i'm carolin roth and these are your headlines from around the world. christmas comes early for stocks. u.s. markets close out a new record high and europe opens in the green on a shortened trading day this christmas eve. but there may be no festive cheer for retailers. reports show traffic as u.s. stores plunge while bad weather in the uk keeps shoppers off of high street. >>> tis the season for deal making. carl likely is reportedly in talks to buy in a deal that could be worth $4 billion. >>> and a santa rally is under way before he sets off on his global delivery round. >>> happy christmas eve, everyone. many of the markets here in europe are already closed such as the italian, swiss and fwerman ones, but there are a km markets still trading at least until around noon, 1:00. we're seeing a little green on the charts. the cac 40 up by 0.3% and the ftse 100 is seeing similar gains. european markets trading close to a three-week high. this is on the back of some m&a activity that we saw in the european markets yesterday but also the cheer given that we

i'm carolin roth. here are your headlines this morning. the global rally continues. european equities trade higher with the dax hitting a new high after another record close on wall street. abe nomics in full flow, japanese inflation runs at a five-year high while factory outputs decline for another straight month. >>> u.s. retailers are hoping for many happy returns from the holiday shopping season. the head of the national retail federation tells cnbc we expect sales to hit the group's .9% forecast. >>> good morning, everyone. well, if you celebrated christmas, hope you had a fantastic break. for me, usually these breaks are way too short. let me tell you how u.s. futures are shaping up this morning. we're looking mixed as far as the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p 500 are concerned. the dow hit another record high in yesterday's trading session. it was up for the sixth straight session and hitting record highs on a nominal basis for the sixth day in a row, as well. the s&p 500 also ending at another record high. the dow up about 0.75% and the s&p 500 rising around 0.5

i'm carolin roth. here are your headlines this morning. the global rally continues.uropean equities trade higher with the dax hitting a new high after another record close on wall street. abe nomics in full flow, japanese inflation runs at a five-year high while factory outputs decline for another straight month. >>> u.s. retailers are hoping for many happy returns from the holiday shopping season. the head of the national retail

i'm caroline roth. these are your headlines from around the world.he imf is striking a bullish tone on the u.s. economy. christine lagarde points to the budget deal in congress and the decision by the fed to start tapering. >> you see the fed having taken some very well-communicated action concerning the tapering of a program and those are good signs. in addition to which we see some good numbers. >>> the chinese banking system under pressure as interbank lending rates spike despite an emergency cash injection from the pboc. asian equity markets largely shrug off fears of a credit crunch. >>> after years of talking, apple finally clinches a dealing with china mobile to sell iphones in the chinese market potentially boosting their revenues by $10 billion. >>> another dissident is freed in russia. another member of pussy riot is freed. just days after mikhail khordofsky is set free. they both call the move a publicity stunt by the government. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. >>> good m

carolin roth standing by in london. carolin. >> good morning to you, michelle. no surprise, volumes, we're almost done before the christmas holiday. many of the markets, the german, scandinavian, italian and swiss markets are already closed. we've got a couple markets still open and we're seeing some green on the charts. but these markets, the uk, cash, ibex &, they're closing within the next two hours. year-to-date, the german market is the best performer, up 24%. the uk market, only seeing gains around 13%. let's talk about retailers. we saw those awful numbers for your retail season over there in the u.s. well, this side of the bond, it's not looking much better. we were hoping for this mad rush into the stores yesterday because it was one of the slowest christmass for the uk retailers to begin with. but then yesterday, they rushed this monday simply didn't steelerize because we had a big storm in the uk yesterday, very heavy rain, heavy winds, so we didn't see many people flocking to the stores. if you did venture out to the stores, we were treated with some

. >> carolin roth is standing by in london. >> good morning to you, becky. good morning to you. the year-end rally and europe continues. we're tracking asia and wall street higher. most of the markets were closed for the last two or three days. and we're back online with a bang. the stoxx 600 is up by 0.6%. the xetra dax in germany hitting new record highs, 9,560 points is where we're trading. no specific news here, but keep in mind, germany, of course, is the powerhouse of germany. consumer morale for december hitting a 6.5 year high. meanwhile, in the uk, shoppers standing in line for hours early thursday morning. they're hoping to pick up bargains on the first day of post christmas sales after retailers slashed prices throughout the holiday season. that includes online sales. not so bad for the uk, either. back over to you guys. >>> coming up, we're going to ta buck why the wlthy execs want to get divorced. carolin is in london. plus, the top ten most prioritied tv shows for 2013. >> always good to watch it live. >> you can dvr it if you like it, as well. >>> tens of thousand