earnings or economic data, what is more important? >> i'm a trader so i'm going to take the tack that while from a broadstroke, we can take cues from europe and asia overnight. at the end of the day, you are trading tremendous volatility. the high-flying names and the financials and now the retailers. we see swings with tremendous volatility, opportunities to get in and out and make money all day long. i tend to think, from a trading perspective, the short-term hold, you want to be involved in what the earnings are and there's good stories going on domestically. >> as you're pointing out, that's a short-term indicator. longer term, don't you think economic data will turn to a trend of the markets? >> you know, i tend to think the other way there as well. you have the fed coming back and forth over the last two months we're not going to do any further easing. back and forth, that alone has moved the market in a 30 to 40-point range. it looks like all is lost and then all of a sudden it's 1400, 1410. i think if we get a decent jobs numb

economic data has also been a little bit weaker than expected. following on later today, ai we'll have the initial public offering of facebook and it set its subscription price at $38 a share and if you haven't got your allocation yet it's a little bit too late. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for the update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. the nikkei now down 2.3%. we'll keep track of where trading takes us for the rest of the day. >>> let me tak you to ns out of gece, where the upcoming elections are now affecting the country's credit rating. greek government bonds were downgraded by major rating agency fitch. the agency announced on thursday it lowered greece's rating to ccc, which is the third lowest down one notch from its previous rating of b minus. fitch says it's highly likely greece may leave the eurozone if the country fails to form a government that will carry out austerity measures after re-election next month. the agency says that if that happens, government bonds and loans to the private sector could fall into defau

economic data before the markets open here. we had first quarter gdp data out of japan, rising 1.4% on an annual basis. that is a strong reversal from the contraction that we had for the previous quarter so quite positive there. in the u.s., we had industrial production data for april which showed one of the biggest jumps since december of 2010 and housing starts. it is a crucial fact. housing starts rising indicating some of the best growth there for the last four years. markets are down in the u.s. and europe. let's see how things are kicking off in tokyo. a bit of a mixed picture. nikkei in the positive territory. topix trading lower. nikkei has been trading below 9,000 for four straight days. you can see again, it is below 8,800. it has traded below yesterday. blue chips are trading low. we have seen sony down around 35% since the highs we set in march. other sector stocks such as the brokerages have been down 20% for the same period. eurozone events making things a risk factor. that is a reverse from what we saw earlier in

economic data should really provide a major focus this week with the jobs data coming up on friday. that's going to prode further evidence for the federal reserve about u.s. economy and also may provide further evidence for other central banks as well as to their monetary policy including the bank of japan which is keeping a close eye both on eurozone economies as well as the u.s. economy and any growth prospects for the world's biggest economy which is crucial for japan's exporters. here in japan, another focus may also be on trading houses. one said yesterday they will be buying a stake -- or buying the third biggest u.s. grain producer for around $3.6 billion. that's going to be making it one of the biggest or the biggest deal of that sort for japanese company this year. a lot of japanese trading houses are trying to procure overseas investments or tie-ups in the energy and commodity sectors. let's look at currency levels as well. that's played a big part in our stocks are trading here yt yen continuing to strengthen. now 79.52. the euro lost ground both against the dollar and th

. >> ramin, what about the economic data? have they been pushed aside maybe, despite promising numbers out of the u.s.? >> exactly. if you look at some of the fundamentals, it has been a little bit of mix. yesterday, for instance, we did have inflation data out of the u.s. the index was pretty much flat for april. also home builders' sentiments, at the highest since 2007. these should be positives. however, retail sales also a little bit weaker than economists had expected. but coming up, of course, we still have industrial production due out, and also housing starts, housing sector obviously a key factor in the u.s. economy as well as weekly jobless claims later on thursday. some of those will be closely watched. but really looks like markets continue to be gripped by events in europe. we're seeing that reflected in the nikkei and topics this morning. back to you. >> ramin, thanks a lot for that update, from the tokyo stock exchange. we have our own set of economic data from here in japan. the core machinery orders fell in m

you saw it in the economic data and markets.oup of people you doesn't exactly know whether they're going to -- we don't know what the outcome is going to be, unlike the debt ceiling, we didn't know but we had a high degree of confidence. we have a group of policy makers who have centuries of history of not necessarily coming to agreement on things. so eigit's a paralyzing situati for the market. a lot of investors who are fearful, retail investors who are nervous, there has been a lot of capital that has been on the sidelines and is waiting for investment opportunities. what makes markets is for people who need to reduce risk, there are people who are looking to add risk. >> do you think it would be better if we just put aside using the debt ceiling to try to effect a change in fiscal policy? would you recommend doubling the debt ceiling so we couldn't even hit it in ten years and say go wild? would the market like that more or do the markets like that we finally recognize we need to stop what we're doing? >> has there ever been

. >> yes, the is economic data let's not forget economic data after all the events in europe. still a bit of a focus there. we have housing existing home sales data in the u.s. later today and durable goods orders which will be coming up later in the week so still some fundamentals for economists to tackle with but of course the european events and growth issues really the main issues there, but the nikkei and the topix higher this tuesday morning. back to you. >> ramin, thanks a lot, ramin mellegarfrom the tokyo stock exchange. lks like other markets open this hour in the asia-pacific are also higher so i'll leave you with the latest in market figures. >>> senior diplomats from japan, south korea and the united states met in seoul to talk about how to deal with a common threat. they agreed to take concerted action against north korea if the reclusive nation tests another nuclear weapon. it's the first time the group met since north korean authorities failed to launch what the calle a satellite-carrying rocket. >> if the dplk goes for further escalation, we are to take unified

nothing out there looming large as far as the economic data. there's enough earnings to keep us most vated. >> right. and many of the earnings have been good. we have to say. >> sure. but lighter than last week. there are things we're looking at. technically if we could hold 13,000 in the dow today. >> the s&p? >> 1360 is a good number. >> and a rally in bonds. there's another sign. >> exactly. >> despite the yields, the rally in bonds. >> the second trade in the treasury market. thanks, guys. see you later in the show. so, ty, there you have your key levels that we're going to be watching throughout the day. over to you. >> fantastic, sue. let's take a look at the five biggest dow losers on this day when all of the dow 30 stocks are lower. jpmorgan chase down 2.5%. caterpillar down about the same. chevron, ditto. down 2.3%. alcoa off little more than 2%. and intel down 57 cents, 2% at $27.98. oil falling very markedly. below $98 for the first time since early february. it's bounced back off of that, but it's on track for one of its worst daily

economic data and the banking sector which has been heavily sold off recently.e've also seen shares trade lower here on the back of recent corporate earnings in japan with a lot of blue chip companies announcing major restructuring moves in order to cut some of their losses. pan sockic yesterday, for instance, came out and said it will be making major cuts, cost cutting measures and work force layoffs. they did come out with a record net loss in its earnings just a couple weeks ago. many japanese companies also looking to overseas tie-ups and mergers in order to increase their profits. we already heard about sharp's tie-up to make panels for apple's iphone. but also in the commodity and energy sector, one of japan's biggestrading companies may also be possibly tying up with one of the major u.s. grain producers there in order to secure some of the energy sources and food resources into the future. also a lot of japanese companies trying to engage in more energy-related tie-ups as well. let's have a quick look at currency levels as well. yen currently still relat

economic data and the sour tone out of europe. the s&p 500 hit its worst level of the day around 2:00 p.m. eastern time before staging a comeback to finish in the green. volume on the big board dropped to 778 million shares; nasdaq saw one and three-quarter billion shares. defensive sectors consumer staples and health care saw buyers, as did the materials sector, but they were up less than 1%. among the material stocks moving higher, dow chemical. the global giant won a $2 billion award from the state- run chemical company in kuwait. that company cancelled a multi- billion dollar plastics joint venture with dow four years ago. shares rose more than 3% on heavier than usual volume. what was to be a $17 billion dollar plastics business was canceled during the credit crisis in 2008. the kuwaiti company said it is considering its legal options. technology stocks were the laggards. data storage equipment maker net-app pointed the finger at europe for its disappointing outlook. shares plummeted 12%. volume jumped eight-fold with the sto

and the futures are lower as investors may be playing it cautious ahead of today's big economic data, that's the april jobs report. hiring expected to have picked up last month with forecasts calling for payrolls to rise by 168,000, but unemployment expected to hold steady. we did see stocks fall on thursday, despite the better than expected unemployment filings, that was offset by a growth in the services sector. the dow dropped nearly 62 points to 13,206, the nasdaq losing 35 to 3,024. >>> and mortgage rates falling to record lows. the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan dropped to 3.84% in the past week. that move coinciding with several pieces of disappointing economic data raising concerns about the strength of the u.s. recovery. jon, back over to you. >> thank you very much for the updates. >>> this saturday's full moon is something we're told you do not want to miss. it is called, yes, a super moon. a super hero. it'll be the closest it gets to earth all yearlong. and it'll appear about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. the best time to see the super moon is just after

think almost anyone advocates getting rid of the regulation of mergers based on pre-approval using economic data analysis so the fact that it's an economic science or there are nine here is what we need to see is that you need to appreciate that we can't do it in a controlled circumstance i mean there are two hundred fifty major financial centers throughout this world if you say for example the united states of america in the united kingdom two of the hugest financial markets in the world are going to go through this f.d.a. approval then what you're going to get is shanghai hong kong singapore multiple other financial centers perhaps moon by who knows they're going to go and just implement the product anyway and i think that's the difficulty i don't disagree with you that there are methodology is that can be deployed but to put in a full on f.d.a. and turn around and say you can't list a new product until we've decided whether it's good for us or not actually that would have stifled incredible financial regulation that has helped. gentlemen i want to jump in here because we what we just heard th

that's what is driving things today as well as an economic data in the u.s. rick santelli, you're in chicago. let's talk about the impact on the economy and fixed incomes today after the pending sales. >> record lows again. >> the treasury market is pretty much doing what it has been doing for many quarters in a row. we continue to see buyers. we continue to see investors move into that conondrum zone. they are not worried about return on principle. you see it in germany n. boone's in two-year negative yields. you even see it on japanese securities. the data in the u.s. is still going to matter. remember, we can slip under 2% in the first quarter with gdp. and it might be better than 118 but it's a far cry from the 250 we need. >> you know what's amazing, rick, the tlt, the biggest bond etf in the world is at an historic high today. the volume has been big today. you can get a 15-year mortgage for 3.75% right now. i don't know what bank would lend for 15 years at 3.25. >> isn't it nice that we have bonds doing what they are supposed to do? let's look at asset

after disappointing economic data in the u.s. the russian market is very able to post any gains on thursday with the ruble dropping to an alpha cent against both the dollar and the euro more on this in twenty minutes. just after seven pm here in moscow you're watching the live with me rory stewart show washington says it could take direct action in syria even if that means going against international law this after the massacre of more than one hundred people in a syrian town with the government and rebels continuing to blame each other for the violence moscow meantime has valid block any moves for military intervention at the u.n. but the u.s. says it is prepared to bypass the security council but this report artie's marine a fortnight. well what was exactly said is the fact that the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice said that the syrian government is solely responsible for the massacres that took the massacre that took place in syria last week those those comments were also echoed by america's european allies and as a resu

. >> those concerns seem to be taking a back seat to encourage economic data. the dow jones industrial average ends almost 1/5 of a % hire. tokyo stock markets have just opened. let's take a look where we are starting off. for that we'll go to ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange. >> good morning to you, ai. a favorable opening from what you just said about the dow there and we did see jobless claims a little better than expected. ncns f spain's bre withne b that also giv alikkearnings, an most o tm f a lny mangtv e ur 10227. weom bkn na an d lar. fo min an e txcd13 ayhahe t ngs coer eylye elnhed orey ent ofma tor estantnd es ng s. hede dsot tnk rets gmdir l upn . 0 s. ut . aecf et et f he devastating earth kwat and stunami, concerns are rising that another majorhe unt. experts predict that another earthquake could strike in central and western regions even in tokyo. scholars gathered in the capital onhuda to how to best prepar 29mi societies in such fiels earthquake engierg,onruio a urban planning took part in esblhing preparedness measures they

we need better economic data, greece resolved. i don't see any of that happening in the short term. >> larry, maria was saying, or i was, i guess, the nasdaq down the worst month in two years. you think the markets held up in may? >> when we look back on may, i think what we're really saying is how resilient the markets are in the face of such horrendous economic news. when you look at that, what the market is saying, investors are uning out of safe havens and number two, so much of the bad news is priced in. greece has been on the front page for two years. it's already news already. >> news, rebecca, you call that noise, right? the u.s. continues to be mixed and that gets investors nervous about committing. the u.s. is still doing okay. we have housing that at least is bumping along the bottom instead of going down. oil prices and retail gasoline prices going down. a huge plus for the consumer, easygoing into the summer. still very easy fed. look at ten-year yields today. it's not great but given all of the external teas that we'

as we saw the economic data out of europe, the recovery is not tepid at best.re's a bit more to come out of europe and if you're going to continue to get systematic bets out of europe, the fed is there as well. >> john, you're looking at the dollar as well. if it continues higher, that's not good for gold, is it? >> that's a great point, bill. if you want to look at monetary accommodation, this is 2012, not 2011. the central bank can help things. overall, gold is a technical market. it sold down with the concerns of europe overnight and if gold is trading like a growth market, they need to correlate it things like with the aussie dollar. >> john, what's your level there, then? how much lower can gold go, then? >> gold can trade very sharply. >> darren, you feel that we're at a bottom for gold, at least you think we are? >> i feel as my colleague on my left just said, gold is a very technical market. 1600 is a very big level for the commodity. i think if we break through there, it will be very negative and you can see the levels that he suggests. i don't think i

. >> well, we've got some decent economic data. the jobless claims were okay, steve liesman. >> yeah, you don't want to make too much of anyone's data. but we're trying to figure out, are we in for another springtime swoon here where the data pops back up. you can see that back last april or so. and then there's that bump up in april and march and you can see on a weekly basis we've gotten back almost all of it. but then look at the four-week moving average and that's what economists are wanting to look at. the jury is still out, bill. but the hope here, john writing in rdq saying, you know what, if we get back down and stay at this level in the 360s, he could see us pushing back up the payroll numbers up to the 200,000 level. >> what about rick santelli in chicago there? rick, this backup in yields, significant in your view? tell us what's going on in terms of money moving into fixed income. >> i don't think it is. i'm looking at the guild market, bond market, boom market. unruly issues in europe and i think for the most part, oth

looking forward to economic data in the u.s. later today. we'll have revised gdp numbers as well as private sector jobs numbers. it's a good snapshot of the jobs picture before we get the really big one on friday which is, of course, u.s. non-foreign payrolls and unemployment. right now markets really affected by what's happening. back to you. >> thanks a lot. the nikkei is at 8,463 now. as ramin mentioned, spain now taking center stage as far as concerns go. the european union has given spain another year to meet an eu target for budget deficits. it cites the worsening economic and fiscal conditions. the european commission monetary affairs chief said wednesday that the eu will extend the deadline for spain. that mean this country needs to cut its deficit to less than 3% by 2014. spain had a budget deficit of 8.9% last year. >> need to consider the extension or construction of the deadline from 2013 to 2014 on the condition that spain will present a convincing budget plan for 2013 and 14. >> ren said the reason for the extension are an econ

is it economic data or earnings news driving the decisions these days?ur cnbc contributor and chief market strategist with mkm partners. good to see you both. an initial jobless claims out tomorrow. the adp report out today. how important is it? >> very important because we have the numbers pretty weak today and we were able to brush it off. the claims tend to be a leading indicator and the last have been crummy. we know at the end of the day, jobs are slowing. companies are being able to deliver on earnings. to answer your question, earnings matter more, but we have to keep an eye on the u.s. economic data. >> you agree that claims key for investors right now, talk to us about the signals you are watching. what do you look for for the claims tomorrow? >> absolutely. so i am looking for claims to pull back a bit and head down. i think that will be important for the market and the stock market has been highly correlated to the behavior of jobless claims and it is a leading indicator. high frequency and we get them every week. this is a key variable going

we have economic data in china later. the moves in the euro also taking center stage. how is tokyo starting off? >> a lot of issues, major issues for investors to tackle as you said, three major issues there. but also iran inviting the iaea and that helped ease global oil supply concerns, we'll also be fouling china pmi data due out later. and then the euro falling to 22 month low against the dollar and 3 1/2 month low against the yen, dipping below 100 the euro/yen. we'll be following that. let's look at how the stock markets are kicking off this thursday. marginally lower this thursday morning. the nikkei fell almost 2% yesterday. lowest level since january this year. a key factor in the loss that stems from the eurozone concerns, which bank of japan the governor did mention yesterday at his news conference following the two day bank of japan meeting as well as persistent slow growth in china as well. so that should really put another focus there on the pmi data due out of china later this morning. the lack of any action from the bank of japan was a little bit discou

that is gone to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of economic data to our local economy. it is one of the toughest issues that have had to work with at the board of supervisors. to me, this is exactly what we need to do, it is the right thing for our city. when it comes to the full board, i hope to have everybody's full support. supervisor wiener: a couple of things. i wanted to acknowledge about the fire that occurred on sunday. it was beginning right at the north end of the route. we share responsibility in terms of helping these residents. it is a tragic, terrible fire. the fire department did an extraordinary job responding quickly and getting that fire under control. there were a couple of minor injuries. no significant injuries. i want to commend both the red cross and are committed to services agency for setting up a control center quickly. on to something happier, i am proud to be cosponsoring the request to make harvey milk day a national holiday. i look forward to the day when we have a national holiday. thank you. supervisor kim: it is incredibly difficult, but

frankfurt stock exchange sent us this report about the market and how it responded to the latest economic data. >> the european economy is flat lining. it has not fallen into a recession. that has been the good news, created quite a good mood on the frankfurt floor earlier this morning. is also a surprise that the german economy is still on a very strong growth path. but the political chaos in greece led to sharp downward movement of share prices, and not only share prices -- in the hopes there might be a recovery from yesterday's heavy losses, also the euro went down sharply at $1.28. >> thank you for the bad news. you can see that on the dax. let's get those closing numbers up for you. nothing to cheer about in red. the dax has been proving of little brazilian. homebuilder sentiment is positive. -- has been proving a little resilience. we will be back. >> stay with us. >> france as a new president and hours after being inaugurated, he was in berlin. is here that francois hollande has business to do with the german chancellor. >> france and germany has been reading the joint austerity drive a

. >> both president obama and mitt romney are sparring over economic data. april reports show that hiring was done for the second straight month. the percentage of americans working or looking for work is the lowest in more than 60 years. president obama focused on the positives, stressing the low unemployment rate of 8.1%. >> only 115,000 net new jobs were created. that was beneath the weather was expected to be. -- what it was expected to be. >> no u.s. president running for reelection has won with unemployment above 8%. today's's news sent stocks plunging. the dow jones closed down 168 points. nasdaq fell and s&p slipped 22 points during reports show that some investors feel the lack in jobs are a sign of a weakening economy. >> the man accused of orchestrating the september 11 a militaryaded to tribunal tomorrow at guantanamo bay on terrorism charges. a military judge is allowing television of the proceedings. the hearing is expected to start 9 a.m. tomorrow. seating is first-come, first- served. you should go to the theater and enter at the road did. it

i think in the next two days we're going to see some important economic data which will help alleviate fears that the u.s. economy is weakening or stoke the fire that the u.s. economy is weakening. that will be the tell the next few days with the employment data and ism numbers. we have to look forward to everyone focusing on the debt problems in europe now come the end of the year some of that's going to come back to the u.s. shores and we're going to have to focus on that. >> like the internet and air travel, clear globalization is a fad. when we dig into that and look into the names we have on this board here, you know, verizon, wow, the yield on that thing is monstrous. the yield in fact is more than the 10-year treasury note. have you guys ever run a basket poll where you say throw darts at a dividend wall and the higher the dividend minus a 15% dividend which implies business risk, that's a better strategy to invest in now? can you just blindly throw the darts? >> i wouldn't blindly throw the dart. last year the high dividend players were outperforming for a while. starting out t

we heard from corporate america, and we got mixed economic data from the u.s. they're driving prices up come yields down. >> tom: we have seen this for a long time. better part of 30 years the bonds yields flowing from the double digit highs from the early 80s. a lot of folks are talking about a bond market bursting. not whether or not it happens but when does it happen. >> that's right. this isn't a new story. we have seen this over 30 years. over the past 30 years we saw interest rates on the ten year go from 15% down to nearly zero right now. so, the bond markett has really been able to return -- has been able to give investors a return of 8% to 9% over the last 30 years because interest rates were declining and that tphrubg stew aeutsz the bond. >> tom: sure. >> now the fed has committed to leaving interest rates at about 0% through 2014. we heard from them about two weeks ago. we saw a few members of the fed turn a little more hawkish. if we get any momentum in the economy we could see interest rates increase. >> tom: right. >> tom: that point who is more

on the back of economic data out of the u.s. as well as slowing growth signals in china. reemerging concerns about euro zone debt especially spain mentioned there. a major focus. the elections in france and greece coming up as well. it could be a major focus for europe in may. also now to remind viewers that monday was a public holiday in japan. thursday and friday will be closed. let's see how we are kicking off this tuesday morning, may 1st here in japan and both are trading a touch lower and that follows on giving up a bit of a ground on friday after the bank of japan led stimulus measures that did give a knee jerk boost to the markets. we did see a strong reversal with the nikkei ending lower and continuing lower today as we can see there. finance minster has come out and said that the bank should continue the fight against deflation. however it does look as though that fell on deaf ears for the market place. we have seen the yen strengthen. let's have a look at the currency levels as well this tuesday morning in japan. they are clearly the dollar is 79.86-87. it jump

and also we've seen economic data out of the u.s. and china, also not really giving any concrete signs of a full path to a recovery in either one of those economies. still questions there op the fundamental side. the euro took a bit of a beating following the fitch ratings, and of course, continuing with the eurozone offense. let's look at the currency levels. the yen, if anything weaker a touch against the dollar. and largely unchanged against the euro there. so you can see the dollar/yen at the 80 levels now. trading at the mid-17 levels yesterday. >> speaking of boosts i hear there's good news from the auto sector. >> definitely. we've been tracking the auto sector since the march 11th disasters last year and the thailand flooding which severely hampered the production levels for the big three automakers. toyota media reports coming out saying toyota has regained the number one are level for the quarter. it's made aggressive moves to gain back market share. so has honda and nissan. so again toyota, regaining the number one spot th