ai uchida has more. >> indeed, a tense day for the company and the investors. scandal hit japanese optical equipment maker olympus. they will release the first half earnings report after a one month delay. tokyo stock exchange continues investigating whether its loss coverup will call for de-listing. the company has been in turmoil after they revealed they hid investment losses over the years. they will release april to september after they revise statements for the past five years. two auditors approved that the report is correct. sources say the capital will decrease drastically, after including maximum loss of 135 billion yen in the books. for now, the firm's debts won't significantly exceed assets. olympus is expected to set for overhaul, including change in top management and rebuilding of its business with a possible tieup with other firms. >>> the u.s. central bank says it will maintain its monetary policy. that includes keeping a key interest rate near zero through mid 2013. the federal reserve announced its decision after a policy meeting tuesday. in a

ai uchida from the business desk joins me now their policy decisions. so ai, what are the chances of them doing something like that? >> catherine, after what we saw overnight looks like the chances of that is pretty slim, and that's because european central bank preside mario draghi appears cautious about buying more of the region's government bonds. draghi told reporters on thursday that he's surprised by the market's speculation that the ecb may increase its bond purchases. market participants are reportedly concerned that the european debt woes may engulf italy and that europe's bailout fund may run short of money to buy up government bonds. draghi stopped short of declaring that the central bank would step up sovereign bond buying when their prices decline. >> i was kind of surprised by the implicit meaning that was given by not all of the press, but some, to that other elements will follow. >>en at same day ecb policymakers decided to cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, that brings it down to 1%. the move was intended to preven

ai uchida with more. >> we are seeing a gloomy picture for large manufacturers. the bank of japan's latest tankan survey showed that it turned negative for the first time in six months. the strong yen and eopean debt problems are the main factors for the downturn. the headline index stood at minus 4 points. that's down 6 points from the previous survey in september. the fall is due to the continued strong yen that's squeezing exporters' earnings. and as well the global economic slowdown caused by the euro zone debt crisis. the recent flooding in thailand also affected makers' production and exports. the outlook for business conditions three months ahead worsened further to minus 5 indicating that firms are cautious. >>> tokyo share prices are falling this thursday morning following an overnight decline in new york. the nikkei average is now at 8,409. that's down over 100 points. a loss of 1.3%. the topix is also trading lower by 1.1%. currently at 728. sources say that stocks are under selling pressure as worries over european debt deepen following a surge in ita

ai uchida join us with the latest. >> what these japanese government officials are going to be doing is expand spending in areas that are deemed important for the country's future growth. the special allocation will be boosted to nearly $13 billion. and that's up from the original $9 billion. in drawing up the budget for next fiscal year, the government set aside a special portion to encourage investment in growth areas. these include new energy and human resource development. items under this arrangement include space and ocean programs. $53 million will be spent to bolster japan's own gps satellite system while $230 million will be allocated for the development of marine resources including rare earth on the ocean bed. $390 million are being set aside to help japanese firms expand overseas in infrastructure and energy development. nearly $620 million are also being earmarked to promote education and research at universities. >>> the european central bank has lent euro zone commercial banks a record amount of money to cope with the region's problems. this is much bigger than what th

ai uchida with more on that. ai, good morning. >> good morning, catherine. down indeed. that's the first time since june. this just coming in to us. the bank of japan's closely watched tankan quarterly survey says business sentiment among major manufacturers turned negative for the first time in six months. the index stood at minus four points. the central bank says the downturn in confidence reflects the impact of the strong yen and global economic slowdown stemming from the european debt crisis. once again, the tankan down at four points. now let's get a check on the markets. the dow jones industrial average ended lower for the third day in a row as jitters over eurozone debts and a drop in commodity prices weighed on global markets. to see how things are starting here in tokyo this thursday morning we're going to go to ramin mellegard, who is at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, lots of negatives driving the markets down overnight, and we've just had the tankan business survey out in japan. how are markets opening over there? >> very good morning to you, ai. as you men