next on reporter roulette, alison kosik at the new york stock exchange has been taking a closer look at the numbers. alison? >> yes, isha. the european crisis wound up doing is pushing the euro to 17-month lows against the u.s. dollar. right now one euro is worth under $1.30. your dollar goes a bit farther if you're a tourist in europe. economists are predicting the dollar will continue to strengthen as the european debt saga marches on. some even say that we could see parody between the dollar and the euro. next year. now, that's great if you're an american tourist in europe. it means the price of goods imported from europe to the u.s. could come down. it could give you an extra little something to celebrate with your french champagne tomorrow night. isha? >> indeed. alison, what does a weaker euro actually mean for the u.s. economy? >> that's really a good question, especially for companies. you know, the falling euro winds up hurting revenues for american companies that sell goods in europe. take a look at why. let's say that an american-made t-shirt sells in paris for 10 euros and

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange.etty huge news and how are people reacting to it? >> it is big news and some of the folks i'm talking to are pleasantly surprised by it. you can see how wall street feels about it. we are expecting to see a triple-digit gain for the dow at the open and stocks were open before the jobs' report and we were seeing the gains seven minutes before the opening bell and these gains are holding following the jobs report which was very upbeat. the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in almost three years. we're also seeing stocks getting a lift from europe and german chancellor angela merkel wants new laws put in place in europe and rules to fix the debt problems there and not just lip service, she wants to see something concrete and that is also helping to give the markets a boost, fredricka. >> back to the unemployment rate in this country, is it too good to be true and will it be revised somewhere in the near future or should we settle on this 8.6% for now for a while? >> all good ques

alison kosik has a look at some brands that could be going away next year. alison, hello. >> hi, natalie. this may seem nostalgic when you hear about this. i have three brands that look like they won be winning in the new year for sure. for one, my space. remember my space? it used to be the number one social network. it's hard to believe because then came facebook and of course facebook eclipsed everything else. today facebook has over 800 million users. my space, it has less than 25 million. it doesn't look like my space is going to make a comeback any time soon. it was sold to news corp for $580 million. news corp sold it off this year for $35 million. i would say say good-bye to my space. number two is american apparel. it could go the way of borders or filene's basement meaning retailers that went belly up. they posted seven straight quarterly losses. it lost over $28 million so far this year. even the ceo is in trouble. he faces sexual harassment charges. online sales for this company may be its salvation. sales online were up 32% in november. one that

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange. does this mean in terms of people's paychecks? >> okay. in terms of dollars and cents, for one i just want to point this out, pat payroll tax for social security would go from 4.2% back up to 6.2%. and just a reminder, before january 1 of this year, everybody who got a paycheck was paying 6.2%. so it's going back up to the original amount that everybody was paying. but just to break it down for you, per year. let's say that you earn $35,000 a year. if this payroll tax cut is not extended, it means that you're going to pay an extra $700 beginning next year. then you go through the salaries. $50,000, you pay an extra $1,000 and so on. you see that in the graphic there. now i want to switch to individual, break it down to your individual paycheck if this increase -- if the payroll tax break is not extended. let's say you earn $35,000 a year. you would say $27 more per paycheck and so on. $50,000 a year, you would pay $38 per paycheck. you see how it impacts you, every little bit matters.

alison kosik is at new york stock exchange for us today. hi there. what's sears stock doing right now? >> sears stock still hammered. guess what, sears not selling enough hammers. look at shares, tumbling right now. more than 20%. in fact, sears has lost half their value just this year, randi. not only closing stores but also sending a warning shot about profit and sales for the quarter so really not such a huge surprise to see them running for the exits. >> how bad were the holiday sales for sears and kmart this year? >> you know what? sales for sears and kmart pretty bad. the company says sales this quarter down more than 5% overall. 6% lower at sears. down more than 4% at kmart and then you see how overhowl holiday sales did this shopping season and expected to rise 3% this year and then see how bad it is for sears right now. you know, it's just the old saying, you know, in business, winners and losers. sears, just was a big loser this season. >> yeah. certainly seems that way. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> a former r

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange for us.his, alison? >> just look at the numbers, don. the numbers tell you the story. investors clearly, they're nervous. they're nervous about whether or not this summit will produce any concrete results at this point. you look at this situation. this is, what, the umpteenth major summit that's happening in europe in a debt crisis. sure, you see investors are being very cautious. you won't see them buy into the markets in a big way. the market's lower despite some positive news that came out. the european central bank, that's the equivalent of our fed, that cut interest rates. the thing is, it didn't commit to aggressively buying government bonds. this rate cut, it was expected because of the threat of europe going into recession and these lower rates are meant to boost growth in europe. also some good news on the u.s. front here on jobs. jobless claims fell to 381,000. that's the lowest level since the end of february. investors are not focusing on that, they're focusing more on the big pic

i'm alison kosik in new york. >>> let's take a look at how things might shape up when u.s. stock markets get trading in just under five hours from now. here's where the futures market stand. the early indications are that we could see something of a slightly higher open, especially when you take into account the fact that the dow jones industrial average futures are now up to the tune of 0.5%. >>> it's looking good but i'll give that caveat so far. >>> as u.s. presidential hopefuls ramp up campaign efforts they're increasingly looking for cash. fund-raising is part of the race for white house but as mary snowe reports, some candidates are being criticized for where they're looking for money. >> reporter: as mitt romney tapped new york donors for campaign crash, democrats flew this airplane banner calling him out of touch, reminding new yorkers of a $10,000 bet romney made against rick perry at the last republican debate. the progressive group, moveon.org seized on romney's visit, calling him the poster child for wall street and the 1%. the romney camp dismissed it as the wh

alison kosik. thank you. >> yes. >> the french government taking action to help thousands of women remove their breast implants. they were used to manufacturer mattresses. >> reporter: the government is recommending that anyone who had this kind of implant to have them surgically removed. 30,000 women in france have had this kind of implant and it's quite a worry. especially after last month. when a woman died of a particular kind of cancer, the government says there's no link between the kind of cancer that she died of. they are work reeworried that o out of 20 cases, the government is saying that they will pay for the operation to pay for the implant to be surgically removed. that will cost about $80 million but are recommending that women go through the extra surgery they have them replaced by other implants if they so wish. brooke? >> jim, thank you, in paris for us. >>> millions of americans taking to the skies. chad myers looking -- hopefully not too many delays, 6,188 planes in the sky. >> t

alison kosik is live in new york to tell us how to get the most bang for your gift card buck. ? >> reporter: i'd say just get out there and shop like these people are doing behind me. check out these crowds. this is the day after christmas, one of the busiest days for retailers. a lot of these shoppers, yes, they're returning items. in fact, consumers are expected to return up to $46 billion in holiday merchandise. that's because of the record sales that happened on black friday and cyber monday. in addition to returning these items, asha, they're also buying. retailers are offering deep discounts because they're still looking to move a lot of merchandise. remember spring is right around the corner and the retail rers stuck with a lot of merchandise. expect to see a lot of deep discounts. >> i was going to ask you about that because i haven't had a minute to hit the shops. what kind of items are being marked down by retailers right now? >> right now, what retailers are really pushing, especially this week, are what they call soft line merchandise like clothing and home goods. e

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. so, the open in a little more than six minutes. t are we expecting, alison? >> hala, expect a flat start. expect a quiet week overall. investors have closed the books on this year. the only lingering question, of course, can investors hold on to the gains that are there right now for the year because as we come into today, the dow is up 6.2% year to date. the nasdaq is down 1.3%. the s&p 500, that's what your 401(k) and other retirement accounts track. that is hanging on to a 0.6% gain. let's see if the s&p 500 can at least stay in the plus column as we ride out of the rest of the year. hala? >> let's talk about this amusing story. single people apparently are storming the internet. they only have four days left to find a date for new year's eve, and that's benefiting websites like match.com. >> yeah, exactly. so, yeah, what usually happens is christmas is over and people think, my goodness, new year's eve is coming and i have nobody to kiss. people start flocking to the internet to find a date and yesterday marked the beginning of

alison kosik is live outside macy's herald square in new york city. possibly one of the busiest places in the city today. good morning. how's it looking? >> reporter: not looking busy right now. yes, the streets are bare behind me, but you betcha, it's going to get really, really bilusy on the sun comes up. a good point. it's been a good shopping season for retailers. the momentum we saw on black friday. sales up extraordinarily. then that fell off a little bit. you know, losing kind of that sales momentum, and retailers picked up on that. what they've had to do is chop prices even more, offer deeper discounts. you know what? consumers caught on to that and are keeping that in mind as they come back to the stores today to return their gifts. in fact, some people are noticing that the prices are falling. many will actually come back, return the gifts and rebuy it for anywhere from 30% to 40% off. others think, i've overspent. i'm going to go ahead and sent back these gifts. just when you think retailers think that it's a bad thing on this return day, i

. >>> next, alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange. we just heard the president speak from can stkansas, again, need to pass this extension of the payroll tax cut. what exactly -- talk to me dollar and cents, what does that mean if it is not passed? >> okay. if it's not passed, brooke, it means that all of us who are working are going to have less take home pay to then spend. with this cut right now, the average worker is putting an average $1,000 a year in their pockets but if congress doesn't extend the payroll tax cut on social security, taxes go back to normal, 6.2%. right now we're paying 4.2% and that essentially means, if you look on the screen, if you make 35,000, an extra $700 would be taken out of your paycheck next year. that is, once again f. this payroll tax cut is not extended. if you earn $50,000, an extra $1,000 will be taken out. keep in mind, congress went ahead and voted to cut how much taxes we pay into social security to help the economy, to put more money in our pockets and if anyone who works, looks at your paych

i'm alison kosik in new york. >>> let's stick with this retail theme. it's meant to be the season for lots of spending but in the runup to christmas, the latest statistics could be something of a mood killer for retailers across the united kingdom. i hit the shops and found halfway through the biggest retail month on the calendar, some stores it seems have little reason to be merry these days. we have just about a week before christmas, the traditional time for giving and receiving gifts for friends and families. it's a pivotal time for retailers, especially across the united kingdom. i've come to the retail center of british capital to gauge the pulse, let's say, for the shops and shoppers nearby. there aren't all that many carrying bags. for the retailers have been having a hard time of late. the latest figures show that retail sales in the uk fell by about 9.4% for the month of november. if you strip away everyday items such as fuel and gasoline, the figures are worse than that. down about 9.7%. at a time like this in the most busy shopping season of

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to talk more about what investors are keeping an eye on. hi, alison. >> hi, kyra, yeah. expect the dow to rise about 60 points when the opening bell rings in four minutes. this comes from yesterday's selloff that was partly europe related. investors feeling more optimistic this morning. retail sales came in for november and they edged up slightly, though. they came in worse than expected, though. october's number was revised up sharply. it shows that consumers are continuing to spend their hard-earned cash. anticipation headed the federal reserve is also going to play into the market action today. the federal reserve coming out with the decision later this afternoon. now, the central bank is not expected to make any policy changes, but investors are really going to be reading the tea leaves and look at that policy statement very closely to see if there is any indication of more stimulus on the way. kyra? >> well, you mentioned hard-earned cash. this is the time of year we have to not forget to tip those who work very hard in various areas

let's bring in alison kosik at the new york stock exchange.y? >> in a bit of a buying mood. some upbeat news, t.j., finally giving stocks a jolt after what's been a pretty blah week on wall street. we learned that jobless claims fell by 19,000. we haven't seen claims at that level in 3.5 years. here on wall street investors got a separate reading on factory readings. fed ex reported profits that soared more than 75% in the latest quarter. the shipping company said it had healthy growth in online shopping boosting the demand for delivery services. that good news has fed ex shares jumping almost 5%. >> we thank you, as always. 25 minutes past the hour let us say hello to reynolds wolf. >> i haven't had a chance to see you in a little bit. i love what you've done. i need to find your interior decorator. >> made changes. >> nice. >> the election season. this weekend though, this is the last -- everybody is shopping this weekend. >> they're going to be shopping with the gifts under one arm, the umbrella under the other. right now we have rain we've

alison kosik has the numbers at the new york stock exchange. we're talking about the jobless claims numbers that come out every thursday. what do they tell us about the state of the economy and unemployment in america? >> it shows that we've got still that slight improvement happening, hala. new jobless claims actually ticked higher last week to 381,000. they came in a little higher than expected, but, still, they are below that key 400,000 level for that fourth straight week and what that does is it signal there's is a recovery in the labor market, even though it's painfully slow. investors are focusing on a bigger average, a four-week moving average which is at its lowest level since june of 2008. it shows more of a trend line and things are improving and that has investors talking about a jobs recovery last year. next week, of course, the monthly unemployment rate for december and the monthly job's report and an even better picture on the jobs recovery that is under way. of course, very painfully slow, hala. >> slow and sluggish, but if it's

alison kosik, let's go to you to the new york stock exchange. the unemployment dropping below the 9% to 8.6 mark. how is the stock market taking it? >> it's taking a breather at this point. the rally has fizzled out because investors had a look at the report. they got a look at what is just behind the headlines. what it showed is that 120,000 jobs were added in november with september and october numbers revised higher by a total of 72,000. sure, the pickup in hiring. it's a good sign. but it's still not great. the country is barely creating enough jobs to keep up with population growth and 13 million people are still out of work. the reality reason is why it's fizzled out. they have done enough buying for the week. the dow is up almost 800 points just for the week, brooke. >> wow. that's tremendous. but also some people are saying that the numbers aren't as tremendous and i want to ask you a question. i want to pose this to one of the presidents of the south economic advisor. is it a bit of an beabboration? >> you're talking about the unemploym

thanks so much, alison kosik. next up, joins by a top lib in congress in danger of losing his seat and not at all happy about the reason. later, what will they say this year? before anderson cooper and kathy griffin join us for new year's coverage look back at past shenanigans. >> i fall asleep sometimes. ever caught david gergen nodding off? a little bit? at lunch? it driing wa ter. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene. all the biotene products like the oral rinse...the sprays have enzymes in them. the whole formulation just works very well. it leaves the mouth feeling fresh. if i'm happy with the results and my patients are happy with the results, i don't need to look any farther. just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy

alison kosik is in new york with this. let's just cut to it. is this a way to find a date a mile up there? that sounds like how they're kind of selling this. >> could be. they're not selling it this way. they're basically saying listen, if you want to figure out who you want to sit next to because have you ever sat next to somebody on an airline and they just don't stop talking? you put the earphones on, sometimes, it doesn't work. so klm airlines is is offering this service where if you've a passenger, you can use facebook to book your flight. the airline says the idea, interest and pick a seat. they say this could help you in business and sort of business friendly conversations and just it also takes out the creepy factor because they can't go on facebook and say, look, brooke baldwin, she's going to be flying on this flight. i want to sit next to her. it will take that out of the picture because both passengers have to agree for it to work. as far as the dating as pegt that you mentioned, okay, you never know what happens up there in the air

alison kosik, i can hear the traders all together -- see you later, 2011. >> good riddance is what theyr as today goes, brooke, wall street wound up going out with a whimper than a bang. after the wild swings we saw this year, not such a bad thing to end the year on a quiet note. you look at what the dow did, it ends on the plus column compared to 2010. the nasdaq actually ended lower for the year. down almost 2%. the s&p 500 basically ending flat below the break-even level and it's interesting to watch the s&p 500 because how it did is probably a good indicator of how your own retirement funds and other mutual fund investments did this year. many of them track the s&p 500 and yes, i know, it's a cliche, but you know what? it really was a roller coaster ride for stock market investors. lots of ups and downs, thrills and nausea along the way. we ended up right where we began. brooke? >> 2012, you and i talked about the euro zone crisis. obviously, that's still looming and how are investors and strategists feeling? is it cautious optimism? >> there is more optimism that it could be a bett

alison kosik, thanks. >>> folks in the desert southwest don't have to dream of a white christmas this year. take a look at this. el paso, texas, had blowing snow, icy roads this morning. snow and ice closed parts of 10 and 25 across new mexico. on the other hand, parts of the country where traveling is usual brutal this time of year, things aren't so bad. chad myers has the getaway forecast. where do you need to get away from, chad? >> need to get away from parts of new mexico, john. finally, though, in the past hour, i-40 has opened back up through new mexico and i-10. i can't tell you the last time i've ever heard of i-10 being closed because of snow. i-10, this is mexico. this is southern new mexico and arizona right here in el paso. you showed the pictures earlier. that's where the trouble was this morning. i-25 is still shut down for another couple of hours till they get the plows out. where is it going to be a white christmas? not very many spots. you have to go to the mountains, be up here. if you're going to be skiing in the cascades, good stuff, good snow. the sierra going ok

we go to alison kosik in a year of volatile trading. i can hear them together, na, na, na, na. >> good riddance is what they said. as far as today goes, brooke, wall street wound up going out with a whimper than a bang. after the wild swings we saw this year, not such a bad thing to end the year on a quiet note. you look at what the dow did, it ends on the plus column compared to 2010. the nasdaq actually ended lower for the year. down almost 2%. the s&p 500 basically ending flat below the break-even level and it's interesting to watch the s&p 500 because how it did is probably a good indicator of how your own retirement funds and other mutual fund investments did this year. many of them track the s&p 500 and yes, i know, it's a cliche, but you know what? it really was a roller coaster ride for stock market investors. lots of ups and downs, thrills and nausea along the way. we ended up right where we began. brooke? >> 2012, you and i talked about the euro zone crisis. obviously, that's still looming and how are investors and strategists

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. so, alison, any surprises here. i think i have an idea maybe. >> yeah, you know, i was surprised to hear that, you know, it's not the fancy phones or the cool features, you know like siri where the phone talks to you. no, no, no, none of that is important. you know what people want. people want customer service. they want good customer service and that's what kept verizon in the number one spot. if you look in the list, though. sprint, t-mobile, they come in right around the middle. guess what, at&t ranked dead last out of the major carriers for the second year in a row. why is this? at&t got the worst rating for value, voice quality, customer support, yikes. >> and dropped calls. >> and dropped calls. i could vouch for that. >> yep. >> but at&t, don, says it's learning from this consumer reports survey. they claim they're doing better on the dropped calls that you mentioned, but a real tough year for at&t. in the middle of trying to buy t-mobile but the government has blocked that. at&t just not catching a break la

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange with more on today's action. for almost an hour, and its a he a down day it looks like, alison, why? >> it is a down day. it doesn't take many trades to leave the overall trading sort of one direction or another. overall it's just one of those quiet trading days on wall street. stocks are, believe it or not, pretty much in a holding pattern at this point as far as in the red goes. the s&p 500 entered today up just 0.6% for the year. we'll watch to see if it can end the year on the plus side. not toch to write home about. big improvement from a few months ago after s&p downgraded its u.s. debt rating. >> let's talk about same sex couples. they had a lot to celebrate in 2011. new york, for instance, legal lieszed same-sex marriage, but the couples are in for a rude awakening come tax time, right? explain that. >> you're right about that. hala, that's because the federal government still doesn't recognize same-sex marriage so let's say couples in new york, for example, or massachusetts, iowa, they can get the benefi

alison kosik and christine romans. now to politics. >>> and, of course, at the top of the list, herman cain may be closer to making a decision about whether to move forward with his presidential campaign and mr. paul steinhauser joins us now. paul, where is the cain train on this timeline here? >> the cain train. it's in new hampshire, but herman cain, the presidential republican candidate says it could come down to his wife and family whether he stays in the race for the white house or drops out. take a listen to what he told reporters late last night in new hampshire? >> number one. so, since i've been campaigning all week, i haven't had an opportunity to sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my family. i will do that when i get back home on friday. secondly, reevaluate the support of my supporters. it has been overwhelming so far. thirdly, reevaluate the impact this had on fund-raising. >> fund-raising. of course, herman cain in that meeting with reporters acknowledged that fund-raising has taken