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ai uchida at the business desk for that story. >> europe's way out of the credit crisis took a bleak turn when standard & poor's downgraded the efsf. s&p is the same agency that cut the ratings of nine euro zone nations on friday. the rating for the efsf was lowered by one notch from the highest aaa rating to aaplus. the funds are intended to assist euro zone member countries that are unable to procure financing on their own. france and austria are among the six countries backing the bonds issued by the bailout fund. s&p last friday stripped these two countries of their prized aaa ratings and downgraded several other nations including spain, italy and portugal. the one notch rating cuts for france and austria meant lower reliability of efsf debts prompting the ratings agency to downgrade the bailout fund. >>> the european union blasted s&p's decision to downgrade the nine euro zone country. >> it is inconsistent on substance and it's very odd farce the timing is concerned. >> the spokesperson also said the eu plans to toughen regulations on ratings agencies. he called for disclosure

ai uchida from the business team with those details. >> japan posted its first trade deficit in over 30 years in all of 2011. this is due to a plunge in exports following the earthquake and nuclear accident last march. the finance ministry said on wednesday that the deficit came to about $32 billion. this marks the first annual negative trade balance since 1980. exports fell 2.7% in yen terms last year as the march quake and tsunami disrupted parts supplies lowering the shipments of cars and other goods. meanwhile, imports surged 12% after a nuclear plant accident boosted demand for liquefied natural gas in order to power thermal generators. attention is now on whether the strong yen and europe's credit crisis will depress japan's export sector further. the international monetary fund has downgraded its outlook for this year's world economic growth. it says global financial conditions have deteriorated and risks have escalated. the imf released its growth forecast to revise its growth forecast, that is, to 3.3%, down 0.7 percentage point from its october global forecast. they say the

. >>> once again, ai uchida joins us with the outcome of the eu summit. >> they are trying to get tougher on themselves with budgets and how much they spend. the summit yesterday appears to be one step forward in this direction. >> translator: today we have come to agree on a new fiscal treaty. >> the agreement came at their first summit of the year in brussels, belgium. 25 of the eu's 27 countries agreed to the fiscal compact. it would impose penalties on members whose deficits exceed 0.5% of gdp. only britain and the czech republic refused to back the new pact. the leaders also agreed to launch a permanent bailout fund in july one year earlier than planned. >> we recognize that financial stability is in itself not enough to get out of the economic crisis. we must do more, in particular on economic growth. >> the eu leaders also urged greece to conclude negotiations private bondholders to restructure its debt. if no deal is reached, greece could default. germany proposed before the summit opened that greece surrender control of its budget and fiscal authority to outside institutions in t

ai uchida has the latest. >> strong demand in the european markets on thursday. yields of italian and spanish government bonds fell following their successful auctions, spain sold twice its original target. the yield for italy's ten-year bond fell to around 6 1/2%. this was from about 7%, a level that makes it difficult for the nation to rebuild its public finances on its own. the yield of spain's ten-year bond dropped to about 5.1%. sources say that commercial banks bought these government bonds as ample funds from three-year loans provided by the european central bank last month are being put to effective use. however, concerns over the european debt crisis do remain. some investors expect that the credit ratings for each euro zone nation may be downgraded. uncertainties remain into whether expansion will be enough to curb market jitters. >>> the eu is ruling hungary about penalties for concerns that a widening rift could cast a shadow of the country's financial aid. hungary is moving to centralize policy making authority to the government. at the end of last m

ai uchida from the business team has more. >> toyota has specifically thailand in mind, catherine. the flood disaster there has done nothing to scare the automaker off of the country. toyota motors says it will invest about $260 million in to a new plant there. the japanese automaker is set on winning the markets of emerging countries in asia. toyota plans to build the new plant at its facility outside bangkok. the complex was not affected by the october floods. toyota also plans to resume production line at an assembly plant of a group firm by the end of this year. the new moves will boost toyota's annual production capacity in thailand by more than 100,000 units to 760,000 units. thailand is southeast asia's largest automobile market, although automakers suffered in the floods, new cars in the country are expected to top 1 million units for the first time this year. major u.s. banks posted mixed earnings for the october to december period. a higher exposure to europe has left many financial organizations with lower profits. citigroup said on tuesday that its net profit for the pr

ai uchida from the business desk with more on that >> the international monetary fund is saying it will ask its member nations, member countries for another $500 billion, and that's to boost its bailout funds. the imf said on wednesday that the injection will allow it to provide about $1 trillion in loans over the next few years. recently the european union had pledged about $200 billion to the imf. the organization hopes to boost the funds available for any market contingencies as the euro debt crisis grows and as the outlook for the world economy may get worse. attention is now on whether japan and emerging economies, including china, will contribute. the g-20 financial ministers and central bank governors are expected to discuss the imf move at a meeting in mexico in late february. >>> the u.s. treasury department said on wednesday that the imf can play an important role in europe, but only as a supplement to the region's own efforts. it also said that the u.s. had told its international partners that it has no intention of seeking extra resources for the imf. >>> france has unveiled

ai uchida from the business team joins us with that story. >> the eu's approval of embargo against iranian oil is affecting markets. crude oil soared in new york on monday brief lig li topping $100 a barrel. buy orders gain momentum on the benchmark wti crude futures monday night on rising concerns that the eu's move will raise tensions over the strait of hormuz. key oil futures had dropped to the $75 per barrel in october after credit problems damped investors risk ap tut. but demand would rise on the back of a positive u.s. economic outlook. >>> the united states is stepping up sanctions against iran over its nick lar program. the u.s. treasury has added the country's third largest bank to a list of sanctions on suspicion of helping to spread nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction. the treasury department announced on monday that it will now prohibit u.s. firms from conducting business with iran's bank tejerat as well as its subsidiary trade capital bank. the department says bank tejarat is assisting in obtaining uranium needed for nuclear development. it says the bank is pro

ai uchida with the latest cpi numbers. >> just released this morning. japan's consumer prices in december fell for a third consecutive month. the internal affairs ministry said the consumer price index was down 0.1% from a year ago. it does not reflect volatile fresh food prices. a drop in the price of durable goods including televisions and refrigerators pushed the index down. cigarette prices were so longer pushing up the index because it's been a year since a tax hike on tobacco was introduced. meanwhile, the cpi in 2011 fell by 0.3% when compared to the previous year. this marks the third straight year of declines. japanese appliancemaker nec says it will cut 10,000 jobs globally as it forecasts a full year loss. that's about 10% of the total workforce. nec says the company's business results for the fiscal year through march will plunge to show a loss of about $1.3 billion. the previous estimate was a profit of $193 million. the company expects a loss because sales suffered in the aftermath of the recent thai floods forcing its local plant to shut

for that ai uchida joins us from the business team. ai, good morning. >> good morning, catherine. well, as for wall street, the dow jones industrial average did continue its winning streak for a second trading day. its winning streak so far this year, gaining for a second trading day in a rope. so let's see how stocks here are trading. for that we do go to ramin mellegard who's at the tokyo stock exchange. looks like auto sales figures in the u.s. helped boost sentiment over there. how's that playing into tokyo trading? >> yeah, very interesting point there. good morning to you, ai. the u.s. numbers for awl auguto there showing positive gains for the big three, ford, chrysler, and general motors. somewhat negative picture for japan's automakers after being severely hampered by the march 11th disaster last year and also the flooding in thailand, which affected the sales numbers for honda and toyota. but before i get to that let's have a look at the opening levels here for the nikkei and the topix. ugh see both there a little lower in the first few minutes of trading thursday mornin