over towards europe the uk is what we have been watching here. see this band of cloud cover. the good news is pushing off toward the east there. the cold front is going to impact france bringing the potential of hail and severe weather with it. the olympics and the opening ceremony looks like dry conditions will be in place here. there is a look at your three d day. cloudy skies here, high temperature of 25 through the evening hours. sunday though, heating will be kicking up afternoon thunderstorms. 13 for the high. here is the extended forecast for the rest of you. >> bells rang across great britain past 8:00 am on friday celebrate the opening of the 2012 summer liolympic games in london. the iconic big ben in london rang for three minutes. it is the first time the bell chimed for so long since king george the vi in 1952. >> very good. it is a lovely morning and a good start to the olympic games. >> it was fun. had to get up very early. it was fun. i wish it had gone on longer. >> hundreds of people rang hand bells while others joined from they're bicycles. 300 joined in from

over towards europe the uk is what we have been watching here. see this band of cloud cover across the british isles. the cold front is going to impact france and the potential of severe weather with it. does at least look like at this time dry conditions will be in place here. looking at your three day friday cloudy skies here. saturday as well. sunday heat will be kick iing u after noon thunderstorms goodness only 19 for your highs. cooler here. here is the extended forecast for the rest of the week. bells rang across great britain after 8:00 am on friday celebrate the opening of the 2012 summer olympic games in london. the iconic big ben in london rang for three minutes. it is the first time the bell chimed for so long since king george the vi in 1952. >> very good. it is a lovely morning and a good start to the olympic games. >> it was fun. had to get up very early. it was fun. i wish it had gone on longer. >> hundreds of people rang hand bells while others joined from they're bicycles. 300 joined in from a cruiser that served during world war

rescue team knew how hard it is for anyone to survive for long buried beneath the snow on one of europe's highest peaks. >> to the uk now where i just 15 days, the olympics will officially kick off in london -- in just 15 days. in recent days, it is the operation to carry out the security task which has raised concerns. the government in the u.k. has admitted that a private contractor may not be able to train enough security staff in time. gordon reports. >> in uniform, on duty, and at the games, the british military called on to fulfill a crucial security gap because a private contractor cannot deliver. >> g4s has let the country down, and we have literally had to send in the troops. >> when the government identified that the need was there, we acted to ensure that we covered that requirement so that we can ensure that we have the venue security and the general security for the games that we all want. >> the extent of the problem became clear in the last two weeks when venues like the aquatics center were locked down, meaning that anyone entering had to be checked ion. the company failed to deploy a staff to suppor

you've got near zero interest rates in the u.s., europe, uk and japan. and outside of the g4, you've so those three, four currencies will be used at various points as funders, and people will look for high yields and carry outside of the g4 over the months ahead. >> okay. let's move on. what's the view on the dollar, broadly speaking, as far as the dollar index is concerned for the rest of the year? it has sort of appreciated for the first part. what happens next? >> we think that the outlook becomes a s a little more challenging as we get into the second half of the year. we do have the discussion about qe3 in the united states. that's probably coming in september rather than august. then you move on to the election. and then you've got how the u.s. deals with its own fiscal problems. now, that might be a more challenging environment for the dollar in the second half of the year. it's going to be harder for the dollar to get significant upside. and again, we think that the focus should be away from euro/dollar and sterling/dollar and dollar/yen and to th

obviously the big concern has been europe, and we're doing very well in europe. the ukerday up over 5% same-store sales in the first half. we're seeing some weakness in dprooes but for the most part europe continues to hold strong for us and we'll take up 5.7 on our international business. >> patrick, we just had scott sperling from boston talking about bain and pizza and bain is still an investor in the company. >> they're actually out, about two months. >> they are completely? >> yes. >> your company has about 1.5 billion in debt and in part that was a function of a special dividend paid in 2007. how do you think about that? how much more complicated is it for you as a ceo to deal with the debt, was it the right decision to do that when it was made and that is the criticism people argue of private equity despite this being a tremendous success story. >> bain capital was a fabulous partner for us, a terrific relationship and the decision on our debt level is something that bain at some point controlled. we did a refinancing and upped our debt. the lack of business give

. >> developments here in the uk and across europe and across the world. >> okay.ticountry tour, i believe we have him back. peter alexander, are you here? >> reporter: yeah, we're having some technical difficulties maybe from all the celebrations going on in the background. check out this headline from the daily mail it reads who invited party pooper romney. mitt the twit. he's dialing this all back. again he was on the "today" show with nbc's matt lauer. take a listen to how mitt romney tried to characterize his new outlook on the games. >> i'm absolutely convinced that the people here are ready for the games and in just a few moments all the things politicians said will be swept away because the athle

the same question about europe. we talk often about the problems on the continent, also, some of the concerns about the uk. how are you guys holding up and are you worried about the situation that europe is in? >> well, i mean, i think you'll be foolish not to be worried but at the same time we have a very international business. we have a big business in the uk and trading in 32 countries. in terms of uk business, it's without question. our fashion business is holding up exceptionally well. i think as pete said our men's business is in double digit comp sales against last year so we're very pleased with that and we have got a position in the market that we have established ourselves as a fashion leader. we do have new merchandise virtually every week of the year and i think people today want to buy now, wear now who are interested in that merchandise. we have got that as our audience. >> pete, not just topshop and topman, i believe you have entered in to other strategic partnerships recently. for example, hope look, peak. what other partnerships might you be working on? can you tell us? >> well, it's never

the uk when i go to my hometown, half the shops are boarded up. here in london it's very different. do we see some of the trends elsewhere in europespecific to where the uk economy is working out during this recession? >> the polarization effect is evident in the uk. the london market is demonstrating very different dynamics from the rest of the uk. reflecting in part its position as a global financial center, also presently its attractions as a safe haven. and the fact that it's outside the euro is an additional attraction. london is special in our london context. london accounted for over 20% of all the commercial real estate investment purchases in the whole of the european markets. the other thing we're seeing in london that we don't see in other european markets is it's still a magnet for global. we have global investors from brazil to china focusing on london. >> what's your overview of real estate progress in the states as an investment class right now? >> well, i'm so glad you asked me that question. as i was listening to your guest, i wanted to ask him as well, in the united states what we're seeing right now is, we're se

. >> developments here in the uk and across europe and across the world. >> okay. nbc's peter alexander there live in london, following mitt romney as he's on his multicountry tour, i believe we have him back. peter alexander, are you here? >> reporter: yeah, we're having some technical difficulties maybe from all the celebrations going on in the background. check out this headline from the daily mail it reads who invited party pooper romney. mitt the twit. he's dialing this all back. again he was on the "today" show with nbc's matt lauer. take a listen to how mitt romney tried to characterize his new outlook on the games. >> i'm absolutely convinced that the people here are ready for the games and in just a few moments all the things politicians said will be swept away because the athletes finally take the stage, the games are about the athletes, virtually anywhere they have been they've been highly successful. >> reporter: that's the message mitt romney hopes the message comes across. he's on the defensive as he and his wife prepare to head to the opening ceremon

the news out of europe. important auctions out of spain and france and retail sales out of the uk. rap up the close here today. >> and still you have that disconnect in europe between the data, the crisis, the bond market and the equity market which actually -- it's actually doing quite well in europe. we're at a seven-week high back up to the may level because of earnings. let's look at the map as we count you out and i'll run you through some of the earnings. it is interesting that you still have bios of those stocks. >> the european markets are closing now. >> so back up to the may highs, we've now had seven straight weeks of gains, if we're able to complete that tomorrow. these are the companies moving us forward. some of those arguably defensive in many cases, arguably not in others. the largest paint maker in the world came out with results today. herm hermes, aware of their luxury goods. remy is selling more cognac. and electrolux has been able to raise prices here in the united states. if you just tuned in, let's not forget what happened with nokia today. obviously it is a v

the company. europe higher despite the uk. you have talked about three stocks. >> their profits were down.k inside the number. the average airlines talk about it. u.s. airways tripling the year-over-year profits. they took a $561 million charge because of fuel hedges. you x that out they did well. but you can't ignore it. take a look at the rest of the segment. all getting hit because of that well point guidance. >> obviously when the supreme court made its ruling, these stocks jumped clearly bad. >> leading over to a lot of over names. >> thanks, some traders are wondering if there is a little bit of interest rate die v-- we have seen a lot of press on this. how some of the programs may be tweaked a little bit. more leverage. that's the positive answer. you can see how interest rates move. but not to the same magnitude. and there in lies the interest. by about 30 basis points. the speed at which this correction has occurred is testify knitly meaningful for a variety of reasons. not the least of which is we assume that interest rates are going to remain low. maybe that is not true. third s

the largest two countries internationally are the uk in europe. but china, they're planning on a big growth there, expanding from ten to 100 stores by 2015. and they commented on their first-quarter call that the same-store sales in china were down. and they made some of that issue due to the potential cannibalization. with only ten stores, we thought that would be a problem and potentially hurt their growth opportunity there is. >> sam, it's josh brown. i'm curious. i'm looking at a stock that's basically down 51% over the last 12 months. yet has a lot of financial flexibility. no debt, more than $200 million in cash. is something that might be possible here some kind of, i don't know, buyback or institute of a dividend? what's at stake here for this company to let the stock continue to drop and will they act at a certain point for their shareholders? >> well, we know that people have been asking them potentially to step up their buybacks and so on. and that is a potential risk to my call. however, it doesn't fundamentally help the business. and i

central banks are recognizing the need to diversify away from europe. we're seeing that in the uk and australia, singapore, hong kong, some of the beneficiary countries are seeing that. and i think that over the next six months as we recognize that any solution, whether it's a breakup or full fiscal union will increase the cost to germany significantly that's going to become more clear. >> question from our guest host will. will? >> hi, josh. so you talk about money coming out of bunds. you're talking about a deterioration effectively in the credit outlook for germany. this is one of the same things we heard for the u.s. last year when we had the s&p downgrade, we had the debt ceiling negotiations. i can under there's concerns. clearly we're seeing money going into other markets. it's a large bond market. where else do you see the capacity to absorb the type of outflows you're talking about? >> first of all significant differences between the u.s. and germany. u.s. obviously has some fiscal difficulties ahead of it it is still the global reserve currency and isolated from the euro

the uk. that's the q3 channel check for europe.lle caruso-cabrera. >>> coming up, walmart turns 50. so up next, the impact it's had on the u.s. economy. >>> first, snapshot of how walmart and the other discount retailers are trading right now in this session, down just a little bit. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. [ male announcer ] introducing a powerful weapon in your fight against bugs. ortho home defense max. with a new continuous spray wand. and a fast acting formula. so you can kill bugs inside, and keep bugs out. guaranteed. ortho home defense max. zagat just gave hertz its top rating in 15 categories, including best overall car rental. so elevate your next car

but the europe is in recession and the uk is.etter three or four years than most other places. >> that says a lot about other places. paul dales, senior u.s. economist here onset this morning with us. thanks very much. >> thank you. >> coming up in a couple of moments, more on barclays ceo, bob diamond's resignation. is the heat moving to other big banks? stay tuned. we'll be right back. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating al

europe. >> ice cream is a big profit contributor. >> you've got ben & jerry's, a lot of brands which will not have done particularly well in the uk orcross europe over the last quarter. >> if you had one iced lolly, what would it have been? >> iced lolly? it's the phrase. i have not. >> exactly. i'm not surprised, right? the weather hasn't been particularly -- quickly, the car dealer -- >> a car retailer and distributor, quite unique business. simple story. it's very cheap. management are always very cautious. their core markets, australia, russia, uk, continue to see strong growth in new car registrations. you've got a business which has gone from net debt to very highly cashed yen. we're seeing good volume growth in the distribution business, especially within singapore, australia and markets like that. continues to be strong. i think it's a very cheap stock. >> okay. thanks for that. scott evens, no relation apparently, but you never know. >>> moving on, a u.s. judge has ordered jpmorgan to explain why it won't hand over several internal e-mails to the federal energy regulatory commission as part of its probe into energy market m

and the strains from europe causing pressure for the united states economy and let me get to the main story in the uk papers. this is about news corp. and two former editors of the paper being charged. andrew coulson, a former editor of "news of the world "and becky brooks, have been charged after an 18-minute criminal investigation. what's been interesting as to who might have been hacked and brad pitt and angelina jolie are now potentially on the list, which is interesting for u.s. authorities, who might be more interested in chasing an investigation if the hacking potentially happened on u.s. soil. let me send it back to you, willie. >> that story just keeps getting worse as they unravel it. karen tso in our cnbc bureau in london. sherman helmsly, best known for playing the wise-cracking george jefferson on "the jeffersons" died tuesday at his home in el paso, texas. he began his tv run as archie bunker's neighbor in "all in the family." hisharacter was so successful and so popular, helmsly and his tv wife isabelle sanford move up to the east side with their hit show "the jeffersons." >> that took

the same directives. but it's not a question of uk or continental europe. i think the whole financial activities were badly regulated and badly supervised and now we need to act and because the financial markets and financial activities are global activities, i think coordination is of the essence between the u.s. and the europe. and i think other europeans should adopt decisions together. >> we're joined by chris tinker, the founder at libra investment services. let's get straight do into this barclays and libor story. let's begin with the more general perspective on this. is the reputation of uk banking tarnished eternally by what we've heard in the past few days? >> i think one of the concerns observers in the square mile would have or do have is that this is reflecting issues that were going back to 2007, 2008. i think what's going to be interesting from bob diamond this morning is when he reflects on the fact that barclays itself was raising concerns that there were problems with the whole libor rate-setting system back in 2005, '06, '07 and they themse

. >> policy, economic outlook, and developments here in the uk and across europe and across the worldsions to be enlightening and instructive and have enjoyed the personal opportunity to come to know a number of the members of the leadership here in great britain. i can tell you that i also feel as americans do across our nation a special relationship with the nation of great britain and with the people here. obviously, our appreciation for the contribution of british soldiers and fighting side by side with those of the coalition and those from our nation in afghanistan and elsewhere over the last many years is something which is important to us and that we recognize as a contribution that has bettered the world. i'm also excited about the opening of the olympics. last night i had the occasion to watch a report on the olympic torch being carried across great britain, saw the response of tens of thousands, actually millions of people across great britain. the enthusiasm for the spirit of the olympics and the symbolism of a torch which represents hope and opportunity was heartening to m

have to be drawn to the valuations in europe and probably the safer way to get access to european equities is through markets like germany, switzerland and on a tertiary basis, the uk doing reasonably better than europe in the aggregate. and you're still going to get some lift should we see positive news become to emanate from the european community. >> we're already at your target for u.s. equities. does that mean we're going to float here? >> it's not a bad year. high single digits in a very bad year. if you look at the russell 300, even the russell 200 and the russell 1000, the u.s. has held up rather well compared to the rest of the world. but jumping off what mark said, this is going to need to be a globally diversified portfolio. we're at your u.s. market. you don't have a lot of options in government space. you need to look at corporate bonds globally, strategic bond funds. you need to look at equities. look at the u.s. as your base camp and build globally. where you see valuations get very attractive and where you have a good sense the fundamentals from a policy level aren't going to deteriorate a lot, you have some possibilities. >> the ten-year at 1.4 tod

europe was strong for you, spain. you don't see the decline some companies have talked about with weakness in europe. >> well, we do have good growth in places like germany, france, somehow ukere surprised with the decline of spain. as i i said before, at one point in time people need to get the treatment. treatment is what we offer. i'm happy to be in a business that has a portfolio that's so balanced that allows us to go through crisis in a more even way. >> i have been telling people that when the supreme court upheld obama care this is great for companies that sell into large hospitals. you have an entrenched base in large hospitals. were you thrilled that justice roberts sided with the democrats and said that this law should stand in this country? >> you know, jim, we are all for access of health care. so as the population in the u.s. grows and have access to health care it's a good thing for our people. it's a good thing for our company. so when we look at the advantage in a market where large hospitals and acos will be present, covidien offers a large portfolio of products that can be beneficial for the clinician, patient, hospital and covidien. >> it's so small it c

the same direction. and we have had comments coming out that italy may need to tap bailout funds from europe as well. and the ten-year gilt in uk1.57%. let's get a view of what's going on across asia. this is how the equity picture is shaping up. a bit of a mixed picture. declines in india. declines for south korean market, japan as well. we do have gains for shanghai composite of just around 0.5%. let's check in with tracey chanchang for the latest. >> mixed day in the market as concerns about chinese economy continue to weigh on sentiment. greater china markets dpped to turn around in positive trade. main land banks are lower from v.a.t. loans. and the shanghai composite climbed about 0.5% but turnover was very thin. nikkei slipped to two-week low as strong yen hurt exporters. the boj begins a two-day policy meeting today. some analysts expect the central bank to stand pat after releasing unexpectedly positive economic last week. kospi finished slightly lower as foreigners continue to unload local stocks for a third straight session. australian shares are flat after newest consumer confidence report showed more optimism about

as we head now into europe, it's going to be one more soggy day for you in southern parts of the uk. but the good news is by saturday, it should start to improve. not just with the rain moving away, but temperatures will rise into the low 20s. seeing some showers moving through central locations, the alpine region stretching towards the ukraine and southern poland and it will stay fairly unsettled towards much of the north and central portions of the continent. these temperatures struggling to get out of the teens, but towards the south, it is a completely different story. 35 in athens, as well as bucharest and 37 in madrid. here's your extended forecast. >>> that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani. thank you very much for watching. .

. >>> the close >>> the close in europe for the week, just about 14 seconds or so away up in the uk and expected u.s. jobs numbers here. some worries about the eu debt crisis taking -- there's a look at red, posting big losses, spanish yields above 7% a week after the eu summit. earlier yields on ten-year did rise above the psychologically 7% mark. euros one-week lows falling below 123 mark. we'll talk more about that and what's happening in the states as well. mary thompson on the floor at the exchange. good morning. >> good morning, carl. as european sessions close, hitting a session low. jobs data today was really the worst case scenario because it wasn't strong enough to get excited about and wasn't weak enough for the fed to take any action. the result the broad-based decline we're seeing today. it is dollar positive but negative for the euro as you pointed out, carl. also negative for commodities under pressure today. there you see the euro dropping below that 123 level. take a loot dow movers, broader mark, big story is the selloff we're seeing in tech along with the tech we're s

the uk at the same time? >> no. it happened in england at the same time. it happened on the continent of europe. it's a very common prescientific revolution kind of way of thinking. and i came to the conclusion, as a result of my book, that many of the small villages of new england had someone that they thought was a witch, that stories had built up over the years about this person, you know, mysterious happenings after someone had a quarrel with this person or something like that. and so one of the things we see happening in 1692 is bits and pieces of information being pulled together. if you look at the trial records, you'll see people come in and testify about things that happened five years earlier, ten years earlier, 20 years earlier. so you can see that suspicions in different areas built up, not just in salem village but throughout essex county, about particular individuals. so once that person is formally accused, then everybody comes in and says, yes, i've long thought this woman was a witch or this man was a witch. i've long known it and i'm so glad you're now bringing this person to j

now in europe, though, across the british isles, you're seeing heavy rainfall. especially in the southern portions of uk. any flights going in and out of london, check it out ahead of time. heavy rain, even thunderstorm activity flaring up here due to this frontal area. this is dropping down the temperatures as it continues to push off towards the east. london, well below average with a high only at 17. a little bit warmer ahead of those fronts, as we get over to vienna at 19. then the warsaw at 22. kiev at 26. now here's a look at your extended outlook. >>> we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us.

to me, one of the great political dangers looking out at europe and what austerity has done, even to countries which control their own federal bank like the ukis what a mitt romney and a republican party determined to slash spending in the face of a weak recovery, what that could mean for this country. it's clear putting aside our differences, that one of the grave needs is to put money in the pockets of people, consumers, how do you do that? joblessness may be the best way to -- job programs, to give people jobs, may be the best way to avertthe crisis. look at spain. >> how do you give people money without taking money? >> the right approach in my opinion is a bar bell one in which we're doing deficit reduction that is not taking place immediately -- >> that's what we need it right now. >> and investment up front to spur the economy. we can could do both. >> i think we mostly agree on that at least looking over a period of several years, you have to get your books in order, and it raises the most fundamental point and a point of pretty big disagreement between us about at what level should we balance the books. should it all be spending cut

the crime committed. same in europe. a lot of shootings. look at the norway case from last year. germany. other countries. the uk >> germany has an average 180, 190 -- >> multiple victim public shootings. >> the multiple occasions we're talking about are the rarity -- >> that's the reason we're here right now. >> rarity in any country. my point is this -- >> will you -- >> my point is this, what lessons do you learn from these multiple tragedies? i started the show when gabby giffords was shot. >> right. >> and i assumed that a congresswoman being blasted in the head would lead to some sort of new gun laws. i was wrong. i'm assuming now in america there is a wake-up call. when a young man is able to arm himself to the teeth, perfectly legally, and walk into a movie theater and start slaughtering fellow americans, something is fundamentally wrong with gun laws -- >> -- show where you talk most of the time? >> only when a guest is talking complete nonsense. >> i see. just respond to the junk science point. not only is my work published by academic presses and peer review journalings. if you look through the resear

look, this is not the high-profile trip that barack obama had when he came here in 2008 to the uk and to europe. they're not looking to recreate that phenomenon as they say they're here, as we've been discussing, to listen and to learn. >> jan crawford, thank you so much. with us now is political director, john dickerson. john, good morning. >> good morning, charlie. >> what can this trip do for mitt romney? >> well, first what it does for him is it allows him to go in front of people and look presidential. he wants -- even when he says he's not going to be critical of the president, that's being diplomatic on the foreign stage. showing that he can play the role in stage craft that a president needs to play. and then also he gets to visit the olympics, which allows him to talk about that very important part of his resume. one of the untouched parts of his resume that even the obama administration can't criticize. >> can we read into what romney has said in his speeches, the principal difference between his foreign policy and the president's foreign policy? >> not really. as he said, he's not go

. >> europe, obviously countries like the uk and others that have negative gdp that by very definition escalate some of the slowdown in france and germany? >> you know, i think they have problems inherent on themselves. i don't know hour problems will hurt them a whole lot. >> pretty much with their anxiety separate, i'm wondering if we're going to have a stereo effect here. >> could very well. a confidence issue, consumer sees things and back off. you know yourself when you go into a storm, you start backing off, slow down to see what's going to happen if you can get through the clouds. >> one final question, what's your prediction for the jobs number friday? >> i'll say 75,000. >> all right. you heard it from dan the man. he's a little lower than expectations but then again the last several numbers have been a little below expectations. carl, back to you. >> i think consensus is still 90. thanks so much, guys. when we come back, the bells about to sand across europe. all the action with michelle caruso-cabrera with details in the states after this. >>> after >>> after all the euphori

the real problem is europe is not growing. spain is in contraction. italy is not growing. germany's the only really economy. ukon europe. that's the question, because austerity is not bringing growth and then you look at what's going on and everybody says, how are you going to get out of this if you can't grow. maybe they keep pushing the ball down the road. ball down the road. you know what i mean. >> mike. >> i'm tired of these analogies. >> here in this country, sandy weill, former head of citi, architect really for all these big banks the other day said maybe it's time to go before a time before glass steegle commercial loans and investment banks has that had any ripple effect on wall street. >> it got a lot of coverage, i know that. it's unclear whether it will have impact beyond that. a lot of things have tape taken place after the financial crisis in the form of dodd/frank and new capital rules forcing banks to have more capital on their books than recently, not taking nearly as much risk. whether we would go back to cleaving banking from investment banking it's not clear that's where the road is right

the uk. in poland, i think the focus there is romney's tough line towards russia. as you know, central europe and certainly poland share romney's wariness towards moscow. i think romney being there and talking about those kinds of issues could put him more in line with countries like poland and also, i would point out, president obama has not spoken in poland. he's been there but hasn't spoken unlike the past two presidents. on germany, the chance to visit with chancellor merkel who is sort of the leader of the eu effectively now, then lastly, israel, a chance for governor romney to show his support for the jewish state, helps him politically back home. you can sort of tick off every one of these countries, there is some political benefit for him being there. of course, just more broadly as kevin mentioned, the hope in the romney campaign is to show him as more of a statesman, someone who is above the nitty-gritty, the daily fray, someone they can actually see as being commander in chief. >> of course, poland also reaches to the large numbers of polish-americans. that's a big constituency in

our business is concentrated in the uk and ireland, and france, and coming stronger. i think as a result, our overall performance in europe has been pretty darn good. >> susie: it looks like a repeat of m.f. global, but this time, the fraud appears to be smaller. more than $200 million in client money is missing from p.f.g. best, the futures brokerage firm. federal regulators today sued the firm and its chairman russ wasendorf, sr., for misappropriating client funds and submitting phony bank records for at least the past two years. the national futures association froze p.f.g.'s accounts late yesterday, after the company reported wasendorf had attempted suicide. he remains in critical condition. we spoke with wasendorf back in november as the futures industry was grappling with the m.f. global debacle. >> f.c.m.s are required to keep their customer funds segregated from their operating capitol. that's religion in the f.c.m. world. we don't ever violate that. >> susie: also today, p.f.g. best's clearing agent, jefferies group, unloaded positions held by p.f.g. customers after the firm failed to meet a margin call. jefferie