But s p giving russia a lump of coal. The s p warnings theres a 50 chance it will downgrade moscow to junk. Its the gift that keeps on giving. Shares of nestle topping speculation that the u. S. Company striker will finally make a bid for the medical devicemaker in a couple of weeks. The white house welcomes sonys decision to release the interview saying it allows people to make their own choices about the film. Hi, everybody. Welcome. The 24th of disease. Can you believe it . It went by so fast. And here we are. It is christmas for a number of other countries in europe. So Merry Christmas. And if youre at home and not at your trading desk, this record continues to hit new record highs. The dow breaking 18,000. What a milestone. I know. And i think heading into this year, many were maybe anticipating it was going to be a good year, but not anticipating the volatility weve seen in the second half. We talk about this every year and every year at about this time, theres the factor and theres the taking stock and considering how to trade for 2015. Yeah. There were those periods of volatility where investors had to question whether this rally could continue. But given the outperformance weve seen over the past week, the dow now up just about 5 . It goes to show you how resilient this market is and how the bulls continue to be on control. Lowly quiddity. Thats the point. Well have to have this talk again as we hit early next year just to see when you have traders back at their desk, how they reposition themselves. Youre off now. I am. And you, as well. Yeah, yeah. Im off and then until january. Well be in touch. Yeah, yeah. Instagram. And well talk about whats been taking place. But the dow, though, closing above that 18,000 mark for the First Time Ever. Investors chose to set aside a week of durable goods numbers and another drop in new home sales and focusing on this bumper gdp figure we were talking about yesterday. The u. S. Economy growing by 5 in the third quarter, the biggest increase since 2003 in a marked upward revision on the previous meeting of 3. 9 . Consumer spending jumps by more than 3 on the quarter while Business Investment rose by almost 9 . We will break down the moves weve been seeing in the dow jones industrial. How do we get from 17,000 to 18,000 . Dominic is taking a closer look at just how the dow surpassed that major milestone. If you go 25 years ago, here on our 25th anniversary, the dow was like 2750 back then. Well circle back to that. We go back to 2007 here in our map of the dow milestones. That was the first time, july 19th when we hit 14,000. You have to go forward about 60 years before you get from 14,000 to 15,000. That happened back on may 7th of 2013. But since then, 15 to 16, it only took about six, seven months. From 16 to 17, again, about six, seven months. From 17 to 18, if we close above this level, which we may today, it will only be about six or seven months. So if you look 5d what happened between 17,000. 18,000, this summer, july 3rd, that was when it happened, weve seen a whole slew of dow performers that have done well, but home depot has been the star performer. Its up 26 fers just since what happened in july. United health group, up 23 . Nike and visa both up about 22 . So these guys helped power those gains for what happened in the dow. If you take a look at that, remember, 2750 back 27 years ago was the dow. If you go 556 return, thats where we are right now. Take a look at this. Over the past 25 years, if you can somehow keep that no one is even thinking that, but youre talking about a ludicrous number on the dow, Something Like 118,000 if you go 5 , 6 from where we are today. Who knows whats going to happen . These gains right now have been impressive for whats happened with the dow. An impressive gain, indeed. John joins us around the desk. Thank you so much for joining us on Christmas Eve. Thank you very much. Id like to rename you john wreath for today. I dont know if we can take some camera shots today, but we might have some wreath action going on. Dow above 18,000, thats a major milestone for the equity markets, but its not just equity markets that were in focus yesterday. The u. S. Dollar hitting its highest level in nine years. Yeah. Clearly, the u. S. Recovery, while others are perhaps a little questionable a little closer to europe and possibly to the uk, the u. S. Recovery clearly going from strength to strength. A lot of impact still going on from the me asset purchases in the u. S. , the fact that theres speculation about large asset scale purchases in the euro, as well. Its boosting asset prices. Thats the result you see in the u. S. Equity market. While it seems like traders were calling it the qe rally, its the monetary support pushing equity prices higher. But now qe has ended back in october, the attention has turned to the economic data, the fundamentals. And that continues to surprise to the upside. And one of the big questions, of course, was whether the u. S. Recovery was dependent on qe and, therefore, when would we start to see some of that. So far, most of the signs are whether qe had done its job or whether the u. S. Recover had got to a Strong Enough point that it didnt need it any more. Theres a lot of euphoria in these markets and a lot of speculation about when or if the fed may have to move Monetary Policy. Were not trading on fundamental and we still are relying on 25 basis points. Its more about the signal that turns out and where they may be going next if they do so in small increments. The gdp numbers, very strong. But they relate to a period of time that ended in september. And a period of time as they go into next year. Its a very difficult one because they have to gauge just how selfsustaining this recovery has become. And at the same time, of course, they have drags from elsewhere in the world which might become important to the u. S. And giving that youre our fixed income man, are we going to continue to see buying into debt . Thats one of the questions, isnt it . And if the dow is telling you something about a very strong outlook for the u. S. , why a tenyear treasury is only yielding 2. 25 . That is higher than where they were. Bond markets are clearly showing still the impact of qe and concerns that perhaps medium to longterm growth will be much weaker in all of these economies than weve been used to. If you then take that scenario and apply to equity markets, some people would question those two valuations and say they cant both be right about the outlook. As usual, even though its christmas, we highly encourage you to get involved here on the show. Find us on good Old Fashioned email, worldwide cnbc. Com. Find us on twitter seemacnbc or louisa bojesen. Linda writes in and says why are you guys not wearing red and snet are wearing your funeral black . I was going to wear red this morning, but i was a bit cold. This is a little woolley. And youre traveling. So youre running off with lug aemg, right . Yes. But we promise to be cheerful even though were not wearing red. What are you hoping to get from santa this Holiday Season . Get in touch. Let us know what youre getting under the tree. Tomorrow, you can find us on twitter and on email. It has been a very busy time for santa claus, but weve been lucky enough to catch up with the man himself here on cnbc. Thats right. We asked him, santa, if the Financial Sector was in for a christmas bonus. Here is what he had to say. Bankers seem to take care of themselves, dont they . So santa usually concentrates on those that are more needs. Very nice. Thats a very good answer here. Ill tell you what, as i talk to some of the financial analysts, its been a bit father christmas like this year. The one thing that everybody insists they believe on that hasnt appeared is alpha for markets. So the fund market has been struggling through this year. I just wonder if we could leave our friends in the Financial Community with an upbeat message at yearend that might encourage them to work a little bit harder and find that alpha for 2015. Well, i think all of that comes from hard work and Due Diligence in analyzing things. So that is a big job. They have to take care of that, they have to work hard and do a good job analyzing what forecasts that they have out there. Maybe. Maybe they will find what they need. Maybe they will bring us very positive outlook, you know . This whole world is changing. Electronics, cyber things, lots of stuff going on and they need to use those tools to, you know, do a good job. And just to ask you, as we let you go here about your 40 401 k , where do you have most of your money placed to make sure santa has a decent retirement. Oh, very simple. Toys. Toys. Toys, very good. Must be quite nice to be so popular. Youre santa claus and you walk down the streets and people just love you. Stock markets open for trade today include londons ftse, the euro markets in paris, nls e, too. The ftse trading until 13 30 Central European time. The other market closing at 1400 cet. Russias indices are open for a normal trading day. Italy and germany, incidentally, they are closed for trade. Weve got some movers, some of the top stocks that were watching today. Smith nephew shares have been rallying at the top of the stoxx 600 on the talks that striker is nearing a takeover bid for the medical device giant. Striker would offer a significant premium to the bid share price. The bid is still being finalized. Smith nephew have declined to comment. A different story of portugal telecom. Shares off by around 1 . Not worth all that much per share. Keep that in mind. Theyve been dropping in lib upon after the billionaire santos dropped her bid for the firm. In a statement, her company said it has decided to withdraw the offer after, quote, careful consideration. Now, we were talking about Asset Classes and various moves that weve seen so far. The dollar against the russian ruble, very flat in trade over here in the corner. Weve had a lot of volatility, as weve been saying in the ruble trade. People speculating there could be more to come. Analysts that ive spoken to with regard to russia, especially over this last week, theyre cautioning it could get harry with regard to some of the russian banks or financial groups who are now looking to raise more capital and having to potentially go to the states for that. The euro dollar, 1. 22. The dollar yen, a little lower, as well. Seem ma, more importantly, Christmas Eve. It is Christmas Eve, but it is not too late to show off your handy work with some festive foliage to impress your neighbor. Over the next hour, were learning how to make our very own holiday wreath. Were joined by jessica and shinka. Ladies, take it away. Tell us how we start if we want to make our customized wreath. Were basically starting from scratch. Was involved in the base . Here you have spagnum moss. I need to know. I need to get up here on the flat platform. You get a metal ring like this and you buy spagnum moss. The smell is fantastic. You literally scrunch it on. You tighten it around here until you have a firm base to basically build on top of it. How long does this last . About two weeks. It depends on how hot it is. If you put it inside, it will last less long. If you put it outside on the front door i grew up making these and we used newspapers. This is a bit damp. And then we will go out and cut branches if it is neighbors trees. But dont do that. Did you use moss or no, always pine for the christmas season. And you can use them for advent candles, as well. And then you want to get your basic you get a big piece of foliage like this and you trim it off into bits, chunks. And then you and how do you stick it on . You have two options. If youre making it with a base like this, you can see it in the end. Then youll use your rear wire again to tighten it around. So you want to stick it in. Do you have to make sure its a certain design . Yes. You want to be going around in sort of a spiral shape. So you can be very creative with these, as well. You can put fruit on, little goodies. You can put anything on. Candles, your bobble balls, what have you. And i know that i mean, you know, theres a tradition that you height a candle before advent sundays. And it used to be also, i guess, that if you light the candles, then youre encouraging god to turn the world towards liteness in the spring and you need to get through the winter, right . Yes. Do you find a lot of people coming to you and want to buy these advent candles . They buy them more for doors, actually. Theyre made to order. And what are the wreaths for new denmark, what does it symbolize . I think its tradition. We hang it on the doors or typically have one kind of in the middle of the dinner table with the four cardinals on. Every sunday, you light one. Damages inside, right . No. He actually put them on the wreath. And you need to be really careful with the fire hazard. But the smell is wonderful. You need to keep the bugs away. Especially with the dry fruit. One thing good to know is were going to continue doing this, arent we, louisa. Yeah. And well show you, also, the finished product here if about had a an hours time or something. So well show you our finished product looks. Wreath making and flower arranging, it never looked so good. So loads of ideas what you can do with your little ones and your families at home. Well continue. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. Officers in the city of berkeley fired several shots after a male allegedly pulled a handgun and pointed it at him. There are reports of clashes with police. Takatas president plans to step down over the air bag recall that has rocked the japanese company. The groups chairman, grandson of the companys founder, will take on the role. He is set to take a 50 pay cut assuming the new position. And lets switch focus to russia which of course has been a focal point for investors. Russia is now one step closer to junk territory. Ratings Agency Standard poor says it has placed russias Sovereign Rating on credit watch negative, meaning theres a greater than 50 chance it will downgrade the country. S p currently has russia just one notch above junk status. It says it made the move because of rapid deterioration and the impact of the weakening economy. Taking a look at the russian ruble, you were just pointing out at the beginning of the show it has now come off the highs of the day. Looking at that chart, the dollar higher by 30 . Im sorry, 20 over the last 20 days . The ruble is the worst performing currency worldwide this year. Its phenomenal. Ukraines state energy firm says its paid off a second charge of debt to russias gazprom. Paid 1. 65 billion for the Russian Energy giant. The payment is part of an agreement made between the two firms that you althoughs moscow to resume supply toes ukraine earlier this month. Could there be qe in the First Quarter . Looking into the new year and the ecbs first meeting of 2015 on january 22nd, expectations are that the bank could finally announce a full blown Quantitative Easing Program. This as eurozone inflation sits well below the Central Banks target. And recent comments from executive Board Members suggesting the bank is nearing consensus over more policy action. Did i pronounce that okay . Very good. I Love Learning from you. Great. My pronunciations arent all that, so divisions in the inner ranks of the count will. Sven wideman has made his intention on a Quantitative Easing Program clear. Not in the ecb and its up to them. But what i would say, what is important, i think more to highlight, is that the slugdzs to the growth problems in europe for quantitative easing. That would give way to temporarily have government. In particular, low Interest Rates and low real Interest Rates. Particularly to invest. So that is good. I dont think it should last too much and it cannot replace infrastructure reform and a real strategy, a real agenda. As a result, do you think that the euro will continue to drop against the dollar, for instance . Yes, we are regarding that. We would tend to think that the dollar might euro dollar could be 1. 20. Do we buy periphery . If we think theres going to be kwauvent tafb easing, do we want to buy that trade in the ecb . Thats whats been going on. A lot of the economic fundamental res still pretty alarming, not least the fact that weve got inflation in several of the peripheral countries. That has it with their longer term dead dynamics. To see yields down here tells you a lot of speculation priced about qe. We think its coming. I think the vast majority of banks do now. We think perhaps march is more likely. You have reticence among Board Members. And what would they buy . I mean, what would they buy and where would they buy it . Thats obviously one of the issues that they have to address, which is very different than it was for the bank of england or the bank of japan with their ongone markets. Sovereign bonds, that is there for them to buy on the source of scale that qe would have to be if its going to have an impact. Then theyre going to have to decide how theyre going to split them between the different sovereigns, it will probably be based on the capital keys that each of them have with the ecb. So its as proportionate and fair as it can be. They have a lot of sensitivities to overcome before they can pull the trigger. What happened before they actually start it . The market has it effectively priced in and we saw this, for example, in the uk back in 2009. Once you get confirmation of it after perhaps a little bit of an ongoing additional rally, you actually tend to see yields start to rise as those bonds get as expensive as theyre going to get. German policymakers get vocal about their lack of. Or support in providing sovereign bond buying. Why should we expect that . At in point, they will cave in and say this is the right method to revive the economy. This is the way the ecb works. Essentially, it can go ahead with significant german opposition to it. Theres the point that while qe is perhaps not their chosen, the german economy, as well, is starting to have some pretty serious issues, not least relate as has been discussed the situation in europe and some of their export markets struggling very badly. Qe may not be thei