i'm nina del santos in cnn london. >>> i'm andrew stevens at cnn hong kong. na and i will be back joined by ali velshi. we'll be looking at the impact of the ever rising gas prices on the economy and the u.s. indeed around the world the next few days. join us, wbt, for more on that. we have the opening bell from wall street in a few hours from now. bye. ask me. [ male announcer ] even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better. [ male announcer ] ...why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america? it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning. [ male announcer ] did you know there's a tempur-pedic for everybody? tempur-pedic beds now come in soft, firm, and everything in between. ask me how i don't wake up anymore when he comes to bed. [ male announcer ] these are real tempur-pedic owners. ask someone you know. check out twitter or your friends on fa

. >>> good morning from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> and from cnn hong kong, this is "world business today." the top stories on wednesday, january 8th. >>> ratings agency s&p downgrades sony after a triple whammy of economic challenges. the question is are their exporters now losing out to their south korean rivals? >>> a license to print money. why more american towns are minting their own currencies. >>> and europe's football clubs used to attract all the top talent in international football, but as brazil's economy outperforms europe's, more players, it seems now, are staying at home. >>> first up, though, investors continue to keep a close eye on events in greece, where political leaders are still working out a rescue deal with their creditors. amid the current uncertainty, there's still some good news there coming out of germany. this is the eurozone and europe's largest economy. this powerhouse has just posted record export figures for the year 2011, sending more than 1 trillion euros a year abroad. let's have a look how that's affecting the markets abroad. here in europe, we'r