eurozone's finance ministers say a 130 billion euro bailout for greece is close. over 12 hours of tense talks, international leaders say the bailout talks guarantee that greece will reduce its crippling deficit. >> we'll have the latest from asia and how market traders will react to the latest development. and we're live in brussels where they are expected to outline how the multibillion euro deal will be structured for private and public lenders. it is 12:00 in the afternoon in singapore. >> it is 4:00 in the morning in london. broadcasting to america and around the world. welcome to "newsday." >> a warm welcome to you. we bring you the latest news. reports from brussels say eurozone finance ministered have reached an agreement. the deal came after talks that went late into the night lasting almost 12 hours are said to be worth 130 billion euros. in return, greece will undertake to reduce its debts to no more than 121% of its g.d.p. this is scene live we have been watching for the last few hours or so. we are expecting the eurozone finance ministers to gather and

first of all, the eurozone has already failed. the eurozone was established as a bastian of stability of prosperity on the world. it was designed to further cement the european union and to build a larger, more powerful economy, that this has not worked. as you said a moment ago, fiscal mismanagement lies at the heart of their problems and i completely agree. they're trying to solve fiscal problems through, i think you might call it, monetary solutions. i might call it monetary innovations, a less positive word. i don't think this is going to end well. for them or for us. and with regard to your question about the new agreements, the latest rounds of agreements, senator conrad, i think this is very small steps in the right direction, but very small steps relative to the problems and relative to what they need to do. so i think we should encourage them to do more. but it's not just a fiscal problem, it's a fiscal problem on top of a competitiveness problem, on top of an unsustainable balanced trade, and, of course, on top of debt l

and that now means holding the eurozone together. that has become, for all practical purposes, the definition of europe. they know europe is wrapped up in sustaining the euro and they will do it. there are two simple reasons for that. one reason is the ghastly history of europe. remember why they created the european union in the first place, to overcome the previous millennium of slaughter in y, t first half of the last century. i happened to visie holocaust museum again.s yoplen why the europeans have pulled together to avoid letting europe, again, explode into kind of holocaundthey experienced. so they're going to hold europe together. in addition to that, they have an overwhelming economic interest. germany, which is the pivotal country, has a nirvana economic situation in europe, in the eurogesturplus trading country and it bases it's whole economy on an export-led growth model. in the old days, when they had their own deutsche mark, it was rise and they would choke off competitors and fight. now, the germans have the world's la

greece outside of eurozone.y're saying we're prepared to let greece have a disorderly default. they say the few remaining issues will be clarified. it got canceled. there's going be instead a conference call at 4:00 london time, 5:00 c.e.t. mervin king is saying we can't fully prepare for unforeseeable consequences, and the greek finance minister saying we're playing with fire by making those suggestions. it's still as clear as mud, jackie. >> very, very interesting, and, of course, all eyes are going to be be on that call to see how the situation turns out. stay tuned. andrew sorkin is going to be introducing former treasury secretary hank paulson. is the risk worth it? find out more next. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. >>> good morning and welcome back to wor"worldwide exchange." it's all meant that they have fallen out of favor with

. >>> eurozone countries are expected to postpone a decision on additional financial aid for greece. the nation hasn't met some of the requirements for a bailout. juncker said the meeting scheduled for wednesday is cancelled. a teleconference will be held instead. he said although they approved austerity measures, the governing parties haven't handed in written pledges to implement them. he also noted the greek government has still not presented the details on this year's spending cuts. eurozone members will finalize the greek bailout plan at a meeting to be held next monday at the earliest. greece could default on its debts, unless it receives additional aid by march 20th when the country is due to repay a huge volume of government bonds. but tough conditions imposed by other eurozone members are generating frustration among the greeks. >>> in u.s., retail sales are up by a little. january saw an increase, but the pace of growth has again fallen short of expectations. the u.s. department of commerce said on tuesday that retailers posted combined sales of slightly above $400 billion

ministers met in mexico city they didn't come up with really any new a internationally to stem the eurozone crisis or to throw out it more pressure was put on germany to increase the fire wall and germany took that pressure went to parliament today and didn't do anything about that but they did vote to go ahead with greeks greece's bailout package but do you have greek bailout burnout because that's what we think you may be suffering from so why don't we take a look at just how hard hit some other western economies have been take a look at this chart this shows what year it is in economic terms in all of these countries how far back they've basically reverted economically looking at factors such as g.d.p. consumption stock markets housing prices unemployment now you can see there greece tops the list so i guess there's no avoiding it but look at that the united states is number three and ireland which we're going to talk about with our guest today is six on the list and worse shape than spain and italy which gets a lot more crisis headlines now speaking of arlin the international monetary f

eurozone finance ministers are meeting in brussels to work out the details of the second bailout packageor greece. >> after a heated debate, german political leaders threw their support behind jaochim gauck for president. >> and back on track, a victory in bundesliga action. ♪ >> eurozone finance ministers are back in brussels at this hour hammering out the terms of new loans for greece and possible contributions by central banks. the possibility of higher writedowns and a debt swap is also on the table. >> athens needs cash to pay bills and avoid default. the word from brussels is that there is confidence a deal will be reached, but some issues still need to be worked out. >> arriving for the talks, the greek finance minister expressed confidence a deal would be reached to secure greece's future in the eurozone. the president of the eurozone agreed. >> agrees has fulfilled many of the demands we made of it. in my opinion, we really have to get moving. there is no time to lose. >> but there were some unanswered questions. greece cannot afford to service its national debt at current level

we're looking at the eurozone figures, whether or not the eurozone as a whole is contracting, and the answer is -- >> i don't know because of the figures. >> the answer is hanging in the air. >> the answer is hanging in the air. >> i've just been told, .3% contract for the eurozone. >> right, they have literally come through just now. but yes, it really appears to tally with what was coming through individually, because a number of countries started posting their g.d.p. numbers during the morning. it really speaks for itself. that's the figure for the eurozone area, but if you look, for example, at the likes of italy, they are now officially in recession. they saw a decline of .7% and also sharing that number with the netherlands. interestingly enough, there was a comment from the dutch authorities, and in their case, they actually attributed partly to a hit on consumption, but really, stemming from a drop in residential property prices. but again, no real surprises there. the other interesting thing was germany. everybody is saying, well, this is very bad news, because germany is eur

the plans failed to impress eurozone finance ministers. the eu has rejected on economic reforms saying athens must do more to cut spending. speaking at the end of the meeting in brussels euro group president jean-claude juncker outlined the steps greece must take to secure a new bailout package. >> firstly, the greek parliament should improve on something, the policy package agreed between greece and the try at that. secondly, expenditure reductions of 325 million in 2012 should be identified in order to ensure that the deficit target is achieved. >> well, those comments come as greece faces another wave of protests against austerity measures. up yons have called a 48-hour nationwide general strike that starts today. the greek finance minister venizelos says painful choices must be made now. >> translator: our choice is one of humiliation for a proud country, or even greater humiliation it will face if we act under the illusion of saving face with decisions that will have a much greater social cost. silvia wadhwa has more details. it looks

perhaps they want greece out of the eurozone. >> translator: the eurozone crisis has given rise to too much resentment, has created too many stereotypes, has split europeans down the middle, has split us up into central european states and the outer most states. we need to decisively say no to any such distinctions. >> monti's plea could be too little too late here. the threat of a disorderly default here is no longer such a peril for greece's neighbors. take a look. it's been three years since the start of the eurozone debt crisis in greece. as such, many would have thought by now a lasting and credible solution would have been found. after a bailout and a second on the cards, greece remains the thorn in the eurozone's side. the country could be one month away from defaulting on its debts and in the balance hangs a $170 billion aid package. as such, many are now saying this could be the start of a new phase of isolation for greece. the eurozone's bond markets were once hypersensitive to the events in greece. in november, yields across the continent soared. italian ten-year bonds surpa

tomorrow, you have the eurozone finance ministers meeting. jonathan though? >> finance ministers are meeting tomorrow discussing greece in will they approve the bailout? i could see this as a nudge. this is also good time for publicity for moody's, of course. i think we will see approval by the european finance ministers. whether it is related to today's news or not, i do not know, but i still think they have to make the move. >> timing is everything. it's worth noting that there are some italian bond auctions to be taking place against the backdrop of that damage. >> how about european leaders in china? >> europe is a very important market. remember, 40% of china's gdp arises from exports, goods, and services. china is also one of the largest reserves of currencies. they need to have this whole situation stabilized. nobody wants to hold the money. the chun expert believes that if china lends this money, -- the chinese expert believes that if china loses money, they will do it through the imf, basically so they will get repaid. >> it's an uncertain structure

economy if we get to insulate we get to one of the biggest countries in the eurozone and in the european union and i don't think then we can print or invent another money to buy out italy italy is where this will end all right we have to leave it there nigel farage m.e.p. leader of the u.k. independence party thanks for your insight. take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe beginning in honduras a disaster at least three hundred prisoners killed by a fire sweeping through a jail tuesday night they were either burned or suffocated to death some inmates managed to escape breaking through the roof jumping out from the building an electrical fault is thought to have caused the blaze. in turkey police use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a group of fifty people tossing molotov cocktails in the streets in the city of they're demanding the release of abdulla who is the founder of the outlawed kurdistan workers' party or p.k. k. who's facing the death penalty turkey the e.u. and the us regard the p.k. k. as a terrorist group two turkish soldiers and sixteen

china meanwhile has promised to help resolve the eurozone debt crisis but it's made no specific promise to invest in the european bailout fund meanwhile chinese vice president xi jinping is in the u.s. to meet with top officials there in an effort to smooth out their differences r.t.s. trade policy consultant david dodd well what he thought those differences work. an emerging power emerging economy that's emerging much quicker than people expected. and. frustrations that. among those that have much greater power and seeing that diminished through the recession. feeling stressed to the right is the rapid rise of china those three main focus of the. stress points is the simple fact that china is emerging as quickly as it is but this rise comes in the middle of the various recession that we've seen in seventy years. that has has led to a real schizophrenia where the trying to should be regarded as a rival usurping power that used to be sitting elsewhere or whether it's an indispensable ally that can help to bail lots of struggling companies out of countries out as international pressure on

. >> these are the headlines -- a grim warning for greece, eurozone leaders say their latest austerity plan may not be enough to guarantee another bailout. a sixth day of lombard and -- of bombardment in syria. >> china's secret crackdown, security forces try to stifle a new wave of protests by tibetan campaigners. haul,'s record drug seizing it 15 tons of methamphetamine worth about $4 billion. >> broadcasting to viewers on pbs in america and around the world, this is "newsday." >>> well, again. eurozone finance ministers meet in brussels, sang more work is needed before they can give greece another 130 billion euros in bailout funds. after weeks of negotiations, greek political leaders finally accepted a new austerity plan, demanded by the european union and the international monetary fund that requires ferocious spending cuts and tens of thousands of more job losses. european ministers say they want more evidence it will be implemented. we have this report from athens. >> relief among politicians a deal is done, but on the streets, the protests have begun. thousands have turned out

it feels that greece should actually get out of the eurozone.uppose the parallel would be a certain popular sentiment in greece, which is very anti- german. but the main political party, all of them in germany, main political parties, omelet -- all believe there's no reason alternative. even if there was an election tomorrow, the alternative for the voter who is not satisfied with the idea of angela merkel's policies of transferring money to greece would not have an alternate. >> thank you very much for that. >> the european central bank has temporarily stopped accepting greek government bonds as collateral. the bank says its decision was in response to the latest s&p downgrade of grease's credit rating. the agency declared greece to be in a selective defiled after banks agreed to write down their holdings of greek debt. lawmakers in athens are meeting later today to vote on the latest package of cuts. for more, let's bring in our markets correspondent, standing by on the for the frankfurt stock exchange. dorothy, everyone is worried that this d

but i don't think there will be any widespread defedex there is the eurozone. in fact, as i'll indicate, i think europe will come out of the crisis stronger and over time, will restore its position as a key player in the world economy. why do i say that? three reasons. i've watched the evolution of the whole european integration project for the last 50 years. they've faced a series of crisis. frequently existential crisis to threaten the existence of you're ron and they come out every time stronger and moved on forward and better. if you look at current crisis and every time it has reached a tipping point, where there was much commentary, it's going to collapse if they don't shape up, every time that's happened they have done enough to avoid the apocalypse. they aif kept going forward and built new institutions. they built a firewall. avoided financial disaster and i think that will continue. for a very simple reason. the overwomening imperative in all european countries to hold the european union together and that now means holding the eurozone together. that

plus, the next ltro help the eurozone out of the crisis? we'll discuss liquidity and european banks from 12:35 cet.

greece will not go bankrupt or exit the eurozone. >> the deal is intended to draw a line on the months of violent protests. a time when a greek prime mr. was forced to stand down. increased hostility towards germany for insisting on more austerity. a time when greece's economy collapsed. the european leaders hope that the rest you can be built on. >> greece has made its choice and we have to focus on the next step which is constructing a fire wall which is large enough to prevent contagion within the eurozone. >> on the streets of athens today, protests against the austerity measures that are a condition of the bailout. and dirt that greece must accept permanent monitors to ensure that it implements spending cuts. the move was resentful and anxious. >> i am relieved we are still in the eurozone but i think that life will get much worse here. >> the people will be even worse off after last year. these will deepen our recession. >> families know that more austerity is coming in exchange for the new bailout. this man is a bus driver and his wages have already been cut by 400 euros a month

he has been keeping a close eye on the details are emerging from the eurozone meeting. it became very clear that there is now a distinct lack of trust among eurozone ministers that greece can actually live up to the promises it makes. they looked into some of the details of the plant which those leaders had reluctantly signed up to and they decided that not enough had been done. the chairmen of the meeting set three more conditions which he said that greece has to meet by next wednesday when the ministers will meet again. >> the greek parliament should approve the policy package agreed between greece and -- approved the policy package agreed by greece. we should ensure that the deficit target is achieved. we will need to obtain a strong political assurances from the leaders of the coalition parties on the implementation of the program. >> that means that they want those parties to continue to sign up to the details after any election in greece. it also means that the european union, the european commission in particular, will strike a much more robust monitor of what is

before dawn, eurozone negotiators hammered out a new deal for a greek bailout.here are still some cuts ahead. >> for two years, greece has been the epicenter of the eurozone crisis. now, after months of bitter argument, the country has been granted the biggest bailout in history. the threat of bankruptcy has been lifted and europe can breathe a sigh of relief. >> greece has made this choice and we have to focus on the next step which is constructing a fire wall which is large enough to prevent contagion within the eurozone. >> for 12 hours, ministers and officials argued over how to reduce the debt mountain and how to prevent the country defaulting and threatening the european economy. risks remain. >> there are downside risks. this is clear. this is not an easy program. this is very ambitious. >> the deal is aimed at reducing the debt. private investors have agreed to take big losses, 107 billion euros. the hope is that by 2020, the debt will be down to 120% of gdp. the deal is intended to draw a line on the months of violent protests. a time when a greek by mi

otherwise the eurozone was in crisis. it could be the end of the eurozone.e get the deal and yet the skepticism continues. this is what -- just ignore that, we'll try to get rid of that, if we can. there we go. that wasn't supposed to happen. i hope you saw the numbers. i can't remember what they were. technology, got to love that. basically, as you saw, the nikkei was down. the rest of narkts sort of up a little bit. not a lot of conviction in the rallies here in asia this day. >> okay. the numbers are there in another format. let's move on. the former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn demanded police question him about a suspected prostitution ring. now he's getting exactly what he wanted. we'll have the latest on a case putting strauss-kahn right back into the spotlight. how is the year row responding to that bailout deal for greece. we have all of that ahead on "world business today." >>> i want to remind you of the big story of the day, the $173 billion bailout deal to deep greece in the eurozone. finance ministers burned the midnight hour before reachin

and unemployment in the eurozone. the rate of the balance of the single currency topping ten percent just today so e.u. leaders pledged over a two billion euros to great jobs had at the summit of twenty. alone welcome to our. main story now your own security council members amazing on a new draft resolution on syria have almost unanimously stated military intervention is not an option and called for dialogue between the opposition and the assad regime russia which has offered to host peace talks has warned against using the international body to intervene in the country's domestic affairs well she's merino port not small. the united states france britain could tar and all all those countries supporting this draft resolution said that there would be no military intervention in closed in syria if the draft resolution was adopted but the most important thing to note is that those spearheading the push for this draft resolution are also calling for a ceasefire in syria and also calling for a national dialogue between the

one reason for this is the very generous and uninventive monetary policy in the eurozone.he ecb keeps the interest rates low, and it lands lots of money at very generous conditions to the market participants. this is also the reason why the demand for a sovereign debt remains relatively solid in the eurozone. italy, spain, belgium, and greece managed to tap the markets for fresh money by issuing new government bonds or bills. >> we got him after all. let's have a look of some of the market numbers. the dax in germany ended the day slightly down, 6720. euro stoxx 50 was pretty flat, 2488. across the atlantic, the dow is currently trading about 4% down. the euro is a little bit lower, 0 $1.317. >> merrill sleep continues her sweep through awards season, picking up an honorary golden bear at the berlin film festival -- meryl streep. it is for work in more than 40 movies. she is in berlin to present the "the iron lady," a biopic about margaret thatcher. 62-year-old meryl streep has garnered a golden globe and an oscar nomination for her role in the movie already. >> she must l

first of all, and the eurozone.ortant to recognize that for elected politicians to achieve what has already been achieved, it has been a real act of courage to pull national resources into a common fund to help other countries. it is controversial. to undertake austerity measures usually get to pick out of office unless you manage it correctly. to undertake difficult structural reforms of labor market is very controversial. a lot of these things have happened over the last 80 months with the eurozone. i think we should credit that. i think more needs to be done. i think the eurozone understands that. i think it needs to happen in the next few weeks. the two things i would focus on is the creation of this fire wall. there has been much talked about. i think it is a key to unlocking further confidence. the second thing which i am not sure that has been mentioned is greece. we are still talking about greece again. i think it is a sign that this problem that has not been dealt with. there is the inability to deal with s

and it's important that i believe this improved governance of the eurozone is almost there, and the eurozone crisis is almost overcome, i believe. this will help us dispose of these stereotypes, and of these resentments which are so harmful to the true objective of european integration, that is to have europeans work more productively, and harmoniously together. >> mr. prime minister, we thank you for your time today. and congratulations on inspiring confidence in italy. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. great pleasure. >> prime minister mario monti joining us for this exclusive. we'll take a break, and two top economists will give us their reaction to the comments by the italian prime minister. stay with "closing bell." stay with "closing bell." we'll be right back. >>> welcome back. bob pisani down on the floor of the new york stock exchange. it was a rather bullish close. i know it was down all throughout the day. the dow jones industrial average, moving down 145 points, just after 3:00 eastern time. but we rallied a good 50 or 60 points going into the close. bottom line i

you can't have within the eurozone the largest economy running internal balance of payments surplus then all the small countries suffer actually ironically the best reporting on this and the best analysis has come from the u.k. newspaper the financial times but it's very clear what's going on the germans cannot keep running current account surplus this at the expense of the greeks and in the long run it's going to be the germans versus the portuguese or the germans versus the italians but those imbalances have to be corrected and it is not going to be corrected by punishing greece or not punishing greece if it really has to do with the internal structures of the eurozone and finally briefly because we're running out of time the finance minister of luxembourg said greece will have to leave the euro zone if it fails to meet its obligations greece though is hardly alone in these problems we have news just today from portugal's a double write up or a session do you think this is another sign of that north south divide in europe. oh absolutely and the italians are in line too and it's no

the eurozone prevents that.s a single exchange rate that is set by the dominant economy is germany and france, which are -- economies, germany and france. it meant that greece had fewer alternatives to become more effective. it may germany the most effective exporter. they did not have to compete against a greek producers because they were not nearly as productive. they try to compete with germany by reducing the exchange rate. to a certain extent, germany had more to pay as part of the price, in one way or another bailing out the less productive economies of the eurozone. that is because they benefited for 20 years from a market in which those companies could not compete effectively. host: this is jason from twitter -- let's talk about greece. this story is from "the washington post," today. "a fed up greece public is questioning the strings attached to the aid." we have seen riots in greece, people losing their pensions. austerity measures are not going over well there. guest: for a very good reason. if you im

the crisis in the eurozone is top of angela merkel agenda as she visits china. the german chancellor is trying to raise support for the single currency. in a joint press conference, the chinese premier, wen jiabao, said the chinese were considering putting money into the rescue fund. china certainly has plenty of cash to spend. then let angela merkel was hoping for a firm commitment, it looks like she will be heading home disappointed, but china's leader did raise hopes by saying he will consider contributing money to the eurozone's rescue funds. "china will continue to support the euro and contribute to its stability. we have faith in europe's economy and in the euro. we believe the your will continue to be an important currency in the future -- we believe the euro will continue to be an important currency in the future." while merkel did not directly ask for support of china, she explained how reforms would help the spoke remind on beijing pose a tight clamp on internet freedom. >> we are of the opinion that beijing's reactions are very harsh. i will repeat ti

or the eurozone. those countries have to anger in the medium term what they're going to do about this deficit in the past few years and how they're going to turn around the debt project. emerging market economies and those that your in a surplus situation, but they have to continue what they have began to do, it to read concentrate on the internal markets and the domestic consumption rather than rely too exclusively on exports and investment. it could apply to advanced economies. that is pretty much what can be done by the eurozone in particular, by the rest of the world. in the interest of been brief and to the point, i have decided to be a little in lipstick. the imf is one of the tools to act as an actor gauger of trust and a proper gauger of -- or of trust and of supplement some of the situation is not in the arizona but in any -- eurozone, but in any country in the imf. in other countries including middle income countries, and there will be needs, a short term for some and longer-term for others.

there's a lot of concerns about china potentially controlling the eurozone if it does help out. what's likely to be the outcome of these talks? any talk about that? >> well, there has been some talk about that, in fact there was another chinese paper which does try to deflect some of the concern about the chinese coming in and controlling europe per se. but in terms of the outcome of this, of this discussion, it's very difficult to say what the outcome would be. however, there were recent comments from the head of the chinese sovereign wealth fund that did seem to shed some light. the chairman of the cic, which is the china investment corporation, which manages about $400 billion, was at a forum recently and said that these types of investments would be very difficult for long-term investors to get into. he said that angela merkel had approached the sovereign wealth fund as well as other long-term investors suggesting they should buy in to european government bonds. he said that wasn't necessarily a good investment for them. there was also another central bank adviser who was at

first up on monday, eurozone finance ministers are getting together in brussels again. they'll consider the austerity package greece prepared to receive eu and imf bailout funds. on wednesday, existing u.s. home sales for january will be out. sales in december rose for a third consecutive month, and new u.s. home sales numbers will be out on friday. these housing data will give us a better idea how the struggling u.s. housing market is doing. finally on saturday, a two day g20 finance ministers' meeting in mexico city. they are set to discuss among other things how the imf can boost lending capacity. >>> let's look at market figures again. >>> that's the latest in business. >>> more than 6,000 residents from fukushima prefecture had to evacuate. he expressed resolve to overcome the hardship. the premier spoke to 400 people. >> translator: it is painful to see no lights on in our village homes at night. he explained up until the disaster, residents had worked hard to preserve the environment. he said people value friendships over economic efficiency. >> translator: after

it is not possible that the money will solve the problems in the eurozone.uccumbing to the market numbers now, this was a positive sign for the markets. the dax is up almost 0.5%. the euro stoxx 50, as well. but the euro is under pressure after this injection from the ecb. back to you. >> thank you. the german labor market continues to show signs of strength, even in the face of the eurozone debt crisis. the number of people out of work in february remains at very low levels. that is even despite some seasonal factors. >> during february, very cold temperatures slowed or stalled construction projects, like here in berlin. most materials became unworkable during the deep freeze. this meant less work for bricklayers and carpenters. the cold helped drive the unemployment rate up by 26,000 jobs to just about 3.1 million. but germany still has 200,000 fewer people lot over compared to a year ago. >> the job market in february was robust. demand slackened a bit, but it is still high. >> the federal labour office says it sees no reason to worry about a worsening jo

goods worth 421 billion euros were exported to eurozone nations.xports to other countries rose strongly, up 13% from the year before. imports also showed record highs. germany imported more than 9 billion euros last year. however, toward the end of 2011, germany's exports lost steam as the european debt crisis began to lose by. the result was a dip in both imports and exports. many financial experts say that could mark the beginning of the end of germany's two-year export boom. >> our man at the frankfurt stock exchange is here with a rack above the day's trading action. >> it was a reassuring message coming from the exports. the export engine of germany still on the go, even if it was a little bit weaker in the month of december. it was a disappointment, but when you speak to the traders, it was not a real surprise there because they do see that 2/3 of germany's exports go to the european union, and, of course, many countries there are having trouble with austerity programs. share prices for much of the session on the way up because of optimism ov

is it likely to offset any weakness coming from the eurozone? >> the rally in dollar/yen i suspect, yeah -- i would favor the rally now. uncertainty is not really helping dollar yen at the moment. i would like to highlight the rally was a reflection of the widening of the dollar/yen rate differential on the back of the surprise qe by the boj most recently but also, certainly, by the, i would say, the realization that, indeed, bernanke's stance most recently during the meeting may have been a bit overdone. that is the u.s. data despite the latest is pretty good. the resilience is very much out there. the widening rate differential between dollar and yen was reflecting the pickup into u.s. yields or the u.s. yields as a whole. uncertainty about europe could weigh on the global economy and the u.s. economy as a whole could make more easing from the fed actually likelier. from that point of view the prospect for further upside in the two-year u.s. yields may be limited. the further widening, the two-year dollar/yen may be limited and, as i said, our

yes i believe there's a psychological factor there but it's such a small part of the eurozone merkel's counterpart gearhart sure you know the socialist was voted out by her and said stead of austerity they should be giving them more aid to help them rebuild their economy i mean i'm not even everyone in germany agrees with shortly what i believe is running the economy what about the political implications very briefly germany's finance minister has proposed that greece to perspire on its elections as a condition for more cash i mean do you think greece is in danger of losing its sovereignty and the greek people sacrificing so much in order to stay in the eurozone just briefly they don't have to forfeit their sovereignty they do not have to postpone the elections they just have to demand or require that a plan be set up to rebuild their economy to create what we call aggregate demand it's not there right now because they're laying off people and that's a shrinking their economy all crew just said it this morning the new york times austerity without a plan for rebuilding it is that is wha

eurozone members will finalize the plan at a meeting next wepz at the earliest. greece could default on its debts unless it receives aid by march toth, when the country is due to repay a huge volume of government bonds. toug posed by other eurozone members are generating frustration among the greeks. >>> in the u.s., retail sales are up by just a little. january saw an increase, but the pace of growth has begun falling short of expectations. retailers posted combined sales of slightly above $400 billion last month. that's up .4% from december. it's still only half the growth rate predicted by observers. by category, key apartmedepartm and volume retailers saw a rise of 2%, restaurants 1.3% and electronic stores half a per stent. sales of cars and auto cars fell by 1.1%. focus is on whether the improved sale figures suggest an upturn in consumer spending which is a key economic driver for the u.s. >>> tokyo stocks are extending their gains this wednesday morning. the nikkei is currently up by over 90 points. a gain of 1% at 9,144. the broader topix also trading hi

no letup in the euro crisis as the eurozone chief says are going to sure and says are still awaiting from greek mr leaders and all the head to implementing the stereotype are glad to return from vital one hundred fed to be named europe a allowed to save the country from the fall. and north make nation over who ran as russia's new attributing the west to mind decide on a strike against the country and still some dishonest intervenes and is a sure bet he's got the state was behind monday's bomb attacks targeting us and this is a need in georgia and not from bangkok on trees day. as the headlines aussies capital account was lower this days next. good afternoon and welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. here are your headlines for tuesday february fourteenth the two biggest economies sat down to the table and missed an ongoing trade rift i'm talking about china's v.p. who is also next in line to president is in washington meeting with u.s. president barack obama at the white house as they do the diplomatic dance we've recently heard tough talk towards china