now, 2 nikkei ended at a six-month high on monday. with a relatively weaker yen, we may see further gains today. we'll see if that continues. there were some major events this week that may move further back. there still are concerns with policies to combat deflation may be running into some head winds. analysts are debating with the increase and con suchgs tax rate in april is really playing through in domestic demand. case in point was nissan's rate. the car maker said it's unit sales in japan were down 0.5% from the first quarter a year earlier. quite a lot to take if for investors. a lot there for investors to take in: in deed, the doll har has gained just a touch. it was sold right after pending home sales in the u.s. came after unexpectedly negative. it was bought back. investors want to see the case on the home price index latser today. many in the market are holding back for many major moves, though, until the federal policy meeting wraps up on wednesday. the euro remains voler inble which may be imposed against russia. one of

now, the nikkei did end lower and the dollar yen is really stuck in a bit of a tight range given the lingering of concerns in the gaza and ukraine. now, that said, some foz positives can be taken from some of the corporate earnings out of the use. that will be a big focus on the share prices of this morning and early of reporting after the markets closed. a lot of attention of major exports here. a lot of analysts want to see if the major policies are fittering through. one of the key steps in prime minister's abe's policies have been weakening through the yen. >> speaking of exporters, ramin, currency level is always a focus here. particularly of dollar yen. where's the pair trading now? >> exactly. let's have a look at that key pairing right now. 101.53-55. i can tell you later today that the u.s. is going to be the weakly jobless claims data. that may be a bit of a guide. now, the euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar. so far, on wednesday, all eyes are going to be on the pmi data across euro zone. other major currencies, i have to say, here, the reserve bank of new zea

tokyo's nikkei average ended 1% lower, 15,215, after falling as much as 1.7% during the day. a stronger yen pushed down a wide range of shares, including export-related issues. and in malaysia, the key index there seeing declines today of 0.5%. 1,872. shares of malaysian airlines plunged nearly 16% at one stage. the passenger jet crash put more pressure on the firm after one of its planes went missing earlier this year. china's shanghai composite rose nearly 0.2%, 2,059. shares of property developers were among the major gainers. investors were hopeful that local governments may further ease controls over house-buying, given the recent decline in home prices. >>> finance leaders in south korea are trying to put their economy back on track. they're wrestling with a strong currency after sluggish consumer spending. new finance minister chae queue kwon has made hit his mission t turn things around. we asked him how he expects the finance minister will be tackling these issues. kim teaches economics. >> korea's consumer spending sharply dropped after the ferry disaster in april.

and tokyo's nikkei average did end the day lower, down .1%. finishing at 15,328. many market players stayed on the sidelines a as they focus on upcoming earnings results. in australia the main index saw a gain of .6%. finished at 5,576. that's a level that we haven't seen since june 2008. mining shares like bhp billiton rose, the company said it mined a record amount of iron ore. and in hong kong, the hang seng index saw gains as well of .8%. 23, 971. shares of property developers continue to gain ground. investors are speculating that local governments in china may ease their restrictions on home purchases. >>> well tv shipments across japan rose in june for the first time in four months. the world cup soccer tournament in brazil spurred demand for large-screen units. industry association officials say tv makers shipped 456,000 units in the domestic market last month. that's up 6.6% from a year earlier. the tv firms reduced production as they had expected sales to fall after the consumption tax hike in april. the association officials say the impact from the high

asian markets ended higher. tokyo's nikkei added nearly 1%. ng's hang seng gained half a percent. you'll be hearing to what fed chair janet yellen says when she appears before congress. the dow ended down for the week at 16 rkds 643 and the nasdaq ended down. >>> citigroup is expected to announce a deal today to pay the justice department $7 billion to settle an investigation into the bank's shoddy mortgage-backed investments. citigroup argued that it sold only a small number of troubled mortgage-backed securities compared to other banks. they're making stops to a large number of people who shouldn't be getting any. they reported paying as much as $100 billion down from $121 billion in 2010. some are the results of fraud or clerical errors. >>> and gasoline prices have declined somewhat in the last three weeks. the lunldburg survey which tracks gas prices says the average is down 4 cents to $3.67 nationwide. marlie? >> jill wagner at the new york stock exchange. jill, thanks so much. >>> a girl who survived a shooting attack that left six of he

the shanghai composite ended up for two trading sessions. here in tokyo the nikkei seeing gains fipshing at 15,296. some brought back recent decliners but trading was relatively light. in china climbed nearly 1% and finished at 2,066. many auto shares were bought. singapore's benchmark finishing lower. that was mainly because of slower growth in the production of electronics and cars. >>> japanese authorities want mobile phone carriers to ease the grip on the market and would like to do away with something called sim lock making it difficult for customers to switch subscribers. smart phones are tethered to a single carrier. users in japan have to buy a new phone. officials at the communications ministry asked a panel of experts to look at the issue and recommended they be scrapped saying the locks are one reason smart phones are among the highest. the average consumer pays right around $200 a month. ministry officials are expected to finalize a change by the end of the year. >>> japan's biggest business organization is urging member companies to appoint more women a

nikkei is closed. wall street's stocks began the week higher. the dow ended up 123 points on friday. began gained 86 points. r.j. reynolds the largest cigarette manufacturer says it will appeal a damage award by a florida jury. the company which makes brands like kool, camel, winston, and pall mall, says the settlement was grossly excessive. a widow of a man who died from lung cancer filed the lawsuit. "the new york times" found that many of those loans are made through used car dealers working with some of the nation's biggest banks and private equity firms. in some situations interest rates can exceed 23% offer pushing vulnerable borrowers into debt. the price is $3.36 per gallon which is a little lower. the gas station is a taxpayer swipe at the free market. >>> and "dawn of the planet of the apes" was number one at the weekend box office for a second consecutive week. the science fiction sequel rakes in $36 million in ticket sales. "the purge: an archie," a horror film was second and fire rescue and plains was third. >> straight ahead, your monday morning weather, and in sports r

nikkei is closed. wall street's stocks began the week higher. the dow ended up 123 points on friday.daq gained 68 points. >>> r.j. reynolds, the nation's second largest cigarette manufacturer, says it will appeal a damage award by a florida jury. the company which makes brands like kool, camel, winston, and pall mall said the award was grossly excessive. a widow of a man who died from lung cancer filed the lawsuit. >>> subprime auto loans with their hire rates and steady profits are fueling a bonanza for many investors. "the new york times" found that many of those loans are made through used car dealers working with some of the nation's biggest banks and private equity firms. in some instances interest rates can exceed 23%, often pushing vulnerable borrowers into debt. >>> somerset, kentucky, has what appears to be the only gas station run by a municipal government. the price is $3.36 per gallon which is a little lower than nearby markets. the gas station is a taxpayer swipe at the free market. >>> and "dawn of the planet of the apes" was number one at the weekend box office for a s

nikkei is down over 200 points. and the broader topix down by 1.4%. japanese shares ended thursday pretty much flat without any clear indication. let me just go through a few of them. stocks began running into heavy selling in europe. we also saw moscow's benchmark index shedding almost 4%. gold is usually an asset that investors pile into. the price has jumped. and the yield on the u.s. 10-year treasury note fell below 2 1/2% nearing the lows for the year. quite a clear cut reaction. >> ramin, it looks like investors are getting out of the dollar. what do you think of that? >> the dollar-yen pair is a very big focus. the dollar-yen i'm talking about. investors selling to buy the yen. 101. 101.18-to 21. and the sharp drop in the yield on the u.s. treasury noets, which i just touched on, also weighing on the dollar. and worse-than-forecast new housing numbers. the yen rose to a five-month high against the euro, as well. 136.76-87 right now. political extents, u.s. banks such as morgan stanley reported solid profits. still, investors are going to be waiting for more earnest

they try to usher in more higher end smartphones. the nikkei 225, we did see some disappointing data. retail sales contracting by 1.6%. the market was looking for expansion. so that told us that we are still seeing the lingering of that consumption tax increase. incidentally, just got a note from hsbc saying that is probably going to remain sluggish in terms of retail sales for the third quarter, which means that we could see some fiscal stimulus from the government if those numbers continue to disappoint. so watch out for that. elsewhere, it's a fairley positive session all in all. you see the market and for bangkok, but i would say for the rest of the week, julia, these markets are not going to be running away in terms of momentum to the upside. we want to see what the fomc says, of course, and that payroll at the end of the week. back to you now. >> and don't forget, earnings, sri, over the u.s. and europe, plenty for investors to think on. thank you so much for that. paul, good morning. >> good morning to you. >> a couple of interesting poi

nikkei is currently down. the shanghai composite finished higher. with less than an hour to go until the end of trade.europe kicked off the new trading day at the top of the hour. right now it's a mixed picture. liberia is introducing a painful new measure to control the ebola outbreak sweeping through parts of west africa. the government there has closed schools, shut down markets and put all non-essential staff on leave. remember, this outbreak is the deadliest on record. according to the world health organization, 672 people have decide from the disease since april. 319 in guinea, 224 in sierra leone and 129 in liberia. we'll explain why places as far as as hong kong are so concerned. >> people are dead with the ebola. >> the doctor has saved more than 100 patients from ebola, but he became another victim of the virus on tuesday. hailed as a national hero in sierra leone, he's just one of dozens of health workers in west africa who have died on the front lines, fighting the deadly disease. globally concern over ebola is spreading even faster than the virus itself. >> well, obviously, this is a thre

ended higher. but they say tokyo investors are weaker than forecast because of japan machinery orders. the nikkei currently in negative territory. but currency traders sold the dollar. right now the dollar against the yen is fetching 101.53-55. and the euro is at a one-week high against the dollar. the kospi is trading higher. in china, shanghai's key index is in positive territory. in hong kong we're seeing the hang seng also up. that's also up by just about .5%. >>> u.s. and chinese officials have sat down together to share ideas about security and trade and spying. but they don't see eye to eye. they are arguing about the chinese approach to controlling the chinese currency, the yuan. the officials are meeting for a strategic and economic dialogue. u.s. treasury secretary, jack lew is urging the chinese to be more flexible with their currency policy. >> we support china's effort. to allow the market to play a more decisive role in the economy. moving to a market determined exchange rate will be a crucial step. >> the americans complain the chinese are keeping the value of the currency low to m

ended the day for more, let's go to ramin who's standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. good mourning, ramin. how are investor ins tokyo reacting? >> have a look at how the nikkei is opening here. up 0.7%. over a hundred points, i can tell y the broader topics over 1 e 300. investors have been pleasantly it would actually hurt some of the sales figures for corporate earnings, but that really hasn't necessary lid and the older sector has shown pretty strong results, as well, after solid numbers from the likes of nissan and honda. also, mitsubishi reported on wednesday record profi. one automaker left, toyota will be watching out for that but pretty solid results, so far, from the autoindustry. >> and the stronger dollar, that should also help porters. >> right noud, 1202.83-85. it's paired back a little bit after rising to its highest level in three month still, much higher than at the start of th but the rise in u.s. bond yields reflects that theory, the 10-year treasury rose above 2.5%. you can see that on the screen right now, that level for the first time in a . the recovery in the u.s. is on a solid footing. now, asian markets will, of course, also be a fo

nikkei was down .3%, 15,284. investors a bit cautious as they refrained from active buying ahead of corporate earnings from major companies. and in south korea, shares ended in the negative, the country's economy grew .6% in the second quarter. that's the slowest growth rate in more than a year. >>> that dispute between argentina and u.s. creditors continues as a deadline to strike a settlement draws closer. argentina risks its second default in 13 years unless it negotiates a deal with the bond holders by wednesday next week. argentine president insists her country will not go into default. she says buenos aires has been paying its debts on time to creditors who reduce to debt obligations from the 2001 default. the u.s. supreme court ruled last month argentina cannot pay other investors unless it pays off the bond holders who are demanding full repayment. argentina rejects the order since those creditors refuse to accept reduced payments. negotiators from both sides are expected to meet in new york later on thursda >>> a poll shows that a third of japanese companies have been struggling to secure enough workers. the survey by a private research firm exam

ended the morning session. how is it going? up by zeroei 225 .5%. a little bit of strength but not affecting the exporters. 0.5%. nikkei 225 up by mitsubishi, heavy rising on a reported that hit bocce ceo -- negoti ceo is closer to iations. stock,ur eye on this moving lower but and lines with estimates. panasonic is up 0.4%. a $1uld generate over billion in terms of revenue. the financials. back shares.y i want to give you a quick snapshot of the yen. rising modestly if you compare it to yesterday -- friday rather. up toading level and speed on what is happening with korean won. we are seeing currencies moving across the region and one stock i want to bring to you in the korean market very quickly. as i was looking through this, tesco, look at this. utilities, 5% gain. i was looking at headlines out of mongolia, the power plant. it is all i have at the moment. up 10%. tepco, big move for that company. >> let us check on some of the stores. the united nations security council will meet and 45 minutes for an unconditional cease fire. hamas said it will stop fire rockets ahead of ramadan. as the cabinet met, rockets were

end the region and finish out the day. record closures on wall street boosting market sentiment. sydney and hong kong posted a solid gain of more than 1%. nikkei climbed to a one-week closing high. added .3% today, 15,369. that's a gain for a third consecutive session though the buying momentum was capped by profit taking on recent gains. in australia the main index there seeing gains of nearly 1.5%. 5,455. investors bought back shares after the index dropped on tuesday to a level not seen since mid-april. had a pretty wide range of shares being bought today. mining shares led the advance. in hong kong the hang seng index gaining as well nearly 1.5%. finished at 23,549, marking this year's closing high. investors returned from tuesday's holiday and played a bit of catchup. they digested the latest data on chinese factory activity, which is showing a pickup. >>> continued tensions in iraq are pushing up gasoline prices in japan. prices at the pump rose for a tenth straight week. officials at the oil information center say the average retail price per liter of regular gasoline as of monday was 168.4 yen. it was up one yen from the previous week.

in the spring by being long in the nikkei or short at a time when neither went the expected way and more global and tudor global found themselves down late rt in the endne some of the more key players found themselves on par with the markets, which is to say better than their peers. green light capital was up 37% with stocks like the williams companies and sun edison and microron rntively reping them get there. greenview were up and pershing square manager mil bill ackman is up about 25% on allergan and on fames like canadian pacific and burger king him we should hear more in 22 weeks, melissa, but i'm curious to hear directional outlooks as we get higher to interest rates and the volatility kicks in again as it did today. >> kate, i guess i would be wondering, larry rob bins has been a particular winner over the next couple of years. it looks like he is bouncing out, is flex tronnic as part of something bigger? are there a lot more technology companies at glen view or is this a more one off situation? >> that's a good question. like you noted, he has done particularly well. his funds were the best performers. i believe his smaller more levord funds w

the nikkei did come off from a five-month high, though, earlier on in the session. so we endedl in positive territory. but just moderate gains at the close. it was up by about 0.3%. there was a lot of foreign buying there, very much in evidence, especially with the blue chip names like toyota. elsewhere, if you look at the broader sage, asia pacific index was at a three-year high. so it's really going to be the activity out of the u.s. on the basis side that's going to keep feeding the bulls and feeding the momentum and the risk appetite out here in asia. we're looking stateside for the lead, so all eyes, of course, on the nonfarm payrolls. you and i talked about this earlier, julia. if we do see an upside surprise, that may be the proverbial good news being bad for the markets. the markets interpretation is that could hasten the first rate hike. we could see a little bit of a knock for the fed induced liquidity rally on the global market and that could affect us over here, as well. so all eyes really on the payrolls data. back to you now, julia. >> sri, thanks for that. let's

nikkei 225.he it surged more than 1% up, with futures in chicago pointing to a lower open, after the s&p 500 ended last week await it started. if you markets in the region today to tell you about. indonesia, malaysia, and singapore are shot for -- shut for eid. chief asiak with the economist after this short break. ♪ >> twitter, tesla, and berkshire hathaway are among the companies reporting results. yang yang looks at what else will be moving the markets. >> earnings are not the only thing investors will be watching. they're expected new indicators of u.s. economic health, data out tuesday. wage are smaller american gains, while u.s. consumer confidence probably increased in july to the highest level in more than six years. we have two big releases to watch on wednesday. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect the economy expanded at about a 3% annualized rate in the second quarter. afternoon, the american market committee will release its national policy statement, and spark debate on when the federal reserve might release its first benchmark increase since 2006. economists surveyed by bloomberg