the nasdaq up more than 1%. the s&p rose 3/4 of a point. the new trading day gets underway in about five hours. here s where u.s. futures stand. all up. meanwhile, the european markets are up. here is a look at how markets across asia fared today. all of them up as well ending positive. vice president joe biden has labored under low approval ratings for months. new poll to be released in 90 minutes from now will show if the president got a balanced score after democrats did much better in the mid-term elections. some welcome news for drivers here in the u.s. gasoline prices are now cheaper than they were one year ago. the motor club aaa says the average cost per gallon of regular is now $3.32.
from getting dragged down bit euro zone debt crisis and many italians are unhappy with his leadership. the brute force of floodwaters is wreaking havoc around southeast asia. it is worse around thailand. the cresting river is expected to pass through the city at weekend. nationwide, 283 people have been killed by heavy rain and flood. occupy wall street protesters may be headed for another confrontation with police. new york mayor michael bloomberg says protesters must leave the park a section at a time so it can be cleaned up beginning this morning. a spokesperson for the group says it s an attempt to evict them. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i m andrew stevens. welcome to world business today. it s friday. the top stories on g20 finance ministers meet in paris. slowing slowly
the u.s. central bank is hoping to kick start america s sluggish economy by selling $40 billion of short-term treasuries in exchange for the same amount of longer-term bonds. the idea is to push long-term interest rates lower even though they re already at record low ts. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. world business today starts now. hello, and a warm welcome to world business today, i m manisha tank in hon con. i m nina desantos. the stock markets take a tumble. troubled tech giant hewlett packard could be about to give is boss a boot after barely a year in the job. i feel terrible. can t sleep at night because you re thinking how are you going to pay for the family s bills. not being able to pay your bills for five months. in sfan the public sector workers are taking matters into their own hands for now. let s kickoff with the markets. the only thing you can be certain of is uncertainty itself. yet again more wild swings on stock
but israeli wants new negotiations with him and the u.s. is threatening to move his move in the security council. in britain murdoch news international, the publisher of the defunct news of the world is negotiating a settlement with the family of a murdered teenager. those are the headlines. from cnn, the world s news leader, i m zain verjee and world business today starts now. good morning from cnn london. i m nina dos santos. and a great afternoon from you, i m manesha tank. this is world business today and these are your top stories. the global showdown and prada profits are pushed ever higher. a worry iing tragedy in greece. higher suicide rate. and the surprising makeover for the people s car. look at the gold-plated car here. let s send you straight to the stock market action. this is where the leading indices stand about an hour into the trading session, the dax is leading the way up in excess of 1.5%. in italy investors seem to be shrugging off news
cnn.com/impact. pauline. to wall street right now. u.s. stock markets rose wednesday as investors welcomed two reports on jobs growth. one showed employers announced fewer planned job cuts in the month of march. private sector employment rose by 201,000 in march. here s how the numbers settled on the big board. the dow ended up almost .6, nasdaq gained about .75 and nasdaq added about two-thirds of 1%. the market begins trading in a couple hours and this is where u.s. futures stand. market basically flat. nasdaq up about a .10 and s&p 500 up part av 0 percent? i said he is the ceo of