more than 20 years so it's been great. >> christiane, it's been a great pleasure. you've been one of my journalistic journalistic hero inches. i've been instructed by everyone to say if you want to stay like permanently. >> you know how i feel about cnn. >> that's all for us tonight. i'm zain vergee at cnn in london. here are the headlines this hour. u.s. president barack obama says america's military goals in afghanistan have been met and that it's time to focus on problems at home. he's given a speech outlining a plan to begin sending u.s. troops home, all 33,000 surge troops will leave by september 2012. in a televised address, moammar gadhafi called nato attacks on his country barbaric and urged the u.n. security council to investigate an air strike that reportedly killed 15

people, including civilians. nato says the target of that attack was a military command and control center. an outspoken artist jailed for tax evasion in china is out of prison. way -- ai weiwei was released. a dutch lawmaker has been acquitted of hate speech verdict. he was on trial for inciting racial hatred against muslims. those are the headlines. "world business today" starts now. good morning, from cnn london and welcome to the show, i'm nina dos santos.

>> and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." these are our top stories. stocks slide after ben bernanke feeds the bears with a bleak outlook. and saab says it's run out of money to pay its staff. and we've take you to the flood-ravaged fields of china to assess the impact on the food chain there. it's been a down day on the markets. asian shares lower and losses across europe as well. all thanks to the prognosis of the u.s. federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke. he's been painting a bleak picture of the u.s. economic recovery as well. weaker growth, nina and stubbornly high jobless numbers. not what investors want to hear. >> not indeed, andrew. let's go straight to the european markets and see how they're reacting to these kind

of comments coming out of the united states late last night. we're about an hour into the trading day. it's a sea of red. the cac 40 down by 0.8%. similar situation for the dax and ftse 100. let's move along and talk about the currencies now. the euro is down by almost 0.5% against a rising dollar. the situation in greece very much in the forefront of investors' minds. the pound is also taking a hit, down by one-fifth of 1%. yesterday we had the publication of the bank of england's minutes. that had many believing that they won't raise interest rates until next year. we saw more quantitative easing. let's look at the yen. it's all about the economy at the moment. let's take a look at what

happened here in asia. a bit of a mixed day. the trend was down, the s&p, the asx in australia, down by 0.7%. bhp down as well. in tokyo, the nikkei down by 0.3%. hong kong down by 0.5%. shanghai up by nearly 1.5%. rather perversely, actually. it was showing that actors -- investors reacting to new numbers out on manufacturing in shanghai which shows that manufacturing is starting to slow, economic slowdown in china as well. good news there. that's what authorities are trying to achieve to try and take the heat out of the economy to bring inflation back down. that's why you get the positive number on slowing growth in shanghai, nina. >> let's give you a quick reminder of wednesday's action on wall street after a see-saw

session. stocks did turn south in the last hour on the fed's grim reading on the u.s. economy, the world's largest. at the close all of the major indices were off by 0.6%. u.s. markets still look set for lower open when trading begins later thursday. this is where u.s. futures stand at the moment. the nasdaq looking to lose the most again. >> most of the selling yesterday coming at the end of session. no surprise futures continue to point downwards today as well, nina. the federal reserve's latest diagnosis of the u.s. recovery is looking more and more pessimistic. it says recovery is slower and weaker than expected. fed chairman ben ber bankny says that's largely due to supply

disruption because of the japanese earthquake. but with the economy moving at a snail's pace, he admits the fed has been taken by surprise. >> the economic recovery appears to be proceeding at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the committee had expected and some recent labor market indicators have also been weaker than expected. now let's hone in on exactly what ben bernanke said during that all-important speech. one thing he talked about is recovery or lack thereof. there seems to be plenty of doom and gloom going on. ben bernanke said there was a recovery in place but it was going at a moderate pace, still slower than expected. it's been hampered by high food prices, high energy prices, also significantly the japanese earthquake on march 11th. he also said that these factors, though, only temporary for the moment. job markets were still weaker than anticipated, he said, but he does put that mildly, given

the fact that we saw recent job numbers showing that there were creation of job numbers in the united states. he said these are temporary factors but nevertheless they do have investors and analysts worried. >> one of the things that, of course, the fed was deciding on is interest rates. as expected they were held at current ultralow levels and one thing he did say was it could be exceptionally low levels likely for an extended period of time here. seems interest rates could be staying low for quite a while. that's a similar situation we have here in the uk as well. one thing we should mention, quantitative easing, otherwise known as qe2, will be ending next week. it seems the fed has no plans to replace it. we're talking about the $600 billion treasury buying plan that was a cornerstone after the 2007-2008 credit crunch.

that will be when those $600 billion worth of purchases are set to be completed, big question ab andrew, everybody's asking is the world's largest economy currently able to go it alone so to speak without fiscal stimulus? that's what hangs in the balance. >> one of the terms i heard was the training wheels have now come off the u.s. economy. will it be able to take momentum on its own? we'll have to wait and see. the fed is keeping a watchful eye on events in europe as well. and the likelihood that the debt contagion could spread. bernanke admits there will be global repercussions if greece defaults but there will only be a small impact on u.s. banks since they have relatively low exposure to the greek debt. these are the countries that are most exposed to the country. that's accord together bank for international settlements.

this figure over here, this is the u.s. figure, $7.3 billion. that represents the total exposure by the u.s. government and the u.s. banks. as you can see, that's quite a small number when you compare it with countries like france and germany. well behind the european counterparts. this is what ben bernanke says to explain that. >> i think the europeans appreciate the incredible importance of resolving the greek situation. if there were failure to resolve that situation it would pose threats to the european financial system, the global financial system and to european political unity. it's one of several potential financial risks that we're facing now. but, again, we are mostly just following the situation closely and making sure as best we can that our own institutions are

well position relative to sovereign debt in the so-called peripheral countries. >> now, although it's not officially on the agenda, greece's enormous debt burdenen is likely to be a talking point at the eu summit taking place today. they'll find it hard to avoid that particular elephant in the room. the chance -- this man announced he will not back the next set of budget proposals. that comes amid widespread protests by a public that's fed up with spending cuts and redundancies and tax hikes in greece. things have become so bad of late, for some people, default seems preferable to another round of austerity measures. >> reporter: this time a year

ago when greece negotiated its first bailout package we came to this furniture repair shop to find out how the austerity measures would affect them. a year later we'll find out what's happened in the meantime. how are you? it's nice to see you. >> nice to see you again. >> reporter: he's had to fire one employee since we saw him last. the other three work a reduced three-day week. business is down 80% as demand has fall an way. the country is struggling under the weight of massive debt. >> we have a lot public debt. which always grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. think of that right now we owe the family about 250,000 or 300,000 euros. as a family. >> reporter: as a family? >> as a family. >> reporter: just because of the debt? >> that's our part of the public

debt. that's why i have to be working two lives, three lives, to pay them. >> reporter: then there are the new tax which is make everything more expensive. >> we pay the same and weigh less. even in the supermarket, we pay the same, we pay for the same. i pay 50 euro and i take less, less, less. we like macaroni, the cheaper food. >> reporter: it's the same story in many of the small family-run businesses, so typical of the greek private sector. sterios papadopoulos used to get five customers an hour. now they get five a day. he feels like businesses like his are having to pick up the cost for a bloated and

insufficient public sector. >> there are a lot of people that work in the public that are paid huge amounts of salaries. most of the time they don't work for that amount of salary and through the tax from small private businesses they are paid. that's unfair. >> reporter: he doesn't believe this government has the capacity to change things. he hasn't seen it happen yet. now we, like the rest of the world, waits to see how greece will emerge from this debt crisis. diana magnate, cnn, athens. we swront won't have to wai. the greek parliament is scheduled to vote on tuesday. finance ministers will meet on july 3rd. >> it will be a busy week next week on the great front.

unpopular among the great population. the eu says without them, it won't release 12 billion euros. it's supposed to be paid in july. greek still needs another rescue package which could add up to another $170 billion. if they don't get it, there's practically no chance that it will be able to repay its debt obligations. now, whether you call that a rescheduling or restructuring of the country's debt, it is still a default. now, the consequences of a default depend on the size of the debt, how or even if greece plans to pay it back. but it could lead to the collapse of the greek banking system. and the effects would also be felt across the much wider area. internationally, particularly in the european union, germany and france whose banks have the significant exposure to greece.

analysts say a greek default could trigger an earthquake in the global financial system giving it its biggest shock since the collapse of lehman brothers back in 2008. we all know where that ended up, nina. >> we do indeed. don't we, andrew? as if that wasn't enough, economic uncertainty for europe already, france and italy it seems are fighting over the leadership of the european central bank. this man, the italian central bank, was due to be confirmed for the top job at the ecb this week. now the french government wants to delay his confirmation. what it wants here, andrew, is an assurance that italy won't have two seats on the bank's governing board like france instead has none. >> politics very much at play there. still ahead, one of the world's best-known automakers seems to be running off the road. we'll look at why? just a moment.

live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." welcome back. staff at saab will be going short this month. the owner of the swedish car firm, swedish automobile, says it simply doesn't have enough money to pay its staff their wages. it's tried to secure some short-term funding but there's no guarantee that will happen. until it does, saab employees won't be cashing any paychecks. to take a closer look at where things go from here, we turn to our senior strategist at bcg partners, harold wilden and he joins from the cnn london bureau. is this the end for saab? >> not quite. but it certainly has all the reflections of, let's say, rover in the uk a few years ago. this is a company that in its current structure is coming very much to the end of the road.

my guess is, the brand will survive, though, and we will see a change of ownership again at some point and perhaps with the saab brand moving to either russia or to china. but for the moment, production is at an end. the whole thing has ground to a halt. there's no cash to pay the wages or finance the business. of course, 30,000 cars they made last year just isn't enough to cover practicalities of the overhead of a company like this. >> this was a company that was sold for $400 million at the beginning of 2010. and now the owners are talking to the chinese companies you mentioned. there are two chinese companies involved, looking at taking control of this company. is that likely to go on? do the chinese still want to take this brand, do you think? >> there was a third chinese company involved which pulled

out a month ago for the simple reason that the chinese government refused to actually back it. and of course in china you do need to have a backing from the chinese government to move such large levels of funds. we will have to see. i think there's a strong possibility here. saab does have a value in term of its brarnd. it does have a fair amount of real estate as well. it's not a totally lost cause. on the minor side, it has a range of models that clearly nobody really wants. they're not selling. it would require a very, very big shift of emphasis and investment to put this company back on the map. whether the chinese or russians are ready to do that remains to be seen. >> back in the 1980s, saab was a premium brand. everybody wanted to buy a saab. it looked good, it went well. it had the turbo charge. what went wrong at saab? how did things divert?

>> in the '60s it was absolutely the top name. it won rallies. in the '70s it started to lose its way. but '80s, it still had owners. it was outclassed by its neighbor, volvo. volvo went steaming ahead. another swedish company also now in the hands of the chinese. quite frankly they just didn't invest enough. gm owned them for a round about 18 years. it was a rope around gm's neck for the whole of that time. they couldn't get rid of it fast enough when they sold it to speicher 18 months ago. >> i was reading on one of the websites that the staff informed there was no money for wages when they got an e-mail this morning from the management, not a great way to find out that

your pay pack set not arriving. >> it isn't indeed. quite shocking andrew. it will be a story we'll be covering closely on cnn throughout the course of the day. in this edition of "world business today" and also on the next one in a few hours time. thousands of journalists are comparing notes about the future of aviation at this week's paris air show. thursday is expected to be a $17 billion day for the european playmaker airbus with malaysia set to finalize an order for 200 a-320 neojets. you're looking at the engine that will power that particular aircraft at the moment. the largest ever single order for this type of jet, comes after air embasbus confirmed an deal for 180 aircraft. also the same model a-320 neos.

one last headline from the air show. other airlines have experimented and run successful flights that the dutch airline klm says it will lead the way when it come oz to using biofuel in commercial jets. it has plans to use recycled cooking oil on some 200 flights between paris and amsterdam starting in the month of september. now, coming up on "world business today," a hard tass ak head for farmers in china as they come to terms with the reality of those devastating floods. that's straight ahead on the show. [ female announcer ] what if your natural beauty could be flawless too? discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals.

give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers.

hello and welcome back to "world business today." >> heavy flooding is wreaking havoc across many parts of china. beijing is forecasting a hefty economic hit for those in the agriculture industry say they're also feeling it. eunice yoon reports. >> reporter: they told us some of these fields were about a meter under water. and now they're just trying to get their crops going again. stories like theirs are being replicated all over the country. hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been rave isis

by the floods. we're hearing in the provincial capital, which isn't very far from here, vegetable prices are up by 40%. these kind of price hikes are troubling, because they're trying to battle inflation. these farmers say it's always the farmers who suffer the most in these types of situations. they're resigned to replanting crops at their own cost and they don't see any government compensation in sight. eunice yoon, cnn. stay with "world business today" here on cnn. we'll be getting more detail about what might be in store for the global economy. maggie lake talks with two global investment experts about the u.s. debt limit and greece's deep woes and we'll also be asking what will it take to sold some of these crises.

perhaps it's time to get out your crystal ball. we've been doing that. we'll tell you what's what, just ahead. [ doctor ] here's some health information for people over 50. maybe you don't think you're at risk for heart attack or stroke but if you've been diagnosed with p.a.d., or have pain or heaviness in your legs, i want to talk to you. you may have heard of poor leg circulation, which could be peripheral artery disease, or p.a.d. with p.a.d., if you have poor circulation in your legs, you may also have poor circulation in your heart or in your brain,

your risk for heart attack or stroke is more than doubled with p.a.d. now, ask yourself: am i at risk? if you're not sure, call for this free information kit to learn more. [ female announcer ] call the toll free number on the screen now to find out what the risks of p.a.d. really are. you'll find a 7-point checklist that helps you understand what could be putting you at risk. if you have symptoms, you'll learn how treating symptoms is different from reducing your risk. you'll also learn about lifestyle changes and treatment options that can help reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke. there's even a discussion guide for you to bring to your doctor that can help you discuss p.a.d. together. call the toll free number on the screen for your free information kit today. the risk is real. take the next step.

call today.

from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. welcome back to "world business today." so let's go back to one of our top stories today. the gloom on the markets, asian shares were broadly lower when they closed. we're seeing quite a bit of weakness across europe as well. the reason, u.s. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke's rather bleak prognosis of the u.s.

economic recovery. let's check in on how the markets are faring at the moment. 90 minutes into the trading session here in europe. as you can see, pronounced weakness. a number of the markets off the intraday lows. the cac 40 in paris losing 0.8% just a half hour ago. the situation is improving albeit just a little bit. and in athens, the stock market there has been open for a couple of minutes. let's have a look at how things are faring there, because this market has had quite a rocky ride over the last few days. last time we were looking at it, it was up 0.75%. now it's down by 0.5%. not into the single percentage digits but it's still trading at 1,264, down by 0.5% at the moment. the greek fate and the fate of the euro zone hangs in the balance as greek awaits an approval for 12 billion euros worth of financial assistance. the latest in its own tranche of

110 billion that it's been getting from the imf, the eu and the ecb, andrew. >> and there's still more to come. this story runs and runs, didn't it the? let's check in with ramy inocencio on what happened here in asia today. >> thanks very much, andrew. asia pacific markets closed mostly lower. in tokyo, the nikkei was down about a third of a percent to 9597. nissan motor kept today's slide from being too dramatic. it rose 1.3% after it said its annual profit wouldn't fall as much as expected. suzuki also surprised investors with about a 3% pop. it said global sales could rise by almost 7%. that's a quick comeback for both of these after march 11th quake and tsunami. over here to hong kong. the hang seng was down 0.5%. that's after words from fed

chair ben bernanke and tightening liquidity in china weighed on financials. in shanghai, the ssec did a turnaround, up about 1.5%. that's the most in more than three months. this push came from investors who bought into property and cement stocks. those sectors are expected to benefit from a new social housing program ordered by beijing. and finally, down to australia. the asx 200 was down 0.75% to 4500. this decline was led by falls in energy and materials. of course, related to the global slowdown. telecoms dragged, telstra was down 2.3% after it agreed to sell much of its network to the national broadband network. andrew. >> there will be a bit of a buzz tomorrow, perhaps. we have the prada debut on the hong kong exchange. the timing couldn't be worse given the rest of the world is not looking too strong at the moment and i guess luxury suffers when that happens.

is there going to be a pop tomorrow? >> prada's not doing so well right now. looking at the gray market. its share price has been down by as much as 2.5%. that points to a fall in price that we're expecting for tomorrow's official start of trade. let me take you to a look at the hang seng over the past -- the year-to-date. because of the skittishness, the stuff that's happening with prada is making sense against this macroeconomic background. in april, the hang seng was trading at its high, around 24,000 points touching the high it hit earlier this year. since then, the market has actually gone down and today we've seen it drop by about 11%. now, around here in may, is when they started their soft marketing. june is when they started the hard marketing. as all this happened as the hang seng fell basically that took away investors' appetite for ipos. earlier i spoke with andrew

sullivan about a possible postponement for prada. he says it's too late plus it would be bad pr. take a listen. >> it's out there. people have committed to it. the institutions have committed to it. it will go ahead. it will have probably a tricky first couple of days trading. but a lot of it will just depend on the sentiment. obviously we're looking against the global backdrop. if we start getting better macronews coming out of europe, coming out of the u.s., then people will look at the fashion sector far more favorably and hence, the stock becomes far more interesting for people. >> as for tomorrow, friday, no one is going to be surprised if prada's share price drops instead of pops. over the medium to long term, analysts tell me the price should stabilize and likely rise. they say prada is a good, well known, well-liked brand and it's

fundamentals at the heart of it are fine. >> as they should be. thank you. nina? let's take a look at wall street now. for a recap of what happened in wednesday's session, felicia taylor is in new york with the details. >> reporter: the u.s. stock market traded in a narrow range until the final half hour of wednesday's trading as swrfts digested a new, lower economic outlook from the federal reserve. at the close, the dow fell 80 points to 12,109. the nasdaq and the s&p each lost 0.6%. as expected, the federal reserve left its key interest rate unchanged at a target range of between 0 and 0.25%. the rate will remain at that range for a, quote, extend period. what did change was the central bank's economic outlook. in his post decision press conference, fed chairman ben bernanke elaborated on the fed's new forecast. >> we do believe that growth is going to pick up, going into 2012.

but at a somewhat slower pace than we had anticipated in april. we don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting. >> bernanke also said the recent job market data has been weaker than expected. many traders on wall street believe that the fed's acknowledgement of a slowdown in the recovery was long overdue. that belief likely kept the market losses to a minimum. thursday on wall street, investors grabble with a pair of key economic reports, the latest weekly jobless claims are expected to remain at high levels and home sales are expected to show a slight decli decline. quantitative easing is heading for the history books. how much difference did it really make? coming up on "world business today," more on ben bernanke's outlook and plans and what they

mean for america's long-erm recovery. and maggie lake talks with two top economic experts about two of the world's most difficult economic challenges. we'll be asking what it will take to solve them.

welcome back to "world business today." now in actions indeed speak louder than words, the fed's lack of action on wednesday speaks volumes about the shape of the u.s. economic recovery. ben bernanke announced it will keep the lending rate at near 0%. this stimulating business. with the u.s. predicting the economy will grow less than 3% and with the end of the $600

billion treasury buyout program known as qe2, the plan is to stay the course on rates and hope the recovery slowdown is temporary. the committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0% to 0.25%. the committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation in the medium run is likely to warn the exceptionally low levels to the federal funds rate for an extended period. >> ending the -- quantitative easing is widely knowns aqe2. it started last november. it pushed stocks higher and kept u.s. prices from deflating. critics still say that it also weakened the dollar and stoked inflation in america. few are surprised that it's ending now, because the fed said

it would do so when it kicked off with that program. as long as those interest rates stay low, at record low levels and money stays cheap, economists say the incentives remain for businesses to expand and also for banks to lend. at least that's what they hope and the fed hopes they'll do. we'll just have to see, andrew. >> indeed we will. the u.s. economy doesn't exist in a vacuum. while the federal reserve's moves and messages can have powerful influence, the fed is not the only moving force out there. earlier this week, cnn's maggie lake spoke with the ceo of the global investment firm the bond fund firm pimco. the head is mohammed el-erian. tyson said she doesn't think that ending qe2 will have much effect. el-erian said he isn't sure about that. they both agreed that weak growth and europe's sovereign debt crisis have left investors

scratching their heads and wondering what to do. maggie asked tiszen a tyson and what is needed to get the economy moving again. the answer is leadership. >> i actually am becoming more optimistic that we will certainly see something on the debt limit and what seems to be going 0 in washington is an agreement that the discussion of the debt limit will be associated with a large multiyear commitment to the $4 trillion over ten years. we can, if we put enough into that statement that's credible, then a lot of the details could be worked out after the election. that would allow us room, it seems to me, to have as part of the deal some continuation of support. now, i certainly agree with mohammed. it's very uncertain right now and this is a politically very difficult moment. and i believe it would be much better for the economy. much better.

if we could get the deal now. i think there's great danger to kicking it to beyond the election, both in terms of the world not believing that the u.s. is ever going to get serious about its long run problem but also serious because we won't be able to do anything about the short headwinds either. this is a very important moment for action. >> mohammed, what about confidence? the last time we saw the global credit crisis, it seemed to everyone that officials just caught things in time and there is worry when i talk to people that they're going to miss this opportunity and that events will get ahead of them. is that something you're concerned about? >> we are concerned about this in the specific case of europe, maggie. we've been kicking the can down the road there. and the road is ending. and as yet, there's no recognition that greece has a solvency issue as opposed to a liquidity issue and that some really hard decisions will have to be made and made quickly.

there is a risk that in trying to postpone the difficult decisions, europe may run out of freedom. we've seen institutions like the ecb having their balance sheet contaminated. they've gone from being part of the solution to being part of the problem. there is that risk. hopefully as laura said, on both sides of the atlantic we'll have politicians that are able to make the difficult decisions. that's what the global economy needs over the next three to five years is some leadership as opposed to let's kick the can down the road for something better. >> political leadership, everybody's calling for it at the moment. maggie lake with mohammed el-erian and laura tyson. the u.s. treasury officials say without an increase in the debt limit the u.s. will have trouble paying its bills on august 2nd. before that on june 30th. greece's parliament is set to vote on austerity measures that the eu is demanding as a

condition for a second bailout. this could be a long summer and it could be quite eventful. let's turn to another seemingly intractable problem, afghanistan. on wednesday, the u.s. president barack obama laid out a schedule for pulling tens of thousands of u.s. troops out of the country. >> starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from afghanistan by the end of this year. and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer. >> cnn money has tallied the cost of the afghanistan conflict and how much the u.s. might save by pulling those troops out. take a look at this chart over here. as you can see clearly through this red line, just how costs have skyrocketed after the u.s. deployed tens of thousands of more troops in 2009. this is 9/11, it began here but after 2009 that's where you see the real surge. to date, the u.s. has spent if

you add all that up, 443 billion fighting the war. this is afghanistan alone. the tab this year is estimated to be around 118 billion. one expert says withdrawing the troops will save only about 7 billion during the next year because of the sheer cost of bringing the soldiers back home. he does say there could be considerable savings beginning the year after that. at the moment, nina, the u.s. needs all the savings it can find. >> certainly does. and it's quite worrying, isn't it? it's the world's biggest economy. coming up next on "world business today," reading your financial future. we'll be telling you what some people are looking at to see what's in the cards for the economy. stay with us. could save a bundlh geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car iance. ♪

geic

live from hong kong and lon didn't. welcome back to "world business today." just over 90 minutes into the trading session. it's all looking red at the moment. just about ten minutes ago i was showing you a number of these markets were off their intraday lows. the big question is, the health or lack thereof of the world's largest economy, the united states economy, after ben bernanke made a series of comments last night. and the federal reserve decided to hold interest rates at their current historic low level. but he also didn't hint at any more economic stimulus in the forms of quantitative easing.

from governments to investors, people everywhere are looking for answers it seems when it comes to what's in store for the global economy. some people believe they have the answers but the question is should you consult them when you're thinking about rebalancing your own stock portfolio. felicia taylor went to cnn for some tips on what the financial future may hold. >> let's see, what's going to happen, usa, usa. >> reporter: frank andrews uses terrot cards. >> when i look at the crystal ball, i get sim ymbols. >> reporter: and this woman, a money pot. as the experts debate and uncertainty remains, there's only one profession that claims to predict into the future. you can find them all over new york city. psychics. our first stop, karen thorn. >> he has one of the best charts.

>> reporter: reading the astro logical signs of fed chairman ben bernanke, she sees hope for the global markets even as key fed economic stimulus ends. >> his moon sign, a person's other side, is scorpio. >> reporter: the markets may not fall at the end of june? >> no. i see him having success primarily in july, august and september and october. in october, he's really, really happy. i don't think he would be, right, if things were going terribly. >> this says new people. >> reporter: usie ining cards, w also sees hope for the u.s. economy. >> actually it's not bad. promising outlook, profitable changes. come later in september, october. >> because we have an august deadline for the debt ceiling to be raised. if they are able to do that, the united states has a better path moving forward. >> it does look like it will improve. >> reporter: as for greece --

>> my feeling is that all of europe is going to see what greece is seeing, other countries will see the same thing. you watch. >> reporter: for serena stanley -- >> put your hands on the cards. feel it and gravitate to the card you think will answer that question. >> reporter: is there going to be job creation enough to change the jobless number doctor the unemployment number and people will once again feel confident and have money in their pockets? >> pull out a card. it's volatile. this is a 4 of cups card. it's running all on emotions and the emotions of people are angry. >> reporter: skeptics may scoff but like many economists, our psychics agree, the world economy will muddle through, it just may take a while. barring, of course, any wild card. felicia taylor, cnn, new york. >> certainly get the impression that business is probably booming for the psychics at the

moment as people try to navigate their way through the tough global economic waters. anyway, we'll have to say farewell for now. you've been watching "world business today." we'll be back again. i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. >> and i'm nina dos santos in london. "world one" is next.