so any movement in fast retailing tends to sway the nikkei.ther retailing sector shares also seven & i holdings up 0.4%. it's going to come up with earnings after the close today. a big focus on the retail sector. other tech and consumer electronics shares also trading higher. we were tracking a few of them. nintendo and sony. also in the auto sector the likes of nissan honda, and toyota gaining as well as you can see there. some steam was taken out of the transport sector after a rebound in crude oil prices. so we did see some of those declining. japan airlines and skymark airlines actually among some of the biggest decliners. let's have a look at currencies as well. the dollar-yen right now. it has been climbing from levels earlier this week. but it's pretty much stuck at the mid 119 levels ahead of the jobs data later today in the u.s., which really should give investors more guidance on the american economy. asian indexes, also a bit of a mixed data out of china. consumer prices for december rose from a year earlier but producer prices fel

the nikkei plunged at the open. and, as you can see there, it lost ground all morning as investors rushed out of the socks and into what they perceived as softer assets. now, the stronger yen caused a sell-off in major exporters. we're tracking just a few of the big names, sony nikon and mazda. but other sectors also saw some selling as well. and some of the big heavyweights such as the fast retailing there, 4.6% down and operating the clothing trades. >>> now, amada did buck the trend earlier. it was up around 3% but then did come in for a bit of profit taking ending the morning down almost 0.7% after posting a tripling of its operating profits for the nine-month period. now, still a big focus was, of course on currency markets, ai and investors pile into what they consider safer assets or lower risk assets. dollar yen broken below 116 at one stage. looking at it right now, 116.13-15. levels not seen since mid december. euro also falling below 135, first time since october last year. very quick look at asian indexe

and the nikkei, over the last two or three years, up almost 100%. that's because of the yen. if you do it in dollar terms, it's up 20. all of the currency oomph has run its course. now, the facts are not there. we're betting in a nikkei, the japanese equities are a bad place to be in 2015. >> that's an interesting call, carter. the u.s. is out of the q.e. game. and a lot of people are pricing in that we're going to raise rates. china had a massive move in japan. the ecb, who keeps jawboning to the fact. i believe with the u.s. out of the q.e. game, i think the lesser countries are going to be less successful. and i like carter's call. >> take the money out of the nikkei and put your money into russian equities. there's a lot of things that people will understand about that space that has been obviously working against them. weak ruble. weak oil. and the questions about what putin might be on top of massive economic sanctions. but all of those things, you take a look at the valuation for russian equities, versus their economy, which actually has been growing, you have to say t

the nikkei was up .5% at 16,947 and the topix also up .5%. but tumbling crude is a major concern. energy producers continue to fall. inpex is down a quarter percent. and another blow to mcdonald's japan. the fast food giant hit a four-month low, down 0.7% after customers found vinyl in their chicken nuggets. but i'll leave the details to you on this one. on the bright side, sony recovered for the first time on four days on results that playstation 4 beat its rivals in terms of sales of video game consoles. and softbank bounced back 1.5%. now, fairly a positive picture there. shanghai is up 0.2%. and hong kong is up 0.1%. and australia is down .25% to a two and a half week low. in currencies, the dollar is rebounding against the yen now around 119.04. many analysts are expecting the eurozone to fall into deflation. so the euro is still near a nine-year low against the dollar. as on trading for the rest of the day, if the nikkei ends above 16,755 it's highly likely share prices will bounce back for the rest of the week. >>> mayu mentioned mcdonald's japan. officials at the fast food

we are bet tack nikkei the japanese equities are a very bad place to be. >> do you agree, guys? >> i think that's an interesting call, you think about it. it's out of the qe game a. lot of the people are pricing the fact that we will start to raise rates. what does it mean? we still have coin with the stimulus. obviously, their equities rose the end of the 84, we had that massive move in japan earlier in the year, the ecb keeps to the fact that i believe with the u.s. out of the qe game, i think some of these lesser countries will be less swefl successful. i don't think it will have the same impact of risk assets. >> take the money out of the nikkei and put your money into russian equities. that's my contrarian calm. obviously, there is a lot of things that people understand about that whole space. it's been obviously working against them. a weak ruble, weak oil, there is a lot of hypocrisy what pouten might do. all of those things, you look at the valuation for russian equities versus their economy, which actually has been growing. you have to say to yourself, these things may

retail sales declining, industrial production declining, yet the nikkei over the past two, three years, up. we think all of the courtesy umf has run its course. we believe the nikkei and japanese equities are a very bad place to be in 2015. >> i think that's a really interesting call. when you think about it, the u.s. is out of the qe game. a lot of people are starting to price in the fact we're going to start to raise rates. what does it mean when we still have china with their stimulus, we had that massive move in japan earlier in the year, the ecb who basically keeps jaw boning to the fact but i think the u.s. out of the qe game, i think some of these lesser countries are going to be less successful and i don't think it will have the same impact and i like carter's call. >> take the mrn out of toney ou nikkei and put your money into russian equities. that's my contrarian call. weak ruble. weak oil. cl what putin might do amidst all of those economic sanctions. their economy has been growing but you have to say to yourself, these things might be bottoming out. it is probably one of t

yesterday the nikkei hit a one-month high. the dollar is trading lower. traders became skeptle call about an early rate hike by the federal reserve after the weak data on the u.s. economy and lack luster corporate earnings. the dollar is weaker against the euro, too. the single currency is trading higher against the yen. euro-yen. looking at other markets south korea's kospi down by .2% in the negative and we are seeing a similar picture in australia. the benchmark indegs down .2% as well. the top u.s. trade official says negotiators of the trans pacific partnership free trade deal made important progress. he says the contours of the final agreement are coming into focus. u.s. trade representative michael froman was with testifying on u.s. trade policy before house and senate committees. >> we think everyone is focused on trying to get it done in a short period of time in the next small number of months. >> he wants to conclude negotiations with japan and other countries on agricultural tariffs as quickly as possible. experts warn japan and other particip

let's look at how the morning session wrapped up for the nikkei and the broader topix. both in the negative. and the broader topix, 1,391. excuse me. so after having posted its best trading session in over a month on tuesday, investors are take the opportunity to book profits and sell shares. investors may be a bit hesitant to make any further moves until the key central bank meetings are out of the way. some of the blue chip exporters i was following today, toshiba, sharp and panasonic are dragging the nikkei lower. other sectors gained some of the airline stocks after that continued weakness we are seeing in the crude oil prices. ana holdings and japan airlines are among the gainers there. and that is after positive earnings from u.s. carriers such as delta and that's following the earnings reports there. we saw continued optimism for china related shares. hitachi construction machinery up after gdp numbers out of china on tuesday. and the premier will be addressing the davos meeting in a key speech today. a lot of leaders gathering there. and let's get an idea on cur

taking a look now at asian markets here in tokyo the nikkei closed down a quarter percent, 17,468. some market players are saying expectations of strong corporate earnings helped the nikkei recover most of the losses seen earlier. the shanghai kols it edged up nearly a percent today but the gains were capped by selling and financials due to fear about instability in europe. the hang seng index closing up a quarter percent, as you can see there we've got some holidays going on in both sydney and mumbai. turning to currencies now the euro slipped to an 11-year low against the dollar. the pair is now at roughly 1.1247. analysts say the greek election result is the second blow to the single currency after the european central bank decided to launch a monetary easing program last week. meanwhile we've got the euro at one point hitting a 16-month low against the yen at 130. the pair now at 132.89. some traders are buying back the euro following excessive trading against the yen. >>> well japan's finance minister taro aso has urged lawmakers to swiftly enact an extra budget of more than $

nintendo and mazda motor weighing on the nikkei.king about currencies, let's have a look at the key dollar/yen pair. 117.41-43. the euro is also fallen to nine-year lows against the dollar and the single currency is at a level not seen since october against the yen. concerns mount ahead of a court ruling that could ease or complicate the central bank's plan to adopt more aggressive easing measures. a bit of a mixed picture. hong kong and shanghai trading higher. but seoul, indonesia and sydney trading lower. >>> now market participants around the world are paying close attention to the u.s. central bank's monetary policy. as the country continues its economic recovery. in our ongoing series of major economies in the world i did speak with professor takatoshi ito of columbia university for his views. >> takatoshi ito is an expert on finance. he has also taught at harvard. ito said the u.s. economy will remain firm this year. >> i think last year's third quarter growth rate was 5.0%. and this momentum will continue. so gradually, that

nikkei 225 as forecast by the chicago futures.ointing to a higher open and that's what we have. .31% higher. the weaker yen supporting the earnings for exporters as well. in c.e.o. the poss -- kospi just getting under way. kospi is gaining. korean yen weakening against the u.s. dollar. over in china, it was a day investors there would like to forget. monday saw the chain high composite plunge -- plunge to 8%. the 300 combined companies lost a combined $290 billion during the session. let's bring david in. what happened and where are we? >> so what happened was the worst day for chinese investors since i think 2007 will have 2008. i think back then we were just about in the middle of the global financial crisis. the shanghai composite back then was a 9% drop this one is not far behind. close to 8%. 260 points and the damage was spread throughout. the 300, eight shares had a good day, relatively speaking, and it was really sparked by -- it was before trading started. there was news that the csrc was tightening his rein on borrowing

the nikkei 225 was the laggard today. down 0.3%. worst performance in almost ten months had to contend with a stronger yen. remember amid this risky environment, there is a safe haven flows into the japanese yen. so the stronger currency depressing some of the exporter stocks. the offshore leads were particularly negative, as well. on top on that this is probably just the shape of things to come. the shanghai composite stable. private forecast for hsbc market came out and published their latest read on the services sector. it wasn't all too bad. so it showed improvement. commodities hit the s&p. the likes of resources of heavyweight, rio tinto and bhp dragging that index lower. aussie/dollar wasn't too bad. we had some supportive trade numbers in awe australia. >> sri, thank you very much. let's get more on market perspective, what to expect with anthony, providence financial and a board member. anthony, thank you for getting up early with us especially on this big market day. the s&p and the dow witnessing their worst day in three

we have nick a -- nikkei as well.f a reprieve when it comes to the oil price, a bit of a reprieve when it comes to basic resources as well. on top of this we did have a strong session friday on wall street, and everyone knows we tend to follow. we are getting a tailwind as well. singapore we have been looking at singapore's richest man as well. four/10 of 1%. last time i checked, we were on the way down. that remains the case when we go below the 24,000 level. on the back of the weakness taking place in shanghai. david is having a look at what we have got, because i think we have the biggest fall in five years at the open. >> that was the case at the open. we're just down 4%. i think that does give you an indication of how sharp the losses were at the open. obviously, still the financials -- let me break it down. shanghai composite, financial services were down 10%. we were down. 14 out of 14 were falling. name your brokerage. you are seeing a similar picture. not so much as far as percentage loss but the shares in ho

. >> with the nikkei down 3% it's the worst one day the nikkei has seen in 15 months. >> very true. >ybe what we're seeing is people are choosing where to sell and narz to yift in. you see the u.s. dollar doing extremely well u.s. treasuries doing extremely well shanghai up 15% in 2014. maybe it's a way of people picking and choosing where to put their money to do well setting the tone for the first quarter of to-2015 which it looks like the nikkei is not the place to be and some european markets are not the place to be. >> jim boulden just past 8:30 in london. thanks. >>> buckingham palace is taking an unusually outspoken approach to allegations of prince andrew's involvement with an underage girl. the charges stem from a lawsuit against a u.s. billionaire and as max foster reports the denials are emphatic. >> reporter: when there's scandal at the palace it usually goes quiet. not this time though. not one but awn precedentn unprecedented four statements issued in response to a lawsuit allegeing print andrew had sex with an underaged girl several times in three years from 1999 to 200

. >> that brings us to the chart of the day and guy is taking a look at the nikkei?> halloween they came out and said unprecedented things in terms of what they would do with the economy to get it out of the doldrums that we've seen for the last effectively 30 years and saw the nikkei go from 14.5 to 15,000 and rallied all the way up to 18,000 at the end of december. why is that interesting? go back to the summer of 2000, where do they top out? 18,000. japanese love to control the markets, yes, the nikkei has rallied and for the wrong reasons. i think they have lost control of their currency, bond and equity markets and this 18,000 level will be a top for quite some time. trading 17 and 1 now. had a nice night last night but i don't think it will last. >> broader markets, there are core impacts. did get weaker reports from bank of america and citigroup. that weighed on stocks and a big move. reversal in oil had been up 5%, down 4%. tim, what do you make of the volatility? >> the banks, first of all, look at levels the banks have completely broken through. we have hug

nikkei, .8% down. your seeing fractional selloff in south korea. about .5% down.im condo joining us with more on the markets. let's talk a little bit about what is happening in europe. we do not often see it blow through here in asia. but it is now. what is the sentiment playing out amongst investors? in a word, it is greek exit. looksa's victory like they will form a government, even if it is not a coalition government. raises the possibility that they will exit the eurozone. and that is a negative. euro istion of the feeding through into sentiment in this part of the world. i think it is a small risk, but risk that people have to confront in the aftermath of the election outcome. falloutinly, we saw the de-pegged from the euro. it apparently really impacted south korean corporate's when it came to their exposure to the franc. are there things like that in asia, where people are reassessing their exposure to risk in europe? >> i think that is exactly what is going on. a lot of exposure to the eurozone from asian corporate. it is a huge destination of exports acro

nikkei 225 last closed 1.5% down, close to that, anyway. futures pointed to a higher open. the first trading day of the new week. the dollar yen is strengthening, 117.43. crude coming off a rally on friday. it is starting the week looking like this. 4856 per barrel. crude oil trading at $50 per barrel. as the dust settles, the fallout from the swiss franc's historic rally late last week becomes clear. the fund has been put out of business. some businesses need to be bailed out. david has been tallying up the losses. they are big. >> they are huge. i think this is what you get when you have more than $3 billion, and that is according .o data out of the cftc more than $3 billion in positions, basically betting on the currency. you put that together with that currency, which rallied over 50% against every single of his counterparts on earth, you get a lot of these losses. it is not only the big banks. you're looking at these brokerages. one of these you are talking about, their biggest fund, their global fund. it hundred $30, million. based on one of the sources, the fund is b

nikkei 225 holding to the currencies. we did see a stronger yen but that did pause during the day so offer a degree of respite for japanese equities but we continue to see no respite in the price of oil. continue to see capitulation in the oil stocks. back to you in london. >> despite china reporting record imports we're seeing oil prices moving down side and that's what is moving markets. oil shares were down about 5% and now nearing a six year low and it's interesting to see how before in june when oil prices started to slide it was seen as positive for consumers but now given the accelerated decline to the down side there's fear this will have a major impact on earnings specifically from the energy sector. >> of course. it's really interesting in the last 48 hours or so we have continued comments that don't give support from the oil price. we mentioned comments and we also heard from saudi billionaire prince who said we may never seen $100 barrel an oil ever again and we had a significant cut in the impact yesterday. >

top performer, the nikkei 200 205 -- the nikkei 225. the dollar is softer. it spiked in the last few minutes or so. dollar-10 climbing up as well. -- dollar/yen climbing up as well. a huge move down yesterday, 17% drop in 10 year yields. i think we're seeing a bit of a rebound today. food prices, we are below 48 for the new york knicks. as you can see, brent is below 49. that is obviously weighing on stocks. in australia, that sector group is getting hit the most. oil and gas down 2%. a big move down on oil prices. iraq the latest in terms of news. record output weighing on the outlook for supply. there is a glut. obviously not helping the case for higher oil prices, as you can see on the asx 200. >> let's look at crude at the moment. thanks for that, david. let's look at what the impact is . following currency -- shrinking. hsbc says there is more on the way. >> we are expecting an across-the-board squeeze for crude sort of a snowballing with hsbc saying that well-funded public spending will fall. investment will fall. consumption will fall. all of that aff

the nikkei was down just about 3%.na not off as much as the nikkei but it isn't a surprise when we're coming into 2015 and people are really thinking hard about, are we in a deflationary period. are we going to see more stocks fall because we think 2015 might be real tough time for companies to make a profit. >> so, is this all about the falling price of oil? is it too much supply or demand just isn't strong enough? what's the balance here? >> when you see oil prices fall this fast as we saw toward the end of 2014 and coming into 2015 it does say that it's a lot of supply. we know that opec didn't cut back on its supply. we know the u.s. is putting a lot more oil out there. and so we the weak demand, i think comes later in 2015 if we do see the economy slowing, the u.s. obviously not slowing. in europe the euro zone slowing a great deal. you would sea the weak demand coming through, and that feeds into the future price of oil so it continues to fall. >> is there any indication of how much farther oil has to go before i

you see the nikkei pulling back more than 3 percentage points.hanghai composite is up .03%. other headlines for you, divers searching for the flight. they had to call off the search because of bad weather. they have identified sycamore bodies that have been pulled from the sea. that make a toll of 19 bodies identified so far. the kurdish fighters in syria report gaens the chonani as they battle isis. they say kurds control 80% of kobe ani. now casualties caused by isis are only part of the grim cycle of silence in syria. a new report says government attacks accounted for tens of thousands of injury last year. the observatory for human rights reports more than 6,500 syrians were killed by air strike. half of those happened in aleppo. the group reports 40,000 people were wounded across the country and many of them now permanently disabled. cnn has obtained footage right from the front heens. and all this week we're bringing you reports from the city. this shows how a battle could determine its feat. >> reporter: in the abandoned mansions a battle f

tokyo's nikkei was down 1.06% and mum way. bucked the trend and went up. the collar is trading in a narrow range against the win, mostly in the upper 149 level. meanwhile the euro is inching up against the greenback at 1.1303. >>> executives at toshiba are planning to scale back the least profitable arm of their electronics business. they say they plan to stop selling tvs overseas. the executives say they'll quit north america as early as march. they plan to license sales and use of their brand name to a taiwanese taiwanese firm and plan to exit other marketers against japan. they're coming up against first competition a competition from fierce rivals. toshiba recently scaled back their operations and said they will develop and continue selling tvs in japan and expect demand for 4k ultra high-definition. >>> unhappy about the slump include prices nippon steel says the route is hurting demand for oil for gas lines and pipes and book the $580 million loss for december. they are forecasting a deep change in pipes for brazil and downgraded the forecast for mar

tokyo's nikkei dropped 1%. hong kong's hang seng also fell 1%. here on wall street today investors are waiting for earnings reports from google and other investment companies. the dow dropped 195, the naz dan dropped 27 points. >>> amazon announced that its new service called work mail would deliver electronic mail to its company's inmail. it would put it in direct competition with microsoft. >>> godaddy pulled its ad from super bowl. it featured a cute puppy separated from its family. it caused an uproar, the owners were happy to see it only because they just sold it on a website. they say it was a joke about puppy mills. >> when the first white castle burger joint opened on the strip yesterday, it was mopped. some people lined up for two hours. white castle quickly sold out of its famous sliders. the 24-hour location had to close for two hours to restock. anne-marie? >> confession, i've never had one of their burgers. jill wagner at the new york stock exchange. thanks a lot, jill. >>> coming up on the "morning news," taking the high road, a new

the nikkei index opened lower, it is trading lower by 7/10 of a% from tuesday's close, below the 17,000evel. investors are selling shares of major exporters as the yen is stronger against major currencies. traders are buying the yen as they consider it a relatively safer asset. the dollar yen trading well below the 118 yen level at the moment. analysts say another reason for the weaker dollar is a lower yield on u.s. treasury notes. the yield on the ten-year treasury fell to the lowest level in three months. in other markets in the asia pacific region south korea's costb is trading higher by just about 3/10%, but in australia the benchmark index is down a tenth of a%. a bit of a mixed picture this morning. officials at the tokyo metropolitan government have decided to set up a hydrogen fund worth about $340 million and will be used to promote hydrogen as a source of energy. >>> the officials have set a goal of achieving what they call a hydrogen powered society ahead of the tokyo summer olympics in 2020. their plan includes the use of about 6,000 fuel cell vehicles and setting up 35 hyd

the nikkei is tracking overnight in europe. it opened 1.7% lower than monday's close. it is now down by just about 2.5%. the key index is below the key 17,000 level. analysts say a stronger yen is prompting the broad selloff, too. they're buying the yen because they see it as a safer bet when market volatility is high. the yen is trading well below 120 in the lower range and the euro is being sold on worries of greece. trading lower by 1.1%. australia's is trading lower by 1.79%. a negative start to your tuesday morning. >>> prime minister abe has vowed to revive japan's economies. he said he wants to show off their strength to the rest of the country and the world. government officials are working on a will that will help towns and villages specialty products. they say it will provide subsidies to local governments. they'll introduce the bill later this month. abe says he is ready to do whatever it takes to improve lagging, local economies. >> translator: our priority is to develop regional resources. the government will help communities introduce their specialty fund

the nikkei up by half a percent.nalysts say market players are finding comfort from crude oil prices that are holding steady. the euro remains weak. against the dollar, it slipped to a nine-year low. it is coming back a touch. and the dollar that is locked in the upper, mid to upper 119 yen range. trards are holding back from active bets before the release of u.s. payroll data laettner the day. let's look at what's happening in other markets in the asia pacific region. kospi trading higher by about three quarters of a percent. benchmark trading higher by more than nine tenths percent. we are seeing a pretty positive start to our friday morning. i'll leave you with a check on some other market figures. >>> japanese artists are giving kids a new way to have fun. they've built an interactive program that expands their imaginations. >> this museum is dedicated to science and technology. this special exhibition under way has generated a lot of buzz. it focuses on developing children's imagination by letting them interact

tokyo nikkei posted biggest gain in three weeks. shanghai was down 2.4%. investors booked profits from recent gains. >>> consumers in japan are price conscious when it comes to buying new cars. the mini car, the tonto was the best selling in the country last year. that's the first time for a mini to top the list in six years lg. officials from car industry groups say it ranked first with sales 34,000 units. the aqua hybrid came in second followed by honda fit. seven of top ten were mini vehicles. consumers are increasingly looking for lower cost following the consumption hike in april. they also site safety equipment such as braking systems on many victims. volkswagen golf was the top car for the 27th year in a row. foreign cars made nearly 9% of total cars sold in japan highest ratio on record. >>> the first annual sales decline in nearly nine years. the samsung business has faced competition from foreign rivals. they released preliminary figures for 2014 earnings and say sales stood down 10% from 2013. operating profit was down 32% to 22.7 billion. that'

tokyo's nikkei lost 3% falling to its lowest level in nearly ten months.g kong's hang seng dropped 1%. here on wall street the dow lost 321 points or nearly 2%. the s&p lost 37 points the biggest since october 9th and the nasdaq lost 74 points. >>> shares of internet giant jumped after filled with accusations about a joint venture or possible acquisition. aol stock was up 50% in after hours trading. bloomberg news reports that verizon is advertised in aol's advertising technology. >>> petco stopped selling chinese made dog and cat treats. the fda says it's investigating the treats after receiving nearly 5,000 complaints. but initial tests have not connected the treats to the illnesses. arrival firm petmart, says it plans to stop selling the treats by march. >>> and toyota is showing off quite a bit at the consumer electronics show. the carmaker is allowing its competitors to use its hydrogen fuel cell patents for free. toyota's hydrogen fuel mariah is due to be sold in the u.s. by october. toyota hopes free use of its patents will spur the development of h

the nikkei at 17,473 and the broader topix up 3/4 of a percent. the risk meant there was a rush back into stocks and key exporters gained as the dollar rose against the yen. so i was tracking a couple of the blue chip sector shares, just to name a few of the worldwide popular names there. but also we were tracking steel makers as well as energy related shares as the price of crude jumps 1.7% during u.s. trading hours. so showa, one of the biggest gainers. manufacturing data out of china during the morning session, and that was also seen as a positive. hsbc flash pmi data coming out. nidek shares were met with selling despite upgrading its forecast for the fiscal year down.7%. >> the dollar yen and the euroyureuro a big focus. the euro/yen marked a three-month low after mario draghi announced the new bond-buying measures. let's have a quick look at asian indexes as well. and following the manufacturing data out of china, the shanghai composite is trading higher as are the other key indexes. australia's index there up 1 .2%. so pretty positive so fa

the benchmark nikkei now trading lower by more than .4%. shares of komatsu and hitachi construction machinery are lower as they reported weak earnings reports yesterday. on to currencies. traders are becoming cautious as oil prices continue to fall. they're buying what they see as safer assets like the japanese yen. and the dollar and the euro. both lower against the japanese currency. looking at some other markets in the asia pacific region, south korea's kospi trading lower this morning, down by .4%. let's see what's happening in australia. the benchmark index down as well. just a touch, though. down a tenth of a percent. we're seeing a pretty negative start to this part of the world this morning. i'll keep track of markets for you throughout the day. for now i'll leave you with a check on other markets. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> every morning investors turn their attention to asia. the tokyo market leads the way. and markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that could change the course of an economy. >> to the companies at the forefront of

the nikkei had gone up just about a tenth of a percent in initial trading.t has now dipped into the negative, down just about a quarter percent. analysts say the focus for market players is shifting to details of the ecb's expected bond buying program. currency traders are jitery ahead of the key policy decision and that's contributing to some volatility. the euro briefly touched a one-week high against the dollar overnight. the single currency is right around 1.16 to the dollar. meanwhile, we are again seeing the dollar making a comeback against the yen. right now it is just below 1.18 but earlier above it. the bank of japan's policy announcement yesterday lacked a new stimulus. looking at some other markets in the asia pacific region, south korea's kospi up by a third percent. in australia the benchmark index is trading higher as well, up more than half a percent. a bit of a mixed picture in these parts of the world next thursday. we'll see where trading takes us next hour. i'll be back then. for now i'll leave you with a check of markets. ♪ ♪ >>> singapor

the nikkei was trading in and out of positive and negative territory. but let's look it the closing levels 17,262 down .10%. and the topix down almost a half percent. the mixed reception for the exporters as the dollar bounced up and down. so some of the big exporter names were trading lower. i was tracking the likes of bridgestone, canon as well as mazda. toyota trading lower as car makers says it expects slower sales this year due to sluggish sales domestically. toyota down .5%. sony was a focus but bucking the trend after it announced early retirement plans for some of its work force and investors took that as a positive that sony would restructure its business. sony up .2%. with all eyes on the ecb meeting a lot of eyes on currency trading. starting with the dollar/yen. 118.25-27. and it's been trading in a bit of a range here. slightly higher than earlier but not such a big move. the euro is a touch stronger against the dollar. briefly hitting a one-week high against the dollar. let's have a quick look at asian indexes as well. the shanghai composi

tokyo's nikkei is closed for the holiday. >>> there's a new gm recall over faulty ignition switches in2,000 trucks and suvs in the u.s. canada and mexico from the 2011/2012 model years are recovered. general motors says the ignition ka shut off shutting down engines and disabling airings. no accidents have been reported. they toyota and lexus dominated with 12 vehicles on the list. honda and subaru were the most -- were next with the most cars named top safety picks. >>> and a new recall of nut products. fisher brand is voluntarily recalling its brand of 8 ounce chopped wall nets and 8 ounce cookie pieces. it may be contaminated with pieces of salmonella. it involves stores in several states including arizona, colorado, and texas. anne-marie? >> jill wagner at the new york stock exchange. thanks a lot, jill. >>> a new jersey woman accuses the airlines of humiliateing her family. she says her daughter ivy said a united flight attendant insisted the little girl sit in a seat even though she can't sit up on alone. after a delay of nearly an hour she was belting across her father's lap. th

the nikkei opened down 0.4% tracking the overnight losses that they saw on wall street. but it has recovered some of the lost ground as bargain hunting kicked in. that's after the punch yesterday of more than 3%. the benchmark index is trading in a tight range this morning, going in and out of negative territory. analysts say investors are worried about weak oil prices and the political uncertainty in greece. now, currency traders are also worried and pushing the dollar lower against the yen. this morning in tokyo, the dollar is trading at the upper 118 yen range. it's traded as low as 118.04 in overseas markets. the yen is also higher against the euro. the single currency is at two-month lows against the yen. right now, right around the 141 yen range. investors are also moving their money into what they consider safer assets like government bonds. the yield on the ten-year japanese government bond posted a record low for a second straight day. dipping to 0.265% at one stage. in other markets in the asia-pacific region south korea's kospi down just a touch. let's see wha

nikkei added a fraction. hong kong's hang seng added a quarter. facebook after disappointing earnings sent the stocks lower, losing 291 on tuesday. the s&p was down 27. the nasdaq fell 90. apple set sales records for the holiday season thanks to blowout sales of the larger iphones over the three months. the company smashed its own records. the surge in iphone sales drove the company's revenue to more than $74 billion. that is up 30% from a year ago. the federal reserve issues its policy statement today after wrapping up its two-day meeting. investors are looking to the fed for signs of possible economic weakness that might cause a delay in interest hikes. the first rate increase is expected midyear. the fed is expected to repeat its promise to be patient. the obama administration is proposing a plan to open up the first ever oil drilling off the east coast of the united states. it would auction areas more than 50 miles off virginia north carolina and georgia to oil companies no later than 2021. the oil industry supports the proposal but environmen

tokyo's nikkei added half a percent. hong kong's hang song added a quarter percent. here only wall street they're getting ready for the shake shake ipo. the dow rose 225. s&p rose 19 and the nasdaq rose 25 points. claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 265,000 last week. that decline may have been exaggerated by the martin luther king holiday, but hiring appears to remain strong. >>> and oil prices fell again to almost a six-year low. the price for u.s. crude oil is at about $44 in new york. production is high with u.s. inventories at their highest levels ever recorded. the falling price is forcing oil companies to cut operating costs and jobs. anne-marie? >> good news for some terrible news for others. jill wagner at the new york city. thanks a lot, jill. >>> coming up on the "morning news," diagnosis for concussions concussions. we'll show you a new method to spot trauma and it's all in the eyes. this is the "cbs morning news." ♪ it takes passion... ♪ innovation... ♪ and most importantly ♪ an after-party. ♪ the 2015 corolla. toyota. let's

tokyo's nikkei lost a quarter percent. >>> for shoppers free shipping is a great deal but retailers could be struggling to turn a profit after offering free delivery for most item this holiday season. we'll learn more when companies report financial results for the fourth quarter. in the third quarter, 68% of online purchases had free delivery, up from 44% in 2013. >>> doctors are facing cuts in medicaid payments. under the affordable health care act doctors will see their fees reduced 43% on average. that is according to the urban institute. some doctors and consumer advocates warn that those reductions could make it more difficult for medicaid patients to get treatment. >>> the pilots at american airlines will vote on a proposed new contract. the union will accept it and put it through to a ratification vote. if improved the pilots get an immediate 23% pay raise. the ma-- if the majority reject it it will go to arbitration. >>> at the box office the "hobbit" was at the top again. it earned more than $21 million in ticket sales. in second place was "into the woods," and "unbroken" was th

japan's nikkei closed down 1.4%. the stronger yen hammered japanese experters like sony.australia's main index dropped to a one-month low as lower crude prices triggered selling of energy stocks. bucking the trend, though was shanghai closing at a 5.5 year high. investors there bought shares on hopes for more policy stimulus. moving on to currencies now the euro has recovered a bit against the dollar after briefly falling to an 11-year low. we're seeing euro dollar right now at roughly 1.1592. the surge in the safe haven swiss franc also triggered buying of the yen, which is also seeing as another relatively safe asset triggers though bought back the dollar when it hit the 115 yen level. we're seeing the pair now at roughly 116.61. well trade officials from japan, china and south korea are meeting in tokyo for a fresh round of talks on a three-way free trade agreement. the focus of the two-day gathering is to iron out differences on a framework for tariff discussion. chief negotiators kicked off the talks by tackling tariff elimination rates and time frame. they then plan

nikkei added a fraction. hong kong's hang seng added a quarter. facebook after disappointing earnings sent the stocks lower, losing 291 on tuesday. the s&p was down 27. the nasdaq fell 90. apple set sales records for the holiday season thanks to blowout sales of the larger iphones over the three months. the company smashed its own records. the surge in iphone sales drove the company's revenue to more than $74 billion. that is up 30% from a year ago. the federal reserve issues its policy statement today after wrapping up its two-day meeting. investors are looking to the fed for signs of possible economic weakness that might cause a delay in interest hikes. the first rate increase is expected midyear. the fed is expected to repeat its promise to be patient. the obama administration is proposing a plan to open up the first ever oil drilling off the east coast of the united states. it would auction areas more than 50 miles off virginia north carolina and georgia to oil companies no later than 2021. the oil industry supports the proposal but environmen

the nikkei average opened 1% higher, regaining the 17,000 threshold. currently up 1.1% building on those initial gains. now, analysts say hopes for further stimulus by the european central bank are supporting market sentiment, too. but currency traders are pulling down the euro on speculation the ecb may soon take action to avert deflation. data released wednesday shows inflation for the eurozone turned negative last month. against the dollar the single currency dipped to a 9-year low overnight. it is still at the 1.18 level in tokyo trading. and the dollar that is pulling back from tuesday's lows when it was at the lower 1.18 yen range. traders are buying the dollar following that strong u.s. jobs data. the dollar against the yen currently in the mid to -- the lower to mid 119 yen range. looking at some other markets in the asia pacific region, south korea's kospi trading higher. in australia, the benchmark index is trading higher as well. up more than a third percent. so pretty positive picture in the asia pacific so far this morning. we'll track all

the nikkei average trading higher by more than 1.1% this morning. now, market players are eagerly waiting for china's gdp numbers, which is due out in less than an hour. now, on currencies the dollar remains firm at the higher 117-yen level, bouncing back from the lower 116 range we saw last friday. people who track currencies say traders are now less risk averse so they're selling safer assets like the yen. the euro is regaining? ground after hitting an 11-year low last week. it was below 1.15 against the dollar last friday. it is now edging closer to about the 1.16 level. and in other markets in the asia pacific region south crease kospi is trading higher by more than a third percent, above that 1,900 line. let's see what's happening in australia. the benchmark index there. trading lower by just about a quarter percent. so we will see where china takes us today. and i'll have their latest gdp figures for you next hour. for now i'll leave you with a check on other markets. ♪ ♪ >>> pope francis wrapped up a five-day visit to the philippines on monda

turning to the asia pacific region in tokyo the benchmark nikkei index closed up 1.7% 17,768. market players are betting on good news and earnings reports here. they're expecting japanese exporters to benefit from the weaker yen, and importers to reap a windfall from the slide in oil prices. well, in terms of other markets in sydney the benchmark index there was up more than 0.8% 5,547. investors pretty much brushing off initial fears that the leftist victory in greece would produce turmoil in the eurozone. shanghai's composite index was down 0.9%. the hang seng losing 0.4%. analysts say both of them were dragged down by financial and property shares. they say investors are concerned about the effects of the cooling chinese economy on profits. well in terms of currencies traders have been buying back the euro against the dollar. the pair now at roughly 1.1276. investors have their eyes on the outcome of the u.s. fed's first policy meeting of the year for any clues on the timing of a rate hike. meanwhile the dollar is in a pretty narrow range against the yen at roughly 118.07.