buif the posive economic data that is currently -- >> if the positive economic data that is currently coming out firms up and we see something like sustainable, economic recovery in southern europe, the reduction of the sovereign-debt crisis, then, of course, merkel will be credited with having resolved the eurozone debt crisis. that will give her enormous prestige. i think we will probably strengthen her chances of being reelected chancellor in 2013. >> will more european countries have to become more german in their policy? >> it will certainly have to become more frugal. they were not always the most frugal. certainly, germany has a stronger voice. >> thank you very much for your insights. with that, we wrap up the journal " -- "journal." i am meggin lee. thank you for joining us. stay tuned.

in japan, we have an important quarterly economic data. quarterly japan business survey for large and small manufacturers, and nine months after the march 11th disaster, a lot of focus will be on how japan's economy has been going through this period, where there's regional economies like fukushima that have been devastated both from the farming and fishing products, and also across a lot of different regions in the auto industry. we will see a lot of information from that thursday. that's going to be a crucial bit of data for japan. ai? >> all eyes on that. ramin, we'll hear more about the exchange rate. what kind of action are we seeing in the exchange rate this monday? >> the yen has been an asset of choice for a lot of investors so far this year, ai, and we're seeing the yen, especially against the euro having moved from 123 in april to around 100 in october. currently trading around upper 103 yen level. we'll see how that pans out and upper 77 against the dollar, but definitely the survey will be crucial for a lot of economists watchi

economic data helped investors forget about europe at least for one day. the dow gain 46 points, closing up 11870. the nasdaq and s&p 500 ended with slight gains as well. 366,000 americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week. that's the lowest level since may of 2008. it suggests that jobs recovery may be gaining traction. >>> fedex shares jumped 8%. the shipping giant reported quarterly earnings that beat wall street estimates. the company credited strong demand for a pair of its residential delivery services and growth in e-commerce led to a 17% increase in daily shipping volumes. >>> michael coors dre-- kors dressed up the new york stock exchange. they raised close to $1 billion for the hong kong-based fashion company. kors posted sales increases for 20 straight quarters, a sign that demand for some luxury goods has held up, despite a tough economy. >>> coming up friday, the government releases retail inflation numbers for november. analysts predict only a slight increase in prices. darden has already warned that the numbers could be di

everybody anyone wants to make out of them because it's very normally just base themselves on certain economic data and then project forecasts into the future i'm all good we'll read about all these forecasts for now it is that are based exclusively on economic and economic centered world view as though everything works always turns around the economy and yet the reason why so many surprises overtake even the greatest exports nowadays is because the world human history is not economics it is it goes through much more complex and deeply ingrained factors such as politics such as for example history sort of for example social of billionaires so the very fact that they are making these forecasts based mostly on almost exclusively on economic data i think should be taken with a little bit of course of years of the whole idea of bricks you know brazil russia india china and south africa acronym invented by goldman sachs again it's a rather very arbitrary because we base our world view i was going to say. things have changed so radically in the world since two thousand and eight of the crash and one of t

and because we don't have major economic data in the u.s., it's all about europe.he dow closed up 78. the nasdaq was up 28 to 2655. >>> dell is streaking out of the tablet market. the company is killing the android based tablet after dropping the five-inch version in august. the only competition is the kindle fire, although amazon is not making any money off the product itself because it's basically selling it at cost. >>> starbucks is planning to open stores with wine and beer in places like chicago, illinois, next year. they offer higher quality small plate options and alcohol in addition to coffee and tea. starbucks operates five of the stores in seattle and one in portland, oregon. i guess we'll see if it works if you want to grab a nice chardonney. >> cured meat doesn't sound great. >> yeah, you're right. >> with you there. thanks so much, brian. >>> air quality officials instituting a no burn status today. the forecast for the next several days, of course, christina telling us calling for stagnant weather that could trap the smoke near the ground. it could be

economic data. so it will be a merry christmas indeed. the dow is up to 11,868 and the nasdaq up 1.7 to close at 2541. it's game on for zynga. it could be a zynger. the social gaming giant set for a winning debut on the nasdaq. prices are at $10 a share on thursday. this was on top of the expected rapg. will the virtual world translate to a real win for investors? >>> and in other ipo news michael kors made quite this splash on i the ipo runway. shared jumped 21% on thursday, the first day of trading. thinking about upgrading your blackberry? don't expect to this christmas. that news combined with unsold playbook tablets and a dismal forecast for blackberry christmas sales sent shares tumbling on thursday. the company's co-ceos say they will take salaries of $1 a piece. >> well, it is cold out there. another day in the 30s. we have 30s around moegs of the bay area this morning. if you don't have any wind, you're waking up to very chilly temperatures. novato is 32. if you look to the east by fairfield, we're close to 50 degrees. gilroy dow

a light week for us economic data. today we have reports on the services sector and factory ordered. the nasdaq inched up a fraction to 2626. many consumers may be shopg from the comfort of their own home this holiday season. i know i've been doing it. cyber monday, $1.25 million. shares broke a billion on tuesday. on wednesday online shopping accounts for 8% to 10% of all holiday spending. free shipping is the biggest driver. now to zynga. they are trying to interest big investors in the upcoming and widely anticipated ipo. the maker of the popular facebook games like farmville and mafia wars are worth $9 billion. zynga is set to start trading on december 16th. back to you guys. >>> ready for the bay area as well. >>> it is 4:46 now. had a great weekend. we're curious what's going to happen the rest of the week. >> finally we get a nice break. no wet weather in the forecast no. major wind to report. we will see a couple cold nights. if you have agricultural interests, you want to stay privy to the weather report. temp

the futures are sharply higher as investors are awaiting that big economic data of the day.t's expected to show companies increased hiring in november, but not fast enough to bring the unemployment rate down. forecasters are calling for 125,000 jobs versus the 80,000 we saw in october. unemployment is holding steady at 9% for the second strait month. yesterday stocks closed mixed. we saw the dough dip 25 points to close at 12,020. the nasdaq rising six points. >>> the threat of a rail strike has been averted. operators have reached a tentative contract agreement with two big unions. a third union, the last of the 13 without a labor deal is extending talks by two months. they have to reach an agreement before a federal cooling off period. and it could cost $2 billion a day during the height of the holiday shopping season. >>> and honda is recalling about 304,000 vehicles worldwide f. the air bags may inflate with too much air. 20 accidents related to the problem with two deaths in 2009. it affects the accord, civic, hob da, crv and others. >> thank you very much. >> i want to

now to economic data out from japan. the current account surplus in october fell for an eighth straight month. the finance ministry said in a report this thursday the current account balance fell 62.4% from a year earlier to about $7.2 billion. trade balance turned to the red for the first time in two months. exports fell 2.7% while imports rose 21.33%. due largely to a price hike in crude oil and natural gas. the income surplus grew 20.3% helping them stay in the positive. the surplus had shown a steady increase for seven consecutive months. japan's machinery orders have been released this morning. they fell in october for a second consecutive month. the cabinet said major machinery makers received more than 687 billion yen worth of domestic orders, about $8.8 billion. a decrease of 6.9% from a month earlier in yen terms. the figure excludes volatile orders for ships and power plants. let's get a recap of the latest market figures. >>> that is the latest for this hour in business. >> next we go to bangkok to find out wh

economic data on jobs and manufacturing. we'll see more of that data come out as well. the dough jumped 490 points on wednesday to close at 12,545. the nasdaq higher by 104 to 2620. retailers will report november sales today, which include the black friday weekend. total sales are forecast to rise 3.3%. it's a tough comparison with what we saw last year. sales rose 5.5%. many stores offered huge discounts to boost the sales. wal-mart is launching the first social networking app. it uses facebook day to recommend gifts on a consumer's interest. it's available on wal-mart's face book page. >> plus i like the name, shoppy cat. >> needless to say, the winds of change are blowing our way. the first day of december. >> first day of december. can you believe it? >> we'll see the winds throughout the day today. the winds have been gusty for the past 15 hours. i think we'll see even more downed trees, downed branches and possiblily downed power lines throughout the day today. 1,000 feet and above. sustained wind speeds at 30 miles per hour in some spots. we're close to that in f

on thursday, new economic data sent out some dilemmas of hope. the purchase rose surprisingly, and if you look at this index in germany, it shows that there is no need to fear recession for the german economy. in the end, this news has been enough to raise share prices. because of the fact that the bank has been able to raise some fresh capital. >> was set in frankfurt for a closer look at thursday's numbers and germany's dax. it finished the day up by nearly a full percentage point. your stocks 50 also finishing higher. across the atlantic in new york, the dow is up by .5%. the euro also higher, back above $1.30. general motors opel subsidiary in germany is still recovering from the credit crisis of 2008, it is pegging its future on a new generation of electric cars. problem, however, is that its flagship hybrid engine model is having some trouble at the starting line. >> it is the first model in a new generation of more environmentally friendly vehicles for opel, but sales have been put on hold now that a similar hybrid vehicle for another comp

economic data seems to be improving.t rate dropped last month and consumer confidence hit its highest level since july. and judging by black friday and cyber monday results, jingle bells are ringing at cash registers this holiday season. but, there is a big reason december may prove disappointing for the market. as strategist vadim zlotknov explains, the overarching concern is the debt crisis in europe, where the s&p 500 gets 14% of total sales. >> you have uncertainty as to what is the path that europe is going to choose. if it is a path of extreme austerity, it could actually depress the u.s. companies' earnings and the u.s. economic growth. >> reporter: another big worry is slowing growth in china, the world's second largest economy. that said, stovall still believes the s&p 500 will end next year around 1,360, which would be 8% above today's close. >> i am a bull with a lower case "b." i think we probably could see a low end double digit advance based on where we are right now. i think that when you look at everythin

. >> the warning by s&p for aaa countries is not based on real economic data.t is based on the uncertainty in financial markets over the eurozone as a whole. so we see the assessment as added confirmation that we do all we can to achieve a good result on december 9. >> s&p certainly added to the pressure. the rating agency warned of high debt levels and the risk of recession for the entire area. s&p is effectively serving notice to the entire eurozone. this includes the 15 euro nations whose bonds are not already rated junk status, including those with aaa ratings lead france, germany, and finland. downgrades would also affect the eurozone debt rescue facility, the the fsx, which cannot logically hold a better rating than the countries that finance it. that is why s&p has now officially warned investors on the credit worthiness of the efsf. >> european shares fell on tuesday. the warning from standard and poor's added to investor jitters. but it could have been worse. here is our reporter with more. >> many at the exchange were expressed about the relatively re

. >>> on wall street, the dow-jones average snapped three days of losses due to encouraging economic data on jobs and manufacturing. to see how things are kicking off in japan, let's cross-over to ramin mellegard at the koch tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. how are the tokyo stocks looking this morning? >> good morning, ai. after the weekly jobs numbers, you mentioned, and federal reserve of philadelphia, regional manufacturing data came out better than the market consensus. that was a bit of a boost. in europe, a spanish bond auction, provided positive sentiment. european debt worries still weigh on markets. let's look at the opening levels in japan this friday morning. you can see there the nikkei and topix trading higher. the nikkei has been down around 270 points in the last three trading sessions. a big part due to jitters in europe. having a look there, you can see on the screen, 77.82-83 dollar yen. euro yen, 101.36-41. euro is weaker against the yen. we saw that playing into some of the business sentiment survey reports that came out yesterday, and a lot of large manufac

. >> tom: stocks snapped a three day losing streak as the latest and stronger economic data from the u.s. offset the ever-present worries about europe. right out of the gate this morning, stocks were able to find more buyers than seller. but the buying interest faded throughout the session. the high for the s&p 500 today came in the first hour of trading. the index ended with a fractional gain. at one point, the dow jones industrial average had a triple- digit gain. but again, the gains faded in the afternoon when the international monetary fund called the global economic outlook quite gloomy. that forecast may help explain the defensive nature of the best sectors today. utilities, health care and consumer staples certainly fit that description. these three led the market gainers, rising at least 1%. the utility sector has been a beneficiary of low interest rates and the volatile markets. this exchange traded fund includes the big power company stocks. this year, it's up 12%. with today's better than 1% rally, it is less than a half dollar from a new 52-week high. the convenience of

as you mentioned, key economic data for japan with the quarterly business sentiment survey there coming at minus 4. and the first negative you that said there in six months. let's have a look at the opening levels this thursday morning and see the market reaction there. and it's negative. down 70 points for the nikkei and down almost 5 points for the topix. let's not forget, the nikkei closed yesterday. two-week low pushing it below 8,500. and we're below that right now as well. that dampened sentiment even for the tokyo stock exchange's biggest public offering yesterday from korean online video gaming company nexon, which itself ended down 2.3%. but of course the focus is also on olympus, and it managed to come out with its april to september earnings yesterday before that december 14th deadline by which it would have been delisted had it not come out with its earnings. and the olympus president today around midday is going to go over those numbers, and then after the markets later today former president michael woodford is also going to give a news conference. so a lot of focus on oly

positive economic data from the u.s. job market fuelled demand.onsumers more optimistic than expected. the success of the italian government in the confidence vote was also a big relief. the exceptional step by the ecb for eurozone bank's to first -- took criticism first, but got more supporters saying that this would reduce the risk for banks and bank shares did very well. >> that was indoor the halt in frankfurt. let's have a closer look as the market numbers, beginning with the blue-chip dax. it closed up by more than 1%. the euro stoxx 50 also up by 1.25%. the dow jones industrials are currently up by almost 0.5%. the euro is trading for $1.3043, unchanged. germany's premier air carrier has struck a deal to offload its subsidiary british midland to the company that owns british airways. lufthansa said it is not making money on the deal. it is all to iligan to strengthen the financial system. the german company took over the other company into a dozen 9 but never managed to turn a profit. the consolidated airline's group is interested in bmi be

the consumer, a lot of economic data. and in order to maintain credibility, there's just no way that quantitative easing can continue. the u.s. has to stop issuing all thf credit out there. therefore, we'll see bond yields start to rise, and of course, we're going to see the price of bonds drop. >> tom: with that in mind, you look at the broad market, pretty much where we began the year for the s&p 500. where do you think we wind up a yeerp from now? >> i'm ambitious. i have over a 20% plus projection in my predictions for 2012 that we're going to be at 1500 on the s&p. tell be the year of the market. 12 very lean tough years for those that have been investing. >> tom: it has been. and led by banking, obviously. the middle of the credit crunch. you like evr, which you first mentioned on the program in march of 2011 when it was above 30. but here you like it in the mid-20s. what d do you expect out of >> the bread and buttern mergers and acquisitions. bringing in billions in pension funds ready to invest in hedge fubds and

is now and i've been toying off the economic data show durable goods rising in november by the most the most fissures in four months but a separate reports have consumer spending rising a lesson for. markets also benefiting from the upbeat data coming from the us. is that time of year christmas is on the way this weekend and traders in london have already gone off to set up right on the russian market is closed. yes has lost a notch in my sights also and did in the right as well so both both down by the closing down here russia others have a look at some individual shadows on the mindsets blue chips closed mix all major point full percentage bank has been in the red for much of the day and lost almost two percent and telecom provide that was telecom is among the top again is on the force of government to take around seven percent of the company's stake. russia's biggest and isp a bank has made another step of brewers it is all swiss bank s.o.b commercial banks almost eighty one million dollars from the russian all major luke all. to use its own brand and use it to develop syndicated len

but now that there's more positive economic data coming out, does that mean the u.s. economy will be in better shape in 2012? suzanne pratt talked with some wall street pros about what they expect in the new year. >> reporter: when it comes to the economy next year, there's good news and bad. the good and perhaps best news is the u.s. is not expected to slide back into a recession. instead, we're likely to keep meandering along, and that's the troubling part. >> the outlook for the u.s. economy heading into 2012 remains one of modest economic activity, below the trend of growth that we saw in prior years. >> actually, we think it's probably going to be a similar year to 11 in the sense that growth is still likely to be quite disappointing. >> reporter: just how disappointing? most economists predict g.d.p. will probably average only about 2% next year, and the problem is that most of the risks are on the downside. we all know that europe wields the biggest monkey wrench for the u.s. recovery, but it's less about trade and more about our financial ties to the region. >

but we have had disappointing data in terms of economic data from a couple of countries. >> spain? >> in particular, exactly. they showed that the services sector declined at its fastest rate since march 2009. hugely disappointing figure, especially because spain has just gone through its general election. the new prime minister has his work cut out for him implementing austerity measures. this read does show that economists who are forecasting that spain will fall back into recession in early 2012 could well be right. >> good news for one travel company, though the outlook is not great. >> no, better than expected profits. it's europe's biggest travel holiday company. it basically faced falling rivals, and its biggest problem is dealing with banks. but today, we've seen it announcing a rise in profits, but share price is down. i'll have more on this and all the rest of business later on. >> those pictures are tempting, aren't they? thanks very much. now, if you're gay in nigeria, you could be jailed for up to 14 years. according to a new law that's currently being debated. amnesty

stocks in europe open higher on tuesday after a successful government auction in spain and upbeat economic data structure abounds following government data that shows the nation's retail sales climbing just point two percent of the. markets in europe have recovered supported by resource stocks banks demand the pressure on to sell for the solvent at prices kevin says getting a boost out of maker fox wagon rolls over what i have to say that after they farm reported that november sales of its core power. and your car brands growth nearly fifteen percent from the mere earlier. times here in russia markets closed in the black. and over one half percent of the mars' six was over two percent in the black as well let's have a look at some individual samples of my stats home ages among the main gainers with finishing over three percent. in the black precious metals might have put his gold bounce back from early losses it lost three percent on monday after its main shareholder russian billionaire who helped broker announced he would run for president and to make a service dog again the news of a possible

december economic data begins pouring in. we'll see auto sales, manufacturing and the number everybody is watching on friday of next week, december's employment report. now monday with the stock markets closed we'll bring you an nbr special edition. women and leadership, focus on pamela newman-- newman one of the insurance industry's most powerful women. >> while we await the auto industry's december results strong sales help drive ford motor's recovery across the new milestone. 2011 sales of ford brand cars and trucks top two million units this week for the year. the first time since 2007 that any single auto brand has hit that mark. ford's f-series pickup trucks with the top selling vehicle in the nation as they have been for the past three decades. as far as total sales ford remains number two u.s. automaker behind general motors. >> president obama put his request to increase the nation's debt limit on hold. the white house was expected today to ask for $1.2 trillion increase in the government's ablt to gorrow money. the

european stock markets are also feeling this optimism about the macro economic data coming out in the united states of banks and miners are the top gamers both in london where the footsies up one percent and on the dax which is up point nine s. . a russian is a closing picture for you the r.t.s. and m i six both managed to end the day on a positive note the my so it's up by just a notch the r.t.s. almost of the senate and that's related to. the ruble was strengthening versus the dollar. so what's been moving the my six most blue chips actually ended the day the mix when you can say that gazprom up point six percent down by the same amount pretty much. was down at the close point three percent the company launched sales of its latest model a lot of the grounds. and i'll be back in fifty five minutes time with a business update join me to get. wealthy british style some time to. time. the. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or no.