Wall $treet Week

''Bloomberg Wall Street Week'' (''WSW''), is an investment news and information TV program airing Friday nights on the Bloomberg Television.

History

The original weekly show hosted by Louis Rukeyser aired each Friday evening on PBS in the United States from November 20, 1970, to 2005. The program features a host (or hosts) and guest experts participating in discussions related to the financial markets.

The original show, which was created by Anne Truax Darlington and produced by Maryland Public Television (MPT), debuted on the entire PBS network on November 20, 1970, and was officially titled ''Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser'' (''W$W'') during the 32 years he hosted from November 20, 1970, to March 22, 2002 (the "S" in "Street" was rendered and officially titled in television listings with a dollar sign).

In June 2002, the show was modified, dropping Rukeyser and changing the name to ''Wall Street Week with Fortune''. Rukeyser went on to host ''Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street'' on CNBC (cancelled on December 31, 2004, at Rukeyser's request due to continuing ill health), which was also distributed to PBS stations. ''Wall Street Week with Fortune'', as it was done under the partial aegis of ''Fortune'' magazine, was hosted by Geoff Colvin and former Fox News business correspondent Karen Gibbs, ended its PBS run on June 24, 2005.

''Wall Street Week'' was resurrected on April 3, 2015, by SkyBridge Media LLC, an affiliated entity of global investment firm SkyBridge Capital, which was founded by financier and entrepreneur Anthony Scaramucci. The new "Wall Street Week" featured Anthony Scaramucci and Morgan Stanley senior advisor Gary Kaminsky as co-hosts.

In March 2016, the show's licensing rights were picked up by Fox Broadcasting Company and it began airing Friday nights at 8:00pm ET on the Fox Business Network. In April 2017, the show's name was changed to reflect Fox Business naming Maria Bartiromo as the new presenter. In early 2018, Fox Business ceased its production of the Wall Street Week franchise, instead airing a new program titled ''Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.''

Show format

''Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser''

* Commentary: Rukeyser would begin the program with a short commentary on the week's financial news, followed by a summation of market statistics.
* Panel Discussion: A panel of financial analysts (usually three in number) offered their opinions on the market, and gave specific stock recommendations. Panelists over the years, who numbered close to 30 by the turn of the 20th century, included financial names like Frank Cappiello, Jim Price, Gail Dudack, Mary Farrell, Michael Holland, Carter Randall, Julius Westheimer and Martin Zweig.
* Viewer Mail: The panelists would answer questions submitted by viewers. This segment always ended with Rukeyser delivering a pun-laden solicitation for letters.
* Interview Prelude: Occasionally, before the final interview, Rukeyser would provide his insight on some aspects of business, such as a certain stock sector (e.g. food, medical, energy), the right choice for mutual funds, and even the best deals on various products. The most commonly repeated commentaries were "Professor Lou's Classroom" (during the back-to-school season), "Uncle Lou Goes Christmas Shopping" (held in December, usually on the Friday before Christmas), and "Sentiment-al Journey" (New Year's Eve).
* Interview: In the final segment, Rukeyser and the panelist interviewed a guest expert.
Over the years, the list of guests included such notables as Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan, Ross Perot, John Kenneth Galbraith, Malcolm Forbes, and Paul Samuelson.

"Ms. Smythe"

After being introduced, guests for the interview segment were escorted from backstage by a woman in formal dress dubbed by production staff and listed in the credits as "Ms. Smythe" ("Miss Smythe" until the late 1980s), always followed by her real name. Various women over the years performed this task, the most famous being Natalie Seltz.

"TWX in 12 Bars"

During Rukeyser's original tenure, the program featured a distinctive theme composed by Donald Swartz entitled "TWX in 12 Bars," which featured percussion supplied by a teletype machine. The opening bells of the song replicated the chimes at Trinity Episcopal Church at the end of Wall Street which includes the sound of the Westminster chimes. Updated versions of the iconic theme music have since been used in later incarnations of the series.

World Trade Center in Opening Sequence

The program's opening sequence moves from the chimes to a pan across lower Manhattan that includes the South Tower of the original World Trade Center, providing a rare perspective where only one of the twin towers is visible. Nearby buildings in the footage indicate that the film was shot from the roof of 1 New York Plaza, a vantage point from which the South Tower—far taller than 1 New York Plaza—completely eclipsed the North Tower.

New Year's Show

On the last Friday of the year, the host and panelists would appear in black tie, make market predictions and stock recommendations for the upcoming year, and review how well their predictions of one year ago fared.

Alternative format

On October 23, 1987, the first program following Black Monday, the show dropped its regular format for a special program where Rukeyser interviewed three experts on the impact of the stock market crash.

Afterwards, the show would employ this alternative format whenever events warranted, usually once every few months.

Stand-ins for Rukeyser

Whenever Rukeyser was on vacation or otherwise absent, one of the show's regular panelists would fill in. For many years this function was usually performed by Carter Randall, though in later years it was usually Frank Cappiello or (less often) Martin Zweig after Randall died in 1999. Both Randall and Cappiello were investment bankers from Baltimore, convenient to where ''WSW'' was produced in Owings Mills, Maryland.

"An Investment Primer" specials

During the 1984 and 1985 pledge-drive seasons, Rukeyser hosted two "Investment Primer" specials, introducing viewers to the stock market and how it worked. The first show, which aired in 1984, dealt with stocks, bonds, and gold; whereas the second show in 1985 dealt with mutual funds, options and commodities. Some of the guests included Stan Weinstein (editor of ''The Professional Tape Reader''), Peter Lynch (manager of the Magellan funds at Fidelity Investments), and Dick Fabian (editor for "The Telephone Switch Newsletter")

''Wall Street Week with Fortune''

With the new hosts came a change in format:

* Opening report: Geoffrey Colvin and Karen Gibbs presented separate news reports on major stories impacting the market.
* Viewer Mail: The hosts answered questions from viewers.
* Interviews: The hosts conducted separate guest interviews; Gibbs handled interviews related to specific investing issues, while Colvin handled interviews relating to politics and the overall economy.
* Closing Commentary: A brief commentary by Colvin.

The new show's theme music was an updated, more orchestral version of "TWX in 12 Bars", produced again by Don Swartz and Don Barto.

Without Louis Rukeyser as host, this new version suffered from lower ratings, neither capturing a new more youthful market as PBS had intended, nor retaining the original viewers. It was canceled after three seasons.

Wall Street Week Index

During its run, the show used two different indexes to predict future market trends:

From 1970 to 1989, the show used the Wall Street Week Index (later known as the WSW Technical Market Index), a composed financial index developed by Robert Nurock. The analysis consisted of ten separate technical indicators, each of which was assigned a value of either +1 (indicating a bullish trend), -1 (for a bearish trend, or 0 (neutral)). A net balance of +5 (or higher) was interpreted as a buy signal, while a reading of -5 (or lower) was a sell signal. Rukeyser irreverently named the index "The Elves" (a reference to the term '' Gnomes of Zurich''), and dubbed Nurock the "Chief Elf." After being in neutral for a considerable period of time, Rukeyser requested significant changes in the makeup of the index. Nurock refused since he believed his ten indicators were still the best way to judge the technical aspects of the market. This ended Nurock's association with the show and the Index was replaced.

Used from 1989 to the end of the Rukeyser era, the Elves Index was also a reading of ten indicators scored in the same manner as the Wall Street Week Index. Instead of reflecting technical factors, the indicators now represented the personal sentiment of ten market analysts about the direction of the market over the next three months. The Elves Index had more volatility and gave more buy and sell signals than the old Wall Street Week Index, but was not as highly regarded. In 1998, one magazine even suggested the Elves Index was more useful as a contrarian