. >>> for analysis of toyota's latest earnings, our business reporter, yonggi kang, has more. >> i think it explores the tough situation it's in now. toyota like other carmaker was hit by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami that caused disruptions as factories. now the company was in the process of recovering from the march disaster, but the strong yen put more pressure on its business. what made it even worse was flooding in thailand. this is what the company official had to say. >> translator: we managed to improve our profitability and save about $640 million during the six months, but this was offset by the yen's appreciation. we regret to say we ended up with a loss of $418 million. >>> japanese automakers were hit across the board by the strong yen and flooding in thailand, but of the three top automaker s in japan, toyota was the only one that posted an operating loss for the first half of this fiscal year. nissan, on the other hand, raised its full year profit forecast last week. now analysts say the difference comes from toyota's dependence on domestic production. nissan is pr

. >>> time now for business news with yonggi kang. one of europe's safest regions is now being affected by the region's debt problems. >> that's right, catherine. all eyes continue to be on europe. and we are starting to see the impact on german bonds. germany failed to get sufficient demand for it ten-year government bonds offered for sale on wednesday. it's a sign that investors are avoiding even german sovereign debt, which has been considered relatively sound as the european debt crisis deepens. the german government planned to raise about $8 billion in an auction of newly issued bond, however the bids amounted to only about $5.2 billion. germany has had a demand shortfall in the past but not to this extent. the yield on the benchmark ten-year german government bond is at 2.1%. that's up 7 bases points from tuesday. on the european bond market overall selling was wide spread wednesday. the yield on the italian ten-year issue at one stage went above 7%, a level that will make it difficult for the country to rebuild it finances on i