Happen until the gop agrees on a tax hike. Senator dick durbin saying no deal on the debt without a tax hike of the wealthy. I cant tell you, i dont want to do it, the president doesnt want to do it, but we need to solve the problem been we cannot allow the reckless position to drive this economy into another recession. Some suggesting that it might be better to cave to the president now on taxes and keep up the fight on spending. If we were to pass, for instance, raising the top two rate and thats it, all of a sudden we do have the leverage of the debt ceiling and we havent given that up. Meantime, one influential voice says enough is enough. Thats like betting your country. Theres something terribly bizarre and juvenile about that is to think your party comes ahead of your country. I dont go for that at all. That, of course, was alan simpson, the other half of simpso simpsonbowles. Erskin bowles will join us this morning, as well. If you have the democrats quoting him, the republicans quoting him, well very where he comes down and where things stand right now. You do simpsonbowles now instead of the bowlssimpson . I looked it up on going. The more often cited is simple is sonbowles. The journal has an interesting piece. They dont like corker for breaking rank. They say why are republicans negotiating this themselves . They say let boehner do the negotiations. Anyway, you would be hard pressed to find something who sdn have aen opinion on the fiscal cliff. This weekend, the ahead of the imf said the United States is more vulnerable to its domestic trouble more than anything else happening in the eurozone. Christine lagarde says a balanced approach is needed and she says dont kick the can down the road, which is rich coming from a european. European trading the lower this morning. Italys Prime Minister mario monti, yes, the same one that is famous from all the antitrust things back in the was that the 90s . The 90s, yeah. Monti announcing hell step down before his term ends. The decision comes after the party of Sylvia Berlusconi withdrew support for montis government last week. Berlusconi has indicated he will run for leadership again. Cnbcs carolin roth will join us from italy with the latest in a few minutes. When i was over there, i had to have the all the political signs translated because theres a picture of monti sitting under a beach chair drinking a drink and all the text was send monti to the beach. They already didnt like him. He had very high disapproval ratings. I remember last summer i had seen that somewhere. They want to send him to the beach. The major european averages at this hour, there they, theyre all down. Not great in france, but germany down about. 7 and the ftse down fractionally. Other news out of europe, debt tieback for from an day to receive additional buyback offers. Those would be at deeply discounted prices and that would help lower the countrys debt lead. In asia, stocks touched a 16month high and closed mostly higher on the session with good gains, as you can see, with the kospi up the most, 1. 5 points. Strong nebs out of china which suggest maybe the economy is rebounding more than expected. The exports. Yeah. Among the catalyst in asia trading today, economic stats out of china. Export growths slowed sharply to 2. 9 in december. That news j underscores the global headwinds dragging on the economy. But the chinese economy is showing solid signs of a pick up in domestic activity. Industrial output was stronger than expected. The country has been saying for years it needs to shift a little bit from the export model the internal consumption. Let their middle class grow and not be nearly as dependent on exports. And chinas oil demand in november surpassed 10 Million Barrels per day for the first time ever. The countrys crude imports rose to the second highest daily rate on record. Analysts say this is further evidence of the chinese recover. And i saw this story on every once in a while i check tweeting. I saw it on google, too. Kayla tausche reporting kayla beat nick dunn. Nick dunn was quoting kayla. Is that right . Corporate news that were talking about, ingersollrand is nearing a deal to spin off its Security Technology business. Cnbcs Kayla Tausche is reporting that the news could be announced as early as today. The spinoff comes after months of negotiations with an activist investor. Ingersollrand is planning to announce a Buyback Program and a nearly 30 increase in the share program. Also, aig is considering selling its plane leasing firm to a Chinese Group for up to 4. 8 billion. Plus, listen to this, mcdonalds is going to be reporting november sales today. Look for the numbers at about 8 00 a. M. Eastern time. Analysts are expecting global comps to decline. 1 . U. S. Sales are seen falling by. 8 while europe is expected to tick slightly higher. This was a big deal last month when they came out for their comps. It disappointed for the first time in years and years. People will be watching this number very closely to see if the consumer is still feeling good, to see if mcdonaldss managed to get that mix right. There were concerns that they put too many things on the dollar menu. They said last month they would be changing that. Whole see what happened. Shares of mcdonalds yeartodate, they have come down quite a bit. You only read two. Why do i have to read this . I read three. Weight watchers, possible cases of Insider Trading. Reuters say i resemble this. Reuters say authorities are investigating hedge fund for Insider Trading in Weight Watchers. S. A. T. Had taken a sizable position in the stock. Cohen fund briefly held 2. 1 million shares under scrutiny by authorities. At which time the stock price roughly doubled. In other huj fund news, john paulson said friday that his funds experienced mixed returns in november. We got wind of this. Softer gold prices weighed on some portfolios. Not much time for the predictions to be right. Some will do well based on housing, right . Yes. Everybody said gold was going over 2,000. It didnt. The merger, arbitrage focus Partners Fund climbed 1. 4 in november and is up 6. 7 for the year. The firms biggest portfolio, the Credit Opportunity Fund was flat for the month. It is up 5. 6 for the year. I like that. Yeah b, i got Weight Watchers and twinkies. If you want to see the twinkies table, this td is it. This is the official drop dead date for those making an offer for the baker. There are nearly 200 interested parties, but sources close to the process are anticipating a few dozen real committed bids will emerge. Kayla tauschis will join us in the next hour with a look at twinkies and the other hostess brands, the products buying attention for buyers. Apparently the products that are most wanted, the brand that is most wanted is not twinkies. I dont know what it is. Id like to know what it is. Ive tried them all. I was reading through overnight notes and im dying to ask kayla this. Funny bones . I dont like Peanut Butter ones. I remember them being too dry. Too dry . I had some of those orange cup cakes. Oh, yeah, those are good. Cream filling. The same one as the regular ones, just orange, right . The regular ones are dork chocolate. But these are the orange. All we got were the orange ones. So were going to find out which one is drawing the most. Well get that one from kayla in the next hour. By the way, you know libor and the scandal surrounding the anticipated of it. Have you heard of the euro bor . Its the euro interlibor rate. And the euro may accuse banks of setting the euribor, as well. By submitting incorrect data and collaborating with each other were widespread. Probably not a surprise if you knew it was happening with the libor. This will bring the tally even higher in terms of the expected fallout for any litigation that could follow on this. Also, the United States and britain teaming up on a global strategy to handle too big to fail banks. Today, u. S. Regulators are outlining a deal on both sides of the atlantic to take losses and ensure efficient capital exists in the banks headquarters to protect taxpayers. The bank of england and fdic are suggesting the plan would reduce financial stability. Too big to fail. I have to admit, im a little bit concerned because he was supposed to be back today. He was. In a foreign country. And i dont know this for sure, but have you ever seen midnight express . I have. You have seen that movie . I dont know. Hes on a bus. Hes got stuff taped to him. Andrew was supposed to be here. Now, i dont know whether anything happened as he was trying to exit this run. And i dont know what he was trying to bring back. But it is a country known for he was probably bigging back a gift for you. Maybe so. But all i know is hes not i can go to Washington State for that. I dont need andrew to bring it back. But im a little bit concerned. Do you remember . I think hes okay, i hope. Although i did hear some weird things about the plane. Have you ever been to a turkish prison . I think thats lt from airplane, right . Actually, i have nodenc support this that he was busted trying to leave the country. Have you ever been in a prison . There it is, the turkish prison. I made that up. No, you did make it up but i am concerned because of the plane issues. Hes a nervous flyer as it is. Thats right. If theres plane issues but you dont think they went in and stormed the plane and dragged him off . I dont think so. But he will be back tomorrow. Okay. Back here in the United States, there is a key Senate Vote Expected today on extending a financial crisis era blanket guarantee on nearly 1. 5 trillion in deposits. The fdics transaction guarantee program, or t. A. G. , expires at the end of the year. Small banks are making a last ditch attempt to try and persuade congress to extend it. T. A. G. Sdpofts make up many of the banks total deposits. If congress doesnt take action, the fdic will stop making guarantees on zero Interest Bank accounts and services. The guarantee will revert to the normal 150,000 for insurers at any given bank. If socalled t. A. G. Money leaves these banks, then the troubled list might find a lot more names on it. But, again, these were all temporary things put out there. It has been four years and counting since the financial crisis. At some point, you expect to see these things reverse. The Federal Reserve dominates this weeks calendar. The fomc will gather for a twoday meeting tomorrow. The fed is expected to maintain its bond buying at 85 billion a month, replacing operation twist with purchases of longer term treasuries funded by new money creation because theyre running out of these longer things to twist into. Theyre going to have to start creating money or twisting money, whatever you want to call it. Chairman bernanke will meet on wednesday afternoon to cover the Federal Reserves positions. Well cover that live. Right now, dow futures down by 35 points. S p down by 45 points. Oil price these morning, they are up slightly. Theyre up 39 cents to just 86. 32. A lot of concerns about the consumer, though. Its still pointed out that theres a story of the front page of the wall street journal about weakness. Well continue to watch a lot of these numbers that come out, though. You take a look at the tenyear note this morning. Right now, the yield is 1. 605 . The dollar this morning is indicated down across the board. Euro is at 1. 2911. And gold prices, which weve talked a little bit about this morning, are up to 1,710. 40 1, ourls ounce. And you did have the contrarian call last year. Yes. You went against the grain. Time for the Global Markets report. Kelly evans is standing by in london. What did i say, the ftse was up a little. Nothing to write home about. Joe, im sorry, its nothing but a sea of red overhere. Mario montis decision to resign over the weekend is having quite an impact on markets. I want to show you those who are most affected. I know carolin will join us with the political details been but here are the markets verdict. Youre seeing the eye toolan tanks taking it on the chin. A couple of them were halted in trade earlier after being down more than 5 . Now, this, of course, is one reason why the ftse mib, which we can show you is the weak performer today. Down 3. 4 . So pretty damming indictment of this decision over the weekend. The ibex down over the weekend. So spain and portugal, seeing its index down over more than is is showing its concern. Joe, the ftse is at least holding up relatively better. Its down only. 3 today. These losses follow a trading session that was setting up to be relatively strong. We saw asian stoxx doing decently well, so just kind of underscores how unhappy the market is this morning with this news out of italy. Look at whats happening with debt. As we check in with bond markets, the italian tenure is seeing its yield rise. 4. 88 . I know it doesnt seem that high, given some levels we were at last year. But if you consider that weve risen, i dont know, in the range of 30 to 40 basis points or. 3 Percentage Points just on this news, it is pretty significant. Spain, same thing, were seeing 5. 67 about the level there. Other bond yields are benefiting as a result. Back over to you guys. Im sure carolin, too, can help us try to understand now what this all means with mario monti potentially still involved with the next eye toolan government. That may help reassure the markets somehow. Thank you very much, kelly. We are looking forward to that. Right after this, we will be getting that live report from rome. Thats where people are starting to figure out, the politicians are out in force campaigning for life after mario monti. But first, today is forecast to be the busiest shipping day of the year for fedex. Yikes, thats a reminder that i am way behind on my shopping. Courtney reagan is spending the day at the companys center in the bronx. Are the packages flying . Not yet, but the big sort happens in just about 15 minutes. The kre o fred smith thinks this will be a record day in fedex history. I have the details as fedex fills in for sana clause up next. Toward all your financial goals. A quick glance, and you can see if youre on track. When the conversation turns to knowing where you stand, turn to us. Wells fargo advisors. Monarch of marketing analysis. With the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. Im going big. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. Good choice. Go national. Go like a pro. I heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. Thats right. Ive learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. You know weve been open all night. Is this a trick to get my spot . [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Save on ground shipping at fedex office. Welcome back, everybody. Take a look. 234 our headlights this morning, new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering whether to make a bid for the new york times. The fts publisher is about to lose two of its top executives, raising speculation that the newspaper could be up for sale. Eric fisher joins us from the Weather Channel this morning and, eric, it was not cool out here today, but i did see a lot of rain. Is that around the country, as well . It is. Were watching winter storm caesar. This is what it left behind. Blizzard conditions around South Carolina and north dakota. Over in minnesota, we have anywhere from 8 to 17 inch snowfall totals. A lot of cold air behind the system. Eventually that will get over towards the eastern seaboard. 12 in minneapolis. 8 and below in international falls. You get over towards chicago and into des moines, st. Louis, gusty winds bringing those windchills way down. Winter finally showed up here across the upper midwest. Here in the northeast, theres the rain we were talking about around boston. A little bit of a break this morning. The biggest storms across the south, places like atlanta, into birmingham, nashville, jackson and new orleans all dealing with some very heavy rainfall. Also had a Tornado Warning earlier on today in mississippi. So Severe Weather is our our minds here. Southern tennessee. We could see damaging wind gusts, isolated tornados and certainly quite a bit of rain. The last note for this morning, snow in texas and oklahoma. Around dallas, it is moving into the city. A quit hit of snow around the Early Community time, so folks have to be careful on the roads there. Back to you. Thats a little weird in dallas. What about bring it down, bring it down to colorado. Can you is that expected, snow there . I mean, this is a good sign, right, 8 or 9 inches this early in minnesota . Is that a good sign, eric . It is a good sign. It was the fourth biggest december storm on record in minneapolis and then in colorado yesterday. They got over a foot of snow . What did . Ski areas, they are finally seeing a little bit of good news. That is good. That is good. All right. And its headed here. All right. Excellent. At least the cold weather. You know, rain, raw days, 38 degrees. This time of year, im happy about that. Id rather have snow. 48 degrees with the horrible rain, it chill tess bone. But the snow comes in early in the morning. My backyard, three dogs and a muddy backyard. Today is expected to be the busiest day for shipping for the Holiday Season. Fedex will have 19 million deliveries. Courtney reagan joins us live from the Distribution Center in the bronx. They havent asked you to pitch in or anything, yeah . Not yet. Im not sure im totally dressed for that, so i hope that request does not come down my way. But in a couple of minutes, youll see this mornings big sort come down the layer belt. It will be loaded foup for delivery toes be made in about two hours on what the company expect will be a record breaking day. We publicly forecast a couple weeks ago that on the 10th we would move 19 million shipments through our networks. Thats up abou