>> that door's closed? >> that door's closed. i think he and i are better as friends and having our daughters. i'm way too old for him now. i'm zain vergee at cnn in london, here are the headlines this house hour. john boehner's plan to end the u.s. debt limit standoff goes up for a vote today in congress. but even if it passes the house, democrats say they will kill it in the senate. they've got their own plan which republicans oppose. the u.s. could start running short of cash by tuesday if congress does not raise the debt ceiling. the markets are falling as the crisis deepens. we'll have that and more in just

a moment on "world business today." in south korea, landslides and flooding sparked by heavy rain has killed at least 44 people. rescue workers are searching for survivors in and around the capital. hundreds of people have lost their homes and thousands don't have power. we're getting the first videos of the moment of the bomb blast in oslo during friday's terror attacks. the norwegian prime minister's announced an independent commission to examine the killings there and on utoya island. as of now, the death toll stands at 76. those are the headlines from cnn, the world news leader. i'm zain vergee. "world business today" starts now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong. just five days to go and no

movement on the u.s. debt deal. investors are getting anxious. >> that's the mood on the markets but how is it looking from the corner office in the some ceos shed light on that issue. another day passes and still there's no sign of progress in washington. there are now just five days to go until august 2nd as lawmakers remain at odds over raising the u.s. debt ceiling. if they don't come to an agreement by then, the united states could actually technically default on some of its $14.3 trillion worth of debt. and as you'd imagine, the repercussions around that would be felt right around the world. already on the european markets investors are getting jittery. let's have a look at how things are faring just about an hour into the trading session. all of the markets are firmly

fixed into the red for the second day. heaviest losses coming for a second day from the cac 40. in the last hour or so, we have news that credit suisse, one of the world's largest banks, will be cutting about 2,000 jobs, about 40% of its total work force. it will cut approximate 2,000 jobs, equal to 4% of its work force as it tries to reign in costs. nevertheless, we are in the midst of earnings season. hasn't done an awful lot, even cost reductions like this, coming from credit suisse, they haven't done a lot to counter the ongoing concerns about what's going to happen in washington and what's going to happen vis-a-vis the debt situation. >> that's become the overarching problem right now for the markets. that's hanging over everyone's head. in asia pacific we've seen

steeper declines than we saw yesterday. ramy inocencio has been coming an eye on all of this this week. >> the nikkei closed down 1.5% today, auto exporters and financials are what we're talking about, honda and mitsubishi, those led today's slide. advantus fell by nearly 7%, the world's biggest maker of memory chip testers. its operating profit fell by more than 50% from last year. over here in hong kong, the hang seng closed about flat. it was a similar picture to that on the nikkei. the financials fell, led by hsbc, as well as industrial and commercial bank of chin fla, losing between one-third and 1.25%. on the mainland, financials dragged things down there, too.

beijing has ordered new restrictions on loans, particularly in the real estate sector and, of course, that didn't brighten the future over there. in the meantime, i want to bring you over to south korea and the seoul kospi. insurance companies are falling between 2% and 2.5% because of the torrential rains slamming the country today. and down under, the asx 200 fell about 1.5%, financials as well as retailers led the slide there. west farmers, the country's second biggest retailer fell about 2.5%. retailers are of course worried about a possible interest rate hike that could happen as soon as next month. that comes on the back of yesterday's higher than expected cpi. >> you talked about the slump on the nikkei. we saw that happening a day ago. a lot of that is partly to do,

of course, with the currency. the u.s. dollar has been weakening. the yen has been gaining. this has been an issue in asia pacific. >> it sure has. over the past year, actually, the u.s. dollar has weakened by almost 10%. and this here is the graph. it's against a basket of world currencies that includes the euro, the yen and the british pound. here in asia, as the u.s. debt ceiling talks got pretty heat. the japanese yen has strengthened against the u.s. dollar. it strengthened by about 4% right there. stronger, that took place against the backdrop of growing fears about the u.s. with investors, really moving into the safety of the japanese currency here. it has been a similar story with the aussie dollar as well. in the past month, it's strengthened about 4.5% against the green back. there you go right there. last october it did reach a one-to-one parody and it hasn't looked back ever since. just yesterday we saw it near that 30-year high on fears about

the u.s. debt ceiling. we've seen the same strengthening over in the singapore dollar. it has strengthened by about 3% against the greenback in the past month as well. so what does this all mean for all of us? well, for exporters, it reduces their profits when they repatriate earnings back home. for travelers, basically 50 you're carrying u.s. dollars it reduces your buying power in the countries you're traveling in and for retailers, it's not necessarily a bad thing. it's good if you're in the domestic markets because your buying power is increased and consumers get more bang for their buck. >> we'll have to keep an eye on this situation, ramy. apart from the debt situation, there are big earnings numbers out, nina. >> there are indeed. let's turn our attention away from debt towards ek wiltquitie.

siemens, its profit almost halved dropping to $1.1 billion in total for the quarter and falling short of analyst expectations. its earnings slide is due to one of charges and it remains confident that its profit to the earned of september will exceed $10.8 billion. with more on those figures and what the future might hold for siemens, let's go to its ceo. thank you for coming on "world business today" today, mr mr. lucia. why did your expectations come in disappointing the market? why was it? >> we basically have one of charges and a very important one was in the -- with a very highly innovative pioneering technology for cancer and the technology is feasible but commercially not ready. so this is a classic case where you work on a high-tech

innovation project and you realize that it's not yet prime time. >> when will it be prime time? you're talking about a therapy treatment for cancers. but won't they need much more investment? can we see more quarters of disappointing earnings because of these charges? >> no, we have clearly, taken all the necessary steps and we will continue to do research and development on it and then we will see how and when this technology is evolving. >> mr. loscher, i must talk about concerns surrounding the u.s. debt debacle. the u.s. is a huge market for you and it's creating, as our colleague ramy inocencio was saying before, waves in the currency market because the u.s. dollar is falling. how are you positioning your company to deal with these problems? >> "a," number one, siemens is well positioned. we're in 190 countries of the

world, we have value-add in 40% of our businesses. we have financial hedging, hedging policies in place. in relation to the u.s., i strongly believe in the political pragmatism and we are very bullish about the future of the u.s. and we continue to invest. we have already more employees there than microsoft and we will continue to invest for the future, not just for the u.s. consumers and customers but also being for other markets around the world. >> peter loscher, the ceo of siemens talking to me from munich. >> a positive comment about the u.s. economy there. that doesn't quell our concerns about the ability to pass a debt

limit increase before the nation runs short of cash. the dow down 1.5%, the nasdaq 2.6% and the s&p dropped about 2%. the deadline is getting closer. hefty losses on wall street yesterday. the markets look set for what? let's take a look at the futures. pointing to a higher open right now. that's where we stand in the premarket action. we have to keep a close eye on these figures. we've seen this happen this week. the futures will be pointing up. we get a dip right at the get-go when the markets open on wall street. nina? >> we've covered most of the bases here, haven't we, but it's not just the equity markets but the bond markets that are getting jittery about that u.s. debt limit standoff that just goes on and on from day to day. we get ever closer to the august 2nd deadline. the cost of credit default swaps on the u.s. bonds basically these insurance policies that

protect you against the bond issuer's failure to pay up when the bond matures, those sweat swaps, cdss, were up to a record high. one-year trading higher than five-year swaps. that reflects investors' concerns that the united states might indeed default technically in the short term. so the cds really shows that. then again, politics has its own momentum, didn't it the, monetia? >> it certainly does. sony has posted a quarterly loss of almost $200 million. that's not the worst result among japanese electronics makers. coming up, the economic challenges the company is blaming for its sharp turnaround.

hello and welcome back. from cnn hong kong in london, this is "world business today."

>> japan's earthquake and tsunami have taken a big toll on sony, the nation's largest electronics exporter. sony announced on thursday it lost $191 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, that's april to june. that's a big turnaround compared to the same prd a year before western it posted a profit of $330 million. the company doesn't put all the blame on the march 11th natural disaster. it says a general downturn in the electronics market cut into sales. sony also cut its profit forecast for the full fiscal year. that's something people look at when assessing the firm. it isn't the only tap niz electronics manufacturer posting losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars mark. with more on sony's slird, the prospects for recovery and outlook for japan's trick industry, we turn to kyung lah.

sony isn't the only one that's been impacted but the earthquake and tsunami did take some toll on the company at least? >> reporter: it certainly affected a lot of companies here as far as that disaster, because it is not being helped by the disaster, the production supply problems here in japan but it is certainly, manisha, a bad day in a lot of boardrooms across tokyo, especially among the companies today that are reporting in the electronics industry. if you compare sony who reported in the first quarter of the fiscal year, that being april till june, sony certainly doesn't look as bad as some of the other manufacturers. sony, as you said, 191 million u.s. dollars, panasonic lost 390 million, sharp 630 million, nintendo 327 million u.s. dollars. and they are just symptomatic.

if you read through all of the different various reports, you see this repeated theme again and again. it's not just the march 11th disaster but it is also the currency, the world currency and that being the u.s. dollar sinking. it is not helping these manufacturers who have to live and die by the global currency and that being the u.s. dollar. manufacturers in japan when they repatriate are suffering under the strong yen and the u.s. dollar. what we are seeing is major downward pressure on the u.s. dollar. the reason for the downward pressure is all of this debate, the uncertainly out of what's going to happen in washington, d.c. that in effect is translating not just to weak corporate profits but also to an impact on the overall economy here in japan. the governor of the region where many of these manufacturers are based said that he believes that it's not just hurting the manufacturers but this is an urgent problem for the national

government and economy. manisha? >> yeah. and they seem to me to be caught in between a rock and a hard place. ramy was talking about exactly the same issue earlier, this pressure on the u.s. dollar and how we've seen the strengthening of the yen and that's bad for exporters, not just tricks companies but car companies as well. between a rock and a hard place for tricks. they have big competition in terms of manufacturing in this region. >> reporter: absolutely. they've got to try to remain competitive. the concern there then becomes do you try to push those companies out of japan, do you try to live in a dollar world by pushing production outside of this country which then translates into fewer jobs here in the country. and so what we've seen is companies like nissan urgently and trying to make sure that its production hub will be elsewhere. nissan is more insulated than toyota but at the end of the

day, what that means is fewer jobs for japanese workers. >> yes, absolutely. we'll leave it there. kyung lah, thanks for wrapping that up for us, what seems to be the tip of the iceberg when you look at sony's figures. nina? coming up on "world business today," chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant bayer releases latest financial figures and we'll be talking to the ceo, right here on this very show. stay tuned.

hello again. a warm welcome back. you're watching "world business today," we're live. plenty more earnings figures for you. let's focus on bayer. its income rose to almost $1.1 billion in total. its revenues managed to rise by 0.8% to a total of $13.3 billion. that's on an adjusted basis and it still did miss analyst estimates, though. at justed sales figure saw a rise of 5.4%. now, the drugs and plant product company confirmed that it expects profits for the year to exceed $10.8 billion. let's take a look at some of these numbers. i was just showing you before in a little bit more depth. to do so, we are joined by

marijn dekkers, he joins us live from berlin. does to see you and thanks for coming on the show, marijn dekkers. we start out by looking into your figures. how important are agricultural products and plastics for your business? is that really where growth is headed now? >> well, it is an important part of our business, about half is crop sciences and material sciences and particularly in krupp sciences grow by about 90%. >> ever so briefly, what about higher input prices and the fact that people are using crop science products ever so much more now because food prices are very buoyant. >> yes. >> that is tremendously helpful that seed prices have gone up significantly. raw material prices have gone up

in general in crop sciences and material sciences we have been able to pass those on to our customers. so at the moment there is no reason for us to be concerned about it. >> i can't let you go without asking you, of course, how how worried you are about the u.s. economy. it's the world's largest. we have a potential technical default coming if we can't get through this debt impasse. does it give you sleepless nights? >> i have to say not really. we are -- bayer is an innovation company. we have a very long-range perspective. ten years sometimes between the development of a product and the actual commercialization. what does concern me is the pressure on prescription drug prices. because i hope that in the end

we as a pharmaceutical industry will continue to invest in innovation and a really innovative new product st. lools with this concurrent pressure on drug prices. this is a tight line we are walking here that i think governments have to really think about. what do you do to innovation in the pharma industry with this continued pressure on drug prices. >> marijn dekkers, we'll have to leave it there. many thanks for that. the ceo of bayer saying the u.s. debtacle isn't giving him sleepless nights. i can say it's been giving some of us sleepless nights, we've been covering it so much on this very show. >> yes, interesting point. many ceos will have to look beyond this and look for the long view, that's the framework

in which manufacture them have to work. currency movements, that's something we'll have to keep an eye on. august 2nd as many of you have been hearing is indeed d-day in the united states. that's "d" for debt, let me tell you. will the u.s. congress get its act together in time or will they drive the country and the world economy over a cliff? we'll have much more on that subject, just ahead.

from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. i'm and manisha tank at cnn hong kong.

a warm welcome back to "world business today." let's take another look at the european stock market performance. we're about 90 minutes into the trading session at the moment and we're firmly fixed into the red as you can see, some of the markets down even further than they were before. it's the turn of the dax to lose the most down, nearly 0.9%. concern surrounding the likes of the ongoing debt debacle that could trigger a possible u.s. default of debt. we've also got credit suisse announcing plans to slash about 4% of its total global head couldn't the which amounts to 2,000 jobs. manisha? >> i have to say, some of the earnings from europe and from here, just corporate news in general hasn't been particularly uplifting either. here in asia, the investors are definitely nervous about the u.s. debt result. we have red arrows on the board. the hang seng eking out a close.

until we get progression in the discussions in washington that give us a more final outcome for august 2nd. apart from that, the currency markets very much in the spotlight as the dollar weakens. we've seen yen strength, that putting pressure on the exporters in one of the key markets. investors are getting nervous about washington's ongoing standoff. the dow jones industrial average fell by more than 1.5% on wednesday and on the fourth day of a losing streak that does seem to be getting longer and longer, people, of course, understandably going more and more worried about this. the nasdaq sunk more than 2.5% for its part. the s&p dropped by about 2%. >> so where are we in terms of the latest on the debt situation in the u.s. congress seems impossibly divided over how to raise the country's debt ceiling. on thursday, the house votes on

republican speaker john boehner's plan. even if he can muster enough republican support in the house, the bill will die in the senate where harry reid's caucus also said they will kill it. senate democrats are working on their own debt plan but it may not suit the liberal left wing of the party and has little chance of passing the republican-controlled house. in the meantime, the ratings agencies have their views in washington on wednesday. executives from standard & poors and moody's testified before a congressional committee on attempts to reform the celt rre rating industry. as john defterios explains, a credit downgrade could have consequences not just for the u.s. but also other countries with top notch credit scores. >> reporter: let's call it the aaa club. a fairly exclusive club of 20 countries that have a top rating given by standard & poors.

not surprisingly as the world's largest economy, it is the largest sovereign debt market, $11.1 trillion. the rest of the country adds up to $7 trillion. the five that follow the u.s. is germany at 1.72 trillion, france at 1.7 trillion, the uk gilt market and canada and australia with $300 billion. there is some concern that if the u.s. is downgraded it may force an examination of some of the others. why the mess in the u.s.? the numbers tell the whole story. the 2011 budget deficit, 10.7% of gdp. the 2011 debt-to-gdp is at a ratio of 102%. the u.s. has not been in that position since the end of world war ii when it had to refund the

rebuilding after that. the u.s. was averaging 60% to 70% during the 1990s. it topped over 100% after the funding of the iraq war, the afghanistan war and the collapse of lehman brothers and that huge financial bailout. despite all the discussion about what could happen with the budget deficit and the republicans and the democrats agreeing eye to eye on what could happen, the long-term debt is likely to continue rising. $14 trillion today, it could top $20 trillion by the year 2016 no matter what they do over the next week. >> coming up, a deepening humanitarian crisis in a hunger-stricken land. we go to kenya where the corners of the drought and famine go way beyond simply a lack of rain. medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything.

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a warm welcome back to "world business today." >> the u.n. has begun air

lifting aid to mogadishu. one-third of the population is on the verge of starvation. delivering food is difficult as militant groups have blocked access to drought-stricken areas there. they are caught in a drought that's the worst in 60 years. the drought is not the only part of the starvation that is cutting through the population. david mckenzie joins us live from nigh rocheby. realistically speaking, these problems are deep seeded and they've been around a while. >> reporter: that's right, nina. the drought is one factor in it. it's incorrect to think that this lack of rain is what is causing this famine entirely. i want to show you a headline in

the standard, a major paper in kenya, it says shame of kenya, a national embarrassment. what the local media is going on in a big way, they say hunger in this region could have been avo avoided, not just in somalia but the region as a whole. in many ways this is a man-made famine. children like noria are the face of this famine. she struggled for days to escape somalia and hunger. it's a hunger blamed on drought, a land parched of water and food. the reality is more complex. >> is this a man-made crisis? >> yes, to a large extent. it's been -- the crisis has been caused by the poor raines. we've had two successive poor rains across the region but to a large extent that's also exacerbated by poor policies. >> reporter: most obviously in somalia where al shabab has

flip-flopped to feed starving people but also in the other end of the region, where food is always around, consumers struggle to support it. the high prices affecting retailers when they buy bulk they have to pay almost double because of the high fuel prices and the high food prices. so when people come and buy their products, they buy less of it and they buy less variety. in kenya, prices have more than doubled on all produce, including kenya's staple, maize, hammering families trying to escape property. >> it hits the poorest. >> reporter: the world's bank lead economist says production and distribution are controlled by a select few. so ordinary people suffer. >> they pay higher than the high international prices. so when the international price goes up, in kenya, the last three years in 2009 and even this year, it went up even

higher. >> reporter: with each drought, the poorest have few assets to sell to buy food. their thin cows fetch little, their dead cows nothing. over time, more people depend on food aid, already millions survive on it every year. >> ultimately you need to get to a situation where people in kenya and africa don't pay half of their income for food. they have a smaller share so that in richer countries where people are complaining about high food prices but they're just complaining, not suffering. >> reporter: if that isn't done, the images of a population pushed over the edge could become the rule rather than the exception in this region. nina, one thing that the world bank economist told me that's really struck me is that things like this, maize flour that kenyans depend on particularly in the rural areas, though around the world the prices of food are obviously higher, people are struggling, here the price is even higher than that

global commodities price because, he says, that there's a small amount of farmers that control the supply for food to get to the market is sometimes difficult and once it's there, people can't afford it. so really what a lot of people are saying is what is needed long term in this region is proper policies to help avoid this situation in the future. nina. >> david mckenzie, joining us from nairobi, many thanks for that report. manisha? now to south korea and much of the country. tremendous downpours during the past 72 hours have triggered heavy flooding and deadly mudslides that have killed at least 44 people. dramatic pictures there. many parts of the capital are paralyzed and thousands of businesses are at a standstill this thursday as floodwater and mud pour through the streets. rescuers are working frantically

to locate survivors in chuncheon. five neighborhoods on the outskirts of the capital are under evacuation orders. the rain did lighten up a bit earlier on thursday. it is now coming down hard again. it is expected to break by friday. the sheer amount of rain that's fallen on south korea in the past two days is hard to imagine. me meteorologists say it's the heaviest rain they've seen in 100 years. >> reporter: the death toll has been steadily rising here in south korea, due to torrential rains and mudslides that have been created. now there has been at least 44 people confirmed dead. that's according to the central disaster relief agency. now, among the dead we know that in the southern part of seoul,

there were particularly bad mudslides which ended with 16 people being kill ed ed in that area. also just east of seoul, near the city of chuncheon, 13 people have been known to have been killed, some students volunteering in that area. and many sm were killed in a factory that collapsed because of the rain. we've seen deadly incidents across seoul and the outskirts as the rain is continuing. we understand there are 2,000 homes still without electricity. the two main roads in seoul which run along the hahn river. there has been traffic chaos, cars have been stranded and homes have been flooded. we understand there's 12,500 people that are trying to help, rescuers, military, police and also public servants.

5,000 of those are in seoul alone. certainly the rescuers are trying to find anybody who is still missing. five people still missing at this point but they're hoping for better weather to be able to carry out that rescue effort in a more conducive fashion. we had a few hours lull in the rain over lunch time but torrential rain has returned once again. the meteorological agency hoping that at least by friday, it will have eased. paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. just amazing pictures there. the question is, is there any relief in sight for south korea? meteorologist jennifer delgado is at the cnn weather center standing by. how's it looking? >> things are improving but the problem is, we're talking about so much water across parts of north and south korea it will take a while before we see a vast improvement. they did pick up more rain today but the heaviest rainfall is behind south korea. as i show you on the satellite imagery, see for yourself the

clouds getting much wider. we'll continue to see an improvement as we go through today and tomorrow, a vast improvement. we still can't go completely dry because we're pulling in a bit of that moisture in the yellow sea. we have an area of low pressure to the north. that continues to pull away. that system you're seeing off towards the west is not going to be affecting the korean peninsula as we go through the next two days. by the weekend we could see rain working into that area. as we look across parts of asia, a lot happening there. as you can see, we have a tropical storm, number 11. what we're watching is tropical storm number 10. that moved through parts of the philippines yesterday, left more than two dozen people dead behind it with its path. notice what's happening for the island as well as the coastline. as we go through the next 24

hours, the center of circulation will stay offshore. we see more of the rain coming into the region as we go later tonight, we'll talk about gustier winds. the winds right now, 93. they go up to 111. 24 hours out. then making another landfall, it looks like a third landfall just to the south of hanoi as we go through this weekend. the rain is heavy, this is being indicated by our bar graph here, we're talking some of the southern regions. we can't forget about what's happening in the gulf of mexico. this is tropical storm don. it looks like it will continue to intensify, approaching the texas coastline as we go through friday late in the afternoon as well as into the evening hours. we see conditions deteriorating. i want to point out to you, we've been talking about the drought and how it's been affecting the economy, farming in parts of the southwest. and notice anywhere across this region they really do need

rainfall because they're dealing with severe to an exceptional drought through parts. right over to you. nina? >> okay, jennifer delgado, many thanks for that update there. coming up next on "world business today," how can a rap song, a cops and robbers movie and amy winehouse all be relate to the u.s. debt debate? if you're puzzled, stay with us on "world business today" and find out.

welcome back. live from hong kong in london, you're watching "world business today" on cnn. let's go back to our top story, the u.s. debt debate. while it may be no laughing matter to economists around the world, at least the ongoing drama in washington is actually providing some comic relief somewhere. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: a rap video, a cops and robbers movie and amy winehouse? ♪ no no no >> reporter: what do they have to do with the debt ceiling fiasco. ♪ raise the debt ceiling >> reporter: this is a comedian from virginia who likes doing political videos. >> all this spending fits in well with a bad rap. i happen to be a bad rapper. >> reporter: speaking of bombs was that really the "a" bomb dropped by house speaker john boehner as he tried to get his fellow republicans to get in

line. >> twaz true you told some of the republican members that you need to get your "a" word in line behind this debt ceiling bill? >> i sure did. this is time to do what is doable. >> reporter: "the washington post" reported that the house majority whip played a movie clip to motivate republicans to pull together, the clip featured ben affleck as a bank robber planning revenge in "the town." >> i need your help. i can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later and we're going to hurt some people. >> who's car we gonna take. >> reporter: the democrats turned the car against the republicans. >> they chose to inspire their house freshmen, one of the crooks gives a pep talk to the other. right before they both put on hockey masks, bludgeon two men with sticks and shoot a man in the leg. ladies and gentlemen, this is your house republican majority. >> reporter: asked about republicans playing his clip, ben affleck said, i don't know

if this is a compliment or the ultimate repudiation. if they're going to be watching movies, i think "the company men" is more appropriate, a film about corporate layoffs. >> you're firing me? >> reporter: here's a head scratcher, what possible connection could there be between the debt and the death of singer amy winehouse? ♪ they tried to make me go to rehab ♪ >> reporter: republican congressman billy long from missouri tweeted no one could reach amy winehouse before it was too late. can anyone reach washington before it's too late? both addicted? same fate? long later apologized saying he men not disrespect to winehouse. if this keeps up, raise the limit on debt-related doozies. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. the ongoing debacle surrounding the u.s. debt creeling is one thing that

investors are talking about, particularly on the european stock markets. at the moment all of these markets currently trading lower for a second day in a row, a number of the markets being depressed as of course we've seen the ongoing wrangling in washington because if the united states doesn't raise that debt ceiling and does go into a technical default on some of its $14.3 trillion worth of debt, that could have serious ramifications for currencies and stocks around the world. the dax is down by nearly 1%, manisha. >> perhaps it would be more entertaining if i could rap through the numbers here in asia. but guess what, it's not very entertaining for traders and they're seeing there's no movement on the debt situation. more losses across the board. now what's impacting on asia-pacific markets is the currency strength, particularly in japan where the nikkei and major exporters, the likes of toyota, the likes of sony are beginning to now worry about the strength of the yen and what that will mean for overseas

sales and ongoing weakness of the u.s. dollar and how that will impact across their businesses. another down day here, nina. don't forget, if you want to comment on the u.s. debt ceiling, the debacle there or any of the stories you've seen on this show, do get in touch with the whole "world business today" team on facebook.com/cnnwbt or otherwise get in touch with us also on cnn.com/business. and let us know your thoughts. we'd love to hear them. >> absolutely. that's it, though, for this edition of "world business today." we'll see you again soon. i'm manisha tank in hong kong. and i'm nina dos santos in london. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. good-bye for now. with your mortgage,

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