you think it's slow now, we could be at 1300 through the s&p if we don't get better economic data. that's why i'm watching the housing data. >> we are front loaded. we had a warm winter and a lot of the sales might have waited until the springtime happened earlier than that. >> and if that turns out to be true for the are retailers as well, they did so well. >> the market is not cheap right now. >> let's go around the horn. with us is joe grecco and jeff grossman of brg brokerage from the nymex. guys, good to see you. what do you think? >> we're never going to get out of this maze of headline confusion. you see data expected to be encouraging and then it's not encouraging and all of a sudden the market rallies and then is sells off. you look at apple and you say, we should be looking at what apple is doing and then apple turns down. i really think right now absence of liquidity in the marketplace, there is no one trading. >> absence of liquidity? i don't know if i buy that. jeff grossman, what do you think. and tell us what you see down there at the nymex. >> i see a market under tr

we're talking about the impact of the market as a result of the economic data as well as earnings datafrom a technical perspective, what are you looking at today? small cap are some of the names that you've been looking at? >> absolutely. it represents the true risk-on trade and whether they are speculating on where the market is going to go. haven't seen leadership since february. the etf proxy for the russell 2000 is trading below the 50-day moving average. i'm watching very closely at the 8160 level. if you move above that, technical traders will move on and take the market up towards the highs. >> so you're looking at the opportunity of seeing the market go back up. are there areas in that chart that you can point to that actually indicates such a move, if possible? >> well, obviously, from the technician's perspective, the 50-day movingç average is the barometer of good, technical health. and whether it's trading above or below it is an indicator that we watch very closely. so just the iwm is going to be a powerful signal for the technicians out there. the s&p 500 has been foolin

. >> gloomy economic data, but a goal and uncertainty in europe sent share prices falling. stop the fighting. bombing in the south. what lies behind the escalation of violence? >> in quest starts into the death of a british officer whose body was found locked in a sports back. obama's army. behind the scenes of the president's election campaign headquarters. it is 11:00 in the morning in singapore. >> we are broadcasting to viewers in america and around the world. this is "newsday." hello and welcome. share prices have fallen around the world after the victory of the socialist candidate francois hollande in the first-round of the french presidential election. the collapse of the dutch government has added to fears that countries at the heart of europe might struggle to implement further austerity measures. gavin hewitt reports from paris. >> president sarkozy fighting for his political life today while financial markets tumbled. political uncertainty is here in france. he was beaten in the first round of voting and is trailing in the crucial run off. to stay in office, he w

it follows on from a positive economic data out of the u.s. which has pushed the dow, the nasdaq and s&p 500, so far to fresh highs this year. as you just showed us. the nikkei has been no exception, either hitting fresh highs on the back of positive economic data out of the u.s. it's a major guiding force. let's look at the opening levels. touch lower for the nikkei. th did gain yesterday, despite the quarterly business sentiment survey from the bank of japan. the tankan survey which was unchangeed from the previous month. concerns from slowing growth in china. that's also working its way into the markets. some market players questioning the pmi data that came out in china over the weekend. manufacturing and unemployment also a little bit of a concern in europe and also with bond yields in spain and italy reaching worrying levels. a little bit of worries and concerns. those areas might cap the upside. we are definitely seeing it for the nikkei this morning. >> we saw a bit of a pullback in the yen's recent weakness which is good for export to

weaker than expected economic data. and renewed fears about europe's debt crisis. >>> strong day in the markets. we are up just under 200 points. as we head out, here's a look at how the other major averages are shaping up. and to show you how broad based this is, the russell 2,000 is up almost 2% on the trading session. we're back in a moment. [ male announcer ] we imagined a vehicle that could adapt to changing road conditions. one that continually monitors and corrects for wheel slip. we imagined a vehicle that can increase emergency braking power when you need it most. and we imagined it looking like nothing else on the road today. then...we built it. the 2012 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. >>> welcome back to "power lunch." rick santelli on the floor of the cme group in chicago. if you look at a 10-year note intraday, we really haven't moved much. but that 24-hour chart, it's fascinating. if can you look at what was going on on the far

we're getting economic data and policy statements from central banks, the bank of japan, the federal reserve, in the u.s. and amidst all of that, we're also getting corporate earnings which might be a little bit of positi positive. investors there in a bit of a bind. so but for now if the nikkei closes the way it is right now, that will be a seventh day in a row that it's been down, and then the last ten sessions, the nikkei has been down nine times over 800 points. back to you. >> ramin, thanks a lot for that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> separately, the tokyo stock exchange and daiwa securities group will join hands with myanmar's central bank to set up a bours ne the emerging market. an agreement has been reached to create the exchange by 2015, possible in myanmar's largest city. an announcement is due soon. tse and the daiwa securities group will provide a computer system for the new bourse. the executives are planning to visit myanmar to sign a memorandum of understanding in late may. myanmar has been rapidly transforming its economy since the countr

recently with concerns about some economic data out of the u.s., also growth concerns in china as well as eurozone debt especially with the spanish bond auction last week that's also throwing into question whether the yen can weaken further. let's have a look at the currency levels this tuesday morning and looking at the dollar/yen and euro/yen still holding pretty strong as far as the yen's concerned, 85.81.75- and euro/yen 107-13-18. some of the concerns regarding the recent strengthening of the yen has put a little bit of pressure on the exporters. ai. >> all right ramin. >> so basically just to follow up on that we still have concerns about some of the stock moves but coming up further economic data as well as some of the earnings in the u.s. but for now, a little bit of a bounce for the nikkei and the topix. backo you. >> a right, ramin thksor that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> toyota began producing cars in cairo, egypt, this is the firm's first vehicle to be made in the middle east. the japanese automaker rolled out the sports utility vehicle during

economic data out today.busy week ahead with reports on housing, consumer confidence, durable goods and first quarter gdp. the fed is holding a two day meeting with the central bank updating its economic forecasts and ben bernanke holding a press conference on wednesday afternoon. so all eyes on that. and another big week for earnings with about 180 members of the s&p 500 reporting. today we have conocophillips, d.r. horton, state street and xerox reporting before the bell. after the close, a mary prize financial, net the fliks and it texas instruments. of course still with us, anthony, your take on earnings so far. do you think the momentum will continue? >> earnings have been quite good, yet the market stalled out. people are expecting that earnings will continue to outperform analysts expectations. what does that mean for the third quarter and second quarter coming up? i happen to think that we're going to have fairly robust earnings. the problem is we're having these earnings with a lack of job activity a

european and asian markets in the reds today and here in the, low economic data. also a heavy week for earnings with big names like apple, boeing, 3m, proctor & gamble reporting their numbers. the dow closing up on friday snapping the two-week losing streak, the nasdaq fell to 3,000. meanwhile, walmart could face legal scrutiny following allegations of a massive bribery campaign at the mexican unit. the "new york times" learning that the executives learned of the scheme in 2005. and an internal probe found that bribes were paid to obtain building permits but senior management shut down the probe and failed to notify u.s. or mexican authorities. in december, walmart disclosed it was conducting an investigation into possible violations of the foreign corruption practices act. walmart has grown rapidly in mexico. right now 1 in every 5 walmart stores is in that country. >>> pfizer is selling the baby food business to nestle for $11.9 billion. they make brands such as sma. they have been selling non-core businesses to focus on new prescription drugs. the patent on the

lastly, mac home in the u.s., we had economic data, specifically in the labor markets. jobless claims back above levels, posted earlier this year. we also had gdp come in at 2.2%, lower than what economist were forecasting. and an important measure of fear, the almighty vix is steadily rising making some investors believe that nervousness is back in the market. most of this around the renewed concerns in europe and whether we'll get further stimulus from the fed. now one bright spot for the month of april as we have been speaking about on cnbc is corporate earnings. about 60% of the s&p 500 companies have report result and 63% of those topped estimates. some of the winners of course include blockbuster earnings from google, apple, amazon, and expedia. sending it back over to you, maria. >> all right, good stuff, seema. thank you so much. seema mody with the latest there. so sell in may and good away, should investors follow this strategy. after the s&p 45u7b finished for the month of april, pat dunkerly says unless we get more much economic reports that are negative, we

economic data and concerns about europe, including spain. equities on track to finish the month on a down note. that ends six months straight gains for the markets. later we will see if you should bet on the sell in may and go away. in the markets right now, plus the man behind one of the nation's biggest pension funds, calsters talks about how europe is impacting his investment strategy. later once of the world richest men talks about where he is seeing the best global opportunities right now. as i said, stocks set to end the month in red. but it sure has been a roller coaster ride for the market. bob, you've been looking at the markets today. i think we are looking at the tiest range for the dow in more than a year. it shows you how much the mark set waiting for the job's report before investors decide where to place their bets. >> yes. it is a little wider now because we hit lows -- >> not much though. >> no. >> you're right. the volume the be the late ef of the year. we add lot of uncertainty. today chicago numbers didn't help. dallas nu

have to pick the areas that have good long trajectories. >>> are you worried about the choppy economic datawhat do you guys think? are we in for choppier data? is it weather-related? >> most of the data we've been looking at is moving in the right direction. the last couple weeks, notably the employment report was weak, but you can't make too much out of a single data point. overall your guests brought up a very good appoint in the earnings. what we need to see is an acceleration in private investment. it will be nice to see some shovel in the ground kind of expenditures to move from what has been a largely government-supported recovery to now a private sector supported expansion. we're just at that point where we're beginning to see some of that. it would be nice to see that expressed in the earnings numbers as we go through the rest of the season. >> thank you guys. have a great weekend. >>> coming up next, we'll recap today's big mark rally. >> plus what it will take for us to rejoin netflix. we'll be right back. medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost y

jam packed week for earnings and economic data. and ben bernanke having a fed conference.ps lock joins us, and jeff kilburg. bertha just outlined all of the earnings reports we have out next week, we also have economic data. which will be most important to the market? >> i'm going with the trend here. it's definitely been earnings. with all the focus on earnings next week, apple is a big one but we also have major dow other earnings coming forward here. my partner said, i think we're discounting what europe is. i think that's a major focus here. we've been able to discount it because the earnings have been so good. but if earnings start getting a little weak or the forecasts are weak, i would sense a bit of a selloff. >> all right. jeff, we've got the fed chief speaking. we've got a fed meeting and we have a news conference. handicap the week for me. >> well, sue, a lot to take in. to add onto what you said, we're seeing all the traders here emotions being very high as their staring down the barrel of operations expiration. next week we see the road in europe littered with

but economic data coming in weaker than expected. so how do you position your portfolio? we have some smart strategies for you. >>> plus, banking on the banks, b of a, morgan stanley both easily whipping estimates. is it time to get really bullish on the sector. b of a stock way up so far this year. or the past few months. we'll give you the last word on the banks. [ male announcer ] while others are content to imitate, we'll continue to innovate. the lexus rx. why settle for a copy when you can own the original? see your lexus dealer. we have two car insurances that we're going to have you taste.? the first one we're going to call x. go ahead and take a sip, and then let me know what the baby thinks of it. four million drivers switched to this car insurance last year. oh, she likes it babies' palates are very sensitive so she's probably tasting the low rates. this is car insurance y, they've been losing customers pretty quickly. oh my gosh, that's horrible!, which would you choose? geico. over their competitor. do you want to finish it? no. does the baby want to finish i

while all of that should bode well -- >> the index measures how well economic data is doing compared tions. when you look at the chart today, the index is on the verge of going negative, a sign that expectations are higher than what the data is showing. >> the economic surprise index. >> i always have a new chart for you. >> i know. i've heard it all. >> so are the fundamentals pointing to more stock market losses ahead? we did noticchan the mood of the market this week, especially after the minutes of the fed's march meeting came out and seemed to suggest that the fed was putting further monetary ease on hold. >> we don't need qe 3 if the economic data is strong enough that we don't need to have the liquidity injection. >> our expectations is a 50/50 chance on qe 3. but we're in the camp of a fiscal cliff in the second half of 2012. consumers and businesses are going to have to adjust their behavior in advance of the big tax changes that happen in january of 2013. so there's a chance that the fed will have to step in. where we're sitting right today, especially on the hope of the eve

data. it damp eped the economic outlook. u.s. markets also fell on mounting concerns over euro zone debt issues. the dow jones industrial average fell 0.8%. the tech-heavy nasdaq was down about 1%. let's see about stocks here. it's a brand-new day at tokyo stock exchange. it seems the euro zone issues are dragging stocks lower. >> as you were mentioning there, it's a big focus for the markets and we'll follow that throughout the session today. after the huge gains that we saw in the first three months of this year, it looks like global stock markets have pulled back after the rush forward or the huge gains initially with investors pulling back. let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the topics. both are trading lower on the losses you just mentioned in europe and the u.s. the nikkei closed yesterday down for a third day in a row. we were looking like it's going to get more of the same. marks are digesting the news of the contraction of the pmi data and the euro zone and germany which is the region's strongest

no economic data on tap today.ood news out of europe today so futures are moving higher. >>> starbucks ditching the red dye from some of its drinks some of its desserts. i guess it is made from insects and it adds sort of a rosy color to some of the products. what is the deal here? >> yeah, well, a lot of people didn't know this. i must confess i didn't realize it either. yes, exfidel castro from a south american bug commonly used for the red dye here. this extract is. but a lot of folk were upset and complianted and did an online petition to starbucks. they listened. they will take it out and will use a tomato-based dye instead in you think about some vegetarians may me not want that in there. some may want to keep the bug juice in the summer camp days. it will be gone by the end of june, starbucks says. >> i even heard it was a vegan barista that brought this to light on a blog and it just snowballed. >> absolutely. one of the make-up artists here mentioned that it is in make-up as well but she pointed out probab

you have the choppy economic data. we talked about the disappointing home sales number and of course the jobs report, the unemployment claims for the last two weeks that have spiked higher. >> what are the chances that microsoft moves the market -- >> we'll have to find out. >> pc shipments up 2% in the last few days. >> the estimate was 57 cents for microsoft and i'm just now being told that they turned in 60 cents per share. is that right, robert? and the estimate for the revenue from microsoft was 17.18. okay. $17.4 billion. beat the estimate as well. as you can see, unlike an ibm or an intel earlier this week when they reported numbers that beat estimates, microsoft is trading higher at this hour with a gain of 1.7% or thereabouts. >> that is not the pattern that we've seen over the last couple of days. >> and i was just saying earlier, pc shipments were up 2%. that was a hopeful sign. that is what made me hopeful. we saw disk drive makers. pc shipment is important for disk drive as well as microsoft. >> let's do t

seem to be in a celebratory mood and one of its worst weeks of the year, and spot a positive new economic data. >> investors are still a little bit worried. >> economists are encouraged by what they are seeing, particularly in the labor market. the weekly report shows a number of people filing for the jobless claims at a four-year low. >> people are less and less likely to apply for unemployment insurance if they do get laid off, meaning it job opportunities are getting a little bit more plentiful. >> the numbers come ahead of friday's jobs report, which analysts expect will show another strong month of gains. obama offered a preview s.c. signed the jobs act, a bill he says will help small businesses. >> our economy has begun to turn a corner, but we still have a long way to go. we still have a lot of americans out there looking for a job. >> it seems to be paying off in the retail sector. >> it means that the middle income consumer is beginning to spend, by more discretionary merchandise. that is good news as the economy continues to rebound. >> another positive indicator, home sales are seei

some of the economic data of late, for example, the jobs data on friday, was a little shocking becauseerm trend is looking higher. >> europe becoming much more focused. we started the year saying it was about u.s. fundamentals. we'll kick off earnings season and get a bit of a sense of those fundamentals. how do you balance the two, what we're seeing in europe and some of the troubles there versus the states? >> well, i think if you look at the way our firm is looking at what's going on in the world right now, europe has a number of structural issues and obviously will tthe ecb has put little bit of a safe drop behind that. i don't think you can ignore what's going on in places like spain and italy. but i think a number of people are expecting this. the difference here is that spain and italy are very big economies. so we have to be wary of that. having said that, the u.s. having gone through its difficult time seems to be recovery. despite the jobs numbers, we've had good additions to jobs. so i think the two places we're interested in looking at is the united states, which seems on b

was going to pick up, they started to get worried about that, but recent economic data has been a littlere ambivalent and i think at this point they're pegged to that. they basically have timed it and they think the economy can't get better enough, fast enough to unburden the president from having theç major liability whh is the obvious and absolutely correct strategy from a fairly strategic perspective. the problem is when i see mitt romney speaking in front of an empty factory, all those attac s that were very effective among the republican voters, that's going to be apprised. every time he stands in front of the factories, thiyou're going seeing people. >> it's sort of personality versus policy on economic things that they're giving at least for now the nod to mitt romney but personality, there were question this long. all but two of them went in fa favor of the president and they were all about how do you feel about this guy. and so that's what the white house -- that's what the obama campaign has to do right now is to say, but we can also level the playing field on the economy. >>

. >>> sobering economic data from the government. the gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in the united states grew at a rate of nus 2.2% last quarter, below most predictions, down from 3% growth in the last few months of 2011. mark, when you look at the numbers, federal spending is down. state and local government spending is down. consumer spending is up a little bit. when you look at it, what's the biggest flag, the biggest down side? >> weakness in business investment. business investment in commitment and software was up a little bit. i think it's a lack of business confidence, that businesses are so cautious is the missing link. it's the reason why the economy isn't fully engaging. to me that was the most disappointing aspect of the report that we are not seeing businesses step up more aggressively. >> you have 2.2% projected growth in this quarter down from the last quarter. we had a tepid jobs report last month. does it suggest that things will get worse going forward? >> no, i don't think so. i t

. >> of course, we look at the fundamental backdrop and the economic data still pretty mixed, right? choppy. >> the good news is china is looking more like a soft landing than a hard landing. that's a very, very big story. u.s. growth is okay, not great. we're going to see what nonfarm payrolls are like. europe is still very mixed. they had continuing de-carolinas in the eurozone numbers. >> real quick, failed more jer. did anything come out of that meeting? >> they introduced cost cuts. they announced a few new initiatives. they're going to try to get a few additional bond funds on their bond trading platform to get involved in the market all right, bob. thanks so much. bob pisani with the latest. recovering tonight, avon products surging 17% after the company rejected a 10 billion dollars unsolicited off to acquire the company from a prooivtly held firm coty. avon, the largest director seller of beauty products called co coty's offer opportunistic and, quote, not in the best interest of shareholders. avon is in the process of hiring a new ceo to replace andrea j amg who announced h

we don't buy economic data. we buy stocks from the international fund.is non-domestic-related equities that are listed in europe. some of the game names we like are wpp. it's not in euro zone, and vw and b, sf. wpp is of the largest advertising agencies. 100 different countries and 30% exposure and 30% to digital. vw and global auto company all over the world. they are improving the margins by releasing a modular platform. they are a global play on economic growth. we do have positive gdp from around the world and the index continued to be above 50. we are coming into a slow part of the year. >> do you think we will see recessionary numbers? >> yes, you do buy companies, but you have to understand the economics and that tells me it's time to lighten up. >> good to have you and up next, we recap the market. back in a moment. everything that i've gained in life has been because of the teachers and the education that i had. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i n

good news on the earnings front, but economic data taking center stage. >> definitely. we did have weekly jobless claims which rose a little bit more than economists had expected. more americans claiming unemployment benefits. also the previous week's jobless claims numbers was revised higher. that dampened a little bit of sentiment fo the jobs picture in the u.s. let's see how the markets are opening up here this friday morning with the nikkei and the topix trading lower. 9,564. we are below that 9,600 level on the nikkei. let's see if we can get back above that today, but so far a negative opening. today we could get a bit of a boost following on from microsoft's earnings after the bell, which posted higher than expected profits. we are going to look at related shares here in the pfrp c sectors and software makers. the big story in europe was the spanish ten-year bond auction following from the short-term bond auction earlier in the week which went smoothly. the euro got a bit of a boost. let's have a look at the fx levels. 81.59 to 63 dollar yen. the dollar did fall

italy has unveiled some disappointing economic data this wednesday as it struggles to get its finances in order. a technocrat government which was formed to street that the country's economy says a deeper than expected recession means it will fail to meet its goal of a balanced budget next year. this news from roan coincides with an announcement by agrees that it expects to see its economy contract this year by another 4.7% -- an announcement by greece. investors anxiously await a report from the european commission on whether the painful reform efforts are working. on to the markets, and following tuesday's strong rally, investors sent equities lower in the mid-week session. our correspondent sent us this summary from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> after the unexpected rally at the beginning of this week when the dax went up by 4% on monday and tuesday, the traders here on the frankfurt floor took a break, but the dax was also driven down by new concerns concerning the debt crisis in europe. italy might fail to reach its goals in the household policy. also, there are no worries abou

neighborhoods that we could find from the last decade at least plus we reviewed demographic data, economic data, social service data. i have a great wealth of research, if anyone is interested in learning about central market and the tenderloin, i can give you just about anything you can ask for. we also do quite a bit of community engagement over the course of 10 months included actually -- i'm sorry, that number is wrong. at least seven community meetings at this point. there were -- there was a resident survey, a merchant survey and an intercept survey. there were focus groups with artists, with nonprofit organizations, with her chants and other affinity groups that we interviewed neighborhood stakeholders and the action plan which we'll review in the end went through three rounds of public iteration. so as a result of that research and that community engagement, that document in front of you is pretty rich with findings about the neighborhood in these categories, but rather than go through my 40 slides of findings, i think i chose five or six that i thought you would find most relevant. dem

i think time will tell and i think it has to do with the economic data. look at the durable goods reports, look at the manufacturing data, look at this friday's jobs report. if we start getting good economic data coming through and it's true this economy has lift without fed stimulus, i think you see the vix just stay where it is, maybe go up a little. but kind of stabilize out. however, if some of these economic indicators start coming in poor, we have more pressure from europe, we have more eurosis, more euro fear. the spanish bond auction was not great today. i think that's adding to the fear. as these debt issues -- >> andre, do our viewers a favor. i get this question a lot and i can't answer it squarely. why does a spanish bond auction matter to the dow industrial average? >> you know, it really does because of the psychology of it. the dow does have some infrastructure and it does have some companies that are really reliant on europe and maybe it's 10% to 15%. maybe it's not that much. has to do with the fear coming into the markets that maybe thin

they are worried about the economic data, which suggests the situation here in europe is worsening. they're also worried about the fact that today, spain officially was declared in recession. all of this raises the question of whether the current strategy of focusing on austerity and bringing down the deficit, whether that strategy is working. and that is under been the market. >> the president of the american council for capital formation told me there is only one solution to the economic problems in europe and elsewhere. and >> focusing on austerity alone is not the answer. the real answer is growth. unlike some politicians, one cannot spend your way out of it. you have to have a strong private sector, liberalizing labor conditions, encouraging foreign investment. for example, not a single candidate in france for president talked about encouraging foreign investment or encouraging the new steve jobs of france. austerity is not the answer, but growth is the answer, but not the way the politicians are talking. >> they do not like political uncertainly -- uncertainty. how can the eur

to be interested, ai to see whether these recent pullbacks are going to continue if we look at economic data as well as earnings or if trading is going to move higher from the lows that we're seeing right now. that's going to be abinterestingn interesting aspect. >> ramin thank you for the update. that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. i will be back next hour with more business stories but i'll leave you now a look at some other market fures. >>> moving on to other stories we're covering on "newsline" the taliban launched what they called a spring offensive in afghan sunday. explosions and gunfire shook the capital the following morning as afghan led forces overpowered the insurgents. nhl's shamullah has more. >> reporter: taliban militants simultaneously attacked the parliament building, nato headquarters and several foreign embassies on sunday with rockets and guns. officials with afghan's interior ministry said the taliban also moved on targets in the provinces of nangarhar, baktiar and logar. on the following day, firefights and explosions broke the silence around parli

so i think if we start seeing more economic data that's going to confirm that notion, and certainly it could come in the way of inflation data later this week, if that really stays tame, then that could also put qe-3 back in play. one thing that we don't talk about too frequently, even though we discuss the economic data possibly getting softer and that could have the fed be more accommodative, keep in mind also that the fed players that are voters this year when they changed over in january, they're much more neutral to dovish than they were last year. so they may be more inclined to be more accommodative than they were last year even. >> interesting. holly, thank you very much. >> shares of aol soaring right now bucking today's big down trend. aol stock at a new 52-week high. take a look at that chart. wow. after announcing it's selling hundreds of its patents to microsoft for more than $1 billion in cash. jon fortt in silicon valley with more on what this means for both companies. jon. >> yeah, julia. i guess it's just a billion dollar day, isn't it? aol's got 300 more patents they'

following some disappointing economic data out of europe. manufacturing activity is slowing down across the pond, which is renewing recession fears over here. european and asian markets are in the red today. there's no economic data today in the u.s., but it's a busy week ahead with reports on housing, consumer confidence, and first quarter gdp. also a heavy week for earnings. all set to report. on friday, we saw the dow closing up 65 points to 13,029, snapping the two-week losing streak, the nasdaq falling seven points to 3,000. meantime, companies may be ready to step up hiring. a new survey finding that 39% are expecting hiring to pick up in the next six months, that's up from 27% feeling that way in january. higher demand for workers may also lead to bigger paychecks. 44% of companies say that wages are rising. but the class of 2012, however, may have a harder time getting a job than they expected. government data showing that half of young college grads are unemployed or under employed. there's strong demand in science, education, and h

. >>> another good news story coming out of the economic data, first quarter foreclosures on housing, the filing there's fell 16% year on year in the first quarter. some people are saying this doesn't mean that the massive backlog of housing has disappeared, but we are seeing less foreclosures across the board. the big fall was in nevada, 62% decrease in foreclosure activity there. but nevada is still the state with the highest foreclosure rate. back to you. >> steve, thank you very much. we'll take that news. we'll take anything on the housing market that seems good. >>> still ahead on "way too early" -- break out the paper bags. the red sox prepare for their home opener today which is tomorrow, following a string of disappointing losses. low lights from their road show are next in sports. >>> but first lady michelle obama makes a cameo appearance inside steven colbert's imagination. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. >> massachusetts health care institutions in the broadest sense and their leaders and their people are probably the most respected

the stocks futures are lower this morning following several pieces of economic data out of europe and asia this morning. activity is shrinking in the eurozone. wall street is coming off the best first quarter in 14 years. we're going to get information on construction spending later this week, of course, there are reports on auto sales. minutes from last month's fed meeting and all topped off by friday's jobs report. we saw the dow rise 66 points on friday to 13,212. the nasdaq slipping three points to 3,091, but it soared 18% for the quarter, as well. >>> and finally, burger king is launching ten new menu items today. the biggest change since the chain was founded in 1954. including smoothies and snack wraps. now it's all part of a major overhaul for bk which lost the number two spot to wendy's last year. burger king is remodelling its 7,000 restaurants and will start serving in a cardboard container instead of a wrapper. >> what's old is new. >>> dozens of cities across the country are setting a sizzling record for the warmest march ever. cleveland, ohio, st. louis, missouri, and wa

susceptible to most of the moves that we've seen in the u.s., whether it be earnings or economics economics data. and there's another -- very little to go on the domestic front so we should see some -- perhaps profit-taking moves on the back of the session in new york. also as i said, there's an upcoming ten-year spanish bond auction following on from the short-term one that we had earlier in the week. a lot of focus there again on eurozone sovereign debt issues which is, again, playing itself back into the markets. still, one aspect that has kept the nikkei a little bit afloat has been the weaker yen recently. you can see currency levels, as well, 83 .37 to 39, and euro/dollar, 1.31. and the yen weaker. japan's trade balance in march was released. that's also going to be a big focus, and see how that plays against the yen. and also we're going keep an eye out on how some of the related stocks trade, as well. >> and earnings season far from over. as we've seen, i guess, they can really affect market sentiment. >> definitely. we've seen with the earning so far a bit of a mixed picture. but we sti

the volume is light here, it's among the lightest of the year because nobody's sure about the economic data and where it's going. we had the chicago pmi, dallas pmi both below expectations. all regional numbers have been weak. tomorrow we'll getted ism, the big national number. that will help resolve things a little bit. you can see today in the trading the meandering nature, very, very narrow trading range for the s&p 500 and the dow industrials. this is a 5-point trading range we're getting. rather unusual. and 40-point in the dow industrials. the major sectors, some of the big global growth areas like industrials and materials which had a good week last week are all very much to the weak side. you get this concern that we have a worst case scenario. modest 2% growth in the gdp, mandy, we need 3% to get job groit. we need 1% to get the fed involved or somewhere around there. right in the middle doesn't particularly help us. >> we don't want to be stuck in the middle in fact shade of grey. bob, join us later on for the dow debate. as we wrap up the final day of april trade, let's bring in

better economic data seemed to have little influence on the committee's outlook. the committee was concerned over a global slowdown, fiscal tightening, weak housing market. those were the risks to the forecast. it tid still expect the economy to gradually gain strength. inflation was expected to run at or below 2%. now, check this out. a couple members suggested additional stimulus if the economy loses momentum. back in january that number was a little bigger. it was a few. some members this time also warning of the possibility of an early rate hike. that's your hatfields and mccoys brian sullivan so aptly characterized. committee did emphasize the 2014 forecast in the statement depends on economic development. a number of members see ris tock the job gains as the year progresses. this was probably the most interesting discussion they had. there was quite a bit of debate, it seemed, about how real job numbers were. i sum prized it for you here. there's this debate we've talked a lot about. gap between the jobs numbers and the gdp numbers. several members cited war

monthly job growth reported by payroll firm a.d.p., more of the market worry was really about the economic data out of europe on retail sales and business activity. this exchange-traded fund follows 350 big european companies. it dropped more than 2.5%, falling to its lowest price in more than a month. obalonglomerate general electric used to be one of few companies to enjoy a triple-a credit rating. then the credit crunch hit and its financial business was slammed, taking down its credit rating. it got hit again today by credit ratings agency moody's. the agency said: "material risks remain in g.e. capital, the financial business of general electric." g.e. said the downgrade was due to moody's changing its ratings method. shares of general electric fell more than 1%. some good news from retailing after the close toght. bed bath a beyond rerted strongerhan pected endo its fiscal year. both earnings and revenues were up as the company has been turning around its operations. before the results, shares were off 1%, but after the closing bell, the stock shot up 5%. if that holds, it would be a new

a key economic data for the u.s. economy which gives some guidance as to the health of the u.s. consumer. that's going to be focused. but really following on from apple. apple earnings, ai, we're going to follow through on any tech-related shares and also, of course, we're going to get market direction when the u.s. markets come back online tomorrow. and they'll be trading off the apple earnings as well. so big focus may be on the tech sector going forward. back to you. >> sounds good, ramin. both tokyo indexes up 1% on the day. ramin mellegard, thank you very much, from the tokyo stock exchange. in in other news, japan's finance minister and the head of the organization of economic cooperation and development have agreed that japan needs to reduce its fiscal deficit. japan has the highest debt ratio among industrialized countries. finance minister azumi and angel guria met in toke you on tuesday. he expressed support for japan's plan to double the consumption tax from the current 5% to 10% by 2015. he also urged japan to carry out fiscal reforms to cut its huge public debt. azu

saying that it's time to normalize rates, start raising rates even given that we are seeing better economic data. are you in that camp? how do you feel about the fed action? >> so if we live in a perfect world and we're not, but if we lived in a perfect world, we would be getting very nervous about the fed artificially keeping interest rates low. there's a rot of collateral damage and unintended consequences associated with this. the fed would be allowed to normalize interest rates because -- and this is critical -- because other government entities are doing what they were supposed to be doing, and that's in the reform of education, labor retraining, public finances. lots of things. housing. lots of things that we do. in a short world, the fed should start mobilizing rates because other agencies are stepping in. when you go from the should to what's likely for happen, of course, what's likely to hand is that the other entities will stay on the sideline, and they're not going to do what they're supposed to do, and as a result the fed has no choice but to remain in this very activist mode that ha

. >> so far this year, the economic data paint a picture of a recession that's going to be a little bit longer and a little bit deeper than was forecast at the end of last year, and that's what's hurt markets and earnings. >> reporter: in addition, many u.s. companies, including nike and merck, are being hurt by less favorable exchange rates. >> our goods are more expensive for european countries to buy. when we bring back those profits and translate them into dollars, we're actually getting less fall down to the bottom line. >> reporter: some analysts warn there will likely be additional political and economic setbacks this year and next, like countries failing to meet deficit targets or dragging their feet on reforms. >> you could see the spaniards have to ask the europeans for permission to run a larger than expected deficit. that would be a disappointment to markets. you might even see the spaniards, or perhaps the portuguese in 2013, ask for a bailout. >> reporter: the good news is the economy seems to be improving in the u.s., by far the biggest market for s&p 500 firms. if the mo