>> i've got to leave it the, governor. we've run out of time. thank you very much as always. tomorrow i'll be back with results of the iowa caucuses. "piers morgan tonight" live at midnight eastern.

the government of south sue dan gained control of a remote village that was attacked over the weekend. some 4,000 army and police reinforcements have reportedly been sent to aville raj. they're fighting over grazing land. the u.s. republican party presidential race is about to get ready over iowa. candidates have been campaigning for weeks and tuesday night voters will take part in what is being called caucuses. they are a few hundred in formal get-togethers where people take the candidate they want to face president barack obama in november's general election. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. much more coming up on the iowa

caucuses just ahead. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london. i'm charles hodson. a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens and welcome to the first edition of "world business today" of 2012. this is tuesday, january 3rd. it is a new year. but one report already suggests businesses may be haunted by the same cries of confidence this year as last. the republican party's race for the white house takes off this tuesday. they're claiming they boost business and put a dent in america's debt. why discount stores are replacing more established outlets on the high streets of the united kingdom. 2011 was eye year many in the financial world would rather

forget. certainly, that was the case here in asia. most of the big markets were down between 15 and 25% last year. 2012 has got off to an optimistic start at least. markets in asia are higher boosted by encouraging manufacturing data. it's different in europe where the sector contracted for the fifth month in a row. but market are on the rise nonetheless. the question is how long will it all last. charles, there's been a lot of talk about recession in the euro zone. i guess there's not a lot to look forward to in that part of the world in 2012. it would seem in terms of the broader outlook. looking at the way the markets are behaving this morning, this is for example the first day of proper trade for london this year. essential essentially, what we're looking at is the fourth session in a row of gains. now, there were obviously dispatch -- disappointing uk manufacturing data of the we'll see that at the bottom of the

hour perhaps. german unemployment proved just a little bit of a good surprise. dax up by nearly 1% falling to 6.8%. that's better than expected. what i think is really the issue here in term of these markets is a set of gains for some of the big uk listed mining stocks. in particular, strata. this is due to the fact that china we had manufacturing data which was not as disappointing as we feared. it all comes pack to china. slight losses of 2/3 of a percent andrew. >> you talked about china. it had a big impact in asia. if you look at the numbers, it's a healthy start to the new year. the nikkei and the chinese markets closed again but elsewhere, you can see some of the better performers right

around this region. hong kong up by 2.4%. the market that disappointing pair. the data out of europe. they're focusing on the positive and the positive is indeed china. china. and the key here has been an expansion in manufacturing output no december from the contractually in november. it's only marginally up but still expanding. that's what investors want to see. they want to see if growing and of course, manufacturing is a key part of that economy. wasn't just china, though. the hang seng getting a pop. india, it's up by 2 hoyne 4% as well. that's off the december pmi. it came out at the fastest rate in six months according to a survey. it came in at 54.2. anything above 50 means it's contracting. it was at 51 in november. india also growing.

australia also growing as well. december manufacturing there increasing at 2.4 points to just over 50 as well. the s&p as you see, up by 1.1%. there are so many resource plays in australia for the china market. not such good news on the broader metro economic front. for singapore, economy sh rinking again. down 4.9% according to the previous quarter. manufacturing output falling. the economy did grow by a pretty healthy 4.8%. missing the government's official target of 5%. it's a very choppy year for singapore last year. it's a very open economy there. it is hostage to the vagaries of global -- we saw the fall off in exports going into the euro zone. is there a reason to be

cheerful in 2012? that seems to be where you're doing business. the latest report from grant thornton shows an overall balance of apartment mitchel and pessimism. it's far less balanced by region of the it's a polarized picture. the percentage figures show how upbeat or down beat they fell in the last two quarters of 2011 with zero percent as the equilibri equilibrium. across the board, it's -- there's progress in north america and even more so in the brick block of leefding developing nations. the region that of course is dampening the mood is hardly surprising. europe where the confidence index has shrunk. sunk or shrunk. either fits. from zero to minus 17% in the last quarter. one possible factor in this shortage of confidence is in apparent shortage it trade, also detailed in that report. let's talk us through those

findings and the outlook for the year ahead. we're joined by the company's ceo. ed nusbaum. a disappointing picture here. >> clearly. the european business leaders are depressed about the future of their businesses and the economy overall. >> what about the prospects of if you like a meltdown, the worst case scenario? that seems to be quite real if the numbers are to be believed. >> business leaders have the lowest confidence level since the peak of the financial crisis in 2009. on the other hand, they see solutions out there if politicians are willing to take the tough actions necessary to fik the euro crisis. >> we could see this flipflop from being negative or at least finally balanced to being positive if that crisis were resolved. >> absolutely. we're sitting on a nice edge. there's a perfect balance here and if the politicians are willing to take the tough actions, fix the euro crisis, the euro zone issues, then bases can rebound. >>let have a look at the you state.

clearly, the world's largest economy is extremely important in the global picture. he we may be looking at a recession in europe already. how confident are we about the strength of the recovery in the united states? >> it seems to be moving a lon. business leaders are confident that it will continue to move along. employment is up. they're anticipating future growth and the backlogs with starting to get better. >> let's look at the brick nations. they've done well, kept up blistering paces of growth. although we're seeing those reduce a bit in 2011 towards the end of 201. are we going to see more moderate growth from china? >> confidence levels are stronger. brazil is equally strong, stronger in the fourth quarter than previously in the year. we see a positive effort there. russia and india are a little more reserved. >>let focus in on india. clearly a very, very important economy. are you worried that we may see

confidence collapse there? clearly, there have been a lot of political difficulties. >> in india, we're seeing a flat level of confidence. they remain overall confident in their economy, but it isn't going up or down. it's staying moderate. russia, we're seeing concerns about the political uncertainty and causing business leaders to be nervous about their economy goog forward. >> what business leaders care about motte is profitability. are we going to see companies struggle to make good earnings in to 2012? >> it depends where you are. continuing profits in the u.s. and china and brazil and concerns about profits in russia and other countries throughout the world. but the biggest issues are here in europe. >> thank you very much. we end exactly where we started, ed. thank you very much, ed nusbaum, ceo from grant thornton. andrew? charles, in the business confidence, a boost would be -- in the state of iowa today, six

presidential hopefuls will claim they're the person to deliver it. the highly anticipated iowa caucus takes place this evening. it's the first contest in the republican party's nomination process for the u.s. presidential candidacy and because it's first, it attracts a lot of attention from the candidates and of course the media ahead of the 2008 election, republican candidates made 283 visits to that state. totaling 550 days. a good showing in the iowa caucus can boost a candidacy or prove to be the end of one's campaign. of course, front and center of every candidate's campaign is the state of the u.s. economy. current front-runner, mitt romney, wants americans to consider their priorities. >> i'm asked how am i going to balance the budget, by the way? what would i do to get our budge net alignment? i want to tell you, it's not going to be easy. it's just important.

how am i going to do it? first of all, i'm going to look at all the programs we have and i'm going to say which of those programs do we absolutely have to have and i'll apply this test in deciding whether to keep them for eliminate them. is this program so critical to america that it's worth our borrowing money from china to pay for it? >> mitt romney there. the question of tax has proven one of the most taxing aspects of american political debate lately. they have a criticized standoff in congress. even within the republican party, proposals differ widely. take mitt romney for example. romney would ex continued the bush tax cuts, reduce dee ducks and lower tax rates over time. he would lower the corporate tax rate to just 25%. romney wants to repeal the estate tax and eliminate capital gains and dividends for households making less than $200,000. a year. compare that with ron paul.

he wants to replace the income tax with a flat tax. he also wants to get rid of capital gains and estate taxes but he would cut the corporate rate to 15% compared with romney's 25. we'll bring you more on all of the candidates and their economic policies a little later in the show. charles? the new york stock exchange will ring its first opening bell in 2012 in a little over five hours from now. this week promises plenty of numbers to keep investors on their toes. the big item is the all-important jobs report for december. the unemployment rate in november fell to 8.6%. it's low for 201. some forecasters do think or perhaps fear it might tick back up again in december. we'll find out on friday. we'll also get a pair of reports on the manufacturing sector as well as the reading on construction spending. now, switching gears. automakers, car makers will report sales for december. expectations are pretty high.

the automotive industry seems to have been on the upswing in 2011. sales expected to hit almost 30 million. that is the highest since that terrible year of 2008. we'll also hear from individual retail chains about how much they rang up in holiday sales. initial reports suggest it was a pretty good season. even though the general merchandise retailer, sears, has already warned that its sales were lower. that was a bit of a shock at the time, andrew. >> absolutely, charles. still to come here on "world business today," the sweet smell of success. as india's economy continues its rapid growth, something else is also in the air as they take to the roads in their millions. we'll have a report from the country's congested capital just ahead.

welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. >> india's economy has grown rapidly in recent years as we

certainly have been covering. but the country's capital markets have been struggling to keep up and now the indian government is attempting to breathe some life into the country's investment scene allowing individual foreign investors to buy shares of locally listed indian companies. up until now foreigners have been able to invest in shares only through mutual funds and other institutional channels. the most certainly follows a pretty dismal year for foreign investment. take a look at this. i want to start in 2010. this is how much foreign capital flowed into indian equities in 2010. as you can see there, $29 billion. that was an all-time record. if you look we're actually below the break even line in 2011. this is how much actually flowed out last year. $380 million, a net total. that's had a direct effect on the main stock exchange. if you look at what the census

is doing today, looks good. up on the back of the fairly strong manufacturing numbers. that's the daily chat. look at it over a year. you'll see a vastly different picture. healthy over a day. this is it over the year. it's trending down pretty much all of 2011. down by as you see now 22.5%. actually finished down by about 25%. that made it one of the worst performing indices of 2011. individual foreign investors will be able to buy indian stocks but only starting january 15th. we'll follow that story when it does happen, charles. looking at the comments. a lot of analysts are saying don't expect too much because it's been such an appalling year last year. it's going to be no urgency for foreign investors to get into this market any ways. >> interesting listening to ed

nusbaum. they're confident, nor pessimistic. very much on a balance. as you mentioned, andrew and despite a dismal year, obviously for india's benchmark share ind index. country has been growing at a respectable rate of 8%. there are a lot of world leaders that would give their eye eye teeth to see that. india's capital is literally choking on its own success. our sara sidner reports now from new delhi. >> reporter: india's capital appears to be losing the battle against pollution. after a few years of beating back bad air quality, this vibrant city is one of the most polluted capitals in the world. you can see it and worse, feel it. >> the this student, the emphatic but simple demand by the technician to take a deep breath and exhale is exhausting. he rides his bike to college

every day. his asthma attacks come more often. the increasing polluted air. >> i feel it less. you can feel the black air. >> doctors say bad air quality is adding to the number of respiratory diseases and lives at emergency rooms. >> it's major public health issue now. >> india's government fought hard in the late '90s to push power plants to the outskirts ofth city and mandated the buses and rickshaws to use compressed natural gas instead of diesel. built a fast and efficient metro. at first, the air quality changed for the better. >> even though we did some measures ten years ago, after that, nothing happened. like everything was on the upturn so all the gains that we had in the late '90s and early 2000s completely wiped out.

>> why? because of more than a thousand new cars are registered in new delhi. in the winter shall the poor and cold burn anything they can. research groups say their -- road dust is the most prevalent followed by vehicular emissions, emissions from power plants and brick counts. even though the last two industries have been pushed outside of the city. the government recognizes pollution has increased in an effort to combat the problem, it's expanding the metro and bound to better enforce laws already in place. scientists warn, if no new measures are taken, living, working and visiting this colorful developing city may actually take your breath away for all the wrong reasons. sara sidner, cnn, new delhi. >> coming up here on "world business today," is the economy stupid? we'll see how a phrase from bill clinton's election campaign years ago is looking increasingly central for the republican race to the

presidency this year as the party's hopefuls get to face off in iowa.

start of the new year but the ferry is still in its route to hong kong island. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. a strong storm has rolled

into northwest earn europe slowing down travel at airports. iran cabrera joins us from the weather center. a big blurry around here this morning. >> it is blowing. checked in with london here. talking about upward of two-hour delays reported. pack your patience if you're headed to the airport, especially in or out of london. the flights will be significantly impacted because of this. i mean, take a look at this thing. looks like a hurricane rolling through. it's an intense area of low pressure off the atlantic. we've had so many this season, we ended 201 like this. here's another one. it's causing severe gales and we'll be talking about storm force winds. winds in excess of 100 kilometers per hour. the cold air wrapping around the scottish hills looking at significant snow. look at the squall line developing across the midlands and heading down to the south and ease. that will be across london. if the wind isn't delaying you at the airport, the heavy rain

certainly will. we're going to continue to see that. not only in london but take a look. this continues and those squiggly lines there, it's all wind. 60 to 90-minute delays if you're lucky. the next couple of days, the travel delays will likely continue through the middle part of the week. an impulse coming in on the heels of this one. our storm track remains the same and the lows will continue to traverse that line that you see there. again, winds are going to be upwards of 100 kilometers per hour. further to the south, we'll be okay there. in fact, we'll continue to see snow across the region. flying into australia, the big story is there you are going to be in quite the heat. southeastern australia getting in with temperatures once again to the upper 30s to low 40s with heat warnings and advisories posted. as the latest weather, "world business today" continues after the break. stay with us. this is cnn.

for cnn london, i'm charles hodson. i'm andrew stephens in cnn hong kong. you're watching "world business today." let's see what's going on in europe. markets now 91 minutes into the trading day. first day of trade in london this year. bit of catching up going on here on the fts foots i. certainly london i going well. it's going well on the basis of

chinese manufacturing data which weren't as bad as expected. that's lifting big mining stocks here in london. skrerm an unemployment came in slightly better than expected. up to 4.42 million. more than 22% of the working population and spain is warning that its budget deficit could top the estimate of 8% of gdp in london. looking at worries there and perhaps reflected some of that in the paris can current. zurich playing catchup by 1.25%. >> that's a shocking number, isn't it? 22% unemployment in spain. wow. here in asia, charles, bit of a booming start to the new year. sentiment very strong in the opening day. the opening day for all the markets here. india is still trading. but the rest of the markets are all now closed. you see the hang seng up about

2.4%. australia up by around about a little over 1%. the sensex trading 2.5%. this is to do with positive manufacturing and the big number charles was talking about. china's manufacturing sector expanded in december. this is crucial. it contracted the month before, much to everybody's surprise and certainly most everybody's concern that the chinese manufacturing machine was actually starting to contract. it turned out to be just, well, early to say. analysts hoping it could just be a blip. so there has been quite a lot of buying on the back of the china story. manufacturing is back online. now, japan and mainland china markets reopened for the new year tomorrow. we'll be taking a look at what's in store for the asian markets as' whole this year. remember, of course, it had a pretty dismal year in 2011.

the big markets down between 15% in australia. 25% in india. now, if analysts are right, there may be some reasons to be cheerful about the u.s. markets in 2012. survey of cnn money, this is how much investment strategists and money managers expect the s&p to rise over the year. 7%. if they're right, i suspect they won't see them breaking out the bubbly. but it might mean the worst is over. the analysts did say the volatility that we've seen over the course of the past 12 months is likely to continue. this is how the s&p ended up 2011. down just a fraction, little over 1%. after wild springs, though. saw it down almost 14% in october from where it began the year. it did come back as you see down by 1%. certainly huge amount of volatility in the u.s. markets. charles? yeah. bp meanwhile is hoping to make

halliburton pay all of the costs and damages incurred as a result of 2010 gulf of mexico oil spill. bp spent about $14 billion on the cleanup and has paid out almost $7.5 billion in claims from individuals, businesses and governments. it set aside $20 billion for economic claims and reap storing natural resources. bp and halliburton blame each other for the explosion that killed 11 workers and started the worst off shore spill in u.s. history. 2012 certainly going to be a year of the election. in just a few hours from now, we'll be getting our first official idea of how the race for the white house is shaping up. remember, white house is one of a number of election campaigns this year. now, the iowa caucus is clear at the moment it can make or break

a presidential hopeful's candidacy. after n ever changing in the race, the six republicans on the ballot have everything to play for. the issues run from emotive matters, like abortion and gay marriage to will all encompassing direction of the u.s. economy. one term we've heard time and time again in this contest is big government. many republicans want congress to spend less to combat spiraling debt. rick santorum has been gaining in popularity in the polls. he's been a figure on the amount of annual spending that he'd like to see. >> in addition to a balanced budget, the balanced budget amendment that i prefer and that i will fight for will put a limit on overall spending in washington, d.c. it won't just be you have to balance the budget. you can do that and just have huge government and big taxes to support it. we need a budget that is balanced and is limited as in

what i support is 18% that we set the total amount of spending that the government can spend at any one year is 18% of the overall economy. >> last minute voters in iowa, rick santorum. smaller government means smaller tacks of course. veteran republican newt gingrich has one big plan for kick-starting the economy. >> on taxes, i go to zero capital gains tax, which would bring hundreds of billions of dollars into the u.s. to create factories and new businesses. i go to 100% expensing on all new equipment. whether a farmer, factory or business, everything you bought you could write off in one year to make our workforce the most producti productive in the world. >> let's take a quick look at the other candidates' tax plans as well. michele bachmann says that she would like to make the bush tax cuts permanent. she's offered a few specifics.

but says that she would reduce the number of tax brackets, repeal the estate tax, as well as simplify corporate taxes. that's michele bachmann. now, take a look at what rick perry is saying. woe let americans choose between the current income tax or a flat 20% rate. he would also cut the business rate to 20%. perry supports eliminating the estate tax as well as capital gains tax. jon huntsman is not actually competing in the iowa caucus, but he's choosing to concentrate on the new hampshire primary next week. what he wants to do is replace the current income tax with three tax brackets. an 8%, 14% and a 23%. he would offer no deductions or credits but would also eliminate capital gains and estate tax and propose to cut the corporate rate to 25%. charles? so those are the candidates' plans for the biggest economy in the world. what's the impact of the iowa

caucuses on that particular individual state's economy? >> in short, not a big one. surprisingly perhaps. let's take a look. the last time around, spending by candidates reached nearly $16 million. democrats spent $10 million compared to the republicans $6 million. with just the republicans competing this time, that number may shrink. what are they spending that cash on? ? 2008, campaign payrolls were the number one item at 35% of total spending. travel costs came in at 14% and printing costst at 13%. another slight boost to the economies, the number of media visitors. they were estimated at 2500 in 2008. but a mere 1500 this year. overall, the caucuses are estimated to have a $100 million impact on the state. but with the nearly $150 billion economy control over which is being wrestled in that particular state, anyway, that's

an impact of less than .1% if you put it in those terms. of course, there are plenty of iowans who still like to make a song and dance about their stint in the spotlight. take a look. >>. ♪ >> it basically gives audiences an insight into the presidential election process in the caucus process here in iowa. especially the week before. it gets kind of crazy around here. you can't help but run into the media or the politicians somewhere at some point. >> you've got journalists, you've got campaign staff. you've got followers of the campaign. supporters of the campaign. you know, there's so many different areas that money can go. it's not all going into hotels and restaurants. you know, they're paying rent in office buildings. t-shirt shops or printing shops and things like that.

all small family-owned private businesses and they're all benefiting from this. no doubt. >> rock out with your caucus out. >> business is slow for hotels. to have a sold out hotel between christmas and new year's is huge. we've been taking reservations off and on for about four years now. actually, became completely sold out about a year ago. >> probably quadrupled by income in a month. >> scarlett johansson couldn't get a table because they were full. >> showcasing whatever is going on in the state. we know that the national press will be here. so there's a great opportunity economically to sell iowa. >> i've never seen any them before in my life. >> four years ago we quantified a $25 million impact just on greater des moines. generally represents about a quarter of the state's overall impact. we estimate $100 million on the state of iowa.

four years ago was definitely a larger impact. i think we'll see some lesser numbers this time around. but still pretty strong. >> it's considerably slower and a little quieter than it was in 2008. >> this year hasn't been as big because i think the staffs are smaller than they were in 2008. there's definitely a difference. when you have both parties trying to select a candidate. >> i think it's fun for iowans to see people talking about iowa in the national news. >> we're very thankful that they're spending their money here. >> we tend to sit around and cry on january 4th and say please come back in four years. please let us be the first state again. well, be sure to tune in to cnn as the iowa caucuses unfold. our live coverage starts at 8:00 on pens morning. that's hong kong.

that's an hour before the caucuses themselves begin in iowa. it's anyone's guess how long they will take. our team will bring you coverage of all of the developments as they happen on cnn. still to come on "world business today," who doesn't love a bargain? we'll look at the rise of the 99 cent store in the uk. the defunct company's breast implants spread around the world and we'll talk to one woman who say they caused her years of pain.

a look at the currency markets. start with the euro there. still below 130. the flat number. manufacturing data down for a fifth straight month. clearly, that is not exactly underpinning the euro. the cable at 1.5582. the yen edging up to 76.80.

welcome back to "world business today." >> there are new concerns over the safety of breast implants made by the now defunct p.i.p. it was revealed that as many as one in 25 could rupture. we report that figure could actually be even higher. >> reporter: amanda harrison shows us the implant she had removed last year. ruptured and oozing industrial grade silicone. the same material used to stuff mattresses. this, she believes, is what led to years of kidney infections and excruciating pain. >> my back and my neck are excruciating. they hurt. i'm on painkillers all the time. i don't sleep. i have to take sleeping tablets. antidepressants. it's just, just awful. my doctor is 90% sure that all

of my symptoms are related to silicone poisoning basically. she's one of an estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries to receive breast implants from p.i.p. a french company now shut down by health authority. the faulty implants were first discovered in 2010. they were taken off the market. now, the argument is about who pays to have them removed. here's how some different countries around the world have been dealing with the issue. in 2000, the u.s. actually banned p.i.p. implants because they did not meet regulations there. in france, of course, the country to first discover the problem, they said that these implants should be removed but the state will only pay in those cases that p.i.p. implants have been put in after mastectomies. in venezuela, they're offering free implant removal for anyone who has had p.i.p. implants

installed. the state will not pay to replace the i am pants and that's causing something of a debate there. ? the uk, the government does not recommend removal at this point. therefore, the government will not be paying for any p.i.p. implant removal. however, that may now be changing because of new evidence that has come to light in britain. the risk of rupture has been estimated between 1% and 4%. now the british government is investigating claims that the risk may be much higher. >> we've seen conflicting evidence. in particular, yesterday we received information from one of the large private providers of cosmetic surgery and said they now had date that that they had not previously disclosed to the regulator and which was inconsistent with the data they had provided previously to the regulator. i'm concerned and i'm unhappy about the consistency and quality of data that has been provided.

>> reporter: amanda paid for the removal herself. even with the implants removed, amanda's doctors believe leaked silicone may still be in her body. >> my advice for anyone worried is to get them out before it's too late. if i had known about this before i started experiencing the symptoms, i would have got them out straight-away. >> reporter: thousands of women like amanda are now wrestling with that difficult choice. cnn, london. now, we want to clarify a stock market story we told you a few minutes ago. the s&p closed essentially flat for the year of 2011. down by just a fraction. a graphic that we showed you earlier showed it down 1.2% was the fall in s&p trade between january 3rd and december 31st. we regret that mistake. kmarls? still ahead on "world business today," crisis, what crisis? we're in london where entrepreneurs are doing nicely, thank you, as their higher

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welcome back live from cnn hong kong in london. you're watching "world business today." here in the uk shoppers are keeping their hands in their pockets it seems. some retailers aren't doing a big trade. erin mclaughlin has more. >> thousands of shoppers stormed the high street for the start of the holiday sales seasons.

hundreds of shoppers showed up on a chilly winter day for the opening of this discount store. >> perhaps it isn't all the money. we have to go for the cheapest stuff. >> for us old people and people with a lot of money, we need somewhere we can get good food on the cheap. >> the shoppers confirm what hussein alani and his family have known for a while. in these tough economic times, british shoppers want a bargain. >> i think the sub ses is that we've got the right products at the right price. in today's economic climate, price is everything. >> the store is now open. >> the la lan i family opened up 40 discount stores this year alone. discounters are filling up britain's high street vacated by traditional retailers. >> every other retailer is contracting. this week, we've had six major retailers in the uk go bust. we've had another two announce they're downsizing. this gives us a chance to move into their spaces.

>> even product manufacturers are taking note. >> an example would be kraft and toeb letter on. it's traditionally in the uk, but prices have gone up. it's a -- they've taken out to make it so it's -- >> the value trend has spread to other parts of the retail sector as big supermarket focus on value offerings. it's a trend that may have long lasting impact on british retail. >> if and when we goat a point when significant numbers are feeling more confident and prosperous again, some of those customers will switch. certainly, some of them will stay. >> after all, who doesn't love a good bargain? erin mclaughlin, cnn, london. let's take another look at the european stock markets now. almost two hours into the trading day. uk index shows the uk manufacturing sector is contracting. not as much as before.

the ftse still playing catchup. mining stocks doing well there as a result of better than expected manufacturing data from china, another piece of european economic news, spain's jobless up to 4.42 million. a record in december. that is more than 22% of the working population. andrew? >> yeah. charles, you mentioned that china manufacturing number. certainly giving a nice pop to the markets in this part of the world today. hong kong up 2.5%. and the bse, the mumbai index by 2.6% after strong numbers coming out of india as well. that's it for this edition of "world business today." excuse me. i'm andrew stephens in hong kong. >> i'm charles hodson in london. you're watching cnn.