you can see there the nikkei and topix trading higher. the nikkei has been down around 270 points in the last three trading sessions. a big part due to jitters in europe. having a look there, you can see on the screen, 77.82-83 dollar yen. euro yen, 101.36-41. euro is weaker against the yen. we saw that playing into some of the business sentiment survey reports that came out yesterday, and a lot of large manufacturers pegging down the rates. that compares to 81 in september. we are trading upper 77 yen level. that plays into what large manufacturers and exporters have to deal with in japan. ai? >> a strong yen, certainly a big issue for us in japan. also not a day goes by without some reports about olympus. what's the latest on that? >> we have been keeping track of that all week. december 14th was that deadline for it to supply its july to september earnings, and the stock was down around 20% yesterday. again, a lot of volatile trading for olympus up monday and tuesday, then down 20% thursday, and we did have former ceo michael woodford

that made the nikkei decline to 8,200. the next e factor is the euro zone issue that developed from greece to larger nations like spain and italy. also, that was aggravated by the economic weakness in the u.s. and, then, the yen appreciated against the u.s. dollar to the level below 76 yen. the third factor is earnings. japanese corporate earnings showed the downward revisions after they disclosed the fiscal year results. that was due to the higher yen. and, also, the flooding in thailand, and that made production very lower. >> for 2012, takahashi expects a reversal of the three es and expects a rebound in japan's auto industry as well as the u.s. economy. in fact, he expects the u.s. economy to override any negative factors which may arise from issues surrounding eurozone sovereign debt problems. that may help push the nikkei to pre-march 11th levels. >>> ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. >>> well the candidates trying to win the u.s. republican presidential nomination haven't had much rest this holiday season

the nikkei kicked off a new week, so let's see how things are kicking off. for that, we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. we're seeing positive buys from europe. how are markets reacting to that, and what's in store for japan this week. >> very good morning to you. lots of stories this week. let's have a look at the opening levels this monday morning for the nikkei and topix. markets are reacting positively. nikkei up over 100 points. eu leaders are likely waiting to see how markets globally react. as you mention, positive reaction on the dow and european markets also higher, now the nikkei is 100 points higher as well. we have already seen some moves away from the relative safety of u.s. treasury bonds, and also west texas intermediate crude oil prices, benchmark wti up 1.5%. still, the focus this week may shift to key events in the u.s. and japan. in the u.s., we have the federal reserve having its policy meeting on tuesday, and really having a look at some of the recent economic data out of the u.s. it has shown an im

the nikkei stands at 8,419, up half a percent so far. the topix is at 726 up one-fifth of a percent. u.s. jobless claims data pushed up share prices in new york over night. it's carried over to tokyo. to currencies, the dollar is hovering in the up 77 yen level in tokyo trading this friday morning. the greenback is currently at 77.86 to 87 yen. the euro at 101.48 to 53 yen. sources say market participants recautious about the you'rian debt problems. a favorable auction of bonds overnight was not enough to ease concerns. here's a look at the long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the ten-year japanese government bond. >>> the nikkei may be be slightly up today, but to year-to-date the nikkei is down about 20% so far. as we wrap up 2011, it is time to look ahead. i spoke with naomi fink, head of japan strategies at jeffreys on what she expects for the coming year. >> a better year for the nikkei than this year. given that the recovery elsewhere is going to be relatively slow, i think investors are tentative to return to the marketp

and let's not forget, nikkei has been down on the year. with a couple of trading days left, it is unlikely to make up the 20% fall we have seen so far this week, and as such has underperformed or performed worse than the dow, and some of the european indexes like the fat see. it outperformed the shanghai composite. focus for markets in 2012 is likely to remain on the eurozone and any progress on sovereign debt as well as banking sector, with that in mind we saw numeral holdings and day was losing a touch, not a major move. some market hesitation about concerns of exposure of banks to sovereign debt. kred ilt rating agency warnings, keeping the lid on market enthusiasm. some data out of the u.s. showed improvement in jobs, housing, ffrg. with that in mind, case schiller home price index later today may shed more light on that. ai? >> you mentioned 20% yearly fall for nikkei. strong yen a major factor behind that plunge. what can you tell us about currency markets. >> let's have a look here this tuesday morning at the dollar yen, euro yen. h

that made the nikkei decline to 82. 8,200. the next e factor is the euro zone issue that developed from greece to larger nations like spain and italy. also, that was aggravated by the economic weakness in the u.s. and, then, the yen appreciated against the u.s. dollar to the level below 76 yen. the third factor is earnings. japanese corporate earnings showed the downward revisions after they disclosed the fiscal year results. that was due to the higher yen. and, also, the flooding in thailand, and that made production very lower. >> for 2012, takahashi expects a reversal of the three es and expects a rebound in japan's auto industry as well as the u.s. economy. in fact, he expects the u.s. economy to override any negative factors which may arise from issues surrounding eurozone sovereign debt problems. that may help push the nikkei to pre-march 11th levels. >>> ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. >>> well the candidates trying to win the u.s. republican presidential nomination haven't had much rest this holiday season

let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and topix. up over 100 points for the nikkei this monday morning. topix up 6 points. let's not forget a recap, nikkei closed friday for public holiday. thursday it closed a touch lower, and it is down nearly 20% so far on the year. we hit the year's high last february at 10,857. still hasn't bounced back from premarch 11 disaster levels and the low came in november when it sank to 8,160. we're a bit above that now, but still a ways to go. now, the european and u.s. markets ended on a rally friday. the dow up nearly three and a half points. helped by that extension of the tax cuts in the u.s. and congress, and also some favorable data, durable goods orders and new home sales rising in the u.s. in europe, intense focus remains on sovereign debt, crisis issues there, and although bond yields in spain and italy have come off a little from record highs, they're still hanging over the market, this whole issue of possible further credit downgrades from aaa rated eurozone countries, including france, so

and let's not forget, nikkei has been down on the year. with a couple of trading days left, it is unlikely to make up the 20% fall we have seen so far this week, and as such has underperformed or performed worse than the dow, and some of the european indexes like the fat see. it outperformed the shanghai composite. focus for markets in 2012 is likely to remain on the eurozone and any progress on sovereign debt as well as banking sector, with that in mind we saw numeral holdings and day was losing a touch, not a major move. some market hesitation about concerns of exposure of banks to sovereign debt. kred ilt rating agency warnings, keeping the lid on market enthusiasm. some data out of the u.s. showed improvement in jobs, housing, ffrg. with that in mind, case schiller home price index later today may shed more light on that. ai? >> you mentioned 20% yearly fall for nikkei. strong yen a major factor behind that plunge. what can you tell us about currency markets. >> let's have a look here this tuesday morning at the dollar yen, euro yen. h

the nikkei at 8,450. our very own ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> now, opec has agreed to raise crude oil output to 30 million barrels a day. the 12 member countries of the organization reached the agreement on wednesday during a meeting at its headquarters in vienna. oil prices have remained high since the political turmoil in libya. benchmark london brent oil prices continue to top $100 a barrel. opec's daily production target was set at 24.85 million barrels a day. but saudi arabia and other countries have increased production since june to prevent prices from rising. the agreement endorsed the saudi move. after the meeting opec's secretary-general abdullah al-badri said the current price level is good for both producing and consuming countries and that it does not hinder world economic growth. >>> meanwhile, the head of japan's petroleum association, akihiko tembo, said oil prices are not expected to change much from the current levels. he predicts the price will move between 90 and

nikkei up 34 points, topix up two points. focus and concentration this morning will be on companies in the shipping sector which was down 5% yesterday. oil related stocks like oil and gas field developer impex and trading houses like mitsubishi who were lower yesterday. we saw also some key asian forces trading lower. let's keep an eye on banking stocks and there's continued concern about credit rating down grades for eurozone economies which pulled the financial stocks lower, the likes of bank of america, merrill lynch, which was down around 4% morgan stanley and citigroup trading lower. a lot of focus there on the euro and you mentioned some levels earlier. let's have another look at the currency levels this tuesday morning in japan. you can see they're 77.99-04. holding steady there. we will see how it develops through the day. >> ramin, we have a holiday shortened week in japan. what should we watch for after markets close thursday. >> a lot on the agenda. bank of japan has a two day policy meeting, and trade balance figu

. >>> the nikkei rose monday but europe and wall street dropped shortly. ai, what was behind the fall? >> the calm following the european summit seems to be fading fast. in fact, they said the summit did little to ease the crisis. the dow fell over 200 points at one stage. another negative factor contributing to the selloff was intel cutting revenue forecast. the dow ended at 12,021 points, down 1.3%. over 160 points from friday. >>> let's check how stocks are kicking off in japan after the selloff on wall street. we cross-over to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning to you. what can you tell us. >> very good morning to you, ai. let's look at the opening levels this tuesday morning, and you can see quite clearly following a downturn in u.s. and european markets. the nikkei down over 100 points as well this tuesday morning, despite the ending positive note yesterday, trading range was in a tight range yesterday and on lower than average volume. we'll see how today goes. judging by reaction on the dow and european markets, looks l

nikkei up 34 points, topix up two points. focus and concentration this morning will be on companies in the shipping sector, which was down 5% yesterday. oil related stocks like oil and gas field developer impex and trading houses like mitsubishi who were lower yesterday. we saw also some key asian forces trading lower. let's keep an eye on banking stocks and there's continued concern about credit rating down grades for eurozone economies which pulled the financial stocks lower, the likes of bank of america, merrill lynch, which was down around 4% morgan stanley and citigroup trading lower. a lot of focus there on the euro and you mentioned some levels earlier. let's have another look at the currency levels this tuesday morning in japan. you can see they're 77.99-04. holding steady there. we will see how it develops through the day. >> ramin, we have a holiday shortened week in japan. what should we watch for after markets close thursday. >> a lot on the agenda. bank of japan has a two day policy meeting, and trade balance fig

looking at the numbers now, the nikkei is up, up for two reasons, nikkei up about 0.5%. first reason, goldman sachs and ubs says tokyo's measures to recover from last year's earthquake and tsunami will push the nikkei higher next year. next, tokyo to unveil a fourth budget to keep the economy going. it's going to be at least $26 billion. the hang seng just a fraction in positive territory and the east in the green zone a few moments ago. shanghai as i said also down by more than 1%. that's the second day it's been underperforming. it comes despite the news from beijing that they're going to loosen restrictions on bank lending. finally, the asx up 1.4%, despite s&p's downgrade one notch to aa minus. s&p changing criteria to better bank exposure to risk. now, on friday, the week in review, we've had great gains. let's take a look at some of these numbers here. great gains since that central bank action we saw on wednesday night. that was the u.s. time, starting here in australia. the asx 200 is the big winner, look at that, up 7.6 for the week. its best performance in thre

the nikkei up. shanghai up despite some new manufacturing numbers which suggest that the manufacturing sector will continue to contract. but if you look over the entire year, the nikkei, hong kong, australia, all down around 20%. shanghai down around 21%. it's been a tough year for the markets across this region, charles. >>> now reports on manufacturing and pending home sales in the united states came in better than expected on thursday. that helped u.s. stock markets rise. here's how the numbers settle on thursday. the s&p by just about 1% to the good. little bit of change there. dow added just slightly more than that. and the nasdaq closed just below the 1% mark. although italian jobless claims rose more than expected last week, investors chose to focus on the positive trend of the last month. >>> 381,000 americans filed for unemployment benefits last week and that is up 15,000 from the week before. it's been well below the 400,000 mark for the overall claiming for each week in december. analysts

japan's nikkei and hang seng indices both fell about 1.25%. right now u.s.es are up. >>> the obama administration is keeping a close eye on north korea looking for signs of instability. president barack obama and south korean president lee myung-bak agreed by phone to closely monitor the events. meantime they may postpone decisions on reengaging the country in nuclear talks and providing it with food aid. officials say the u.s. is concerned about any changes

the nikkei has just commenced trading. >> we saw a 4% gain wednesday. overnight thursday, the dow-jones industrial average dipped as investors took a step back ahead of the release of key jobs data later today. let's go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning to you. some key data out of the u.s. today. looks like markets are taking it easy after all that buying yesterday. >> definitely taking a bit of a breather there. very good morning to you. after the gains we saw nearly 500 points on the dow-jones industrial average, and that followed the central bank moves to help alert a global credit crisis a couple of days ago. but we saw a little pull back just on thursday. not a major move, just the dow down 26 points and the s&p 500 down 2 points and the nasdaq ending slightly higher. a bit of a mixed pitcher. see how we're kicking off this friday morning in japan. nikkei up 6 points. topix up. it has been around 5.5% for the last four trading sessions. volume yesterday was the highest yesterday. some mow mep tum may be held in ch

now, the nikkei is following a trend we saw on wall street overnight. stock prices plunged in new york as investors placed orders on a wide range of shares. the dow jones fell more than 200 points at one stage. in addition to european credit jitters, another factor contributing was leading chip maker intel cutting its revenue forecast. the dow ended the day's session at 12,021. that's down 162 points. shares also slid on europe's major markets. they fell 1.8% in britain. and 2.2% in paris. concerns are mounting that britain may end up isolated in the european union after the country rejected a new agreement for containing the region's credit crisis. some of britain's ruling coalition are growing krit cattle of their prime minister's stance. >> i went to brussels with one objective. to protect britain's national interest. and that is what i did. >> at friday's eu summit, all member nations except for britain agreed to revise the eu treaty. britain opposed on the grounds it would leave their financial activity more vulnerable. french president nicolas sar

the nikkei fell by 17.3% of the course of the year. the celebration at the end of the trading year lacked its usual enthusiasm. the nikkei is at its lowest point in almost 30 years. hopes for 2012 came in the shape of a world champion from japan's national women's soccer squad. ringing the final closing bell of the year. [applause] >> is terrible that 2011 did not bring the rise in stock prices that we expected from the year of the rabbit. and the european debt crisis will continue to be a problem in the future. >> there is one bright spot in the international markets. wall street and new york. trading for the year is not yet over, but the dow jones is currently up around 5% on the year. >> earlier, we spoke to our correspondent at the frankfurt stock exchange and asked if next year could be as dramatic as 2011 was. >> could be. be? a lost 15% -- the dax lost 15% this year. some investors are quite comfortable. only two of 21 institutions polled see the? lower -- see the dax lower. there's also the fact that the banks and the states wi

the nikkei down by just under 1%. the hang seng and the shake hang composite in negative territory. let's look at the time line of the kospi from earlier today. when you look at the time line, you can see that the kospi plummeted right when the news came out that kim jong il had died. then it gained a little bit. right now, it's gaining a little bit as i mentioned so it's gaining some traction here. let's take a look also at the nikkei. now, traders in japan, they were on lunch break when the news came out, and take a look at what happened in the nikkei earlier today. their lunch break was from 11:30 to 12:30 here. as soon as the traders came back, you can see that the nikkei went down quite dramatically, but it's regained since then. then let's take a look at how the korean wan has done against the u.s. dollar. i want to show you what happened when the news came out. you can see that as the news came out, there was a big sell-off of the korean wan. that means it weakened, and at the highest point it was trading at 11

let's see how all of this is factoring in to japanese, into japan's nikkei. tokyo stock prices are down sharply this friday morning. the nikkei currently at 8510, that's down over 150%, a loss of 1.8% almost. the topix is also down 1.1%, currently trading at 736. the ecb president's failure to commit to more bond purchases disappointed market participants. this refueled concerns over the eurozone debt crisis. overnight weakness in new york stocks also dampened market sentiment. let's take a look at currencies as the dollar is moving within a tight range in tokyo trading. the greenback is currently at 77.68-69 yen. the euro at 103.68-73 yen. participants are refraining from active trading as they watch the progress of the eu summit. here's a look now at the latest long-term interest rates. the year on the ten-year japanese government bond down over 1.5 basis points. >>> japan has revised down its economic growth for july to september. the figure is now 5.6% in annual terms. that's down 0.4% from the previous estimate. the cabinet office released on friday its

let's look at the opening levels this morning for the nikkei and topix. investors are divided for growth in the u.s., and any clear cut answer to eurozone's debt issues. we had the federal reserve open market committee come out and say the u.s. economy had significant down side risk as you touched on there as well, despite a string of recent upbeat data which showed improvements in jobs, housing, manufacturing sector. that held back out some bulls out there. also before the fed meeting doubts over full resolution to eurozone debt crisis pushed market sentiment lower in europe. main sticking point seems to be whether stronger eu countries like germany will be able to step up and add further funds to this planned bailout fund for europe, so that sent the euro to 11 month low against the dollar, also trading lower against the yen. just having a look at the currency levels now, you can see there that actually at one point the euro-yen was 101.37, now it is 101.53. 101, compared to 102 the other day, and a couple days ago it was trading 104. the yen is gaining

both indexes trading lower. 146 points down for the nikkei. we are definitely seeing follow through selling in japan after the dow closed below that key 12,000, down almost 200 points. and the negative sentiment from stocks also showing through on developments from the european debt situation in commodities. we did see gold down 1.8%, and the price of wti benchmark crude oil also down more than 2%. the interesting point here, ai, is that with all the focus on europe and selloffs in the stock markets, it is just coming actually when data in the u.s. is showing small improvements in the jobs data. we had weekly claims numbers just out thursday, which showed an improvement and showing its lowest level since february, and just last week, the unemployment rate in the u.s. fell below 9%. so a lot of focus here on developments in the eu and summit meeting, and also following on for the european central bank cutting its rate, seems like the markets are just ignoring some positive bits of news. ai? >> ramin, also update us on the currency markets. amid

want to focus on nikkei because charles is talking about the currency.he yen is now at a ten-year high against the euro. obviously that hurts japan's exporters. we saw a big selloff in some of the big japanese exporters today. australia continues to be the mining stocks dragging things down, the broader s&p down by .5% as commodity prices continue to weaken. >>> i want do report one interesting story that came to light over the past 24 hours or so, china has got one over the u.s. again. a "financial times" report is citing the investment banking firm dear logic which says china is the best place for initial public offerings. take a look at this. these are the three top ipo destinations in 2011. the report says london raised $18 billion. compare that with new york. that clocked up this year $30.7 billion of ipo activity. that .7 is important because it was just out shined by hong kong. hong kong raising more than any other exchange for the third year running, $30.9 billion. that comes, also -- comes with the hang seng index falling by 20% this year. it di

let's have a look at how the nikkei and the topix are kicking off.'s not forget, the nikkei rose yesterday with gains largely in banking and export stocks. volume was also much higher than previous sessions. investors hoping that euro zone issues hanging over global markets can be dealt with this week. we'll see after friday. as such, the focus is clearly on the upcoming e.u. summit meeting and whether the leaders can come up with concrete and tough measures to deal with some of the issues. especially in light of the recent -- the s&p, standard & poor's, rating agency coming out and putting on credit warning 15 of the euro zone countries as well as the e.u. itself, which is triple-a rated and some major european banks, so that's going to be a major focus for the markets. now, you mentioned olypmus as well. we're going to keep track of how that stock traced today. let's not forget yesterday it was down 5.2%. it's been one of the most volatile stocks on the tokyo stock exchange since that bookkeeping scandal broke out. >> and ramin, currency markets, o

. >>> when nikkei came home for college break last year, she stayed in her parents guest house. >> i knew it would be freezing. i called my mom and said "mom turn on the room heater." >> reporter: that was a mistake that almost killed her. the wall heater was clogged with leaves, filling the air with carbon monoxide. her mom found her the next morning. >> i went to her bed and shook her and called her, and there was no answer. >> reporter: the odorless, colorless gas left nikkei in a coma. >> we were afraid this was totally irreversible. >> her only hope, the hype become aric chamber. when they are using the chamber, they are wearing this hood breathing pure oxygen. the tank is taken to the level of 66 feet below sea level. the pressure forces more oxygen in and carbon monoxide out. doctors used hypothermia to try to protect her brain. >> we put her brain in a state of animated suspension. >> reporter: experts warn get your heating unit checked annually, have a carbon monoxide detector and change the battery regularly. don't idle your car in a garage. nicki was lucky >> i can do ever

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 117 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng was down 10. >>> wall street rallied friday. but europe has a big hole to dig out of. all 17 countries agreed to automatic penalties if they overspend. as for countries currently struggling, the european central bank has taken some steps and may take more to ease their burden. even france sits precariously. friday, moody's investors service downgraded france's three largest banks. england was seen as the biggest summit user. england used its veto party to prevent an agreement, so the english were circumvented. even with a deal, most analysts feel europe is heading into recession, which has u.s. companies worried. on friday, dupont cut their outlook for the quarter. reuters reports negative quarters are outpacing positive ones by the biggest ratio in ten years. here, spending is up 15% compared to last year. the fed meets this week, but is expected to stand pat playing wait and see on europe and big developments here. this week's big po will be zinga pre

now, in japan you see the nikkei down by 1.4%.mpus remains in the news and says it lanns to report its earnings on december the 14th. you may recall that's the deadline that the company must meet to avoid delisting after the scandal. the olympus stock was suspended in tokyo today after an independent probe into an accounting scandal found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing although it was scathing in its description of how the management has been performing at olympus and called for action to be taken against the management so watch that space. charles? >> absolutely. fascinating to see the repercussions of that. meanwhile, on wall street there is nothing like a credit rating warning to turn investors off. karina huber has a look. >> reporter: stocks got off to a great start monday as u.s. investors cheered europe's latest plan to put an end to its debt crisis. news that european leaders had reached a deal to amend the eu treaty had stocks surging by more than 1% midway through the session. reports that ratings agency standard & p

the nikkei gained by about half a percent. the hang seng had a choppy session today.ed out a gain by the end of the session and the shanghai composite ended down by more than a tenth of a percent. charles? >> let's look at the stock market action in europe. trading under way for 97 minutes. i suspect that we're looking at fairly thin volumes here. we are seeing a little bit of selling on the london ftse and a little bit of buying for the paris concur ant and the xetra index. unless there's a serious bit of bad news, we'll see the markets tread water or something like it at least until the new year when we might see more action in response to major developments of any kinds. but the one thing they're still worried about is ratings downgrades, pauline. >> all right, charles. let's take another look at how the u.s. futures are looking to the run-up of the start of trade on wall street on tuesday. the dow futures are up by 6 tenths of a percent and the s&p and the nasdaq are also up both by .8 of one percent. things can change depending how the markets do in europe. for n

i do want to focus on the nikkei right now. they ended down by more than 0.75%. there was important information that came out of japan today. japan cut its growth forecast today for the fiscal year from april of this year to march of next year saying it will shrink 0.1%. they cited the tsunami back in march and the strong yen as reasons. toyota released sales number that suggested it may lose its crown as the largest auto company in the world. toyota estimates that global sales will have fallen 6% by the end of the calendar year. and down in sydney, the main aussie benchmark ended down by more than 1%, even more moody's struck with australia's aaa credit rating. for the first time this year, australia has gotten aaa ratings from all three major ratings agencies. nina? >> very different kind of perspective to the one we saw here. so when closing bell rang at the new york stock exchange on wednesday, we saw a number of these indices down. the dow jones industrial average and the s&p were barely in positive territory but really the kind of heaviest losses came from

the nikkei was down. we've got more on that in just a moment. first, though, i want to talk about one stock in particular, a stock we've been talking about since march of this year, tepco, down almost 12% as you see there. that's now at its lowest close this year at 186 yen. japan's trade minister urging temporary nationalizedation of tepco today. tepco is the operator of the fukushima daiichi plant which had the nuclear meltdown. the stock now down just a shade under 90% this year in talk of nationalization, obviously, unsurprisingly spooking investors. now, meanwhile, releasing reams of data this morning. and on the whole it paints a pretty downbeat picture for the month of november. starting with industrial production, down 2.6% in the month of november from the previous close and down 4% on the same period last year. the flooding in thailand hitting many of japan's biggest exporters in recent months. inflation was also up today, and core inflation prices which exclude the cost of fresh food fell compared to a year earlier, was in line with e

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained just over 50 points. >>> most traders can't remember the last time they saw a week like this one. the biggest single factor driving news this week will be events in europe. european and eu leaders will meet friday. wall street and the rest of the world hope a powerful plan emerges. wall street doesn't necessarily expect a new fully written treaty, but a firm blueprint come out of the summit is seen as a must. >>> today, german chancellor angela merkel meets french president nicholas sarkozy will meet in advance of the summit. representing american interests, u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner will be meeting with officials throughout europe ahead of the summit. >>> thursday, the european central bank is widely expected to cut rates by 0.25%. back here at home, friday's job numbers were stellar. unemployment finally fell below the stub born 9% mark, dipping to 8.6%. watch western digital today. shares spiked friday on company expectations of better quarterly sales. keep an eye out for s.a.p. over the wee

in tokyo the nikkei lost 16 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 110. >>> stocks ended flight on light volume tuesday, a typical trading day between christmas and new year's. one big mover was sears after planning to cut 100 sears and k-mart stores. they plunged to a new 52-wheel low. whirlpool which depended on sears tumbled almost 9%. bad housing news. october single family home prices fell more than expected with atlanta and las vegas prices falling to their lowest since the housing crisis began. that helped take the shine off a jump in consumer confidence to the highest level since april. growing consumer confidence combined with tensions with iran sent the price of oil above $101 a barrel. endeavor international rose 24% on a deal to buy conoco phillip. international gained 5% on the government opening the door to online gambling. elsewhere, italy's ten-year bond yield hit the crisis 7% level tuesday. after the chinese yuan hit an all-time high against the dollar, the treasury department refused to call them a manipulator, angering trade groups. >>> a federal judge dismis

taking a look at overseas trading this morning n tokyo the nikkei was down 24 points, while in hong kong the hang seng lost 120. >>> signs of trouble in europe drove stocks lower here. the s&p 500 fell after five straight days of gains backing into negative territory for the year. the downward spike was accentuated by extremely low volume. alocoacaterpillar led them lower. >>> they were hoarding cash rather than lending it out as hoped, a sign those banks may be in worse shape than previously thought. >>> on that news the euro hit an 11-month low against the dollar and a 10-year low against japan's yen. >>> euro worries hit bank stocks hard here with bank of america and regions financial leading lower. investors drove bond prices higher. the ten-year treasury yield fell below 10%. oil fell under $100 a bare ol saudi promises to offset any losses from a threatened iranian blockade. >>> gold fell 2%, closing at the lowest level in five months. >>> lockheed martin was awarded a $2 billion contract to maintain support infrastructure for antarctic research. >>> yesterday "the new york times"

, the nikkei up by 1.75%..3%, sony up by more than 5% on hopes that the euro zone crisis will ease and the economic conditions will improve there. the europe is the biggest export market combined for many asian countries. hong kong, up 1.6%. resource stocks are giving hong kong a boost as i did in australia as well. the s&p up by 0.6%. the australian minor up 1%, alaminiacorp of china up 1%. >>> the president of the scandal-tainted cameramaker olympus addressed a scathing new report published on tuesday. in it, an investigative panel calls olympus management rotten to the core of their handling of $2 billion worth of lost investments made in the 1990s. olympus will appoint a board to decide whether to take legal action against those executives involved. >> translator: we're still considering filing criminal complaints. the board of investigation is looking at the whole issue from many directions. we are, of course, going to take the result into consideration. but as a company if we decide to take legal action,

taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei fell 101 points. while in hong kong the hang seng was down 128. >>> from ratings agencies to small investors reviews for europe's debt agreements were luke warm at best sending stocks tumbling. moody's and fitch warned markets the deal didn't go far enough and debt ratings may still be downgraded. spanish and italian debt soared italy's ten-year note yield approached the danger zone of 7%. gold prices fell to their lowest in almost seven weeks. u.s. bond yields fell as investors looked for safety. wall street's losses were wide. most s&p 500 industry groups fell more than 1%. all ten closed negative. banks were among the worst off. morgan stanley, citigroup, bank of america and jpmorgan chase all fell. techs dropped after intel lowered revenue expect takings following a similar move last week by texas instruments. resource stocks tumbled. oil fell and copper prices plummeted to a near two-week low. alocoa and exxonmobil were hit hard. elsewhere, diamond foods plunged on an investigation into its payme

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 123 points. while in hong kong the hang seng lept 336. >>> surprisingly strong housing data and hopeful signs from europe sent stocks soaring tuesday. new home construction jumped over 9%, best in a year and a half. building permits also rose. home builders, pulte group, mdc holding, and horton all rose. the euro gained against the dollar after spain's borrowing costs plunged after a short-term debt auction. consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in germany. europe's major markets were sharply higher. financials climbed, led by jpmorgan chase and wells fargo after the fed released new bank oversight proposals that were not as tough as feared. big ripples after at&t dropped its t-mobile bid. sprint nextel, which opposed, gained as did altell and juniper networks. general mills fell. sinking due too to higher costs. red hat plunged after forecasting lower than expected revenue. after the bell, nike rose on higher than quarterly profit. thanks to high shoe demand. oracle tumbled late as earnings fell

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei was up 56 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng added 36. >>> on more positive signs for the economy, stocks rallied thursday ahead of today's last trading day of the year. the only remaining suspense is whether the s&p 500 will end positive for the year. thursday's rally left it up 0.4%, the closest it's been to unchanged for a year since 1970. traditionally the last trading day the year is a down day. november home sales surged to a 1 1/2 year high. home building paulty, lenar all gained. midwest factory activity grew. prices and employment rose but production eased slightly. on the downside, last week's unemployment claims rose more than expected, but the four-week average fell to a 3 1/2 year low. also aiding stocks, italy's bond yields, which spooked investors wednesday, eased thursday. still the yield on italy's ten-year bond hovers near the 7% danger level. banks were the day's biggest gainer led by jpmorgan case. alocoa and caterpillar, two b h bellwethers, led the do you. sears fell furthe

. >>> and although tokyo stock market trading is thin this tuesday morning, the nikkei is trading at 8,444 p. that is down 4/10 percent. sources say investors are on the sidelinees a as they way to see the mood on the overseas markets. exchange in u.s. and europe were closed on monday for holidays. let's turn to the currency market now. trading volumes are also light here on the tokyo foreign exchange because of the holidays. the dollar yen currently at 77.94298. the euro yen at 101.76-282. investment sentiment is expected to remain subdued until the market opens later in the day. let's take a look at longest long-term interest rates. there is the ten-year japanese government bond. >>> japan's leading mobile carrier is getting into the hardware business. they want to design its own semi conductors for smart phones and has started talks with some major electronics makers. demand continues to grow for smart phones. domoco wants it lure customers by having higher performance models. the carrier reached with sam sung and is ne negotiating with few jit sue and dec. the mobile chip mark se