even the european central bank. instead, it was the swiss national bank stunning currency markets around the world by removing the price ceiling on the swiss bank designed to keep its currency artificially low against the euro. that sent the value of the frank soaring and swiss stocks tumbling. today, the frank at 1 point up about 20% when it was all said and done against the euro. now, the defensive move comes ahead of an expected announcement from the ecb's mario draghi next week of a massive euro zone quantitateive easing plan like one in the u.s. the past few years. that would weaken the euro sending investors flooding into the frank. lisa boyason has more. she's in zurich. >> reporter: a swiss shock. there's simply no other way of describing what took place on the swiss markets. the swiss national bank coming through and surprising everybody by deciding to scrap a cap that's been in place preventing the swiss frank from appreciating above a certain level towards the euro. at the same time they took interest rates even further into negative territory now looking at the conservative minus nine percent. and down unprecedented levels. closed down by more than 8.5% and saw it led lower by the big bank off by some 10%. ubs, for example. these big banks trading lower. we also saw the big luxury goods group of the likes of lishmon, for example, the watches also off by 16%. i'm lisa boyarson in switzerland. >> what does the swiss surprise mean for consumers and investors and who, if anyone might benefit from a more costly swiss frank? ever notice how expensive it is to travel in switzerland? well it just got even more expensive. a lot more. >> cappuccino costs you $10. >> unexpected? kristine la guard, who heads up the international monetary fund once thought to be the referee with currency maneuvering was not contacted. >> this is a bit of a surprise. i would hope that it was communicated with other colleagues from central banks. i'm not sure it was. >> who benefits? for now, swiss consumers and anyone already holding 60 franks in davos yesterday cost 51 franks today. but those consumers don't drive switzerland's economy. exports do. food made by nestle and watches by swatch got a lot more expensive to buy around the world. demming prospects for the stocks. ceo nick hyayk said it was a tsunami for the swiss industry and for the tourist industry and the entire country. swiss banks a rocky road too. julius bear make a lot of money in u.s. dollars, british pounds and the euro. the swiss frank figured a rising dollar help them in 2015. it's still rising but they won't benefit as much as they hoped. why did this happen now? with the european central bank expected to announce a new round of stimulus or qe next week in hopes of jump starting its stalled economy, pressure would have built to uncap the swiss frank anyway. more euros in the system should lower their value. and swiss franks would look even more attractive. if their price was still capped. >> you cannot control your currency forever. the market is going to pressure you to where it wants to go. >> by making the move today, the swiss central bank avoided paying out billions of franks over the next few days to keep its currency down ahead of the expected quantitative easing next week. >> let's turn now to kathy ling managing director of fx strategy for bks at management. welcome, kathi. sue just explained if the swiss bank was going to support or continue its policy it was going to cost them billions to do so. i understand why they did it in that sense. does this in any way signal to you something about the inevitability of the european central bank's quantitative easing move or its size and do you think they talked? >> i'm pretty sure is smb conferred with the european central bank before making this decision. as your passage indicated, we basically have this monumental move historic move on the part of the smb. putting currency at a higher value that does put a big impact on growth versus exports versus imports but the story here is that i think they would not have done that if they weren't confident the european central bank was going to move forward with quantitative easing. i would be shocked if didn't necessarily confer with mario draghi beforehand before making the decision. >> how low does this euro is moving to now that the cap has been taken off of the swiss and we're facing possibly historic qe next week? >> in the long-term, it's realistic to see europe at parody which we haven't seen in a long time but in the short-term more volatile and jagged price action. what you have to imagine is that the switzerland have left the markets one that expires of euros. that's going to be negative and drive the euro lower. as we head into next week's european meeting, we could see selling but on the flip side a trade is very crowded and when you get such a crowded trade and the market itself while they are still pretty confident, i don't think they're absolutely certain the ecb is going to announce qe and even if they did, there's a lot of kind of debate on the size and scope of the program. so there could be some reversals and profit taking before the ecb meeting and that could lead to traders and investors opportunities to sell once again. >> so kathy, you see the u.s. dollar potentially strengthening more against the euro and just as sue explained in the package, when a currency strengthens, that makes that nation's exports more expensive in international markets. so does this mean the strengthening of the u.s. dollar which we've already seen a lot of and may see more of does this mean u.s. exporting countries are going to have a harder time selling into europe? >> yes. i do think that u.s. exporters will struggle as the dollar continues to rise and i think it's a realistic trend that's going to continue because all of these uncertainties and events are happening around the world. they're not coming to an end anytime soon because you're seeing a lot more central banks like india and egypt today respond to the swiss movement. the key here is that everyone is flooding into u.s. assets for safety. and that basically drives the dollar higher which is why treasuries are doing so well. for multinational u.s. corporations it really depends on their business. do they export a lot? if so they're definitely going to be hurt. >> kathy, quickly, what does this mean for the federal reserve, if anything in the united states? >> i think the federal reserve remains on track. volatility is never good for central banks and may come back a bit in commodity prices but at the end of the day, they remain on track to tighten before the end of the year. >> for the first time in my life kathy, i actually understood a currency conversation. bk asset management. >> thank you. swiss based companies trade here in the u.s. and they're for our price in u.s. dollars because the dollar is stronger than the swiss frank now so let's look at shares of novartis and roche as well as credit suisse bank that ended higher an a percentage basis today. >> and u.s. markets, stocks overall ended today with another triple digit loss for the dow after more disappointing bank earnings. we get to those in a minute and weaker than forecasted economic data. initial jobless claims last week rose by 19,000, the greatest number in 18 weeks. more seasonal workers than expected cut loose after the holiday season. and despite lofty inflation targets by the fed, wholesale prices in december fell by a third of 1% the largest amount in three years because of the tumble yes, in oil prices and with that the dow was off 106 points. nasdaq down 68. lower now for five days in a row. the s&p 500 down 18%, closing back below the 2,000 mark. now with all the upset in the currency market today, treasury prices climbed as investors clamored into safe haven. that pushed the yield on the benchmark ten year note lower to 1.72%. and more now on those disappointing earnings from bank of america and citigroup, both released before today's opening bell. citigroup reported a sharp drop in fourth quarter profits. bank of america also out with disappointing results. shares of both getting hit today. these reports follow soft results from j.p. morgan. what went wrong with the big banks? kayla tausche takes a closer look. >> reporter: the fourth quarter has little to like for big banks which often serve as a barometer for broader economic health in the united states. bank of america and citigroup seeing a broad slowdown in loan growth as well as a sharp decline in trading activities. in particular bank executives calling the trading environment challenging, turbulent, unpredictable and volatile. causing revenues and fixed income units to drop across the board. citigroup down 16% and bank of america down 21% and j.p. morgan down 23%. now, executives blame volatility on sliding oil prices interest rates, as well as volatility in currencies like the euro the yen, the strengthening dollar and the declining russian ruble. it's a particular change though from a tone they used to take where they said volatility on the whole is good because sharp moves in either direction for securities would cause fee paying clients to decide whether to buy or sell rather than hold. bank of america's bruce thompson said that may have helped equities but not other parts of the market. goldman sachs has long been the leader in this fixed income space which has investors on edge because that is the next bank to report earnings and it could be more of the same. now, traditionally, the biggest worry for u.s. banks is what giant legal charge they're going to have to take in the quarter. bank of america surprised investors by having relatively muted legal costs, but charges did mar the overall earnings of citigroup and j.p. morgan which took charges of $2.9 billion and $1.1 billion respectively. largely to cover future settlements for alleged currency manipulations. as performance underwhelmed for the banking sector the question that looms large is whether the big bank model is past its prime. citigroup cso john said the company looked at other models but decided instead to keep a simpler structure. j.p. morgan jay mee diamond fiercely defending the big bank model at least for now. one thing is clear. if performance is not improving, it might not be up to the bank to decide. investors might think different. for "nightly business report," i'm kayla tausche in new york. attention target shoppers after struggling and failing to turn a profit at canadian unit the discount retailer is shutting all of its stores up north. 133 of them. ceo brian cornell said it's the right decision for the retail chain and will now focus on revitalizing the core u.s. operations. investors cheered the news sending shares of target nearly 2% higher today. a very different story for another big retailer. best buy. shares of electronics giant tumbled down 14%. the problem wasn't last quarter's numbers. they were okay but investors didn't like what they heard about 2015 especially managers described deflationary pricing. courtney reagan has more. >> reporter: today wasn't best buy's best day. even though the consumer electronics retailer released better than expected holiday sales, fueled by consumer purchases of tvs, mobile phones and computers, it also warned investors that the holiday strength won't stretch into the first quarter sending shares plunging. the retailer says industry changes including deflationary pricing, weak demand and declining purchases of extended warranties could pressure profitability. >> there's no such thing as an increase of price for consumer electronics. the only time you ever get higher prices is if a brand new product comes out. there's nothing new coming out. four k tvz won't save them. yes, price competition online will kill them. so everything is working against them. >> reporter: the national retail federation chief economist jack klineman said there was a high level of price competition this last holiday season explaining further while volume of purchases remain high lower prices offset some of the gains traditionally expected from selling a high volume of goods. wile other retailers have yet to specifically point to deflationary pricing as a concern, some experts think it's a big problem that can't be ignored and as pricing has gotten even more competitive, retailers selling identical merchandise are more at risk. >> i think everyone in retail this holiday is facing deflationary pricing pressure just because of the degree of discounting. not only the depth of pricing but the duration in which events have been running. black friday started after halloween this year not after thanksgiving. so the sheer amount of time the customer has been exposed to lower prices causes your average transaction values to decline. >> reporter: so while heightened competition is good news for consumers getting the benefit of lower prices it's a costly trend for retailers. for "nightly business report," i'm courtney reagan. and still ahead, why toronto, one of the leading financial centers of the world finds itself on edge as oil prices drop. earnings after the closing bell from dow component intel. the tech bell easily topping wall street forecast for earnings per share. at 74 cents, excludeing certain items. revenues rose about 6.5% just edging out the estimate on solid sales of chips for servers. its pc chip business didn't fare quite as well. shares initially fell in after hours trading. josh lipton now with his one big takeaway from intel's report from silicon valley. >> reporter: the big number from intel's latest earnings report, $8.9 billion, that is the revenue intel said it generated in the fourth quarter from its pc client group. intel's pc business accounts for about 60% of its chip makers revenue. that's the number to watch. revenue in that division did rise 3% year over year though it just missed wall street's expectations analysts want to see revenue of $9.2 billion. signs of stabilization in the pc market helped intel stocks surge higher in 2014. it was the best performing stock in the dow, whether that tailwind continues is a big question for investors this year. for "nightly business report josh lipton in silicon valley. also out tonight, fourth quarter results from the world's biggest world services provider. schlumberger working with improvement in efficiency and some likely job cuts. the texas-based company made $1.50 a share topping items. revenue with more than $12 billion was just shy of what the street expected. the company also announced it is increasing its quarterly dividend. shares initially rose today in after hours trading, as you see there. morgan brennan joins us now from new york city with her one big takeaway from schlumberger's number. morgan? >> reporter: hey, tyler. the earnings beat expectations. the 12525% increase. when you dig through this report you see that schlumberger encouraged about $1.8 billion in one time chargers for the quarter, a direct result of the price plunge we had seen in oil. we see that really impact this company. one of the biggest ones there was 9,000 job cuts. that's the company announced and began to roll out in the fourth quarter. that's happening across the globe in all of its operations but also seeing the company taking a hit on an eagle ford shale project, restructuring of its size to make a vessel fleet. venezuela currency devalued and more importantly, the company is cutting its capital expenditures in 2015 by 25% over 2014. so that's a really important number that everybody has been focusing in on with all of these energy-related companies, because as oil declines and production essentially declines we start to see the expenditures tied the decline. that's going to have ripple effects into many different industries. >> hunkering down at schlumberger. thank you, morgan brennan in new york. indeed just today, oil prices ended lower again in a choppy session despite a midday rally. domestic crude fell more than $4 to $46.25 a barrel and brent crude at $47.46 a barrel. the trend in lower oil prices is really sending shock waves to oil producing regions of the u.s. and the entire canadian economy sparking fears about a slowdown in real estate bank earnings and in trade with the u.s. brian sullivan has more in toronto. >> reporter: there may not be oil here in toronto but it seems to be the one thing that everybody is talking about. while there's not a drilling rig in sight, concern about the larger impact has the city on edge. toronto is one of the leading financial centers of the world and the banks based here rely on oil companies for a big part of their earnings. >> this is a macro economic story. the banks in canada have $55 billion of economic exposure to the oil and gas industry. if you looked at the canadian banks stocks, they've been negatively affected significantly. >> reporter: there's concern of a bank lendings fall and economy may take a hit. while oil, gas, and mining make up just between 8% and 10% of canada's total economy, industries such as real estate manufacturing, and construction represent a far larger piece. and there's real concern those sectors could also be impacted. >> canada is totally reliant on the natural resource sector. 25% of the stock exchange represented by resource stock, specifically, oil and gas. all of the growth in oil with canada is represented by alberta. alberta will probably go into negative gdp growth. there's so many other businesses that are suppliers to the oil and gas sector negatively affected. this is far reaching. we are a natural resource economy in canada. >> reporter: what happens here matters to the u.s. canada is america's largest trading partner accounting for 17% of all american exports. if we see a slowdown here it could take its toll on american companies selling into canada and another reminder the oil story though early in the year is the defining economic story of 2015. for "nightly business report," in toronto canada, i'm brian sullivan. those tumbling oil prices mean two oil majors cut jobs and that is where we begin tonight's market focus. bp and conoco phillips announce they'll slash more than 500 contracting positions in the north sea to reduce costs as crude prices cratered. shares of bp ended higher at $75.73. chron koe phillips at $61.41. a warning from lenar. saw profits jump by 50% with more homes at higher prices sold but reported its first fall in quarterly margins in three years and forecast a further drop in 2015 as costs rise. that sent shares down 7% to $42.48. investors poured a record amount of new money into black rock last year. the firm hiked quarterly dividend by 14%, increased buyback program and despite that profits slipped slightly and revenue came a little bit below estimates. shares off almost 1% to $342.45. southwest buyinghas been fined $1.5 billion for tarmac delays. failed to follow rules when 16 aircrafts delayed on the tarmac and passengers not given the chance to get off the plane after 3 hours. shares fell more than 1% to $38.90. the company declared a dividend of $5.77 a share. that payout will cost the chicken processing company about $1.5 billion and will be paid in february. stock popped more than 9.5% to $34.57. coming up the chinese company with a new phone and big ambitions to take on apple. this may be the last call for radio shack already dealing with creditors who have enough cash on hand through the holidays and to keep its doors open "the wall street journal" now says the struggling electronics retailer is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as next month. if you're a fan of cuban cigars starting next month, easing up on restrictions to cuba. americans going to the island no longer need a special license and neither will airlines or travel agents and you can use credit cards there. some u.s. companies sell technologies into the country and americans will be able to bring home up to $100 worth of alcohol and tobacco from cuba. and finally tonight, chinese smartphone maker xiao me is releasing a brand new phone causing a third less than the iphone and ipad. will it sell and should apple be worried? eunice yun has more from beijing. >> reporter: this chinese company has big ambitions. the company launched today the shaw mee note. a direct competitor to the iphone 6 plus. the phone in different colors, black and white and an important camera function. 13 megapixel camera in the back. the biggest selling point, this is thinner lighter and shorter than the iphone 6 plus. this phone marks a bit of a departure from current strategies. the phone maker known for budget smartphones, the standard version of this phone is $376 in the u.s. but the pro version is $540. still cheaper than the iphone 6 plus. one of the points the company ceo made is not only does he want to be dominant in the chinese market but wants to be a dominant player in the world market. he said he's hoping to be the biggest smartphone maker in the world in the next five to ten years. for "nightly business report," i'm eunice yun in beijing. >> that's a story worth following, right? that is ambition. that's it for "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks for watching. >> i'm tyler mathisen. have a great evening, everybody and we'll see you back here tomorr >> this is bbc world news america. >> funding of the presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation. the newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity. kovler foundation. and, mufg. >> build a solid foundation and you can connect communities and commerce for centuries. that is the strength behind good banking relationships.

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