European central bank and the bank of on england are holding policy setting meetings today. The ecb is trying to deal with the slow recovery and inflation thats too low. Well have a live report from our colleague, Geoff Cutmore in frankfurt in just about ten minutes. First, andrew has some of the morningss top stories. Good morning. Thanks for that. A number of stories out about the Retail Industry this morning. Some of the nations largest stores will be reporting december comps today. Also, costco, one of the first out of the gate. The warehouse chain posting a better than expected 3 increase in december comp. The retailer was helped in part by online sales. Macys cutting 2,500 jobs as part of a reorganization. The Company Plans to close five stores, but open eight others. Macys says the move will save 800 million per year. The company reporting a profit above wall streets consensus. Take a share that i a look of shares of zs today. The specialty retailer cited quarterly outlook. Shar
And others, latest salvo from Obama Administration is violence and eastern ukraine, overnight clashs in city. Claiming lives of at least 4 ukrainian soldiers up to 30 pro russian separatists, secretary of state kerry pronounces himself quote, nothing less than disappointed with russia. Vowing to impose more sanctions against russ succeed in derails a nationwide elect schedule for may 25. In ukraine. That tactic, criticized by democratic chairman and rangeing republican senators on the Foreign Relations committee, today. If we dont use this call break on sanctions in the way to prevent further incurring to the ukraine, we will find ourselves ewing those sanctions as an aftermath as we did in crimea. Sometimes i think only strategy that administration has is getting people who talk about ukraine to look in the mirror, make sure they practice sounding tough. Lou nato commander, general philip moments ago announceed that nato may be forced to permanently station troops in eastern europe, a
State exchange to join a federal exchange. The fbi is looking into it and maryland is eager to get more money to get the Exchange Going the obamacare folks are saying or not sure youre good for it. And massachusetts, the way the media is portraying it, romney care has problems, not obamacare. But nonetheless, thats what were hearing. This is all of them looking for money from the feds and theyre all going to get it. I would say of the three the most amazing would be the fbi never confronted in this case. But there has been 130 million spent on their website since march. They have signed up on it to go person. And not one human being could. There is a line that crosses from incompetence to criminal behavior and that is what we are looking at. It really does have to go back. Its hard for us remember the whole point of obamacare was to help a relatively small percentage of americans who are persistently uninsured. Neil so what does this mean . I notice that nevada is having problems, geor
Unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. This is also happening as people close to the president are acknowledging privately that the lawsuits that are being filed by the Trump Campaign are weak and likely will not overturn the results of the election. Never the less, as you noted, they are indicating that part of the planning involves a Campaign Style rally to try to drum up support for the idea that the election was illegitimate and was stolen. Their belief is they could potentially persuade enough secretaries of state in certain battleground states to open up investigations in to the elections in their states and potentially delay the process of transition. That is one of the goals. We should point out sources have indicated that people close to the president including First Lady Melania Trump and his soninlaw Jared Kushner have approached the subject with the president of accepting reality and acknowledging that he lost and conceding to the former Vice President , now president elec
Russell 1,000. The russell 2,000 and the s p 400 midcaps have all hit alltime highs. Ten dow components have set multi year highs in october with seven reaching alltime highs. As for its year in the markets, volatility has fallen almost 18 this month. Of course, the lineup has led some to question if things have gone too far too fast. Pim pimcos bill gross on cnbc yesterday after the fed decision. The markets are bubbling and all asset prices are bubbling down. Steve liesman has pointed out Profit Margins are bubbling. To the extent that any of them can be suspended i guess is the ultimate test in terms of tapering or, you know, the purchases by the fed in terms of adding to the down shape. But, yes, slightly bubbly. All right, a little spooky. Well talk more about his opinions through wrought the morning. The futures at this point are indicated lower. Right now, you see some red arrows there. Dow futures down by about 30 points below fair. The s p futures off by about 2 points. On tod