gabrielle giffords and mark kelly, it is courage, hope and great inspiration. thank you. >> thank you, piers. hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn loeters. despite strong encouragement from if kraent government, some egyptians will not be heading the the polls. they are boycotting the vote and demanding the country's military rulers step down. the arab league has voted overwhelmingly to slap economic sanctions on syria. foreign ministers say the steps are necessary as long as syria refuses to allow observers into the country. syrian state tv calls the move a conspiracy that lacks legality. two of the country's closest allies, lebanon and iraq, have

distanced themselves from the sanctions. voteers in the democrat irk rhee public of conoco are heading to the polls this morning. there's a challenge from ten candidates. the gong lease are struggling to restore their country. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. hello, and welcome to "world business today." i'm charles hodson at cnn lon n london. i'm andrew stevens live from hong kong this monday the 28th of november. the imf denies it's planning a bailout for italy as moody's sounds the alarm on the whole of europe. can elections in asia yield the stability that investors are

looking for? and america's nationality basketball association chalks up a financial win after striking a deal with players to finally get the season under way. let's take you straight to the mood on the markets. on the face of it, it's pretty optimistic start to the week. it follows the italinews that t discussions and the imf was preparing a $600 billion loan for the country. that's about $80 million. the idea was to give mr. monte room to sort out the plan. the imf said through a spokesperson, quote, there are no discussions with the italian authorities on a program for imf financing. despite that, after last week's big losses on the markets, we're seeing a bit of a rebound in the

form of some progress in europe and ahead of a finance minister's meeting on tuesday. disappointing bond auctions have been weighing heavily. renewed opt anymore is looking like it's reversing that trends. but the start of the week and it is going to be, i suspect, another volatile one. interesting though, actually, just to put a bit of flesh on those bones, in terms of the way we stand at the moment, just over an hour, 63 minutes into the trading day. if you take a look at the ftse, up 2%, straight out of the gate. strong gains there. same story for the seat tra dax, still out of the gate. we're seeing identical shape for the paris cac. various things, we've got the eu finance ministers to meet on tuesday. reports are they're expecting to agree on rules for borrowing for

the efsf. that is seen as progress, good news. nevertheless, two dampers, one you mentioned, the imf report in terms of a big loan for italy now being squashed by the imf and also moody's warning that the whole european region are at risk due to rapidesque lags of debt and the banking crisis. clearly moody's worries if there's not a decent amount of stabilization here, the risk associated with european sovereign bonds and with it -- by extension with corporate bonds will simply rise and rise on it. >> absolutely. the imf story appeared first in an italian paper over the weekend. by the time the european markets had opened, it had been denied by the imf, but not in asia. asia woke up with the report that the imf may be involved in

a short-term bailout for italy. pretty strong gains here and gains we haven't seen for a while. but underlying these gains, too, is we've had this big selloff and there is some people saying that maybe a bit of bargain hunting, bottom fishing if you like. bank and resources stocks getting the boost today. that was helped by those huge black friday sales in the u.s. that's helping the engs porting markets in asia. hang seng is back up over 18,000. one stock, qantas, moving, saying that strikes and particularly fuel prices have hit profits there, but the qantas stock was up more than 3.5% w. e have more on that story a little later in the show. japan up by 1.5%. olympus going the other way, down 10%, as the accounting scandal there continues. this is a case for olympus

taking a few profits. olympus has doubled in value over the last two weeks. analysts are saying take some money off the table because there's still a long way to go in this olympus story. >> it is fascinating. let's have a closer look at the bond auctions andrew mentioned. debt markets have dominated stock markets in recent weeks in terms of influence, borrowing costs soaring. ten-year bond yields. we have the major south year company companies here, spain and italy with their debt and deficit problems, talking about outreach of 7%. very much in the danger zone. not very far behind you've got belgium, up 3.74%. that follows the downgrade of the sov rhett dealt by standard & poor's on friday. italy, france and pain are also holding bond auctions, france looking at 3.66%.

notably germany, of course, failed last week very notably to find buyers for more than a third of the ten-year bonds it put up for sale as investors became averse. this level is standing -- this supp significantly as market watchers would know, just over 2%. that's the yield on german bonds at the moment. >> charles, it's all about europe no matter where you looked. ality an eu u.s. summit that starts today. barack obama is hosting european president at the white house where the region's financial woes no doubt will dominate proceedings. >> we've seen plenty of rises an falls on stock markets in recent weeks and month, but mostly falls amid all the volatility. as each day passes without resolution to the european debt crisis, global concern gross

really now that everyone is concerned about europe and the european debt crisis. joining us is michael hewson. is that to be sustained or do you think it could carry on all week in anticipation of decent jobs numbers on friday? >> you summed it up nicely when you said europe is front and center. on that basis alone, i think irrespective of what the job numbers are on friday, i think they'll play second fiddle to what's happening in europe. the imf story, 600 billion euros. christine lagarde said the emergency fund only amounted to 285 billion euros. where are they getting the money from? essentially where is the money coming from? they don't have it at the moment. >> let's focus on italy. would you -- reading between the lines of what you're seeing,

italy and the worries about italy, within the european debt crisis front and center? >> absolutely. italy, belgium and germany. german ten-year bond yields at 2.3%. last week a 1.8%. so there is a concern that the crisis is spreading to the core. this talk about euro bonds. if germany agrees to euro bonds, the yields will go up anyway. there is definitely a concern about germany and more than that, a concern about growth. growth forecasts are being downgraded. deutsche bank downgraded european growth forecasts for next year. >> michael, big picture stuff. we've seen the market essentially take a pounding since about july over this european debt crisis. are we close to a bottom on this or do you think we could actually see significant further falls in terms of stock market

falls? >> i think there's definitely a significant risk of that because of the political divide across europe. it's not just about the political divide, it's also about the social unrest within europe itself. even if political leaders agree terms for a bailout, they really need to fwet the european central bank on board. at the moment it doesn't look to be any evidence of that. >> michael hugh son joining us live from cmc markets. many thanks to you. andrew? >> charles, as you were saying, the monthly u.s. jobs number is out on friday. this always is a very closely watched number, although z our guest just said then, europe will remain front and center. in the u.s. after much-needed improvement in october when we saw 80,000 new jobs created, economists expect about $118,000 new jobs to have been created this month. no change, though, to the

unemployment rate that's likely to stay, charles, around 9%. you need well north of 200,000 jobs to start shifting that in any meaningful way. >> interesting though, optimism is being reflected in the u.s. futures in terms of monday's trading. here is how the figures are looking in the pre market trading. all the major indices heading towards a substantially higher up, the kind of 2% number we've been seeing here in europe and we are seeing right now on the markets andrew. still ahead here on "world business today," egyptians take to the polls in a monumental vote. we'll head to cairo and look at the economic significance of these elections just ahead.

live from hong kong and london, welcome back. you're watching "world business today." >> it's a momentous day in cairo, egyptians are heading to the polls in their first free election since pushing former president hosni mubarak out of power back in february of this year. these are live pictures from outside a polling station in cairo where voting began a few hours ago. 50 million people may turn out to cast their votes in what will be the first of several parliamentary elections between now and early next year. meanwhile the tahrir square has been the site of arab spring up rice innings earlier this year and deadly political protests just in recent queex. there is a lot of distrust of the government, military government. many sphere today's election also also turn violent if there are any doubts about the continuing legitimacy of that government, andrew. charles, for a look at who is favored to win, ben wedeman

joins us live from cairo. it's just 11:00 in the morning there. what's the turnout been like so far? >> reporter: i can tell you that the turnout is something i've never seen in all my years of covering elections in egyptian, elections back in the days of hosni mubarak were a farce. people were bused in, they were paid to vote. very few egyptians actually took these elections seriously. today what we're seeing is a pretty good turnout. we're in a middle class, working class neighborhood. we're seeing lots of people have come out to vote, and it's pretty well organized. some of these people have been waiting an hour, two hours to vote. in fact, now we're joined by this gentleman who is a human resources manager at a company here. how long have you been waiting

here? >> from 9:30. >> reporter: so that's an hour and 45 minutes. how much longer are you willing to wait? >> until i'm finished. this is my intent. i intend to complete all the process today, even if i wait more than four or six hours. >> reporter: why for you as an egyptian is this vote important today? >> it's important stage to close this period after the -- we will not if we all intend to participate in the election today, and this is only a test because we are up to seven months from now we will face another test. but this san important one. >> reporter: of course, after seven months, that's the presidential elections.

>> yes. >> reporter: and what are your expectations for that? >> until now, i'm not clear for this. because we are facing a lot of members. i need from one of them, every one of them to be simply talking with all the people here in egypt. >> reporter: thank you very much, i think we've run out of time. andrew, here you have it. fairly well organized. a calm vote. people waiting patiently. as they say, they're willing to wait for hours and hours to vote in a real election for the first time. back to you. >> ben, thank you very much. ben wedeman joining us from the polling station in cairo. charles, it's interesting because the islamist group, the muslim brotherhood looks like it's favored to get a favorable seat in parliament. the question becomes will it

mean anything because the protesters say the military will remain in charge no matter what happens. certainly that's going to be an issue for all egyptians to consider as this goes forward. we've got months of this. >> absolutely. and definitely one to watch because the elections there are not only important for social stability and clearly the happiness of egyptians, but also vital to the country's economic future. egypt is one of the sive vits nations. they rank behind the bric countries in terms of economic potential. but for egypt to meet its future, it needs leader to tackle the problems. own going political unrest has sent tourism revenues and foreign investment tumble. the credit rating was cut to brks plus amid egyptian bond yields reaching new highs.

lack of confidence is also high. the egx is down 47% for the year, so nearly cut in half, andrew. >> not surprising i guess given the scenes we've seen on television coming from tahrir square. still ahead here in "world business today," we'll take you to the u.s. where holiday season sales are given retailers a much-needed boost. as shoppers lined up for deep discounts, some people just wouldn't play by the rules. that's just ahead right here on "world business today." nationwide insurance, what's up ?

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the euro making a bit of ground against the dollar up by to about 133. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. in the united states it's been a while since many people went on a spending spree worried as they are about their jobs and the fragile state of the economy. this thanksgiving weekend americans shrugged off their fears and opened their wallets seating a new retail record in the traditional holiday season. this is what they spent, $52 point 4 as retailers across the nation kicked off their sales early and slashed the prices to get shoppers into their stores and, of course, onto their websites a well.

americans spent 60% more this thanksgiving than last year. that makes for plenty of thanksgiving among store owners. but the sales scramble bus ntd all good news. a number of people came off worse as a result of the frenzy for heavily discounted goods. this is what happened at one walmart stored in l.a. trying to get their hands on an xbox 360 game console. >> a woman in a black hoodie decided to wave out and spray at the same time some pepper spray. >> pepper spray. that was also used in a walmart store in north carolina, this time by police attempting to calm an unruly crowd of, you guessed it, shoppers. there were several shootings at shops across united states as people largely ignored calls by occupy wall street for a boycott of big chain stores.

hurricane-force winds lashed the united kingdom at the weekend while a tropical cyclone left southern parts of india under half a meter of water. let's go to ivan cabrera from the cnn weather center with the latest from both regions. >> thur cane force winds across the uk now subsiding. those specifically were right along the coast in unprotected areas. london certainly didn't see that. but very impressive where we did clock these winds. take a look at wick airport, 131 kilometer-per-hour winds. this equates to a category two hurricane in the atlantic. what happened? an intense area of low pressure came in. on the back side of it howling westerly winds took over. we've been covering the sunk ship there in the irish sea as a result of those same winds that kicked up the seas and made for some rough going as far as the rescue efforts under way there.

blustery and cold again. right now we're in between systems, so we're going to be talking about better conditions for today. but not for the long. another storm system on the way for the middle part of the week. that also will bring in more rain and gusty winds. in fact, the potential i think for gales once again. they're leaving behind the rest of europe here, we need some moisture to mix in with the cold air to make snow for the alpine region near the resorts. they have not been able to open. we are talking about the warmest and driest alpine region autumn in 147 years. again, we've been showing you the dramatic pictures of the base here. just no snow. you have to go to the peaks to get into snowfall here. the mountain base has been left behind. we'll watch for some snow on the way. but i don't see it right now. a quick update on tropical

cyclone five, it did leave south even india with torrential amounts of rain across the central arabian sea. it may dissipate before approaching coastal ohman heading into the next five days. >> need some of that rain over the alps, don't we? ivan cabrera at the weather center. still ahead here on "world business today," what goes up must come down. qantas is expecting a fall in profits of up to two-thirds for the first half of this year. we'll tell you how investors are taking that news.

from cnn london, i'm charles hodson. >> i'm andrew stevens. at cnn hong kong, you're watching "world business today." >> let's update you on european markets. 91 minutes into the trading day. strong gains, optimism that behind the scenes we are seeing progress on the european debt and deficit crisis. we have a meeting of the eu finance ministers on tuesday. they're expecting to agree on rules for borrowing against the european financial stability facility, the efsf. moving up towards 2% for the two major markets outside the eurozone in london and zurich. despite all this buoyant sentiment, moody's is warning that the whole region's sovereign ratings are at risk due to the rapidesque lags of that debt sand banking crisis. we'll see if this rally

continues. >> absolutely. it seems to be a bit of a disconnect sometimes. if you lead all the research, the latest research over the weekend, everybody is talking about the eurozone teetering on the brink of exploding. we have moody's doing down grades here. have a look at what's been happening in asia, exactly the same. big gains to start the week in asia and that was pretty much based on hopes that europe will provide some sort of solution to the on going crisis here. you see the nikkei and japan up by 1.5%. hong kong up by 2%. the s&p in australia up by more than 2%. the numbers were helped in asia by what happened in the u.s. on the black friday shopping frenzy, big numbers we spoke about earlier. that certainly helps the exporters here in asia. it could be a slightly better christmas for them. other things to talk act here, very quickly i should mention that olympus is down 10% today. that's the story we've been

following pretty closely, a bit of profit taking going on at ol lum pus after a big rally in the stock over the last ten years. another company we're speaking our our eye on this morning is qantas, it's announced a 66% drop in pre tx earnings, and there are reports it's planning to float a premium asian company. qantas made a big thing about this, ramy, they were going to launch two airlines. >> qantas definitely looks like it's headed for some tougher and turbulent times ahead. first off, to the earnings that you just mentioned. the first half of its 2010-2011 fiscal year, qantas checked in this much amount of money, $417 million in profits. but for the same period this year, it's forecasting that to come in a lot less, come in at

only between 140 and $190 million. a big fall right there. the reason for this? cost for fuel and cost for fighting with the rising price of fuel, qantas says its fuel bill will be more than this much money, $450 million. qantas also booked nearly $200 million in losses from disputes with union groups. you'll remember that led to qantas grounding its entire flight last month. that dented feature bookings and angered millions of customers. despite the bad news, their share price ended up higher by 3.4%. he says that's because customers are coming back since arbitration with the union groups. as for plans to cancel the premium airline, there are conflicting news reports. basically over the past year qantas has been strategizing how

to float a premium class airline using the cheap workforce. today the australian financial review says qantas is poised to walk away from that plan which has a $500 million price tag. the afr said qantas executives now favor shelving the capital intensive project with malaysia airlines. cnn did speak to qantas, and the airline told us that was purely speculation. at this stage nothing, it says, is ruled in or out. and all options are under serious consideration. the fr did site the global economic downturn as a reason. this seems to be very much up in the air. other airline news, india's air companies are making headlines. kingfisher airlines is down. the company grounded many aircraft in the last month to save money. on saturday, the owners of ep jet airways and spliced jet met

with prime minister mon mon sing but no details were announced to help prop up that unprofitable industry. last week the government eased rules in the retail sector that gave a bit of hope to the airline sector. >> that's a big point, isn't it? following that fdi story in india, i believe the ceo of ikea is visiting india this week. >> that's right. this man right here, michael olson is i believe going to be announcing plans for ikea to bring some scandinavian sensibilities to the sub continent. the government removed a 51% limit on fdi multi-brand outlets. it's now a full 100% which means foreign companies can enter india without a local partner at all. that would include other big box retailers as well.

this fdi decision is causing an uproar in india's parliament. today it ended its session early at noon local time because the opposition wants a vote on this very issue. the ruling party does not. basically the domestic retail sector has been guarded from foreign entry. parliament is expected to reconvene tomorrow to continue those discussions. >> certainly a very sensitive topic letting the big players into the indian retail market. ramy inocencio, our asia business analyst. charles? >> looking ahead to the new week on wall street, plenty on the agenda including the big look at the jobs report. here is a preview what to expect. >> congress returns from the thanksgiving recess this week with the nation's debt at the top of its agenda. i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. last week the bipartisan super committee failed to agree on a deficit cutting plan prior to the wednesday deadline. now senators say the first order of business this week will be a new bush to reduce the nation's

debt by more than a trillion dollars in order to keep the number of automatic spending cuts to go into effect. only 80,000 new jobs were added in october, well below the average for this year. we'll see if the unemployment rate falls below 9% for only the third time this year. also on the economical lender, a report on new home sales and a closely watched index of home prices across the country are due. we'll get readings on construction spending and activity in the service sector. the fed's beige book is also coming out. it gives us a look at regional economic conditions throughout the u.s., and finally we'll get a look at the consumer confidence index in time for cyber monday, the biggest online shopping day for the year. a record $1.2 billion is expected to be spent that day with many people doing their shopping from the office. in all more than 75 million people are expected to do some cyber shopping. that's a look aye head at the week on wall street. i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange.

optimism on the jobs front is being reflected in the futures market. here is how things are looking in the pre market trading. we're looking at for all of the major indices, sharply higher out of the gate, up by more than 2%, comfortably more in the case of the s&p 500, 2.5%. just ahead here on "world business today," the arab league takes syria to task over on going government violence by placing tough sanctions on damasc damascus. but with three of syria's top trading partners opting out of the agreement, can the measures actually make any difference? whd

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below $100 a barrel for nymex. part of this is the result of the dollar losing ground against the euro and starling and also the talk of new sanctions on syria. that's driving the price up a little bit. we'll have more on that later. i think there's also some anticipation of perhaps a strong reading on the u.s. jobs market and hope for the real economy out there. welcome back to "world business today." as oil prices remain high, other energy sources are coming into focus in the middle east. iraq has just signed a major deal with shell and mitsubishi to develop gas reserves from its oil fields. the contract is one of the country's biggest energy deals in the past two years as it tries to rebuild its oil and gas industry after years of sanctions and the u.s.-led invasion. it's worth $17 billion over 25 years and we'll see gas currently burned off from the country's oil fields used to generate much-needed electricity. as an energy opportunity

opens up in iraq it is a different story in syria. on sunday the arab league took the unprecedented set of imposing economic sanctions against the country as the government of bashar al assad continues the bloody crackdown on protesters. >> translator: the council has decided, one, to ban the travel of senior syrian figures and officials to arab states and to freeze their assets in arab states. an executive committee will determine the names of those people and officials. two, to stop dealing with the syrian central bank. three, the stop trade deals with the syrian government with the exception of strategic products that affect the syrian people. four, to freeze the bank's assets of the syrian government. five, to stop financial dealings with the syrian government. >> those sanctions may hit the country's oil industry. but it remains to be scene how effective they'll be when it comes to bringing about change in syria.

iraq is syria's biggest trading partner after the european union. it does not support the decision to impose sanctions and neither does neighboring lebanon. russia and china also have close economic ties and neither is likely to jeopardize those interests for the sake of isolating syria's government. meanwhile iran has retail ated against sanctions imposed by the uk by voting to expel the british ambassador and step down in terms of diplomatic relations with the country. iranian parliament resolved to dissolve economic ties. media reports say iran's guardian council approved the decision and that means in the complicated system that they have there in iran, it will now become law, andrew. the 17th annual climate change conference kicked off in south africa about two hours ago. delegates from around the world descended on the city of durbin to work out a new deal to fight

climate change. our robin kerr know joins us from durbin. there's a dismal outlook, is it expected to be any different this time around? >> reporter: hi there, andrew. no, i suppose. effectively the bedrock of climate change policy, the kyoto protocol, dies here in dur ban. it won't be extended by all accounts. the big question for the delegates, 20,000 of them talking here in durban over the next two weeks will be what will the post kyoto architecture look like? the base case scenario will be discussed, talked about, the process we'll get to watch will eventually be a new climate change agreement, that will be talked about. nothing agreed by all accounts. all in all, many people might say, listen, out front it's going to be a failure. but many people here still

holding out that over the next two weeks there is going to be some sort of agreement to keep on talking. >> robin, the recent deadlock seemed to have come over disagreements between the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, china and the u.s. is there any movement from these two camps? is there any sign of agreement there? >> well, i think that's the big question. it is africa. the developing countries looking to these big emitters, the world's largest polluters to try to lead the way. there seems to be the deadlocked that you mentioned. china won't move unless u.s. does and the u.s. won't move until china does. there's also a sense that other countries need to be sort of offering up solutions, and there are a few innovative ways that maybe they'll be some few small successes in terms of moving this debate forward. we can talk about that.

i think the big thing that many people are looking at is how this new -- from last year, a relatively new sort of green fund, a green climate fund will be effectively financed. i think that's where we might see some small victories or some big losses. >> robin, thank you very much for that. robin kur now joining us from dur ban. charles? >> still to come on "world business today," lock tight no longer, that's the hope of both parties in the longstanding nba dispute. we'll tell you about tentative agreement that ould could end one of america's most bitter sporting standoffs. administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight."

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welcome back, live from cnn hong kong in london, you're watching "world business today." it's a win for nba fans. the national basketball association says games will soon start again after players and owners reached an agreement ending a five-month lockout. mark mckay has more on some of the deal's financial details. >> after months of tedious negotiations, the league and its players have finally reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining deal which paves the way for a 66-game regular season to start on the 25th of december. christmas day. financial details of the plan have not been released, but nba

commissioner david stern said the weekend's settlement does pave the way and needs approval from both sides to have training camps and the league's free agent period to begin in just over a week's time. reportedly tentative agreement features between a 51% and 49% split of revenues, representing about $300 million less for the players who received 57% of basketball related income under the prior contract. in the proposed settlement, owners must spend 85% of the salary cap of team payroll for the next two years and 90% after that. it's believed to be a ten-year labor agreement although both sides can opt out after six years. it calls for shorter contracts, smaller raises and harsher penalties on the top spending teams, something the players opposed because it could limit their options as free agents. according to the "wall street journal," this deal also includes the nba's national television contract in the u.s. with walt disney's espn and abc

along with time warner's turner sports. time warner the parent company of cnn. those outlets have paid the league $930 million a year. the journal also says advertisers spent nearly $800 million a year on nba games. it's estimated 2 million people watch regular season nba games. the league and its fans certainly happy to hear the players will likely be on the court before the end of this year. mark mckay, cnn, atlanta. staying with sporting personalities. the chinese nba star yao ming may have hung up his basketball boots, but he's just launched a new brand of wine. at a charity auction in shanghai over the weekend. the wine is made from a 2009 harvest of cabernet sauvignon grapes. it's aimed exclusively at the

chinese market. each bottle is expected to go from between $300 and $500 a bottle. ming dynasty alcohol, charles. >> okay. let's have a look at the european stock markets. almost two hours into the trading day. strong gains on optimism to address the crisis over european debt and deficit. up by more than 2% for the two markets outside the eurozone. if we look at the xetra dax flattening out over the last hour. i suspect a similar pattern in terms of the pair ras cac. the eu finance ministers due to meet tomorrow, tuesday, and rumors abounding there will be

meeting. nevertheless, what's putting a damper on all of this is the fact that moody's has warned that the entire region's sovereign ratings are at risk due to the rapidesque lags of the debt and banking crisis. what about asia, andrew? >> the nikkei, for example, the same sort of thing, up out of the gates from the start. this was helped here in asia, charles, not just by some opt anymore on the euro crisis, but also what's been happening in the u.s., the black friday sales, obviously asia remains a key export or basically manufacturer for the u.s. sales. anything we're getting is a bit of an expected sales in the u.s. certainly helps the markets in this part of the world. the nikkei was up by 1.5%. hong kong up by nearly 2%. shanghai just .25%. the australian market up by 1.8%. if there's any light at the end

of the tunnel on the eurozone crisis, we see the financials take a bit of a lift. likewise, when it looks dark for europe, the financials pretty much globally are taking a lit as well. banks like hspc getting a decent pop today. not a bad start to the week. if it's anything like last week, it will be a long week. it was pretty bad last week. at least we're starting in the right direction this time. >> let's see if it lasts. that, meanwhile, is it for this edition of "world business today." i'm charles hodson in london. >> i'm andrew stephens in hong kong. thanks for joining us. you're watching cnn. we'll be back a little later in the day. meanwhile, it's good-bye for now. 6 -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com