Bewildered news anchor says he 'needs to make some calls' live on air amid Black Monday chaos
Shanghai market closed down by seven per cent on Tuesday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A news anchor was overwhelmed live on camera as the Chinese stock market tanked but information remained scarce.
CNBC's David Faber was placed in the unenviable position common in the 24-hour news cycle of balancing continuous reporting with an absence of any hard information.
Mr Faber, who has hosted CNBC’s Squawk on the Street since 2005, watched with shock as stocks rapidly dropped in the first hours of the US market opening.
“I…I don’t… this is, uh… I… I got to make some phone calls,” the 51-year-old veteran journalist told co-cost Carlos Quintanilla.
The anchor, who has won a Peabody Award for his financial coverage of Walmart, added that “enormous moves” such as those seen could become “self-fulfilling” if they were over-emphasised.
He continued: “Verizon’s [the largest US communications provider] backed off a bit now. It’s down only 9.8 per cent, but some of the moves are dramatic and enormous and, uh… scary.”
Later on in the programme, Mr Faber had still not got a handle on the situation. A comparison to the 1987 stock market tumble by TV personality Jim Cramer got this response: “I’m going to make a couple of phone calls. I think I should do that.”
“I think you should,” Mr Cramer agreed.
China’s stock market collapse on Monday has prompted fears of a wider economic crash. The UK’s top companies have lost £218billion in the past ten days, although, as of Tuesday morning, European shares appeared to jump up following steep losses the previous day.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments