this behind me is a graph of hsbc's asian business index. the bank says it's a composite of regional pmis and surveys. it turns out the index had the same reading for 2008 and 2011 at just over 50. the big question moving ahead, where do we go from here? a further fall like in 2008 or a dip and then maybe a recovery back into 2012. hsbc says it is pretty optimistic the fourth quarter might not be as bad as three years ago. that's because of this chart right here. this bar chart shows how several countries have become less reliant on the west for their exports. that includes these, asia es first, second, and third biggest economies. china turns out theirs fell 5% between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2011. japan fell 2%. india's export dependence fell 1%. but on the flip side over here on the right, hong kong's reliance on exports grew by 11%. that number includes all the cargo that actually passes through the ports here. so it's actually a little bit of a difference there. now this south korea is asia's fifth largest e

hsbc doing slightly better. but still in the red like a number of other uk banks.ot too much to cheer about these uk banks as their price suffers as well. there's a specific reason for that. it's thanks to industry regulations that have been laid out set out by vickers in the united kingdom. the changes mean that the lenders are actually to foot an annual bill of 9.5 billion today's reinforce their operations from investment banking activities that move is aimed at providing a more secure foundation for british banks after some of their weaknesses were exposed by the financial crisis. even though the changes will be costing the banks money, they have plenty of time to comply with them until 2019 which is actually a bit more forgiving a deadline that many expected when this vickers report was originally commissioned. andrew? >> we're talking about 2015, weren't they? an extra four years to get the uk banking house in order. banks are very much front and center in this part of the world as well is another big sell-off in asia, really following the markets from friday

looking ahead, hsbc says we shouldn't see price hikes as high as we did in 2008.when rice actually hit $1,000 per metric ton. that was in april of 2008. but right now we're seeing prices at about $570 per ton right here in august. this is at a 17-month high, though, according to the indexes. and as i said before, this is expected to rise. >> yeah, that spike, i think that tells the whole story. thank you so much. >>> up next, it's something all of us strive for, a better work/life balance. so how much more difficult is it when you're actually in charge of the company? we'll catch up with the ceo of mywardrobe.com and take a look at how some top bosses juggle their work and personal lives. >>> let's take another look at the price of gold. session rising some $8 or so. up about 0.2% on the session. a warm welcome back. we're live from cnn hong kong and london. this is "world business today." >>> now, being the boss has its perks. you can choose your own direction without anyone else telling you with a to do. but it also has its challenges. and that's especially true

european banks say the industry needs to shed about 270,000 positions, aside from the likes of rbs, hsbc already announced it will be cutting about 30,000 positions by the year 2013 when it comes to barclays and other uk lenders, it will be losing some 3,000 workers. >>> and cnn's sources also say ubs is headed for a major shake-up after a lone trader allegedly ran up a multibillion dollar loss. insiders tell us this may be the catalyst for a sweeping overhaul at the swiss bank. that could include carving its investment and private banking businesses in two. all of this comes after derivatives trader was arrested in the uk on thursday. reuters and other british outlets identify him as kweku abodoli. his last message on facebook reads, need a miracle. that account has since been removed from the site. to give you an idea of the amount of money here, ubs says it could put it in the red next quarter. it will also cancel out any savings that the bank hoped to make from the 3,500 job cuts made last month. nina? >> manisha, very unpopular times for investment banking. one former board member o

hsbc was down.losses down across the region because of what was going on with the exporters and big resources companies. not surprising there given the exporters rely on key markets in the u.s. and europe. that is how the numbers ended up. the nikkei is down 1.8%. sony off by 4%. hong kong down by 3%. cnk is down 8% of the close after closing a production rig because of leaks. that dragged the broader market down. speaking of resources, in australia, the biggest mining house in the world is down substantially by 2%. that dragged the broader s&p down as well. all in all, a gloomy day here, charles. >> the u.s. futures, for what it's worth, hardly encouraging. it was worth noting the u.s. markets are closed for the labor day holiday today. we are looking at losses. clearly moderate ones after friday, andrew. >>> let's take a look at the other business stories making headlines today. israel's prime minister is promising to act quickly to ease the cost of living. hundreds of thousands of people filled t

hsbc gaining 1.3%. they did incur some heavy losses yesterday after the head of the world's biggest bond fund said he was particularly concerned about french banks and the possibility that they may drag the eurozone into recession. mon nisha? >> over here, nina, in hong kong, the stock exchanged just closed for the weekend. the index fell from the word go along with all the other markets in this region. ramy inocencio joins us with a wrap-up of the day's declines? >> hey, mon nisha, we're seeing a sea of red. the hang seng closed 1.3%. it was down by as much as 2% earlier in the day. icbc, the world's biggest bank by market cap had fallen more than 5% by the end of today. in the chinese main land, the chinese composite closed about .5% down. it had been down by as much as 1% t. asx was down 1%. b bh bill ton and rio tinto closing between 2% and 3%. the session's biggest loser was over in korea, the cos pi. it is down a whopping 5.7%. stocks sensitive to a global slowdown, talking shipping and oil were d

here hsbc's china flash purchasing manager's index came out at 49.4. this is the third month in a row it's come in under 50. that implies a slowdown in china manufacturing. this could mean beijing's policy to slow down red hot growth are taking hold. the asx fell down about 2.6 today, below the 4,000 mark. global resource stocks taking a big hit. rio tinto fell nearly 5%. the aussie dollar today, that weakened against the u.s. dollar and it today hit parity one to one here. it has been stronger for the greenback for the past several months. the pmi from china and the outlook took it down. one point of light was fosters group. i'll tell you why in the next hour. >> i'm sure there's interplay going on between the equities markets and equities market. thank you very much for that. >> let's take a look at how things faired in the united states. stocks there on wednesday fell after the federal reserve announced the new measures to try to bring down the country's long-term interest rates. here is how the session actually ended. what be had was a number of ma

hsbc announced a big force reduction.e analysts i speak to, they say unless there is a big pick up in the economy in the 4th quarter this year there could be more cuts coming. not to freak anyone out, they say it's not just banking. a lot of companies are coming under pressure because there hasn't been a lot of growth in the united states. that's where gallon lineup released a -- gallup released a poll saying americans are worried about their jobs. on man watch.com we have three ways to beat job insecurity. i don't know anyone who feels secure in their job right now. this is a worthwhile read. >> the master of teasers. >> we are going to get her a t- shirt that says the calm inator. >> always a pleasure. thanks, jill. >>> so pretty nice one out there yesterday. and today is going to be another mild and beautiful day but cloud cover to start our morning no matter where you are in the bay area as you step outside. you are probably going to see a little bit clouds out there. low clouds specifically if you are making your way

>> oh, you make a really good point because you think about hsbc are.d 25,000 job cuts last month. other analysts said, other banks could follow. it may not be as bad or widespread during the financial crisis of 2008, but the reality is these lawsuits from that crisis are just now beginning to hit these big bankbanks. another factor is the economy, how tough the economy is. you know, americans just don't need as many loans, not taking out as many credit cards or mortgages. so you don't really need that much of a staff if these services aren't being used like they used to be. >> alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. a lot to keep track there. thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> we are now just six hours away from an american political first, the first cnn tea party debate among republicans who want president obama's job. this is also the day president obama sends his job creation plan to congress where republicans are promising to think about it. but that's about all. less than a week after he lob lobbied for the american jobs act, mr. obama s

you look at hsbc. it announced 25,000 job cuts last month.these banks are still facing lawsuits from the financial crisis. they're just now beginning to hit these big banks so they really need to really cut costs. also the economy is another reason for these job cuts. analysts say the fact is, many americans aren't taking out as many loans. they're not taking out as many credit cards or mortgages so there's just really no reason to have that many people working for these banks if no one's using their services in full like in the past. >> what's going on down with the numbers there on this goofy day? >> check it out. b of a shares are pretty much flat right now. they're off session highs since those job cuts were sort of on the low end of what was expected. as for the overall market though, we do see the dow down 100 points. the nasdaq off about seven. you are looking at investors who are nervous about the escalating fears about greece defaulting on its debt. when wall street hears the word default plus a country, that certainly can send jitte