This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," March 17, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, this is good. The Dow finished up 179 points today. But don't get too intoxicated by the good news. It could flip the other way tomorrow. But tonight, at least it feels good, so where should you go tonight? Only one place, the New York Stock Exchange, of course. So you're going there right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, if you want to know where your money went, this is one good place to check it out. This is the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. And what excitement is here.
Al, what do you do?
ALAN VALDES, J.J.B. HILLIARD LYONS, INC.: I trade stocks down here on the floor. Today, we're a little slow, but basically, we trade stocks (INAUDIBLE) all blue chips, equities. This is the best place to trade, down here on the New York Stock Exchange. No question about it.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, when you say trade, what do you do?
VALDES: Like, say you're a client and you want to buy, say, 10,000 shares of General Electric.
VAN SUSTEREN: Right.
VALDES: You'll call my office in Louisville, Kentucky, Hilliard Lyons. They'll send the order down here, and we go out and try to get the best price to you.
VAN SUSTEREN: So how do you do it?
VALDES: We go to the specialists out here. These guys make markets. This is -- it's like little franchises. Even though a lot of times, you'll see people running around, but everything's got a location. So GE trades only one place on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. That's right behind us. So what we do is we run to GE to see if there's a buyer out there or a seller, and we get each other to meet. We get a good price, and we buy it.
VAN SUSTEREN: I always see, like, in the movies, people screaming and yelling. Where's that?
VALDES: That's gone right now. We don't do that. That was in the past.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so what have you got here?
VALDES: So this is all the technology. Years ago, I would have to be standing on (ph) this star (ph). But now we can do it -- I can talk around the floor and do the stock (ph). Everything can be done electronically now.
VAN SUSTEREN: What if you hit...
VALDES: So this corner (ph)...
VAN SUSTEREN: ... the wrong spot (ph)? Wait a second. What if you hit the wrong spot? That could be bad.
VALDES: Then you got a problem. You got to be very careful when you put it in. But it -- it's just great. This technology gives us the opportunity to walk around, to do more orders and to check everything. We get last (ph) sale and prices on here. So we get a host of information right here from these hand-helds.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know, sometimes we hear, like, maybe the Speaker of the House will say something, like, you know, We need another stimulus bill or something like that. Do statements by politicians like that -- do they have an impact on the market?
VALDES: Oh, no question about it. They can move the market so quickly. I mean, if you see, say -- the other day, Barney Frank mentioned they may modify or get rid of the mark to market or short sale rule, rallied the market, rallied the financials right away. So sure, anything out of Washington moves the market pretty fast.
VAN SUSTEREN: Doreen, first of all, thank you for agreeing to talk to us.
DOREEN MOGAVERO, MOGAVERO, LEE & CO. INC.: Oh, no problem. Thank you for coming by.
VAN SUSTEREN: First of all, I noticed there aren't a lot of women down here on the floor.
MOGAVERO: Everybody says that, but I think there are a lot more than there used to be, and they're hiding all around here. We've got quite a few, actually.
VAN SUSTEREN: Anyway, it's very nice (INAUDIBLE) Where are we, by the way? What is this?
MOGAVERO: We are on what we call the ramp (ph). This is sort of the hub of the exchange right here. This is our booth that we're in, and this is where we take the orders from the customers. The orders come in to the machines here. These are our phone banks that we talk to the customers on and where we monitor all of our orders.
VAN SUSTEREN: Larry, I did a little research and looked at your title, and it's so complicated and long. What is your title?
LAWRENCE LEIBOWITZ, NYSE EURONEXT GROUP EXEC. VP.: I'm the head of U.S. markets and global technology for U.S. -- for NYSE Euronext.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. What is that?
LEIBOWITZ: Well, in the U.S., I run all our exchanges, the NYSE and (INAUDIBLE) and our options exchanges. And then globally, I run the technology platform for all of our exchanges.
VAN SUSTEREN: OK, now tell me what is that.
LEIBOWITZ: What is?
VAN SUSTEREN: Explain it now again.
LEIBOWITZ: Well, essentially, I'm responsible for all the technology you see here and worldwide because we run the Paris exchange, the Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, et cetera, and we have a technology -- and we have a great group of technology people and operational people who make all of this happen. And so I watch while they do all the work.
VAN SUSTEREN: What do you think about the bail-out? Or maybe you're not in a position to tell, but are you -- are you in a position to discuss the bail-out?
LEIBOWITZ: Well, you know, obviously, there are a lot smarter people than us creating those things. But clearly, we needed to do something to save some of these institutions before they pulled the whole financial system down, and also restore confidence in the banking system, the finance system and the markets. I think a lot of this is really about confidence in the integrity of the markets.
VAN SUSTEREN: How much are we dependent on, like, the European nations, for instance, having confidence in the market? I mean, how interconnected are we?
LEIBOWITZ: It's a great question. I think one of the lessons of this downturn is that we are truly an interconnected global market. And that means a lot of different things. We don't not only need to be confident of those markets -- and also the Far East, China and the Mideast -- but also, we need our regulators to sort of -- to act together, as well, because if we fix the U.S. banking system, but the same things don't happen in Europe, well, we're going to still be exposed to the same sorts of problems. And I know that when it comes to the stimulus, we're talking of stimulus not just here but stimulus in Europe and other places in the world.
VAN SUSTEREN: What's the difference between a sustained rally and just sort of a little bit of good news and having sort of spike in the market up for a couple days?
LEIBOWITZ: Well, you know, that's really the good question. And in hindsight, it's always easier to call it.
VAN SUSTEREN: After -- yes, of course!
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: I like that, as well!
John, who do you work for?
JONATHAN CORPINA, MERIDIAN EQUITY PARTNERS: Meridian Equity Partners.
VAN SUSTEREN: How do you feel about the bail-out and the stimulus?
CORPINA: It's a very complicated situation we are in right now. I think the government has the right intentions of trying to help some of these companies, but what we continue to do is throw good money at bad money. At some point, the government has to decide we've given enough money to these companies. They have to be able to figure it out on their own. This is a capitalist society. They have to be able to survive, and if they can't survive, somebody else is going to.
VAN SUSTEREN: What's your level of certainty that we're on the right track now?
CORPINA: I think the new administration is moving us in the right direction. What the American people feel and they hear is the details of the programs moving forward, and I think that's adding confidence to this market. Moving in the right direction? I think we need to up our regulation both from the financial markets and the financial companies. I think that's going to help bring investor confidence back to where we need to be.
VAN SUSTEREN: I got to watch those numbers. The Dow is up today, and everybody is quite happy. So this is a very good day to be here to go "On the Record" from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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