Louis Rukeyser (born January 30, 1933) is a U.S. business columnist, economic commentator, and newscaster. He publishes two financial newsletters, "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" and "Louis Rukeyser's Mutual Funds." He is the son of financial journalist Merryle Rukeyser.
Louis Rukeyser began his media career as a foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun newspapers, then moved to ABC television as economics correspondent and commentator. He left ABC in the early 1970s to start the popular PBS series, "Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser", which ran for 30 years before Rukeyser left in an editorial dispute with the show's distributor, Maryland Public Television.
Shortly thereafter, he began a new program, "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" (named after one of his newsletters) on the cable channel CNBC. Unusually for a cable network, advertising on the show was limited to before-and-after "underwriting" announcements similar to those on non-commercial broadcast stations. This was done at Rukeyser's insistence, so that Garden City, New York public station WLIW could offer the program to PBS members who wanted to carry it on a second-run basis. "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" ended its run on December 31, 2004 at Rukeyser's request after health problems kept him off the show for more than a year. As of April, 2006, Rukeyser's monthly newsletters continue to be published.
Rukeyser has had a significant impact in making the often arcane workings of the stock market and the economy better known to the mass public. He also is a noted raconteur and promoter, particularly of himself and his business interests. In his better moments, he can be viewed as a gifted wit and economic sage, in his worse moments, as pompous and self-absorbed.
