Treasury Secretary Offers Reassurance

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said the U.S. economy remains on track for continued growth - even after stocks plunged in the largest single-day percentage decline since the 1987 crash.

“Measures to halt trading temporarily went into effect automatically as designed,” said Rubin, who heads the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. “The payment and settlement systems and other market mechanism are working effectively.”

Rubin also suggested in a brief statement that the recent weakness in stocks worldwide won’t derail the U.S. economy. “It is important to remember that the fundamentals of the United States economy are strong and have been for the past several years.” he said.