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NYC to invest $800M
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September 21, 2001: 7:58 a.m. ET
Mayor Giuliani pledges to invest city pension funds in show of confidence
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the city will invest $800 million in stocks as a show of confidence in the U.S. economy following last week's terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan and part of the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.
The city will draw the funds from city employees' pension funds, with $500 million coming from the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the largest of the city's five pension funds, Giuliani told a press conference Thursday. The remaining $300 million will come from police, fire, board of education and teacher's pension funds.
The investment represents just over 1 percent of the funds' $80 billion total value.
Giuliani's announcement comes as the U.S. economy slides further toward a recession in the wake of the attacks in which terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into the landmark twin towers, the heart of New York's and the nation's financial center, and the Pentagon.
A fourth plane, possibly targeted at the White House or Air Force One as officials have said, crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently fought the hijackers.
Economists fear the disruption to business and a further fall-off in consumer spending could drive what already had been a sluggish economy into a full-fledged recession, though it's not expected to last vary long, experts said.
U.S. markets have tumbled steadily since re-opening Monday after a four-day suspension because of the attacks. The Dow Jones industrial average has shed 1,229 points, or 13 percent, since reopening Sept. 17, and the Nasdaq Composite plummeted 224 points, or 13 percent. The S&P 500 has dropped 10 percent this week. 
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