i'm christine tan. looking at asian markets, both markets are giving up early gains to end the week lower. >> i'm beckimy had an in europe. energy stocks are leading if west. >> and i'm brian shactman in the u.s. this friday you a item day will be anything but quiet. investors get results from general electric and bank of america. hello and welcome to cnbc's "worldwide exchange." let's take a look at the ftse cnbc global 300 index. it's just about national for the day. let's take a check on the europon bourses and see if there's any volatility there. it's kind of a broadly positive session across europe. the ftse 100 is strong by about 0.7%. gains of about 0.6% in germany. the cac, a little weak, but still managing gains almost 7% higher for the swiss markets, too. so green across europe so far. the dollar is strengthening today against the yen. euro/dollar, 1.4903. sterling is strengthening against the dollar. we have a little bit of sterling strength coming through. 1.6312 is where we currently stand there. euro/sterling, 0.9134. christine, how is it looking across asia? >> hi, rebecca. here in asia, some profit taking margins are coming to profit taking. this is how the picture is looking at the end of the week. the nikkei 225, for instance, this particular managing to move up. the kospi moving down more than 1% because of the strength in the south korean currency. that seems to be weighing and that speculation rate in south korea is keeping the kospi under water. the hang seng is down 0.3%. the shanghai market is down the 1% and the aussie market is down 0.5%. most of these markets are giving up some of the gains succumbing to profit taking at the end of the session. this is how the crude oil picture is looking. we had the weak dollar helping the oil price firm up, $77.91, up 33 cents. right now, brent is trading higher, as well. oil continues to climb up 16 cents, $76.39 a barrel. brian, it's a friday. how are futures looking today? >> the u.s. equity market yesterday looks like it was going to be a down day on goldman sachs, extremely strong. but it ended up finishing relatively strong in the dow. the nas sdak is positive by about 2 points and the s&p 500 negative by less than a point. of course, ibm, very strong numbers, but a bit of a sell-off maybe on the decrease in their services contract. they did up their guidance. google, what can you tell us can you say? profits up 27%, a rebound in the ad market. it's incredible what some of these great companies can do quarter after quarter, even in the face of a serious recession. take a quick look at your treasury market. we get bank of america and ge today. 3.32% is your ten-year on the bund, your 10-year u.s. notoriety now is at 3.47%. in a two-day span, we're up about 2 basis points in the yield from this point yesterday. i mentioned gold. we'll see where we are in relationship to that key -- obviously, we're well above 10,000 now. up $1.75, which is relatively flat. as we've seen in the last little bit, a little bit of a spike. christine, back to you. >> hey, brian. the treasury department says the chinese yuan is still undervalued, but won't label beijing as a currency manipulator. in a semi-annual report on current practices of u.s. trade partners, treasury says financial conditions have improved and china played a key role in anchoring the global economy. but a lack of flexibility could unwind some of the program as stimulus is withdrawn. as for the weak dollar, treasury secretary tim geithner says he expects the greenback to keep its role as the world's reserve currency. >> the dollar's role in the system confers special obligations on us as a country and it is very important that americans understand that we need to do everything possible to sustain confidence in our ability to keep inflation low and stable over time and to make sure we're getting our fiscal house in order. that's an important thing to confidence generally. we take that very seriously, nobody more than me. >> you can see maria bartiromo's full interview with tim geithner at u.s. closing bell at 4:00 p.m. new york time. and joining us now for market strategy is mike lenoff from dolfin securities and nick ewe harajchi. how would you intrvpt interpret those comments from tim geithner? do you suspect the u.s. is changing its tone on the u.s. policy? >> first of all, it would be unwise for mr. geithner to come out and say that he believes the u.s. dollar is not going to be the global reserve currency any more. obviously, you need to have strong voices out from the u.s. from my perspective, i think this global session, which we believe is going to turn into a full blown depression, obviously, it's going to change the world dominance of the global economies. obviously, we have seen the dollar being dominant for the better of the best 50 years. however, we think maybe china and some of the eastern european countries and also the gulf countries would like to see some other currencies, maybe the euro, playing a more dominant role. i think as of now, it's not only up to the u.s. but more to the rest of the world, and i think they would prefer seeing the dollar not having such a dominant play as it has had the last 50 years. >> mike, do you agree with what nicu just said, that other people might not want to see the dollar be so dominant? >> well, i still think that the dollar is going to play a dominant role in global trade, global finance and so on. what i certainly hope does not happen is that we go into a fully blown depression as was suggested. and i think that the central banks are aware that certainly the risks could go that way and therefore, they're going to keep interest rates very low. and i think one of the reasons we're seeing what we're seeing on the dollar is really just down to fed policy, that the federal reserve has made it crystal clear that interest rates are staying where they are for an extended period of time, we're getting to see a more confident tone to global growth, a recovery. as a result of that, we're seeing the tolerance towards risk aversion drop and that in turn, i think, has washed back on to the dollar as investors go in search of, you know, risk assets. and i think this is something we're going to see for a while until there is a change in fed policy. and that doesn't seem imminent until the latter half of next year. >> what are your thoughts, mike, that in a lot of ways, the u.s. policymaker like this weak dollar, it's a situation where markets are reflating, people are feeling richer, maybe they get a little more consumer confidence to go out there and spend and all of a sudden, you have a positive feedback loop and things get better? >> yeah. i think -- i don't -- i share the view. that's exactly what i think isi happening. what we have here is a source of stimulus for the american economy. in a sense, a weak dollar is everyone's friend in this particular set of circumstances. if we can get the dollar inflated, china and the u.s. will do. if the dollar serves the role as an additional stimulus in reflating these economies, then i think that's very good. once that happens and once policymakers feel a bit more confident that that is happening, then i think the message delivered to the markets on policy will begin the change. >> nicu, it's good to see you again. you know, i think for our audience we need to drill down on that sort of call you had about a full blown depression because it rattles a lot of cages. if you could, just sort of explain. right now, not a lot of people see that scenario to coordinate certain things. play out our scenario for your audience so they understand what you're saying. >> yeah. it's good to see you again, brian. you're probably right, but wall street is making money whereas main street is not making money yet. i mean, i think that we haven't seen fundamental economic data and i'm talking especially about the jobless claims, so higher unemployment, which as i said before, is not a lagging indicator, but certainly a leading indicator. and i think we have seen the g-20 come out with cross border, capital injections of $5 trillion this year. this is certainly a lot of money. but i think this moent hasn't come down to main street. we're seeing some of the preferred banks such as goldman sachs, they've been lending close to zero, giving away with higher interest and making lots of profit on this. but when it comes down to corporate europe or even in asia and japan, we are not seeing main street making any money. as i said before, we are seeing the consumers losing jobs, we are struggling with the consumers, with the credit and we are seeing this continuing. and also only the $5 billion cross border capital injection, we see it more as monetary expansion. at some point, some of the central banks, they're going to recall some of that money and that will turn from monetary expansion into monetary contraction. and we don't think that the corporates or the public and the private are going to be able to pay back that debt. so we see 2010 becoming a much more risky year than 20089 due to the fact that we have seen all this capital injections. >> mike, nicu is raising some points there about -- well, essentially, about the strength of the consumer. what do you think you've learned, you think, from this fifth quarter werings season about how main street is shaping up? >> well, you know, it's still very early. we had about 10% or so of the s&p 500 reporting. but i think the important thing is we get to see companies produce the kind of profits as it looks like they're going to deliver. that holds the risks as to whether we go into a depression or not. and i think it is moving more towards mainstream. it's not just the financials now. as i said, the sample is very small, but here we had ibm yesterday not just talking about a better bottom line, but suggesting they could see year on year growth for the second quarter. we need jobs to be created. the sooner we get that, the closer we will get to less job shedding. in fact, that has been the trend, anyway, in america, and that will eventually turn into job creation. so i think that holds the key as to whether we escape this major risk of depression. and i would have thought -- we're talking about jobs being created sometime in the second quarter of next year. that could do a lot for consumer confidence. secondly, if the housing market is continuing to recover, it's beginning to recover, if that continues to recover and jobs are being created, it strikes me that that is a very good background for consumer confidence for consumers to go out and spend and for the economy to start ticking over again. it's also a good background. so we could actually get back to, you know, a decent sort of background at some time next year at which stage central policy would convey a different message to the markets. >> thank you so much, mr. lenhoff and thank you, also, to nicu harajchi. also going to today, europe's biggest hotel operator says revenue dropped almost 8.5%. the company did stick with its full quarter results, but didn't expect a rebound in the first part of next year. the transport minister says a restructuring plan for japan airlines is on track. he also says they will make sure that kyoto continues to take off. jal is continuing selling shaers in its firm. the creditor needs $6.6 billion in ail. that is sending shares down more than 11%. brian. >> general electric reporting third quarter results at 6:30 a.m. new york time, that's in two hours and 15 minutes. ge is forecast to earn 20 cents a share on $40 billion in revenues. investors will focus on the performance of the industrials business as the recession has battered demand for heavy equipment. ge capital's portfolio of commercial real estate loans and holdings are also a concern. we also keep an eye on ge's plans for nbc universal as all those talks with gm and vivendi seem to be ongoing. right now in frankfurt, general electric is up 1.6%. also, b of a is expected to post its numbers today and the street is expecting a loss. a big concern is exposure to credit card and mortgage losses. outgoing keo kren lewis has decided, by the way, to forego his 2009 salary and any bonus at the request of u.s. pay czar ken feinberg. it's unclear if feinberg will review lewis' retirement package which could be worth $525 million. take a look at trading in frankfurt right now, bank of america, up 1.32%. some very interesting currency comments from george sore ross. we have the geithner elements up there, as well. so if you want to see things in their entirety, go to cnbc.com. >> tons of stuff there. also, can chinese factories meet the christmas demand? we'll have more on the currency markets. and is bank earnings season about to fizzle out? we'll look into what you can expect for bank of america's numbers. ask me. even if you think your mattress is just fine... ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america... it's not a sealy... or a simmons... or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. ask me about staying asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners! ask someone you know---check out twitter... try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all...un-edited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. ask me if it's a good value. just ask me. there are over 4 million tempur-pedic owners! and they're more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ask me why i feel better every morning. ask me why someone who's never had an ache or a pain is in love with this bed. start asking real owners. ask me how we took the first step... take the first step right now! call or click today for your free information kit with dvd. call number on your screen or visit tempurpedic.com tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america. welcome back to the show. we're going to take a look at equity markets right now. we'll be looking at the german markets and saijal is standing by, too, to run us by with what's going on in asia to finish out the work. manni, let's take it out to you. what is happening on the ftse 100 today? looks like we're finishing the weak on a fairly positive note. >> it is a fairly positive note, rebecca, although there's like three stories out there today that is holding us back. you have a withdrawn from the offer of national express and stagecoach withdraw from the proposition to buy the rail. another big rights issue, that's what we're told is on the way. it's about who will participate and what are the times. oil trading higher up at around $78. that is supporting the markets today. the other big story, sainsbury, huge speculation went through the market yesterday. the view is that qataran office only 26% of this company. will it get done? probably. will it get done at the moment? probably not. we are in a different environment for corporate business and deals being done. lloyd's, they get an upgrade this morning. they expect the earnings per share at lloyd's to improve. they're divesting themselves. won't make a great deal of impact on the balance sheet, but they're talking about selling the world's management business. and xstrata, mid-atlantic davies says they're waiting in the wings. but the pressure is now distinctly on angelo american to deliver those savings and indeed to garner the support that they should remain independent. cynthia carol has a lot of proving to do to international investors and retailers alike. becky. >> thank you very much for that. annette is with us from germany with the trade in europe. what do you have for us? >> the big story today is the additional export. there's a meeting with volkswagen as they announced earlier this morning for the 30th of december and this is badly affecting shares of volkswagen as they have announced that they want to okay their shareholders, a capital increase for the first half year of 2010. so next year, up 135 million shares, but only preferred shares. and that is actually provoking a lot of criticism for shareholders. the biggest fund manager is saying, why should this capital increase only be a preferred share? at the beginning of december, it might be quite interesting to follow. other than that, we have deutsche postbank fairing today. they have had that the european market is recovering, as well. the asian markets see a recovery and that is a good sign for deutsche post. and as well, on the re tretreat carrefour for the russian markets. over to singapore. >> thanks, annette. if you look at japan, the nikkei closing at a three-week high there. what was interesting was that we sell a big sell-off in the exporter stocks. you can see the u.s. dollar and the pound, as well. banking stocks, a lot of investors saw locking in profits as we got results from citigroup. taking a look at citigroup, shares down 11% on uncertainty and worries that it may be headed for a gm-style bankruptcy there. as for south korea, the kospi very weak today, down 1.3%. still a lot of concern about the strength in the yuan. it really impacted the exporter stocks today, very heavy selling in the auto shares, like hyundai motor down 4.9%. kia down 4.7% and a lot of the tech stocks very weak, as well. the other factor is that corporate earnings, even though they're expected to be good, a lot of analysts are saying that they may have peaked for the third quarter. we saw profit taking late in the day in the commodity and oil stocks. now back to brian in the u.s. >> thank you, saijal. here in the states, investors will be greated with pair of economic reports to wrap up the week. september and industrial numbers will be out at 9:15 a.m. new york time. they're forecast to rise while capacity utilization is expected to tick up to 69.8% at 9:55 a.m. october consumer sentiment will be released. analysts are looking for a reading of 73.8 up from 73.5 a month ago. dallas fed penalty richard fisher is expected to talk about globalization and financial crisis at southern university in dallas at 10:15 a.m. new york time. fisher told reuters thursday that the u.s. economy is recovering but growth will be slow and inflation is not currently a risk. in addition to bank of america and general electric earnings, we get numbers today from genuine parts, haliburton and toymaker mattel. that on this friday is your first installment of global stock watch on this friday. >> let's get out to frankfurt now. annette is still with us. she's been attending the book fair. what's going on there? >> indeed, i have been there and i have been checking out the latest trends on the book fair and that is what is resulting from that. the frankfurt international book fair brings in everyone who is everyone in reading. it's not quite the same feeling as touching a book, but it has the same content. and this is most likely how the future of the book industry might look like, at least if you look at the cheaper paperbook market where professional content is key and not just the look of the book and a good story. >> so what's the shelf life for these? we talked about abandoning the printed page for the screen. >> no, i don't like it very much. i think it's a hectic thing to touch them and to feel the book and not just to have it. and you can't turn the pages when you have an e-book. >> i haven't tried it myself so far, but i think yes, i should do and i will do in the future. >> this story of the e-book is still in its first chapter, but the battle on how to price is in full swing. publishing companies are still traditionaling the normal books, but google books is scanning the books to make them available. a court decision in the u.s. has been postponed. the industry is protesting. >> as long as the copyright is violated, what's happening now, i don't think this is the way we should proceed or whether we should support google. >> while the content is a growth business, the traditional book industry is struggling with falling sales volumes, particularly in the u.s. and the uk, the markets worst hit by the financial crisis. and falling margins are hurting profits as more books produce smaller volumes. but contrast, publishing companies which came toerl digital say they're benefiting. >> our content is already in digital form. so we distribute our content in terms of online book content online today across many of our markets. we also distribute our content in pdas and mobile phones. so we see the pda devices as just another form of distribution. >> so the book industry is facing an era of disruptions of those who see the demise of the traditional book may turn out to be like those who thought that vhs would mean the end of movie theaters. still, there is no doubt publishing houses have to get more creative and tax savvy. the once cozy book seen as waking up as things start to move faster. cnbc in frankfurt. coming up on "worldwide exchange," are we headed for a shortage of barbies and ipods this holiday season? that's what industry observers say could be in store as chinese factories come under pressure. i'm christine tan. japan airline shares slide to a record low on concerns bankruptcy is being considered as an option for asia's top airline by revenue. >> i'm becky meehan. in europe, it's a more positive picture as energy stocks rise and energy stocks lead the way. >> i'm brian shactman in the states. this fall will be anything but quiet as investors get set for ge and bank of america. >> well, the ftse cnbc global 300 index that was looking pretty flat when we last checked in, managing to gain by 6% and 7% at the moment. now, here in europe, it has been the largest positive session so far. let's take another check and see how we're fairing with another half hour or so of trade under our belts and still manage to hang on to those gains. that's 0.7% higher for the ftse 100 in the uk. also across in germany, the dax higher by a similar degree. just interest 0.5% for the cac. taking a check on the forex markets, the dollar strength appears to be coming through today to a certain extent. dollar/yen, 91.03 with the dollar strengthening by 0.5%. euro/dollar, 1.4923. sterling is looking fairly strong today, too. sterling up by almost 0.5% against the dollar. also against the euro, 0.9129 is where we stand on that front. how is it looking across asia, christine? >> hi, rebecca. here in asia, most of these markets ended mostly lower coming to profit taking before we close for the end of the week. the nikkei 225 is managing to close a touch higher, 0.2%. the kospi is down 1.1%. talk of a rate hike is putting pressure on the south korean market. the shanghai market is down 0.1%. we had some comments coming out from the pboc, the central bank, talking about the possibility of ending its ultra loose monetary policy. that is weighing on sentiment there and the aussie market is down 0.5%. overall, a pretty lackluster session with the exception of the nikkei, but that is relatively flat. brian. >> the dow responded yet by gaining by about 40 plus points and solidifying for the moment its place above that 10,000 mark for the second consecutive day. against fair value, we're about 22 points to the down side. it looks like we're all green, but we're negative in the dow, we're positive by about 2 points in the nasdaq and positive by 0.25 point in the s&p 500. ibm, which had strong earnings a bit of a dragover all, perhaps because their services contracts were down a little bit, even though they raised guidance, the expectations for the companies are so high sometimes, it's a real buy the rumor, sell the news situation for ibm. take a look at your 10-year noed note, 3.46%. let's talk to sarah hewin. ac as usual, let's talk about data. maybe i want to zone in on consumer sentiment because it seems that reflating the stock market gains could buoy some confidence with the consumer at a key time going into the holiday shopping season. >> yes. i think that could well be a lift to sentiment. but at the same time, of course, we're continuing to see quite bad news on unemployment. our view is that we're likely to see this sentiment indicator this afternoon leveling out. it reached its highest level since january 2008 at the last reading. we think that this is likely to sort of stabilize around those levels. >> sarah, we have had interviews with the treasury secretary timothy geithner on this including what he thinks the outlook is for the u.s. economy. let's listen to some of his comments and see if you agree with what he has to say. >> you know, i'm not an economist and don't forecast, but i think if you look at what business economists say now, you'll see the economy growing at a significant rate the second half of this year, positive growth in 2010 at a level that will begin to gradually bring down the unemployment rate. what you'll see first is businesses creating gradually on net. >> we can that full interview a little later on, closing bell, 1600 eastern time, 2200 cet. sarah, let's get back out to you. geithner may not be an economist, but you are. what do you make of his comments? >> we're expecting to see quite a strong bounceback in the u.s. economy in the second half of the year. q3, we think, will be going by about 3%, possibly stronger. our concern is that this lift may not carry on through 2010. a lot of the boost that we're expecting is going to be coming from turn around in the inventory cycle. both of those effects are likely to fade in 2010. and there are still quite a lot of pressures on the home improvement. all of these together suggest that the consumer is going to struggle in to 2010 and that that could keep growth below trend for the year. >> sarah, this is christine. what could have a big impact on the consumer is the price of oil. if oil climbs above $80 a barrel, how big a drag will it be on the recovery of the global economy? >> well, i think there are dangers if we carry on seeing oil rising in the last few weeks. the -- it's essentially a tax on consumers. at this stage until the global economic cycle, there's not a strength in demand to sustain these sort of price hikes. so the risk is that actually consumer spending has to fall back further, but the rise in oil prices act as a dampening in the u.s. and globally. >> all right, sarah, thank you very much for your views. good talking to you. that was sarah hewin from standard chartered talking to us about the global economy. chinese factories are facing a labor crunch as manufacturing demand, though delayed, is picking up for the holiday season. what does this mean for its export sector? charles noor joins us in our singapore studios. good to have you with us. first of all, a lot of questions about whether chinese factories can fulfill this demand. you have a slightly different view on this. you think it possibly can. >> i guess this time round is different from the past. production starts in the month of february and march. now the order comes in august and september. so it's very rushing. getting last year and the retrenchment, moving back to the cities, they start their own business, they found new jobs there. so having them come back is crucial. but again, i think the orders delivery is more of logistic issues because order comes so late and then, you know, wanting those workers to come back to factory at such a short notice is quite impossible. but again, orders are also directed to the western regions. these are the new factories they are setting up now. if the order goes through those factories, i think that is an issue or -- >> are these orders going to those factories or is there still a bottleneck of sorts? >> this is on a new production basis. so again, these are logistic issues. there is, i think, overcapacity. >> so you think basically china's export sector is still intact then? >> it is intact. it's really for orders. >> charles, let's break it down akos cording to business size, i suppose. the stimulus package in china seems to have benefited the big businesses. how would the small and medium sized businesses faring, then? >> i'm quite disappointed with this package. no doubt this massive limb. but the majority goes to the field and the prices. very little. and then goes to the sme as loans or credit for them to survive or to restructure the change. there is exposure of plants even today. the number is like half a million of plants close the beginning of this year, in fact, and there's no stoppage of small firms, small smes in china today. >> so what's your outlook for china going forward? in terms of the production side, china has been seen as the manufacturing hub of the world. we have these foreign retailers delaying orders. we also have nowadays companies trying to keep low inventories, trying to, you know, keep things -- in other words, trying to shorten the delivery time. how will this impact china's way of prugs in the future? >> you know, china is complex and is not -- is a huge challenge. given the example of what china is doing, i would say, creative economic change because let's look at two days ago. we see shanghai economic cooperation with ex russian states, ka zas stan and others in russia. the new economic groupings, they are not going to develop. we've gone korea, japan, and in the end of china, if you had to have these unique sort of economic cooperation to develop new economy, new demand and also the western part and we are talking about sinjong looking to export products. so you have to come up with all these new economic economies in order to boost production, create jobs, to sustain growth, you know. >> okay. charles, we'll have to leave it there, charles chaw. let's head over to india and joining us live from there, we have reema tan duke ka joining us live. >> it's not a bad session of trade. and today, as well, it hs continued its march in the green. it's a reasonably positive session. gains of about 5 cents to 10 cents. the midcap index shows a gain of about 2%. and we are heading into a long weekend, as well. industry has launched $500 million of convertible notes which will be converted into a he have tf. the rationale for going in for this fund-raising, it is a cash rich company and even earlier, the company had indicated that it is not looking to raise money for further kpex. now why are they going ahead and raising the $500 million? and perhaps that's the reason why this stock is not fairing too well in strayed. bujar cement, it's lost 3%. on the gaining side is spi, today showing a gain of about 5%. there has been a influential brokerage which has set its target price of 3,000. right now, the stock is at 2445 been there's still a long way to go for that. on the back of strong crude, showing a gain of about 3.5%. dlf, unionny tech and the real estate space not doing too badly for themselves. they're doing quite well. and ahead of these numbers, they're announcing the numbers later on in the evening. that stock is showing a gain of about 2%. the numbers are expected to be reasonably positive, but more on the flattish side. with that, it's back to you. >> reema, thanks for that. let's talk about other stories we're watching in gm closely. kdb is calling back $109 million from gm daewoo. nothing had been decided on whether to join gm daewoo's offering. gm said say they will pay back the monies today. two more companies have joined the ipo rush. excellence real estate is said to raise up to $1 built in its hong kong ipo. reuters says it will sell out at an indicative range of 210 to two hong kong dollars 60 cents per share. and china real estate has raised $216 million in the u.s. >> french retailer carrefour has announced that it is pulling out of russia and sees no hopes growth in that country. the news comes as the retailer posted lower third quarter sales figures because consumers continue to cut back on discretionary nonfood services. carrefour gave profits at the end of its range. and the swedish mobile phonemaker, ericsson has surprised the market with a smaller than expected third quarter loss. falling revenues contributed to a tax loss of $307 million. but that was limited to cost savings and rising margins. ericsson believes that the decline in the global hand set market is going down and that it will still contract by 10% this year. >> ibm's third quarter profits rose 13% and that topped forecasts, but investors had a big concern with a drop in services forecast. ibm says that reflects the weak business climate, but conditions are improving, particularly in the credit markets. big blue actually raising its full year outlook. google, well, is incredible. their third quarter profits jumping 27%, beating expectations easily. analysts say the company is benefiting early from the recovery in the advertising market. google is on the acquisition hunt. the ceo says they could buy a large company every year or two. ibm is to the down side by 2.4% and google is up over 3%. so with technology companies reporting better than expected earnings, is it safe to say that techs are leading the way out of the downturn? go to cnbc.com and make sure to visit jim goldman's tech check for all the related analysis and news from that particular sector. he is all over it. >> we're going for a quick break. shortly, the u.s. treasury telling congress china is not manipulating its currency. we'll discuss what that means for the u.n. in our foreign exchange discussion right after this break. eeeeeeeeeee 1.16 against the euro 1.4893. but look at sterling, we are seeing strength there at 1.6361. let's bring in sam stanley for a bit more on some of the currency market action. sterling has been showing strength this week. how much more to go? >> i think so. certainly at this stage, it's been very, very oversold. the pound has been absolutely hammered in the currency markets over the last few months. so i think we could see it up towards 1.64, 0.65 is probably at the top of the channel and then it's down from there. i think it's about time the various positions out in the market add a 17-year high for the cable. >> sam, it's brian here in the states. good to see you, bud. >> indeed. >> i always throw at you some more broader brushed philosop c philosophical questions. but it seems no matter what they say the government wants a weak dollar to reflat things a bit, but it's a slippery slope. what do you think is going on here from a weaker stpd? >> they keep reiterating a stronger dollar policy. we saw that again from summers and from geithner, as well. they want an export led recovery as much as possible. the current account position has improved in the states and will continue to improve particularly with the won being so strong. but really, at the end of the day, they're probably quite happy to see the dollar reasonably weak. now, if they come out and do what the bank of england does and basically indicate that it's very helpful to have a weak currency and indicate for traders that they're happy to see it go lower, that's dangerous because basically traders are undisciplined at sometimes and they don't know where the bottom is. so if we did see comments like that coming out of bernanke, for example, i think we would spee a real rift in the dollar and it wouldn't be good at all. >> sam, it's christine here. do you think china will led against the dollar? >> i don't think so. they removed it in 2008. they do prefer the pig. i can understand why. their ex ports are down 30% and a weaker won pig to the dollar means that they can keep it business as usual. the americans would be happy to see a weaker won -- sorry, a stronger won. but at the end of the day, they're happy to keep the chinese happy with their situation because they're the runs buying all the treasury bills and funding the budget deficit. >> sam, the aussie/dollar has been a real stellar performer this week. comments from the rba governor seem to indicate that we may get rises, and probably 50 basis points at a time. are there risks that markets are getting ahead of themselves and that the market won't be as aggressive as we expect them to be? >> there is a risk. i think he was quite clear earlier on. i think we will see 25 basis points in november and 25% in december. some people think 50. i don't think he's going to be that strong or hawkish. but the risk is really for australia that they do too much too quickly. i think he's doing a good job, governor stevens. if it was me, i wouldn't be holding rates at the moment. i would by waiting a little longer and then i would probably go bang, 50 basis points. the problem is, if we have any slip up at all over china or anywhere in the global economy, australia will be right with it. they'll have a much stronger currency. plus, very, very high interest rates in comparison. so in effect, i think he's playing a dangerous game, but he's doing what he sees right. so i don't think the markets should be looking beyond 3.75% at the end of this year. some people are talking about 5%, 5.5% end of next year. i can't see it. >> okay. well, time will tell, i suppose. thanks so much fop coming in, sam stanley at halo financial. coming up on "worldwide exchange," we have just been talking about the weak dollar. up next, what will this mean for the chinese economy as the manufacturing sector struggles to keep up for demand? stay tuned for strategy discussions. >> and with third quarter earnings coming in better than expected in most cases, many experts citing a diverse jump into the market, but some people disagree. find out what hugh henry told cnbc right after the break. ask me. even if you think your mattress is just fine... ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america... it's not a sealy... or a simmons... or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. ask me about staying asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners! ask someone you know---check out twitter... try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all...un-edited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. ask me if it's a good value. just ask me. there are over 4 million tempur-pedic owners! and they're more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ask me why i feel better every morning. ask me why someone who's never had an ache or a pain is in love with this bed. start asking real owners. ask me how we took the first step... take the first step right now! call or click today for your free information kit with dvd. call number on your screen or visit tempurpedic.com tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america. i'm christine tan. asian markets succumb to profit taking with both markets ending the week lower. >> i'm becky meehan. banks and energy stocks are leading the way in europe. >> and i'm brian shactman here in the states. this fall friday will be anything but quiet as investors get set for results from general electric and bank of america. and, of course, those stock futures still feeling the effects of google and ibm, but that's how earnings season goes. they just keep on coming. welcome to "worldwide exchange" on this friday, wrapping up a letdy and busy business week across the world. we're down about 30 points in the dow. i will tell you, we're trending more negative there. the nasdaq, though, is positive, probably buoyed by google. they had a 27% rise in profits. the way they get their ad revenues is pretty incredible and they've seen an uptick for that stock and a lot of price targets from analysts are to the upside there. the s&p 500 was positive for a little bit. it's dipped back into negative territory at this hour. so it's a mixed picture with the tech heavy nasdaq leading the way. starting with your bund yield, that is at 3.32%. and your u.s. ten-year note we were at 3.46% at our last check, 3.47%, so we're one basis point higher there. let's head over to becky meehan. >> let's take a look at the ftse cnbc global 300 index, lower now by less than one point, in fact. european bourses, let's check there. we have seen more positive sentiment in this region. that's continuing to be the case, coming off the highs of a little earlier. just less than 0.5% earlier for the dax. the cac is edging up by 0.25%. a bit of optimism, too, for the swiss markets. we have a little data coming out, as well. ex ports, euro zone data, down by about 23% year on year. it's certainly worth having a look at those markets, as well. becky, how is it going in asia? >> some of theel early profit taking ending most of the sessions lower. let's take a look at some of the charts for you. the nikkei 225 one of the few markets to end in positive territory. the kospi down 1.12%. a lot of talk about the south korean won being strong. that is hurting exporters. also talk that speculation that the bank of korea might actually hike rates. the hang seng is down 0.3%. the shanghai market down 0.1% and the aussie market down 0.5%. overall, pretty lackluster session. in terms of nymex light sweet crude, this is how the picture is looking. the strong dollar is turning oil around, $77.40 a barrel, reversing its gains. and brent, as well, pulling back just a little bit, down 41 cents, $75.82 a barrel. rebecca. >> let's get into more analysis of equity markets. now we're headed for corrections. speaking on "squawk box" earlier, hugh henry says he's steering well clear of the equity markets. >> i think it's all one way, it's all one trade. there's no diversification. you're either in the markets or you're not, and i'm not. >> joining us in the next hour is richard houston. richard, pretty binary as far as henry is concerned. you're in or you're out. he's out. what would you say to that? sgliem underweight, but i'm very, very overweight credit. so i've taken more risk off the table. i suppose if you pump that much money into an economy and then if you've got more money chasing fewer assets, then the price goes up. but further out, i'm quite gloomy about the prospects. >> and richard, somehow as a global investor, would that somehow make it more attractive for you? would the dollar be something you'll be looking at? >> no. we're pretty negative on the dollar, strategically, at least. it's so oversold in the short-term. but of course, the flip side of that is that from a u.s. investor perspective, everything else is going up fantastically, strongly. so if you believe that the u.s. can stay very low and that actual those capital outflows pick up, it's not just because in a relative sense doesn't mean you want to put money into them. >> richard, brian here in the states. let's talk about the banks. i i'd like to coin larry kudlow's phrase here. he says basically with a steep yield curve even a banker can make money in this environment. what do you think of the financials with the yield curve the way it is? >> well, it's exactly the same as has happened in the early 90s. if you remember, they pushed them straight down to 3% and finally pushed them up again in 1994. it's examine exactly right. if you're investing nothing plus quite a long, then you're going to make money. which is why you've seen holdings bonds on both sides of the lick pick up sharply. there are other reasons for that, as well, but that's the recipe for banks to make money. >> so what do you think of bank of america? they're expected to post a loss. would you go into a name like that? >> i don't do individual stocks, but certainly, we're favorably disposed towards financials in general at the moment. >> to say there's concern voiced by you and by hugh hendry earlier, this earnings season so far hasn't looked too scare. it doesn't seem that the bottom is falling out of the global economy. how does that square with the concerns that you have? >> if you walk enough medicine into a very ill patient, then that patient is going to revive, at least for a while. the question is, when you start withdrawing that medicine, how does the patient look? my guess is we're in. more like a japan situation than people give credit for. after that huge fiscal stimulus from around the world, you'll have more in the sector from the household sector. debt are just too high. and if that's the case, then you're going to get very slow growth and very low inflation going forward. >> richard, this is christine. you said you were underweight on markets, especially in the developed world. what about markets on the emerging world? >> we are quite bulis on emerging stocks at the moment. and the flip side of being rather negative on growth in the developed world is of course you'll go and buy your growth in the developing world. and i'm overweight at the moment. i think asia looks a bit toppy. i've been underweight there, but i've been overweight latin america and the emerging world since about february. i'm still pretty comfortable about that. >> richard, we appreciate it. you'll be with us for the rest of the hour. coming up on "worldwide exchange," we're going to stick with the banks. third quarter earnings from bank of america are due out. i talked about 7 cents a share. a loss is the expectation. the jpmorgan strong results on wednesday give us a bit of a false sense of security. we're going to talk to an analyst to find out what the banks are looking like. the exchanging world is at the heart of the collaborative economy. and collaboration is good-- no one has a monopoly on good ideas. we have at least half a dozen relationships, 50 percent of my time is spent outside our company, collaborating with other companies, finding the next cure for the most serious diseases. the global opportunity is a fantastic one. we're able to reach audiences, connect with them in their local cultures and take our brands around the world. nyse euronext. powering the exchanging world. joining us for more on the u.s. banks, richard state from atlantic equities and still with us, our guest host richard cookson, global head of asset allocation. mr. state, we'll start with you. bank of america is very much in focus today. expectation is a loss of 7 cents a share. is there any shot of an upside surprise here? >> no. quite frankly, i don't think so. i think it's going to be quite a difficult set of results. i mean, clearly on the investment banking side, i bet they'll do quite well in fixed income just the same as goldman sachs and jpmorgan. but bank of america has a huge consumer business, particularly a lot of mortgages. that is an area which is still quite difficult and i think it's a little bit too early for them to say that the credit cycle is the size of the turn. so i think they'll still be cautious. >> well, it's interesting because we talked about with mr. cookson a few minutes ago about how with the steep yield curve, bankers should be able to make money. but that consumer issue is important. so is it a dynamic where investors should stay away from the banks that have too much exposure and go to the other side? >> well, i mean, our view is thought to be overweight on the strongest banks like jpmorgan and goldman. they're obviously doing well with fixed income. some of these can play the yield curve at the moment. bank of america, we have them on overweights because we believe it's one of the cheapest banks on a long-term basis. but the smaller regional banks which are very exposed to sort of to the high street, as it were were, and don't have much diversification, then they'll start reporting next week and their results are going to be -- you should suspect a lot more difficult. >> richard, we've got lots of richards today, the other richard, any thoughts on the u.s. banks? do you agree with richard's outlook? >> yeah. i mean, i think what richard is saying is that essentially on the consumer side there are still problems, but if you are a strong bank with lots of investment banking revenues, then you'll be doing all right in this environment. i guess my question is, how much do the losses on the consumer side and on the mortgage credit card side offset some of the money you're able to make just by the fact that you can play the yield curve and you can play markets? >> well, that is the crucial question. i mean, i think at the moment, you know, up until now, the investment banking earnings have been the sort of key driver and i think that this set of results -- you know, i think we're hoping to see an improvement in consumer credit start to come through. but, you know, so far, it's quite a mixed picture. jpmorgan were not quite as upbeat on this as perhaps i think some people had hoped. we had credit card data coming out yesterday which had shown an improvement for the last few months. so there's ongoing questions there. and i think until you see clearer signs of consumer credit causing improving, that's when we'll see the next leg of bank share prices. >> and presumably, from a big per perspective, as well, there is a huge question about if you've got a household sector and a corporate sector that has been leveraging, where does your loan growth come from if you're a bank? >> that's a huge challenge. jpmorgan's loans outstanding were shrinking rapidly and over the long-term, that's clearly going to be a lower source of revenue for them. in the near term, consumer credit means interest rates stay very low. but in the long-term, it is an issue and these banks needs to find other ways of generating revenue and maybe that's going further overseas and there's a question does jpmorgan expand more overseas than it has so far. >> speaking of going overseas, let's speak to christine for an asian perspective on this picture. >> hey, richard. here in asia, everybody is looking towards goldman sachs as the bank to invest in. it's the best performing bank among the 15 u.s. bank. are you still bulis on goldman sachs or looking at the rise is it time to take profits off the table? >> goldman clearly has performed well. so many people feel it's getting up there with events. certainly yesterday's numbers, i think, were fine and i think that there's no reason to believe that it won't continue to be very profitable over the next year. it's taking a little market share, but it seems to be holding on to most of that. as it generates these earnings, its surplus capital is building up and eventually it's going to end up with excess capital which it can use for excess share buyback. there's a number of reasons that it's continue to go buy shares of earnings higher. but clearly, you know, we have had a good run in the shares and i think that people are nervous that if they have one bad quarter, then that would be disappointing. >> well, one of the richards has to go. it's not like a reality show where one of you gets voted off. it's just the way it is. mr. state, we appreciate the earnings comments here today. of course, mr. cookson will be with us the rest of the hour with global asset allocation with hsbc. one element of earnings we have to talk about, cnbc's parent, general electric, reports revenues at 6:30 new york time. industrials will be focused on the industrial's business. ge capital's portfolio of commercial real estate loans and their holdings are also of concern. also of interest, ge's plans with all the plans for nbc universal. of course, you have to stay tuned with us, your instant analysis as the numbers break and i mean instant. plus, you'll find all the coverage of earnings on cnbc.com. >> yep, it's all there for you. top news here in the uk, lloyd's banking group is in the positive here in london. it sold for about 1 pounds, about $1760. the state agency will have to change its name. the news comes after years of loss making in the business. lloyd's has been undergoing a major restructuring as it continues to wiggle its way out of the uk government scheme. an analyst upgrade from deutsche bank, upgrading lloyd's to a buy helping there, too. >> a reuters source says an offering, 25% of its large share capital will sell at 2 hong kong dollars 10 cents to 2 hong kong dollars 60 cents per share. it has raised $16 million in the u.s. with ads selling for $12 apiece. still to come, there are plans to issue 225 million shares for volkswagen over the next five years. we'll hone in on the global carmaker as part of our global stock watch. we would love to get your thoughts on any of today's market-moving news. you know the e-mail address. hi, may i help you? we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. ♪ yes, you're lovely... ♪ what do you think? hey, why don't we use our points from chase sapphire and take a break? we can't. sure, we can. the points don't expire... ♪ there is nothing for me... ♪ there's no travel restrictions... we could leave tomorrow. we can't use them for a vacation. you can use the points for just about anything. i know... ♪ the way you look tonight ♪ chase what matters. get your new chase sapphire card at chase.com/sapphire. in poland, cargill borrowed the idea... for something quite different. small polish farms had difficulty getting... affordable feed for their smaller herds of animals. so cargill created a way to bring the feed... directly to them... on musical delivery trucks, selling a few bags per visit. ( dog barks, horse neighs ) keeping the small farmers competitive, and their animals happier. this is how cargill works with customers. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." we've got our team standing by. we'll be joined by annette in a few moment's time for what's going on in germany. i think lloyd's is trading lower. it was one of your lead stories just before you went into the break and what was off upgrade coming from deutsche bank. they're divesting themselves of halifax, which is the state agency brand. no huge impact on the underlying balance sheet. the stock trades higher and that's on the back of this pending rights issue that we're waiting to hear from two big corporate stories deconstructing themselves this morning. national express, we have expected a full takeover for them and the cbc. they walked away from the deal. you can suspect a facially substantial rights issue. they will lay down the parameters for that. stagecoach walks away from their deal. sainsbury still has a lead. >> thanks so much for that, manus cranny, market commentator at ms global spreads. why don't we check in on frankfurt with annette. over to you. >> well, the dax is holding up pretty nicely, up by 0.5%. we can't say that about shares of volkswagen as we have heard that capital increase coming in the first half year of next year, at least, shareholders have to vote on that beginning in december. and the share, the preferred shares of volkswagen are down by roughly 4%. we have heard from volkswagen itself, that car sales are holding up quite nicely, as well, in september, but 2010 will be a very difficult year for them. it benefited from the cost that brings in europe and elsewhere on the world. but next year, there are no such schemes any more and that's why car sales might be depressed in 2010. deutsche post shares are up, holding up nicely on the positive comments on the european market and as well, asian markets developed by fedex. that's why deutsche post is trading up. we have bayer down on a negative analyst comment. that's all from here. now to singapore and saijal, what's happening there? >> pretty soft sentiment over in asia. the hang seng index, which was in positive territory for most of the day, down 0.3%. we saw the commodity stocks, oil, as well as some of the resource plays there. and the shanghai complex calling below that psychological 3,000 level. the central bank giving the first public indication and that seemed to be weighing on sentiment for that market. as for japan, the nikkei is managing to close a bit higher at 0.3% to a two-week high. so that outweighed losses in the banking stocks. heavy profit taking there as well as the exporters, even though the yen has been sliding against a lot of the major crosses. south korea's kospi was very weak today, down 1.1%. still a lot of concern about the korean yuan. when rate hikes happen, it could be at a super pace. that could indicate a stronger korean won. that seemed to weigh on the exporter stocks, the autos in particular, very weak. hyundai, kia, both losing more than 4.8%. now back to brian again in the u.s. >> thank you, saijal. have a good weekend. here in the states, investors will be greated with a pair of economic reports to wrap up the week. september industrial production will be out at 9:00 a.m. new york time. they're forecast to rise 1.2% while capacity utilization is expected to particular up to 69.8%. at 9:55 a.m., consumer sentiment figures will be released. dallas fed president richard fisher speaks about the role of globalization and 237b8 crisis at 10:15 a.m. new york time. fisher telling reuters on thursday the u.s. economy is recovering but growth will be slow and it makes no sense to raise interest rates when inflation is not a risk. in addition to bank of america and ge's earnings, we go numbers from beginin parts, haliburton and toymaker mattel. >> coming up, the s&p 500 rises 8 out of the last 9 recessions, but is this rally sustainable? >> plus earnings season is in full swing. general electric is due to report and we'll find out how they're likely to report. stay with us. sgloots exactly 30 memberships past the hour. in the u.s., this friday will be anything but quiet. investors get results from general electric and bank of america. >> and i'm rebecca meehan in europe. stocks rise with banks and energy stocks leading the way. >> and i'm christine tan. bankruptcy is being considered as an option for japan's top airline by revenue. >> welcome to "worldwide exchange" on this friday. especially for viewers joining us in the u.s. let's take a look at the stock futures. we're negative by about 30 points in the dow, and we've been in a tight range, but negative throughout the entire premarket session since we've been on the air. 90 minutes ago we came on and it was a plus 31. we are positive, but negative in the by half a point. the s&p 500 down about a point. that was slightly positive for a short period. so it's a pretty mixed picture. we had ibm and google after the close. ibm was very strong, but service contract weakness leading some to believe that the order book down the road might be weak. a quick look at your u.s. 10-year note, 3.47% -- well, back down. gave it right back. becky, how is it going over there? >> pretty good. those things always change just as you're describing them. european bourses, higher by 0.5% for the ftse 100. just over 0.5% for the dax. still managing to maintain a bit of a positive sentiment there. about 0.25% higher for the cac. let's check on the currency market hes, too, where we have seen some dollar strength and sterling strength coming through today. the dollar moving higher against the yen, 91.19. sterling gaping by about 0.5% against the dollar at 1.6350.the also higher against the euro at 0.9114. christine, how is it going in asia right now? >> most of these markets ended in negative territory after coming to profit taking, the nikkei 225 ending up in positive territory by about 0.the%. also the strength in the korean won weighing on the exporters. the is talk in china about considering loosening the policy. and the aussie market is down 0.5%. the greenback is having some impact on the price of oil rite now, falling just a such there, $77.55 a barrel. and brent also seeing some impact, as well, down 21 cents, $76.02 a barrel. >> let's talk market strategy with bob iaccino. richard cookson is stils, as well. bob, i'll start with you. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> it seems we have ge and bank of america today. we had a day yesterday, we thought maybe it would be a down day, a bit of a pause and we ended up positive. is there anything standing in the way of rally from where you sit? >> well, i think you just laid it out. i think the bank of america earnings and the general electric earnings have a bit of fear in the market. it it's strange that we ended up on this side ovd index. as a trader, it felt like you were giving up yo gains. there is a negative feel at the market with that 10,000 level in dow which i've talked about being inevitable now that we've reached it. i think a lot of traders are loot at where t selling level is in the short-term. >> in some ways, is ge the most important one here? we know that the consumer credit side was pretty weak. so with ge, people want to know what's going on in the industrials, people want to know what's going on with ge on the financial side. is that your view, as well? and what do you expect from the company? >> that can ohm surprise to the upside. i think the revenue line is expected around $40 billion or so. i think that's the problem with the day. as you look towards general electric, you're looking at a financial services company in the past that needs to re invin itself and i think they're going to separate and break down that number before it is a concise sis view in the markets. >> rimp ard, would you like to come up with your points or your thoughts on the u.s. market? >> yeah. if you talk to most strategists, they'll tell you people are going to weight equities, we need a bit of top line growth when you're talking about general electric and you'll get a huge surge in profits next year. there's quite a strong consensus on that one. what's your feeling on that? >> was that to me? >> sorry. >> yeah. no problem. i think one of the main problems about the markets in general, the sort of outlook of the market was that the consumer, the every day american that used to dump money into the markets is still sort of missing. there was a big, big dip in unemployment, and it's expected to climb higher. so the upward bias that the market naturally has is a lot weaker. we still have the vast majority of every dollar that's being invested going into bond funds. until that move changes, i don't see a longer term positive for the market. having said that, the news will come in 30%, 40% spurts. now i think everyone is waiting for these key earnings releases as we talk about bank of america, general electric to get out of the way and see where that market is going to pause and correct. >> hey, brian. everyone is talking about earnings. no one is talking about oil. if oil heads to $80 a barrel, could that spike another downturn in the market? >> i think it could. consumer credit has taken such a hit, down eight months in a row now, which is unprecedented, at least on the u.s. side. i think if oil gets above $80, $85 a barrel, it hits an already devastated consumer who is trying to get his credit under control, trying to get his savings rate back up. savings rate has almost tripled. that's not going to help get consumer spending back up and keep the legs under the rally, so to speak. >> bob, we want you to continue staying with us. bob is the vice president of alternative investments and richard cookson, as well, global head of assetelcation, hsbc. now to tokyo to check in on the trading day there with nozomu kitadai from the nikkei. >> hello, christine. well, stocks in tokyo end as mixed as worries about japan airlines restructuring offset gains from a weaker yen. the nikkei index managed to end 0.2% higher. japan airline shares briefly plunged 12% to an all-time low of 100 yen. after a government-led turn around group concluded that the firm's debt exceeded assets by at least $250 billion. the market was concerned about the new government's ability to secure revenue for its fiscal 2010 budget, including the possible massive issuance of deficit-covering bonds. the budgetary request for fiscal 2010 by central government offices reached $95 trillion yen. that's the biggest amount ever in comparison to an 89 trend for fiscal 2009. possibility of higher debt issuance is ahead, prompted investors to sell long-term japanese government bonds driving yields upward. the finance minister said the government must keep jgb issuances to in 2010. the amount is equivalent to the fiscal year under the previous administration. >> kitadai-san, thank you very much for that. you have a great weekend. >> thank you. still to come, google's earnings show continued strength in tech, but that's yesterday's news. what about bank of america and ge? we continue our coverage of earnings season. before that, take another look at how the u.s. stock futures are shaping up in 39 minutes past the hour. down about 30 in the dow. i needed more customers, so i got my nephew to build a website. i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. woman: there's an easier way. create your own small business site with intuit websites. just choose a style that fits your business, and customize, publish, and get found in three easy steps. ( register bell dings ) sweet. all for just $4.99 a month. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's take a live look at times square right now at 42 minutes past 5:00 a.m. in new york city. it's a wet and cold start to the day. some areas in the surrounding parts of new york saw a little bit of show. right now, bundle up, get a cup of coffee and go out and make it a day. we have top stories to share with you today. let's start with ibm's third quarter results. they rose 14%. investors are a little concerned with the drop in services contract, an indicator of future sales. ibm says that reflects the weak business climate. but they say conditions are improving, particularly in the credit markets. in fact, big blue raising their full year outlook. as for google, third quarter profits jumping 27%, and that blew by all the estimates. analysts say the company is benefiting early from the recovery in the advertising market. google is on the acquisition hunt. ceo eric schmidt says the company could buy a large company every year or two. ibm has been down in premarket trade. let's take a look at how things are trading in frankfurt right now. ibm, about 2.5% to the downside. google up about 4%. with technology companies reporting better than expected earnings, you want to stay on top of things in terms of leadership with technology. go to cnbc.com. jim goldman is our man on tech. he has the tech check for all your analysis and news from that sector. i also want to point out, treasury department saying that the chinese yuan is still undervalued, but won't label beijing as a currency manipulator in its semi-annual report to congress on surntsy practices with u.s. trade partners. the treasury says financial conditions have improved and china played a key role in anchoring the global economy. but the lack of flexibility in the yuan could unwind some of that progress as stimulus is withdrawn. as for the weak dollar and an interview on cnbc, treasury secretary tim geithner says he expects the greenback to keep its role as the world's reserve currency. >> the dollar's role in the system confers special obligations and responsibilities on us as a country. it is very important that americans understand that we need to do everything possible to sustain confidence in our ability to keep inflation low and stable over time and to make sure we're getting our fiscal house in order. that's a really important thing to confidence generally. we take that very seriously. >> he didn't just say we support a strong dollar. he said quite a mouthful. today on u.s. closing bell, you can see see that interview at 4:00 p.m. new york time. ericsson surprised the markets with a smaller than expected loss. pretax loss of $297 million. that was limited due to cost savings and improved margins. the firm said it has strengthened its capital position. ericsson believes the decline is slowing down, but that it will still contract by 10% this year. christine. >> rebecca, japan's transport minister says that a restructuring plan with japan airlines, jal, is on track. he says that the government will continue to ensure that jal flights take off. those comments come after a report from kyoto news agency says jal is reconsidering a plan to sell shares in its group firms. the struggling airline has asked for $6.6 billion in financial aid. but according to reuters, investors fear that jal is considering a gm-type bankruptcy. that sent shares down more than 11%, 101 japanese yen. >> richard cookson has been with us for the most of the last hour. richard, we have to let you go and get back to your day job shortly. but what thoughts would you like to leave us with? >> well, i guess my thought is while the euphoria continues, it continues because if you keep your growth consumption constant, everything is fairly cheap. that euphoric continues until such time people realize there's good reason to have those rates. in other words, your potential underlying growth rates for the developed world are very low and that means euphoria gets turned into fear. very much like we saw in japan in the 1990s and indeed, this decade. so in that sort of environment, you don't necessarily want to be short or underweight equities, but you want to be very, very careful that you get that cyclical top. >> richard, thanks so much for spending so much time with us today. richard cookson, global head of asset allocation at hsbc. >> we do appreciate that insight. coming up, earnings season keeps rolling along. ge, doing a report in around 40 minutes. we'll take a look at what aspects of the earnings investors will be keeping their eyes on. after "worldwide exchange," u.s. "squawk box" follows for viewers in asia, europe and the united states. becky quick is here to tell us what we can expect. becky, it may be the end of the week, but there is still plenty more to cover. >> there certainly is, becky. in fact, we have a very special show for you today. i'm in greenwhich, connecticut. our roundup include myron scholes. also veteran sedlechek, former harvard cfo who heads a $20 billion fund and kenneth gropeland with graham capital, he had one of his best years in 2008. talk about a hedge fund that really worked. plus, we've got alex weiler, he's the canadian pension board plan with $116 billion under management. these are just part of the thought leaders behind trillions of dollars in investment money. we're going to be talking about that throughout the morning. back home, of course, joe will be waiting for two major earnings reports from bank of america and general electric. plus, we have more on last night's ibm and google reports. also we've got howard buffett. he's a philanthropist, a farmer and a peculiar author. this is a book that takes a look at some of the least fortunate people out there, how they're living and what we need to do to help them. he's headed to the u.n. at some point, but before he does that, he'll be stopping here to help us. it's a pretty heavy duty show this morning. "squawk box" is coming up at the top of the hour. >> thanks so much for the preview, becky. >> they always have the best lineups in business tv, that's for sure. let's bring back in bob iaccino who works at the cme. bob, in general, how do you see the trading day closing out the week? >> well, i still see a positive tone to it. a couple of weeks back, i was on one of your shows talking about the dow 0,000 being inevitable, and we clooern clearly dropped about 8%. clearly, i don't know if you should be listening to me. there's a pause, a momentum to these things. and the shorter term traders, which is all that's into the markets intraday, they're looking to see where that level may be and i don't think they seek out any sort of cell level so far until we get way above 10,092 in the s&p and i think there's a good deal of room for us to go to the upside. but traders in general are looking for a spot to short this thing. >> bob, there's loads of earnings, of course. but in the mist of all that, still some economic data due out, too. how would you say those metrics are getting? >> consumer septemberment has had a much larger effect on the market than it has in the past. it's more like a 4.5 now, that consumer sentiment number especially on the u.s. side has mattered. but it mattered overseas, as well. and that's because of the credit crunch that has gone on. the eight months of consumer credit action, it's a frightening thing. people have talked about losing an entire generation of investors in the recent bear market, i should say. but losing an entire market of spenders on credit is worrisome from in this side, because we're a consumer driven economy. our savings rate juch tripled in a short amount of time and that unfortunately is not going to help us avoid this double dip recession that some people are starting to talk about. >> hey, bob, this is christine here. today we have talked a lot at great length about the weak u.s. dollar. does that in any way impact the way you approach the markets or your investment strategy? >> it definitely does. it takes me to a much shorter time horizon. we all know the effect on the dollar is weakness. and i think that i'll believe in the overall recovery globally, but especially here, obviously, in the u.s. i don't think the rest of the globe can pull us out. so until i see some recovery in the u.s. on the employment side and until i see dollar strength, i'm not going to fully believe that this recovery has the legs underneath it that it needs to help looking for investments in a more medium to long-term perspective. >> well, you know, it's interesting because they say the stock market is ahead of the economy six to nine months, but there seems to be a strong disconnect between the market economy and the real economy. it's flightening. does it concern you that that disconnect is so pronounced? >> very much so, because the rallies are being led by institutional money, hedge funds, traders a as opposed to main street. we talked about it in the earlier conversation where until the unemployment rate turns around, you're not going to get a natural bias to the u.s. equities we normally had with the drips and the portions of people's paychecks going into their long lonely mutual funds. that's diminished tremendously. people are using that money to survive. so until that disconnect -- i remember hearing something say, and i'm not sure who said it, that this recovery is going to be a status tissuan's dream. i keep all of my thoughts short-term. >> bob, we really appreciate the insight and getting up early with us in chicago. >> no problem. >> bob eye china know at brokerage.com. take a look at the futures here again. we're a bit away from ge earnings. we have bank of america today, as well. so some very important earnings to get through. so google and ibm having an influence on today's markets. their earnings were strong, it's a rates outlook. positive in the nasdaq and slightly negative in the s&p 500. that is it for today's show. i'm brian shactman here in the united states. >> i'm becky meehan in europe. >> and i'm christine tan in asia. have a great weekend and thanks for watching "worldwide exchange." the gold delta skymiles credit card... from american express... it's the official card... of the world's largest airline. and it's the only credit card... that earns miles on delta. miles that take you... to more places than ever before. over 350 destinations worldwide. so switch today. get up to 25,000 bonus miles-- good for a free flight. call now to apply. there's no annual fee for the first year... and you can redeem... with no blackout dates or seat restrictions. these are just a few of the benefits... of carrying the official card of delta air lines. switch now and you can earn miles... on delta with your purchases: groceries, gas, entertainment, and more. get up to 25,000 bonus miles... with the gold delta skymiles credit card. call 1-800-skymiles to apply. this is the official card... of the world's largest airline. good morning. earnings central. shares of ibm are under pressure after hours while those of search giant google are getting a boost. today's headlines, bank of america and general electric both