it just keeps costng. ks were up in europe and the u.s. despite news that was not or great. the big is earnings. samsung said fourth quarter operating profit would drop 29%. that's wor than analysts expected. they cited mounting uncertainty and lackluster demand in theme ry business. yikes. maybe apple's announcement cutting first quarter guidance wasn't a one-off. samsung is a global oucompany. a third of its revenue comes from the u.s. and latin america, 13% from korea, 15 from china. samsung stocks down 10% since november and more than 25% since may. but take anoer example. there's more signs of weakness in europe with german industrial production numbe coming in in a weaker print. look how the markets are faring. from december 3rd to the bottom on december 24th, the dow jones industrial average dropped 4,000 points. 4,000. it's now recovered roughly half of that decline. bond yields are on the rise. t yields on 2-year and 10-year treasury notes are slightly gher and volatility has been steadily falling. a widely watched gauge of fear, the vix, plunged 50e in n days. thos