tv and appears to be intact. one of the world's richest men says he plans to challenge premier vladimir putin. the owner of the new jersey nets basketball team has invested in russia's hybrid car. he was pushed out earlier this year after a disagreement with party veterans. canada is pulling out of the kyoto accord, this comes days african da and 193 other nations agreed to a new climate treaty that extends the accord by several years. canada's conservative government criticized the previous liberal government for endorsing kyoto. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee. "world business today" starts now. good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. this is "world business today." out of sight, not out of reach. eu minister ollie reign says britain is not beyond regulation. intel tumbles over the flooding in thailand. we'll tell you why brazil's world cup run-off is being dogged by delays. investors have been hanging on every word out of europe for months now even if they're not entirely convinced by what the politicians have been saying. today, well, it's no different. the latest from europe is that this man, the ec, european krigs president, herman van rompuy says an agreement between 26 members of the e ufrnlthsz will be finalized by march. let's see how markets have been reacting the that one. nina? >> over here it's a sea of red as you can see, a little bit of let's say caution here, again the kind of situation we've seen many a midweek flurry after some of these comments made by ollie rain. what we've got on the cards is an early gain for the banking stocks seem to have been reversed. we have the bon, losing heavy ground. one thing on investor eye also be german investor confidence. that data due out about 25 minutes from now, expected to fall to the lowest level since october 2008. one of the reasons this is particularly important is germany is the powerhouse of the kind of fiscal compact or integration we're talking about and also europe's largest economy. the dax is down to the do you know of about .2%. also in united kingdom, we've got inflation data due out in the bottom of the hour. inflation in united kingdom has run at double the central bank. the ftse is performing slightly better but more or less flat ahead of that inflation reading. andrew? >> nina, another down down here in asia. the markets in this part of the world really tracking the u.s. losses. take a look at hong kong. you'll see it coming right off the top, fairly sharp losses from the opening. not surprising because the u.s. in turn is reacting to the fears that the eu agreement is basically not enough. we had moody's saying it would revisit ratings of all the eu countries. and fitch expecting significant economic downturn. tech stocks got hit after intel cut its forecast. exporters were weak, of course, on the european concern. one stock to tell you about today, olympus up by nearly 5.5%. there's a report that the auditors will approve the quarterly earnings report. now, they have to submit this report by thursday, olympus does, to remain lifted. if they don't, they'll be taken off the nikkei. investors confident that that's not going to happen. i want to quickly show you what's been going on in shanghai. the market down nearly 2% for the day as a fourth day of losses. the actual index is now at its lowest level since march of 2009. still uncertainty over how beijing will boost the slowing domestic economy. as we've been saying, the economy in china has been slowing more quickly than a lot of people. people expected china to move more rapidly. certainly at the moment it's a fairly negative outlook on beijing. >> a lot of concerns then for the western economies as well because a lot of people were hoping that xhin nah would be the powerhouse of economic growth to, let's say, take some of the western economies out of their downward spiral. let's remind you what happened on wall street on monday's session. stocks took quite a tumble there. as you can see those alarm bells continue to ring in europe. that had a concerned effect on the markets in the united states as well. this is how the major indices closed. as you can see, they were down between 1.3 and 1.5%. >> as i was saying, nina, the tech sector weighing on trade. intel has cut its outlook for the current quarter. it says the flooding in thailand has hurt production and caused a worldwide hard drive shortage. that means it will fall well short of its original sales forecast. perhaps not surprising when you see just how closely thailand has been tied into global production, particularly for the chip that is g into these hard drives. that's what the reaction was on the street. the stock down by more than 4% on the nasdaq. that made the chip maker one of the biggest losers. intel now says that it expects that fourth quarter revenues will total about $13.7 billion, well short of its original estimate of $14.7 billion. the problems don't end there, though. intel expects the global hard disk drive shortage to continue in the first quarter of 2012. take a look at this. this is what happened to the asia techs here. the announcement from intel, big knock-off effect as it does from this part of the world. samsung down by more than 3%. tokyo electron down by 1.3. acor and add venn sent down 2.5%. when intel coughs, the rest of the tech sector at least in asia gets a cold, nina. >> indeed, andrew. we saw the nasdaq fell about 1.3% in yesterday's session when i was showing the closing numbers of wall street. let's have a look at how u.s. futures are pointing at the moment. broadly speaking what we're expecting is a mix to higher open later today. investors will be keeping an eye on the fastball meeting in washington. that will be happening later on tuesday. the fed is expected to refrain from new stimulus measures because of encouraging news out of europe over the last couple yee weeks. the nasdaq is up to about .5%, the other two, broadly speaking, flat. the british prime minister david cameron may have kicked up quite a fuss last week when he refused to sign britain up to a fiscal code which is agreed by every other member of the european union, all 26 other members. but if the comments from the eu economy boss olli rehn are anything to go by, mr. cameron may have alienated britain from the rest of europe from nothing. on monday, reign said his bid of dropping out of the fiscal accord was a red herring. in his words, if this was intended to prevent bankers and financial corporation frls the city from being regulated, that's not going to happen. this is key for david cameron. there does seem to be a bit of confusion over whether this regulation would include a sales tax on financial transactions. does it include that? >> so far the jury is out on that one. let's remind what the tobin tax could be. we're talking about a levi of about .1% and .100% on bonds, derivatives. the derivatives markets for the united kingdom is particularly sizable. the "financial times," andrew, said the uk could be contributing about 30% to 40% of the total turbine tax contributions if it were to be introduced here. it is a very contentious subject. i should also remind you the city of london, the financial district in london brings about 11% of the total tax revenues to the united kingdom, money badly needed at a time when the uk government is trying to cut its deficit as well. in any case, mr. cameron's high stakes decision has opened a rift not only with europe but also at home within his own governing coalition. nick clegg who leads the democrat minority within the coalition says he was bitterly disappointed in the move. clegg wasn't even by the prime minister's side when he explained his decision to parliament. >> -- national interest, and that is what i did. let me refer back to what i said to this house last wednesday. i made it clear that if the eurozone countries wanted a treaty involving all 27 members of the european union, we would insiflt on some safeguards for britain to protect our own national interests. some thought that the safeguards i was asking for were relatively modest. nevertheless, satisfactory safeguards were not forthcoming, so i did not agree to the treaty. mr. speaker, let me be clear about exactly what happened, mat it means for britain and what i see happening next. >> oh, dear. apologies for that. i'm not quite sure what happened. up next, record video game sales. political challenges in russia and a gold rush in china. still plenty more to come. we'll be right back. 3" has exploded into the entertainment industry record books. activision has made a billion dollars in six days, less than it took james cav ron's "avatar" to bring up that much at the box office. you're watching wbt. the russian billionaire mikhail prokhorov says he'll run against putin in next year's race. problem rove owns the new jersey nets is targeted the country's fast growing middle class for support. tens of thousands of russians have been protesting the recent elections after allegations of fraud. nina? in the meantime russian president dimitri medvedev has come under fire fors his response. on his facebook page he said he disagreed with protester slogans wow but would go ahead with an election investigation. within hours thousands people responded largely posting negative comments to it. canada has officially resigned from the kyoto protocol just a day after an international delegation agreed to extend the treaty's limits on carbon emissions. canada's environment minister says the treaty's goals are not achievable without having the world's two biggest carbon emitters on board. they are, of course, the united states and china. before the break, we were telling you about david cameron's decision to veto changes to the eu treaty. let's go back and take a listen to dan rivers elatest report. david cameron may be a hero to euro skeptics in his party, but he struggled to make himself heard over heckling asking where his deputy nick clegg was. >> order. the house must calm itself. >> reporter: tellingly clegg was nowhere to be seen on those famous green benches, a sign perhaps of new strains at the heart of britain's coalition government. >> prime minister, do you now regret -- >> reporter: the conservative coalitiontion started with a love-in last year, david cameron and his deputy nick clegg joking and smiling as they held their first news conference. but now europe is threatening to wipe the smile off their faces. david cameron vetoed proposed changes to a european treaty to protect this, the glittering jewel in the uk economy. he was worried the city of london would be hit harder than other european capitals by new taxes on financial transactions. but his coalition partner couldn't hide his fury during a brksbc interview. >> i'm bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last week's summit precisely because i think there's a real danger that over time the united kingdom will be isolated. >> reporter: at nick clegg's office on white hall there must be real soul searching going on. threatening to poison relations with the coalition partners, the lib dems. if the party is over are they heading for a messy breakup. anti europeans hope divorce with lib dems is on the cards. >> a very dysfunctional marriage. what we're seeing is the conservatives advocating one position and the liberal democrats openly criticizing that even though many decisions were made in cabinet collectively. it's open warfare in public. >> i wouldn't always presume that because out on the television screens one party is chanting that the other is in party. >> elder statesmen were lining up to insist relations between conservatives and lib dems aren't broken. >> relations are respectful. government is difficult. >> the coalition isn't going to coupleable? >> no. i think i can guarantee the coalition isn't going to crumble. you get tensions. >> reporter: like every couple, clegg and cameron don't agree on everything. just because they've had a big row doesn't mean this political marriage is over yet. dan rivers, cnn london. >> perhaps just the honeymoon is over. as we near the end of 2011, world equities are recording their final moves. on the whole they've been falling as news of europe gets worse and worse. gold is in value. ramy inocencio, our asia business analyst looks at gold's performance. obviously it's seen as a safe raven, ramy. it also seems to be quite volatile, too. >> definitely, andrew. gold has been on a steep tear hitting record high after record high. the current record was reached in about late august, august 22nd when it traded above $1910 per ounce. it's since fallen from there, trading at about $1,652. but this year-to-date rise we're seeing is still a whopping 16% gain. if we compare that to the performance of equities, you might wish you put your money in gold, too. the hang sang here in hong kong, it's toolly fallen nearly 20%. compare this to germany's xetra dax which is down nearly 16%, while the u.s. s&p 50 looks to close the year pretty much where it started. andrew. >> also news coming out, ramy, that monthly gold shipments between here and hong kong and china are at the highest level in the past six months. what's happening? >> exactly right. as investor confidence is shaken by the debt crisis in europe and high unemployment in the u.s., we can still see steady growth in china's gold holdings through the last six months. hong kong gold exports to the mainland have clearedly jumped this past year. these numbers are from congress hong's monthly export and trade statistics. october's gold exports came in at nearly 75 tons. the starkest difference is a year-on-year comparison. october 2010, china only imported one ton of gold from hong kong. looking ahead to 2012, one analyst told me this growth in chinese demand we've been seeing over this past six months will follow two channels. one is in the form of gifts, and one is in the form of investments. >> always sbeen a very traditional jewelry, in weddings, birth dates, whether child or for the grandmothers or grandfathers. it's always occupied a very important place in chinese culture. that's why it's such a high demand. people also see the investment value in gold, and that's obviously a very important reason, especially in the past five or eight years. >> now, one final thing to add, next year is this, the year of the dragon. it's considered to be the most auspicious of the 12 chinese zodiac signs. with that more weddings are expected, more babies are expected and more gifts of gold will be given. >> i remember the baby boom of year 2000 here in hong kong. it was incredible. ramy, thank you very much. ramy inocencio, our asia business editor. nina? >> stay with us here on "world business today," we'll be right back with your world weather update after this. welcome back to the show. in the united kingdom we're fashioning some of the wildest weather in years. strong winds, snow and heavy rain mean long delays for travelers especially across brit tn. jennifer delgado is at the cnn weather center to tell us more. it was a wild night, very windy in london. what's the forecast like? >> talking more strong winds for today. it looks like even by the end of the week we could see another storm system that's going to be even stronger. as i show you on the radar, we're dealing with rain out there as well as winter showers. i see some snow out there and also some stronger storms moving in ahead of a cold front, into parts of belgium. we're also talking into western parts of germany. all this active weather is due to a strong system -- look at me zooming in -- moving in towards the east as we go through the next 24-48 hours. as i show you on our graphic here -- i still remain to be a very giant weather person, looking at the breezy condition. this is going to be causing all types of travel delays for today as well as tomorrow. talking gail force winds sustained at 46 in dublin, 58 in plymouth. that works out to be about 97 -- i should say 97 miles per hour in some locations we saw those winds yesterday. they'll continue to be gusty and 22 in london. as i show you as we go through tomorrow, we're still going to see windy conditions out there. they're going to start to subside. notice we're talking 58. 58 in glasgow tomorrow. as we go through, it looks like about 24. we will see improvement. the problem is this is causing travel delays. you can expect the delays to affect you if you're going to be flying in the evening and overnight for glasgow. 60 to 90-minute delays and the same for roughly dublin, amsterdam, flying into frankfurt, berlin, as well as heathrow. make sure to check ahead. it's going to be essential. right now we'll take a short break and we'll have more "world business today" in a bit. from cnn hong kong. welcome back, i'm andrew stevens. >> i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. you're watching "world business today." let's get straight to the european stock markets, about 90 minutes into today's trading session. it's a bit of a mixed picture at the moment, cautious optimism that the plan that was put in place to rescue the eurozone about a week or so ago in brussels may be implemented. there's still concern that countries like finland and divisions among governments among places like that could discover the deals. ftse 100 up about .10%. we have the cac 40 down to the tune of .2% and the zurich smi virtually flat. another day of losses here in asia, nina. take a look at shanghai, at the lowest level since march of 2009 over the outlook for the economy. the world's now second biggest economy, and still uncertain about how beijing will boost the slowing domestic economy. watch this space, this shanghai composite down nearly 2% today across the rest of the board, rae response you're looking at there to what happened in new york overnight. new york was down, fears that the eu agreement is not big and bold enough, that there is no bazooka approach to the problem, certainly having an impact on markets. moody's also saying it will revisit ratings of all eu countries, up the an tee, as did fitch who came out and predicted, quote, significant economic downturn in europe over 2012. tech stocks just to round things out also being hit after intel cut its own forecast on weakness or problems associated with its thai suppliers, factories in thailand after the floods. that hit the exporters. all in all, a pretty ugly day today, nina. >> in the meantime on wall street it was an ugly day on monday with stocks taking quite a tumble for the aforementioned rubins. karina huber is there with a recap. >> stocks fell sharply on monday as investigators grew doubtful about whether changes in the your rhee zone will have any impact on the debt crisis. at the close, the dow ended at 12,021. the nasdaq fell 1.3%. shares of intel lost 4%. the company lowered its fourth quarter sales forecast saying a global hard drive shortage caused by last month's severe flooding in thailand hurt demand for its micro processors. intel says sales should recover by the middle of next year and demand for pcs remains strong. still, the lower forecast was felt across the tech sector. shares of micro devices fell 4%. shares of fedex lost about 2% despite predicting that monday will be the busiest shipping day in company history. the company expects to move more than 17 million shipments monday, more than double the normal daily volume. it's all anti online shopping which has been very strong for the first half of the christmas shopping season. coming up tuesday on wall street, investors will turn their attention to the federal reserve. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm karina huber in new york. u.s. futures are pointing the a bit of a mixed picture at the open. last time we looked one of these markets was actually down. as you can see now, they're all virtually flat at the moment, from the s&p to the nasdaq and the dow. investors, as karina was saying, will be keeping a close eye on the federal reserve meeting in washington later today. the fed is widely expected to refrain from new stimulus measures because of the encouraging news we've seen coming out of europe. meanwhile, nina, the u.s. congress is running out of time to decide whether to extend a controversial payroll tax cut. their vote will affect hundreds of millions of americans. as kate bolduan reports, republicans and democrats surprisingly can't seem to reach a compromise. >> reporter: 19 days until the payroll tax expires, just four days before congress hoped to leave washington for the rest of the year. still no sign of compromise on capitol hill. >> should we ask the wealthiest in america to pay little more in taxes so we can provide a payroll tax cut for almost 160 million americans? that's it. what we hear from the other side of the aisle over and over again is no. >> the only reason for democrats to oppose this job-creating bill would be to gain some political advantage at a time when every one of them says job creation is a top priority. >> reporter: the house is set to vote tuesday on a republican proposal to extend the employee payroll tax cut, extend unemployment assistance and prevent scheduled cuts in medicare payments to doctors. republicans are also demanding the bill include a continroversl measure of the keystone oil project. that is likely to hit a brick wall in the senate. president obama warned he'll reject such a move. senate democratic leaders say it won't even get that far. >> let's not stop the business of government. let's not stop helping this economy recover over one issue, whatever it may be, whether a pipeline or whatever it may be. >> reporter: this is much more than just another political boxing match. about 160 million people will see their payroll taxes go up if the cut expires. some five million people would stop receiving unemployment benefits next year, and doctors would see almost a 28% cut in the rate they're reimbursed through medicare. that would make it tougher to treat medicare patients. >> even with so much at stake and time quickly running out, there is no agreement in sight. so at the moment all eyes turn to the house and the expected tuesday vote on the republican payroll tax extension. kate bolduan, cnn, capitol hill. still to come on "world business today," investors may be spooked by italy, but still buying the country's bonds. we speak to a man in the thick of things, the deputy head of the country's central bank and see what he makes of how the markets are treating italian debt. stay with us. where there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the difference between innovation and invention. invention is important. it's the beginning. it's the spark. but innovation is where we actually create value for dow, for society, and for the world. ♪ at dow, we're constantly searching for how to use our fundamental knowledge of chemistry to solve these difficult problems. science is definitive. there is a right answer out there. [ male announcer ] the same 117 elements do the fundamental work of chemistry. ♪ the difference, the one element that is the catalyst for innovation, the one element that changes everything is the human element. ♪ scotland's zoo is the head to two chinese pandas named sunshine and sweeties. the zoo reportedly shelled out about a million dollars and lit do that every year to host the pair in hopes the novelty boosts the number of zoo visitors. the pandas will be on display until 2021. then they return to china. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." there's been plenty of talk about italy's ability to service its huge debts, but in its latest bond sale on monday, the italian government had no trouble it seems drumming up investor interest selling about $9.3 dollars worth of debt. italy offered the one-year bills with a yield of 13 basis points lower than its last auction, however, ten-year bonds are still is real benchmark for sovereign borrowing costs here and the rate of italy's ten-year paper is it seems on the rise again. this is the yield on ten-year italian debt standing right now at just under 6.7%, a full percentage point higher than this time last week. i got a chance to sit down with the director general of italy's central bank to talk about those yields and the problems they present as this country struggles with its debt of nearly $2.5 trillion. >> how long can italy realistically finance itself on the open markets with the kind of rates we've seen on ten-year yields? >> well, this is a question that hides the impression that there is sort of a level of interest rates beyond which is country is shut off from the market. that is analytically wrong. i think in history italy has always been able to finance its debt at a level of interest rates which were much higher than the current one. >> but it had its own currency that it could devalue. >> yeah. but you see the devaluation has always been a short-term solution because it gives a sort of a temporary boost to exports, but then it reflects itself on higher prices. >> would you welcome more bond buying of italian bonds by the ecb. march yoe draghi has said in the last couple weeks they're not going to do it forever. >> that was always understood. i don't think the issue is bond buying by the ecb more or less than any individual country. i think the issue is whether the system has enough liquidity to restore its proper functioning. >> let's also talk about the ratings agencies here. if italy gets another debt downgrade, that will make yields on italian bonds spike even higher. >> a lot of assumptions are made about what's going to happen, you know torques the european union in the future, whether there will be a fiscal union, whether there will be euro bonds and so on and so forth. i think this is certainly an area where we are working to make progress, but i don't think has any relevance for the current management of the crisis we're in. >> what about the timing of these ratings decisions? >> the timings of these ratings decisions is something that we don't know. we are as surprised as most people about the timing of some of these decisions. i think it obviously reflects an attitude of more analysis of private institutions than government -- than sovereign government. >> is there a risk that with some of these rating changes coming at such acute times from the eurozone that we could see a self-fulfilling prophesy. >> at some point investors, final investors will take decisions that are disconnected from what the rating agencies say. if the rating agencies continue to sort of project a worst case scenario and base their ratings only on what they themselves consider the likelihood of such worst case scenarios, then, of course, there's going to be a sort of a very negative trend. >> so that's fab breeze i don't sack manny. andrew, as you mentioned, he's probably had a few sleepless nights, two ratings agent seats could downgrade. >> absolutely. it's interesting because the ratings agencies, although we all remember what their performance was like in the 2008 financial crisis, they do seem to be more ahead of the curve on this one. they've been reasonably accurate, haven't they, so far in predicting the downfall and the real problems in europe? >> i think you're probably right there, andrew. >> always right, nina. have to be. we told you chelsea ford nicholas an nell co-will be applying his trade. stay with us. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. from cnn hong kong in london, this is "world business today," welcome back to the show. >> the chelsea striker dog burg could be set to follow on the heels of nicolas anelka in favor of china's shenhua, the director widely reported as saying the club held preliminary talks with drag ba in the hopes of bringing him to china. with 2008 chelsea goals between them, it could be a queue for the chinese couple. nina, they probably need him. they finished 11 out of 16 last season. >> that puts it into context, doesn't it andrew? stick being the beautiful game and jokes aside, in 2 1/2 years the footballing world will be firmly focused on brz zil for the most expensive world cup in history. as chester darlg, whether the country will be ready by them really supp for debate. >> reporter: rio de janeiro's special forces roll in on armored personnel carriers, on the hunt for drug dealers in shantytowns that cling to the hillsides. not the image they want as it prepares for the world cup in 2014. the police invasion is just one of many battles authorities are fighting as they rush to get stadiums, airports and roads ready and safe. fifa has repeatedly warned brazil simply isn't working fast enough for the 2014 football extravaganza. the stadium here in rio is brazil's most emblematic. if you look right here behind me you can see there is a gaping hole where we should be seeing stands. this stadium has to be ready in time for the 2013 fifa confederation cup. the latest on stackal, a corruption scandal that forced the sports minister to step down. his replacement, a respected politician, is undaunted. we have absolute confidence, absolute certainty, he says, that brazil will have all of the conditions, the equipment, principally the stadiums built for the cup. he says the 12 stadiums in 12 different cities will be ready on time. brazil officially planned to spend $13 billion on the cup, making it the most expensive in history, but works are already overbudget. brazilians are generally optimistic. it will probably all come together last minute, says this man, but it will come together. there's plenty of work ahead. brazil is fighting fifa to offer cheap tickets for students, indigenous groups and the elderly. 40 million people here live in poverty, he says. it isn't possible for brazil to host this big global football party if these people don't have access. fifa wants alcohol served in the stadiums which is currently illegal. in brazil football is called the beautiful game, but its police efforts to secure shantytowns that is grabbed the world's attention. organizers want to make sure that's not how the 2014 world cup is remembers. shasta darlington, cnn, rio de janeiro. almost two hours into today's trading session. this is where we are at the moment. it seems what started on a bit of a downbeat note has quickly turned positive as you can see. the xetra dax is up after a reading of investor confidence. we had uk inflation figures, and the markets, broadly speaking, are up at the moment. the prize possessions of one of hollywood's iconic leading ladies hits the auction block later today. christie's is selling a white range of items owned and warned by elizabeth taylor including clothes, accessories and at least 80 pieces from her jewelry collection. the auction is expected to fetch nearly $30 million. some of the highlights include this jacket with her beaded image by versace, estimated to sell for upwards of $20,000. also, this antique diamond dee arwa which she wore to the 1957 academy awards. that's estimated to fetch about $80,000. finally, the piece of all pieces, taylor's 33 karat diamond ring which was given to her by her ex-husband richard burton. it could be yours for a price tag of around $3 million. andrew, i wonder whether you're tempted. >> just in time for christmas, i'd love to be tempted. many dealers say the antique market is booming. if there was ever a time to invest, it's now. erin mcglock kin reports on a small purchase that netted her a small fortune. >> when thea jordan bought this from a london shot, she thought a fun piece of junkie jewelry. >> wow, it's lyle sparkly. okay, we're buy that. it became her 4-year-old daughter's favorite accessory. >> a little horrifying that she could have dropped it any day. >> it wasn't until thea had her engagement ring valued. >> he went diamond, diamond, diamond. i said, no, that's a fake broach. he said no, these are definitely diamonds. >> the trinket was a rare 19th century imperial topaz. she put it up for auction at bonham's in london. while her daughter values it on the low side, experts say the broach is for sale at just the right time. >> if you've got money, it's not earning you much money in the bank. i think there's a lot of nervousness to have it in stocks. if you've got your money in either of those things, what's the pleasure in it. >> reporter: while her story is pretty rare, there are plenty of people hoping to cash in on the junk in their attic. websites like valuemystuff.com, aim to help regular people do just that. the concept is simple. take a picture of the item you want valued, load it on mystuff.com website, and the experts will tell you what it's worth. it's important to know what's hot and what's not. >> the market is very strong for chinese art, russian art, for jewelry, watches, any commodities, all the traditional sides of collecting such as, for example, 18th century english furniture, silver, ceramics, those go through bad times at the moment. 25,000, 26,000. holdless it at 26. that's it. going to sell. no more at $26,000. >> at auction thea's broach sells for over eight times its estimated value. >> i just thought it had to stop and it didn't. it kept going. i'm amazed. it's extraordinary. >> reporter: for some the excitement of the day was just too much. it's likely to be a very merry christmas for this little girl. erin mcclock lynn, cnn london. >> that wraps it up for this edition of "world business today." thanks for joining us. i'm andrew stephens in hong kong. >> i'm nina dos santos in london. we'll see you for the next 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