be a part of the conversation here when 57 of the Democratic senators will be meeting here at the White House. We're told that three will not -- senators Byrd, Kennedy, as well as Senator Mikulski. She's got a broken ankle, apparently. But in any case, it will be a chance to sit down and talk about those issues and the president's priorities going forward. We know his biggest domestic priority, of course, in addition to the broader overall economy, is health care reform. The Senate leaves on its recess coming up here at the end of the week, and the president very much wants to make sure he drives home this message that he wants to see health care reform done by the end of the year. Other business, as you noted, the economy. Also the wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program, we're told. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters earlier today this meeting will be a chance for the president to reiterate that he wants to see the Senate go ahead and extend the Cash for Clunkers program. They think it's been good for the economy and good for the environment. They want to see it definitely continue. A lot on the agenda when the senators meet here in about half an hour --</s>T.J. HOLMES: And remind us who got the invite to this lunch.</s>QUIJANO: It was all 60 senators.</s>HOLMES: All of them.</s>QUIJANO: Sixty Democratic senators, I should say. Three for health reasons not coming, senators Byrd, Kennedy and Senator Mikulski, Barbara Mikulski, apparently having suffered a broken ankle, according to Robert Gibbs. So, she won't be making it today.</s>HOLMES: OK. All right. Elaine Quijano for us from the White House. We appreciate you once agin. And the president marked his 200th day in office this week. Now, it's your chance to grade the job he's doing so far. You can log on to CNN.com/reportcard and see the results from CNN's "NATIONAL REPORT CARD." That's Thursday night at 8:00 Eastern. Well, your 401(k) may be looking a little better lately. But you probably already knew that. It's probably not back to the pre- recession levels just yet, but stocks are rebounding from last year's crash, and Christine Romans of our CNN Money Team taking stock of the recovery.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: T.J., let's step back and assess your stock market investments. Anything tied to the major stock market averages are clawing back from the crash of '08. Stocks have now finished the best five months since 1938. Let's look at the S&P; 500. It represents the stocks of 500 different companies. It's considered the benchmark. It is now up 11 percent this year as of yesterday's close, back to levels not seen since last November. You can see on this chart a collapse all the way to 12-year lows in March, and then a sharp rebound. The S&P; 500, as of yesterday, up 48 percent from that March low. So, what does that mean for you? It means if you're still invested in the market, the stock portion of your portfolio is recovering. Why? Because the stock market is anticipating the economy will turn around. The economy is still very weak, but auto sales, housing, manufacturing, construction and earnings are showing signs of stabilizing. As one economist put it, the freefall of the skydive is over, the chute has been pulled and the economy is still falling, but now floating down. Skeptics see caution ahead. The jobless rate expected to rise to 10 percent, perhaps higher. Foreclosures continue. American consumers are spending less and paying down their debt. That's good for their personal finances, but it's behavior that could slow a recovery. No doubt this spring and summer rally has been powerful. You will notice it in your 401(k) statements, but you haven't made all your money back. The S&P; 500 price is still down 19 percent versus a year ago. It's got a long way to go, T.J.</s>HOLMES: All right. Got a long way to go, as Christine said. So, are we getting there? Susan Lisovicz joining us now from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. How are things today?</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the bulls are taking a little bit of a breather. Understandable, T.J., given the summer sizzler that we enjoyed in recent weeks. But, you know, Christine set the table for us very nicely. The market's rally has been, you know, because of these daily signs that things are getting better. Case in point, a new report that we got just this morning on pending home sales, which rose for the fifth straight month. Now, we haven't seen something like that since the summer of 2003. That's great. But we also got another report that showed personal income dropped by 1.3 percent. That is a big amount. That is a one-month drop, and that is not something you want to see. And it really speaks to why no economists I've spoken to is popping the champagne corks just yet. This is going to be a long slog coming out of this recession. Why is that? Because we feel that we're under pressure. With the jobless rate rising, with the average workweek shrinking, the personal income did drop a month before in May. It rose by a similar amount because of all the stimulus. The fact is, we are still suffering. What we do with our income generates activity, most of the economic activity in the U.S.. And, so, I think there's a little bit of caution you're seeing on Wall Street today. The Dow's right now on the plus side, just marginally. It's been kind of a seesaw session, T.J. The Nasdaq right now has turned positive, too. But we've been seeing for most of the morning, we've been seeing a selloff. Just a little bit of caution in the air. That's not a bad thing. In fact, that's even a healthy thing after the gains we've seen recently --</s>T.J. HOLMES: Yes, and we could talk about some of those numbers, those job numbers and personal income. Those are things that people really, really feel. So, those are the things we'll keep an eye on. Susan Lisovicz, we...</s>LISOVICZ: And we have a big jobs report on Friday, and that's probably the biggest headline of the week --</s>T.J. HOLMES: All right. Well, we know you are on top of things. Susan Lisovicz, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again soon. And you can follow the stock market and all the financial news of the day. Just go to CNNmoney.com.