Nearly half a million people in the former Soviet Union were displaced. Leaders of the affected countries told the Vienna conference that without billions of dollars in foreign aid they can't shut down Chernobyl or begin to fix the problems associated with it. In Vienna, this is Marcia Hill for Marketplace. The long bond rose, bringing its yield down to about six point eight four percent. There's been a worry in the markets in the last few days about a strengthening economy raising the risk of inflation which pushes up interest rates.
Higher rates can hurt car, home and credit card sales.
They also drive up the cost of borrowing for companies, which hurts stocks. Money Magazine Wall Street watcher Jordan Goodman was in Los Angeles today as we watched long term interest rates moving lower. Retail sales are relatively weak, the housing market has been weak and is going to get weaker as the mortgage rates rise here. You're just not seeing a boom out there in any way that I can see. And so I think ultimately rates are going to come back down again.