KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Today, nearly all eyes are on the economy. The latest consumer confidence report shows a steeper-than- expected drop, with confidence at the lowest level since December of 1996. This comes as the Fed opens its two-day meeting to consider another interest-rate cut. And joining us now, CNN financial correspondent Peter Viles. Busy day, Peter.</s>PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Kyra. And you can be certain that the Federal Reserve members in that meeting in the building behind me are looking at this consumer confidence report, which showed a drop in confidence that was much larger than most economists expected. That news came at 10 o'clock, an hour after the meeting had begun, Alan Greenspan, as is his custom, arrived here at about eight o'clock this morning, with no fanfare. But this is a different kind of day, the first day of a two-day meeting. And a lot of news has come into the Federal Reserve since they met in an emergency session earlier this month to cut rates. A lot of that news has to do with layoffs. Last week, a flood of announcements of corporate layoff. Lucent Technology, for example, 10,000. This week, the flood seemed to pick up. Chrysler, 26,000 layoffs announced yesterday. Xerox, 4,000 layoffs. So a lot of negative news for the Federal Reserve to consider in this meeting. We do expect tomorrow, when the meeting is over, tomorrow early afternoon, that the Fed will announce a cut in interest rates. How much? The stock market and the bond market make a business of trying to guess how much and make bets on it. And they're betting for at least a half a point cut in interest rates tomorrow from the Fed -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, Peter Viles, thank you.
Consumer Confidence Tumbles as Fed Considers Rate Cut