that would be nice. >> nice to meet you denise. >> thank you so much. nice to meet you, too. >> i have a feeling we'll be hearing more from that young lady. she has a remarkable voice. hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn london. here are the headlines this hour. israeli diplomats were the intended targets of a group at the center of a bombing incident at bangkok. that's according to a thai police official. israel blamed iran for attacks in thailand, india and georgia. iran says such claims are, quote, a prelude to an israeli attack. one person has been killed by gunfire in daraa.

the group says three members of the government's security forces were also killed in clashes with army defectors. business leaders in los angeles is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the man expected to become china's next president. xi jinping arrives in california for a two-day visit hosted by state governor jerry brown. visit will include a tour of the port of los angeles, china shipping terminal, which is undergoing an upgrade as sign of u.s. trade continues to grow. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens and you're watching "world business today." the top stories this thursday,

february 16th. the accounting scandal surrounding olympus escalates. seven arrests are made regarding the billion dollar fraud of the jab these cameramaker. greece's finance minister has been ramping up the rhetoric suggesting that some key eurozone players want to see his country default on its debts. and qantas shares fly high as the company unveils cost-cutting plans. it's bad news for 500 staff who face losing their job. seven men have been arrested in connection with a $1.7 billion fraud at olympus. the company's exchairman and two other former executives are among those detaineded. today's arrests are the first since the scandal was exposed by ex-ceo michael woodford in october. his subsequent firing opened a

can of worms that is still opening as kyung lah reports. >> reporter: the arrest of seven people for allegedly cooking the books at japanese cameramaker olympus. three former olympus executives and an outside financial adviser have been arrested in addition to three outside consultants for an alleged $1.7 billion accounting fraud. the tokyo prosecutor's office says it has arrested the former chairman, a former auditor, a former vice president and the financial adviser. they are charged with submitting false financial reports. prosecutors charge they overinflated takeover costs, then buried the losses in the books in 2007 and 2008. olympus admitted last year that the three executives colluded to hide the losses beginning in the 1990s. the financial trickery was blown open by michael woodford, olympus' ceo, and blew the whistle after being fired last october. analysts say these arrests are ultimately good news for global

investors. >> i actually see this as a turning point for corporate japan. >> reporter: what do you mean by turning point? >> up to now this would have been glossed over, swept under the rug. this has made such a commotion, a lot of businesses are realizing, to even get the global respect one needs to address this issue and they're on notice. and they will change because of that. >> reporter: olympus released a statement saying it was concerned about the seriousness of this situation and that it would fully cooperate with law enforcement in this investigation. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. >> and on the tokyo stock exchange, olympus shares were down by almost 2.5% in reaction to those arrests. while that will do little to dent the big gains in the stock so far this year, olympus share prices are still worth a little more than a half of what it was 12 months ago, nina. let's update you on the

european stock markets, just over an hour into the trading session. what we have here is negative economic data being one of of the major factors weighing on these markets. the greek bailout still hangs in the balance. that's adding an amount of nervousness to the markets. we've seen spanish gdp coming down 0.3% forhisyear. the ratin agencies moving these markets majorly, particularly in the likes of the cac 40 and the dax there in frankfurt. this is because moody's has been putting 100 financial firms on review for credit ratings review. that as you'd imagine is a hit to the banking stocks but follows on the back of worse than expected earnings at one of the big french banking giants listed here. we're talking about societe generale. earnings falling to the equivalent of $130 million from

$874 million just a year earlier. they are down to the tune of 3% in paris trading at the moment. we also have the fed's indication on wednesday that it won't be engaging in a third round of quantitative easing for the moment. that has been putting a dammaner on stocks as well, too. >> by the fed not doing that, it does show a vote of confidence in the u.s. economy but obviously there's a negative twist as far as the markets are concerned, nina. let's take a look at what happened in asia, red arrows pretty much across the board here. still concerns about the possible greek default that's driving most of the negative sentiment here in asia. the banks are down particularly here in hong kong. the hang seng was down 0.5% and that came on the back of mood kiz flagging that possible downgrade. obviously finances are a big part of the hong kong market here. the weaker yen helping exporters in tokyo. the electronics and auto firms

were higher but that couldn't drag the nikkei up, that down about 0.25%. in sydney, the market down 1.7%, the biggest pfahler, the big markets here. that came despite better than expected jobless numbers. unemployment hit 1.5%. fears growing, there could be an interest rate rise as the australian economy picks up. qantas airways, a standout performance today. qantas up more than 6%. now, they're up about 30% so far this year. and nina, you can tell us why they've been reacting positively today. >> i certainly can, andrew. this particular stock balance for qantas has come after the airline announced big cost-cutting plans going forward. that will it help counter a backlash. qantas' net income the first half of the year as you can see here plunged to the tune of 83%

for the same period last year. now, it plunged from 83% to a total of 45 million u.s. dollars, from nearly six times that figure just 12 months ago. a lot of this is thanks to higher fuel costs and flight disruptions. also they had a series of labor disputes that were partly to blame for the shortfall in the earnings here. qantas' ceo, alan joyce, is saying the airline will manage to weather the storm. he's going to be announcing a whole series of cost-cutting plans, including, as you'd imagine, cutting jobs. he's planning on cutting spending to the tune of $750 million over the years to come. >> we anticipate there will be 500 positions affected by the immediate changes that we have announced today. but let me clarify, that there will be no jobs, no jobs going offshore. not one. but as i said, at the outset, the hugely competitive market

and tough global economy in which we operate mean that we must change. we need to be ready to take tough decisions and we must become more flexible and more productive. >> alan joyce there, the ceo continuing on the concerns of the competitive environment for qantas. amelia adams is a reporter for australia's 9 network. she joins us from sydney. first of all, the 500 job cuts, where are they going to come from and what sort of reactions are we getting from the unions? relations between qantas and the unions must be close to an all-time low at the moment, i think. >> that's right, andrew. the job cuts are across the board, 52 pilots, 122 cabin crew, 65 catering staff, 225 engineering staff and 45 ground crew. obviously the majority of those 500 jobs will be gone from

maintenance. qantas has three heavy maintenance bases here in australia. it's an anxious wait tonight for workers across those factories. as far as the reaction from workers go, it's been pretty varied. there have been rumors of these job cuts for past week or so. many were expecting it. unions as well as are short-sighted and unnecessary. they have agreed to take the airline up on its offer to have a 60-day consultation period before it moves into the next phase of the massive restructure. they blamed last year's industrial dispute and you'll remember, it was mentioned, just in your earlier cross, that the entire fleet was grounded. now, that cost qantas $194 million. fuel costs going up, as we heard there, $444 million is the blowout there. that's a lot of money. and more than 80% drop in the profit today. ceo alan joyce was very, very adamant he wanted to promise that none of these 500 jobs, nor

the 2,000 that are now under review, will be moved offshore. andrew, that's been a particular sticking point for the workers here over the past 12 months. >> you mentioned that restructuring and that did seem to be a key point in restructuring about moving offshore. alan joyce had been outlining a few months ago now, plans to launch a whole new airline, a whole new premium service that would be based somewhere in asia. any more news on that? >> this premium airline as you said was announced in august last year. it was supposed to compete with singapore airlines in that very, very profitable chinese market. he didn't mention it today in his press conference. he was much more focused on jetstar, the budget carrier and particularly pushing that into the japanese market which is obviously, extremely profitable. it's worth noting as well in the profit announcement for qantas, it did rely on jetstar, the

budget carrier in the last six months and it's also popular frequent flyer program to get its profit up. so there's been a lot of reaction. obviously this is a huge story for us. it affects a lot of australian workers and one independent senator summed it up by saying alan joyce's legacy will be turning the flying kangaroo into kangaroo stew. that's a very australian take on situation if you'd like. >> certainly a lot of ill feeling there about alan joyce's plans. amelia, thanks so much for that. nina? andrew, still to come on "world business today," it's a case of deal or raw deal as some might say? politicians accuse their leaders of driving them towards a default. building trade means building trust. china's vice president tells barack obama it's good to talk. stay with us here on cnn. golly, that is deep snow!

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the continuing troubles with greece, continuing to hurt the euro once again this thursday, down about 0.5% against the u.s. dollar. back under 1.30 to the dollar, 2.2990. it's also weakening against the greenback and the pound and the yen as well. down about a third against the yen. the yen down 78.74. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" today live on cnn. reassurances are running out and some eurozone leaders seem just prepared to let greece hang out to dry. athens in turn, it seems is biting the hand that was all set to feed it originally and any doubt that this debt crisis might be getting personal is fading fast. alongside the patience on both these sides. on the one side, many perspective lenders overly skeptical today about athens ability to meet its credit

lending criteria. this man, the german finance minister has now suggested that greece delay its elections and instead replace its current political leadership with a technocratic government that includes, get this, no politicians at all. behind the scenes, he's thought to be working on a scenario whereby greece's private lenders get their share of the bailout and on the other hand that would see athens starved of its own funds. as you'd imagine, this isn't going down well in greece. on the other side, we have this man, the greek finance minister. he says some would be benefactors would now prefer to see greece fail altogether. he's accused the eurozone leaders of playing with fire. >> translator: we face a peculiar situation because we had new terms and new conditions. this is because there are apparent forces within europe that play with the fire, because

they estimate that it is not possible to apply the agreement of the 26th of october of the european council, that we won't abide by the standards that we have agreed. perhaps they want greece out of the eurozone. >> translator: the eurozone crisis has given rise to too much resentment, has created too many stereotypes, has split europeans down the middle, has split us up into central european states and the outer most states. we need to decisively say no to any such distinctions. >> monti's plea could be too little too late here. the threat of a disorderly default here is no longer such a peril for greece's neighbors. take a look.

it's been three years since the start of the eurozone debt crisis in greece. as such, many would have thought by now a lasting and credible solution would have been found. after a bailout and a second on the cards, greece remains the thorn in the eurozone's side. the country could be one month away from defaulting on its debts and in the balance hangs a $170 billion aid package. as such, many are now saying this could be the start of a new phase of isolation for greece. the eurozone's bond markets were once hypersensitive to the events in greece. in november, yields across the continent soared. italian ten-year bonds surpassed 7%, a level which risked pricing the country out of the open markets. tloo months on and with a greek default looking more likely than ever, those yields have since fallen back nearly 2%. spain, another heavily indebted nation also saw its yields rise last year, only to drop back to

a more manageable 5.2%. and all the while, the almighty german bond today hovers just below 2%, close to its years low, making it cheaper than ever for the strongest eurozone economies to borrow money. why the change in sentiment? it's in part thanks to the ecb's decision to buy troubled country's debt. the question that remains unanswered is whether or not the eurozone will one day lose greece as a member. andrew, if we go back to the comments that have been coming out of germany, the paymaster of the eurozone which has been steering all of these discussions over the last two or three years to solve this greek crisis, well, you can understand to a certain extent why the greeks may be getting upset about this. just a month ago we heard from the germans that perhaps they could have the power of veto over budgets put forward by some of the eu countries, notably greece and now they're talking about putting a technocratic government in charge with no politicians. that's not going to go down well. >> not going to go down well but

to be honest, greece has not done itself any favors, has it, nina? it has not enacted some of the original conditions of that first bailout package. germany's been at odds to point out you're not living up to your end of the bargain. therefore, if you can't carry through with what you said you'd do, we'll have to get someone who can. i can see where they're coming from. the politicians in greece are doing what politicians do, they're twisting it around and blaming everyone else but themselves. what i find interesting is more and more people expect greece to default. and we'll enter the next stage of the euro crisis which will be one -- well, anybody's guess what happens then. still to come on "world business today," the latest on the cold snap in europe, including how the icy conditions are affecting the region's agriculture. and foxconn, you might be perplexed at the initial impressions of the investigation. the details next on cnn. medicare card,

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welcome back to "world business today," live on cnn. welcome back. in europe, the recent blast of snow and bitter cold has taken its toll on agriculture across the region. let's get the details from meteorologist ivan cabrera. he's standing by at the cnn

weather center for us today. good morning to you, ivan presumably crops suffering from the frost, and that could affect things a few months down the line. >> absolutely. travelers have been affected. as you well know we've lost lives in europe as a result of just the bitter cold and livelihoods will be impacted as well as a result of the frigid temperatures. not so much the snow. i'll explain in a second here. the temperatures are what we're afraid of as far as the significant impact on european agriculture. it has been bitterly cold, seeing temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees below zero, an unbelievable range of temperatures and they continue to be well below average, 5 to 10 degrees below average. we're back to normal across the west. it's the central and eastern part of europe that we're concerned with here, particularly the wheat crop that's been impacted from france to poland here. citrus also has been impacted across the mediterranean. in the eastern europe, the snow

that has fallen has been beneficial. what we don't want is for the crop to be exposed to the temperatures that are between 25 and 30 degrees below zero. when you get that blanket of snow, the temperatures remain at the ground where the crops are at a pretty steady range there. that's what we've been seeing there in russia, belarus, western ukraine. that hasn't happened in southern ukraine. there we have had not as much snow. we've had the exposure to the very frigid temperatures. the other problem i'm going to foresee heading into the next couple of months as we get into spring, as i believe you with an unbelievable picture in romania, this is snow. this is the way we're getting around in romania, we're tunnelling through. that snow has to go somewhere. it is going to eventually melt and what we want is a gradual warmup into spring. if we get a significant bump in the temperatures, we'll see the crops impacted not by the freeze but then by what is going to

unfreeze here in that we could have significant flooding. we'll watch that very closely over the next couple of months. nina? >> okay, ivan cabrera, many thanks at the cnn weather center. coming up next on "world business today," after reuniting with old friends in iowa, chinese vice president hits the road again. we're talking, of course, about xi jinping here. the next stop for him will be california. we'll tell you why the state is so important to china. and also on the show, the view of hormuz.

from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. warm welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's take you back to the european stock markets where the major indices are continuing their downward slide about 90 minutes into the trading session today. let's have a look at the main indices across the eurozone in particular. given the fact we have the impassion looming over greece and the prospect of a default for that country becoming increasingly likely. the likes of the dax are suffering the most, down by 1.4%. i want to hone in on the zurich smi. that market down just over 0.5%. we had a foot company in switzerland, nestle, the company's profit was up 8% and sales increased 7.5%. nestle's share price is up by more than 1% right now.

another reason the smi is down like the other markets, it was down 0.5 of 1%. the increases are on back of positive earnings. >> strong performance for nestle stock. in asia, a good reading, nina. the big four markets that we cover, down 1.7%. it was really the greek default concerns continuing to weigh on sentiment here. although in australia there were some specifics, one of the specifics was bhpbilliton. the mining company was down more than 2% at the close of trades in sydney on thursday. more than 3,000 workers walked off the job on wednesday. that kicked off a week-long strike over pay and working

conditions. the strike affects seven coal mines which are owned by an alliance of bhp billiton. the strikes are expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. the company's australian mines are about 20% of the world's output of coal. more cheerful news in australia, the country's bureau of statistics says that the economy added more than 46,000 jobs in january. that was the most in 14 months. in fact, more australians work than at any other time in history. the unemployment rate on the back of those extra jobs added fell and that was an unexpected fall. it's now down at 5.1%. forecasts were for an increase of 1 percentage point to 5.3%. economists say the positive data

means the central bank sun likely to cut its benchmark interest rate next month, nina. andrew, in the united states, we've got about five hours to go until the start of trading on wall street. the main markets look set for a mostly lower open, tracking the kind of picture we've seen here in europe at the moment. all of this comes after the dow jones industrial average actually suffered its steepest fall this year on wednesday's session alone. as those tempers started to fray in europe over greece's seemingly intractable debt crisis and the possibility of a default for that country. from new york, alison kosik has the day's action. stocks sank on wednesday as uncertainly over greece's bailout sent investors heading for the exits. minutes from the latest u.s. federal reserve meeting indicated only a few members would support a third round of bond purchases, also dampened sentiment. at the close, the dow industrials fell 97 points to 12,780. the nasdaq and s&p 500 also finished lower. on the corporate front shares of

comcast, the biggest u.s. cable tv provider rose 4.5%. the company beat fourth quarter profit and revenue estimates. it also announced a dvd increase and stock buyback plan. shares of zinga tumbled almost 18%. the social gaming company known for farmville and words with friends lost more than $400 million in the fourth quarter, its first reporting period as a publicly traded company. coming up thursday, general motors will announce quarterly results. a fresh round of economic data are also due, including weekly jobless claims, housing starts and the producer price index. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm alison kosik in new york. aftershock of the global financial crisis have kept the world's credit ratings agencies busy of late. now moody's has made another tremor of its own, just on thursday's session alone. this is what it did. it decided to downgrade some of the biggest names in the world banking industry. as such, it's put 17 major

lenders under review along with almost 100 other smaller financial firms as well. here are some of the big institutions that are looking at having their credit ratings being cut by, get this, up to three notches. we're talking about morgan stanley, credit suisse and ubs, the last two being of switzerland, the first one of the united states. among some of the banks facing ratings downgrades, we're talking two levels here, again, huge names. goldman sachs, jp morgan chase and also citigroup as well. many others could see their credit scores being cut by one notch as well. we're talking about the likes of bank of america, royal bank of scotland and also that french bank, societe generale, which has come out with a disappointing set of earnings. it shows perhaps one of the cases where these credit ratings agencies is slightly ahead of the curve, andrew. >> yes, absolutely. certainly be behind the curve if you go back to 2008.

got a lot of flack about that one, didn't they? okay. the chinese vice president, xi jinping, wrapping up economic talks in washington on wednesday at a lunch hosted by the u.s. china business council. mr. xi told american business leaders that the two nations are making progress on trade and currency issues but that both need to trust each other more in the years ahead. u.s. allegations that china manipulates its currency has often caused friction between the two countries. mr. xi didn't miss the opportunity to point that out and point out that china has allowed the u.n. -- it to rise. let's take a quick look at how the u.s. dollar has been trading against the chinese juan over the past six months. it's currently trading at 6.29 to the u.s. dollar. that would mean the yuan has increased in value about 1.3% from six months ago. it is definitely moving in the

right direction. a lot of american lawmakers would say it's moving in the right direction but far too slowly. >> yes. this has been the bone of contention for many a year when it comes to u.s. and chinese trade relations, hasn't it, andrew? after washington, xi jinping will be making a stop in iowa -- excuse me, he has made a stop in iowa to visit old friends he made during a previous trip which happened some 27 years ago. on thursday, he's going to be heading from iowa to california for the opening of the u.s./china economic trade cooperative forum. we take a look at why this part of his trip is so important for xi. >> reporter: california is on the chinese vice president's agenda for one simple reason. money. the world's most populous country and america's most populous state are huge trade partners. but it's not an equal balance. last year california exported goods in excess of $14 billion to china. that sounds like a lot but it imported more than $120 billion in everything from computers to

clothing. but for some here in the golden state, they say massive chinese trade should come with a heavy dose of responsibility. >> blood is on your hand. >> reporter: california's massive iranian community is livid about two things, the chinese veto of a u.n. security council resolution condemning the action in syria and china has continued to trade with and support iran despite broad sanctions by the u.s. and other western nations. >> it's the 21st century. chinese have to understand as they're growing as an international power economically, they have responsibilities with regards to human rights to their own people but as a minimum to the people of other countries. >> reporter: we con tacked the chinese consulate for reaction. so far we've only heard sleens. there is nothing in the chinese vice president's schedule to indicate that he'll address these concerns. miguel marquez, cnn, los angeles.

now, crossing from california to china, a new data from the world's second biggest economy shows a continued slowdown in foreign direct investment over the past three months. for all of 2011 china still managed to pull in a record $116 billion in fti. ramy inocencio joins us with more details. what's going on? why is china remaining so attractive? >> andrew, it's not so much what's happening in inside china per se as opposed to what's happening outside of it that's impacting this inward investment we're seeing. first, the details on that latest fdi number. it fell to $9.9 billion in january. a year ago that was $10 billion. taking a look at the year-on-year bigger picture, that was the third decline in a row. now, the reason for this latest slowdown, though, in fdi and

perhaps it should come as no surprise, it europe's debt problems. fdi into china as it turns out, from the european union fell 40% year-on-year to $450 million. interestingly, fdi from the u.s., well, that turned out -- it actually rose but wasn't enough to offset the fall from inward investment. the investment was just about 30% to just under $350 million. still, the commerce ministry says the outlook for 2012 is, quote, unquote, grim, suggesting it, like many other folks, don't see a quick resolution to the dets crisis. >> china's holding of u.s. debt over the past year has been falling off. this is an interesting one. >> very much so. according to the u.s. treasury department, it turns out china is holding its lowest level of american debt in the past year. does this mean china is losing confidence in the u.s.? take a look at this number. as of december, it held still

1.1 trillion u.s. dollars of bonds, still, of course, a lot by any measure but between july and december of last year it sold off a good $70 billion of that. one big reason for this is because chinese officials including this man right here, central bank governor, have repeatedly said the country wants to diversify its assets and look for other opportunities out there. perhaps it may have found that buying opportunity in europe's crisis. just yesterday, at the 14th china eu summit over in beijing, did pledge to throw more money into euro denominated assets. they said this is more likely to be china spreading its money across the table as opposed to protesting fiscal policy. >> ramy, as always, good to talk to you.

we'll stay in china for a moment. there has been developments athe a foxconn manufacturing plant that supplies apple. the reuters news agency says an agency known as the fair labor association has visited the complex as part of an investigation into working conditions at the plant. the fla is a nonprofit organization and says it was set up to improve working conditions in factories. apple commissioned the fla's orders after reports of employee suicides and inhumane working conditions at fox koconn which makes apple ipads. in an interview following the visit, he said, quote, the facilities are first-class. the conditions are way, way above average of the norm. critics of the fair labor association have questioned its partial funding by companies and, therefore, its very independence. some say it's merely a reporting agency that doesn't assume responsibility for implementing any changes or improvements in

standards. cnn will be speaking with the fla president a little later this thursday. you can watch that interview on news stream. tune in from 8:00 a.m. eastern standard time, 9:00 p.m. here in hong kong. nina? andrew, the world bank president says he is resigning. he will be stepping down when his current term ends on june 30th. in his five years in charge he's focused heavily on tackling high food prices and spent records amount of money on infrastructure. some is of the names tipped to replace bzdelik are larry summers and secretary of state, hillary clinton. according to reuters, clinton has ruled herself out of the running. it is worth noting that the imf has always had a european in charge as well. the jury is out on who could replace him, certainly an interesting development. >> could be a seismic shift if

it's not a u.s. replacement there. you're watching "world business today." still ahead, tensions between iran and west are rising. we take you on board a u.s. aircraft carrier stationed in the persian gulf where the crew are keeping a watchful eye on the oil-rich country. stay with us.

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price of brent crude dropping slightly. that's following reports that the iranian government was prepared to suspend crude oil to six european countries. those reports have been denied. it's at 118.55. welcome back, you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. speaking of oil and iran has been threatening to close one of the world's key oil routes in

the strait of hormuz. frank plankton reports from the "uss abraham lincoln." >> reporter: a warship approaches the "uss abraham lincoln" monitoring the super carrier. such encounters don't only happen at sea. in the air, u.s. fighter pilots often see iranian planes. lieutenant timothy breen says one of his jobs is making sure the iranians don't overstep their boundaries. >> we have a responsibility both to our coalition partners and also to the world, just to help make sure that freedom of navigation is going along smoothly and that people can feel safe transiting international waters. >> reporter: the abraham lincoln's presence guarantees movement of goods. the navy says it's not looking

for a confrontation with iran, it is prepared. the carrier's catapults can launch four f-18 hornets in about a minute. the shooter, lieutenant commander mike givens make sure they get in the air safely. >> right here, we'll set the setting for the catapult which just determines how fast it will come off of the catapult. >> reporter: a floating town with about 6,000 personnel on board, the "abraham lincoln" has several maintenance areas and a vast arsenal to make sure it can swing into combat any time. iran has several times threatened to close the crucial strait of hormuz, a shipping route for about 20% of the world's oil. the u.s. believes the iranians might try to -- mines to scare off myrrh chan the vessels as they did in the 1980s. >> it doesn't take many mines to be effective, to have an affect.

there's a potential to do that. we're prepared to monitor it and respond quickly with capabilities that are resident in theater. >> reporter: as the confrontation between iran and the west heats up, carriers like "the abraham lincoln" are potentially on the front line, equipped with massive firepower, those on board hope they won't have to use. fred pleitgen, cnn, aboard the "uss abraham lincoln" in the arabian sea. still ahead on "world business today," americans logging -- losing a mint at the mint. why your nickel could actually be worth more than a dime. so what do you think? basic.

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gold is losing its shine in today's session. as you can see, it's nearly $10 on the ounce. that's despikt the fact that the world gold council says it exceeded $200 billion for the first time ever, largely due to a growing deman for the commodity in china. welcome back, live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." now, these penny-pinching times, here's a fitting fable to round off the show today. the u.s. president thinks that he's hit on a way of cutting costs that won't raise the heels of congressional republicans. barack obama has applied to lower the price of making money. i mean that in a very literal

sense. mr. obama wants the u.s. mint to source a cheaper mix of metals in its coin production. that's because it's now more expensive to produce them than they're actually worth. take the humble penny. with a supposed value of 1 cent, it costs actually twice as much to make that. so losing a bit of money there. if you turn to the nickel, though, it has a 5 cent face value and actually costs more than a dime, more than 10 cents. it's unlikely a penny will ever be worth less than its production costs, prompting calls for it to be scrapped altogether. why not, nina when a penny saved is actually a penny lost. >> there are plenty of penny stocks and economies, given the situation we're seeing in greece as well. let's take a look at the european markets. they are reacting to the lack of news we're having coming out of the impasse surrounding greek's

debt debacle. we have some reports coming from societe generale and others as well. we've had gains for nestle, the french markets are suffering due to societe generale. the dax is off its intraday lows, andrew. >> the biggest loser down 1.7%, a big strike at coal plants operated by bhp has brought that stock down by 2%. that's pulled the broader market down. nina? that's it for this edition of "world business today." thanks ever so much for joining us. i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. >> and i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. we'll see you next time.

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