the pentagon says it's because there isn't a proper long-term detention facility in afghanistan. about 200 people are taking part in the peaceful protest against the killings in a neighboring province. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta is on his second day of his visit to afghanistan. around the time he was scheduled to arrive, an afghan national stole a vehicle and drove it on to the runway. the car crashed into a ditch. the driver later died. nato says panetta was never in danger. myanmar state television broadcast a campaign speech by pro democracy lead yee yeer ann sue chi. she called for reforms and media freedom, but they say some criticisms of the ruling punta were censored. the broadcast marks the first time myanmar's government has aired a speech by su chi. "world business today" starts right now. good morning. from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and welcome to "world business today." the top stories this thursday, march 15th. and also great for britain. they become the latest ratings count agency to issue the country a warning. >> and expert steven roach joins us with his outlook. and goldman sachs' executive's high-profile exit knocks millions off of the bank's share price as he lambasts a toxic and destructive culture. first up, britain's treasury minister says it's a wake-up call to anyone who thinks the government should be offering any kind of letup on its planned austerity measures. the international ratings firm fitch has been warning that there is a more than 50% chance now that it could decide to cut the uk's top-notch aaa status within the next two years to come. there may be no downgrade yet for this country, but fitch has cut its credit outlook for the uk from stable to negative watch. it warns that britain has a limited ability to absorb future shocks when it comes to financial shocks but also cites the uk's high debt levels and a structural budget deficit second only to the united states in terms of size. it's one of the major reasons for its concern here. fitch's move follows a similar one by moody's, the other credit ratings agency, just last month, and it also comes days before britain's chancellor or the uk finance minister, effectively, is set to present his annual budget. let's look at what it's doing to the uk stock market. starting with the ftse 100, no surprise to see that that is the market that is trading in the red. the ftse 100 would be the market affected by this news from fitch. remember that britain is outside of the eurozone, but we still have quite a big dichotomy between the other euros and markets. the dax is currently up to the tune of 1.2%, weakness for the cac 40 and the zurich smi up by 0.65%. >> a mixed message is coming off here as well, looking at how the markets finished up two green, two red. the nikkei extending up by another .75%. it's really on a tear at the moment, the nikkei, boosted by the ever wakening yen, which lists the japanese exporters. i'll show you the yen in a moment. ad for the other numbers, hong kong up after closing in the red yesterday. property stocks continuing to get hit in hong kong, but that was offset by gains in the banks, particularly the hsbc. property stocks getting hit, lingering concerns over chinese premier wen jiabao's statement that real estate prices remain too high and that restrictions will remain in place. take a look at that, the composite down after closing down 2% yesterday, another .75% today. there is a real concern about exactly how long the chinese authorities are going to maintain that choke hold on the property market. okay, i told you about the japanese exporters. it's been a long time since the japanese exporters have had actually something to smile about. natural disasters at home, plus the floods in thailand put a squeeze on supply last year, and the european debt crisis put a squeeze on demand. and the strength of the yen compounding both of those issues. but the country's big names are on the up this week, as you can see there. since the thursday close, some of the big names, honda, sony, nintendo, toyota, all recording some pretty strong gains, and that, as i said, is as the currency finally starts to yield against the u.s. dollar. it has taken a while for that to happen, if you look at this shot of the yen. this is the journey of the yen over the past three years. this strengthening in the wake of the global financial crisis continuing as investors saw the yen as a relatively safe haven, despite the fact the economy was very weak it the yen continued to strengthen. but after the earthquake and tsunami of march 11, you'll see there, the yen started to trade down a bit. the g-7 group of leading economies intervened to stabilize the currency, and this had a limited impact, though, with the yen going down, so it means it's actually rising ever more against the dollar. so, as you can see, there has been something of a turn-around just here. it's now turning around 83.77. it was down as low as around 78 at one stage. this is now at an 11-month low against the u.s. dollar. so, some relief there for exporters in japan. they would still like to see this get towards 100 to the dollar, but no one's saying that's likely in the immediate future, at least. >> yeah, and even if there is little bit of recess miss, andrew, it will take a while for that to filter through to the balance sheets of japanese exporters, because it's likely for the last quarter, they could still be suffering the effects of that stronger currency. now, let's get a quick recap of the action on wall street in yesterday's session. u.s. stocks finished in spectacular fashion in wednesday's session, declining after tuesday's late surge. but gains in the technology sector gave the market something of a bit of a boost. we saw the online currency trading firm fxcn soaring to the tune of 12% after that firm report and better-than-expected earnings. also, guidewire software led the lead there, particularly on the nasdaq, a 17% gain on the back of earnings that beat analyst expectations. if we take a look at the numbers when they settled, a bit of a mixed picture. the dow jones industrial average ending the day up to the tune of about 0.1% and the s&p 500, the broader index, losing an equal amount in percentage terms. the nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat. u.s. markets reopen in just under 5 1/2 hours from now, and here's how they're set to begin the trading day. as you can see, a bit of an optimistic note, despite the fact that actually here in europe, things started out on a bitt jittery footing with two up and two down. investors will be watching keenly u.s. jobless claims. those figures will be out in just over four hours from now, likely to move the markets. but for the moment, as you can see, andrew, we're up to the tune of anywhere between 0.3% and nearly 0.5%. >> and certainly, one stock they'll be watching again today very closely is goldman sachs. the bluest of the blue wall street investment bankers. this giant saw $2.15 billion wiped off its market value in a single day on wednesday. that's when the share price fell, as i say, by 3.5%, following that very public and scathing tongue-lashing by a former insider in an opinion piece that appeared in wednesday's "the new york times." greg smith said that he was quitting goldman's after more than a decade at the bank. he accused the firm of betraying its clients and fostering "a toxic and destructive culture." very, very strong words. a lot of it aimed at lloyd blankfein as well, nina. >> very strong words and also very publicly voiced, andrew. goldman sachs, as you imagine, fired back with a memo of its own throughout the course of the day, but as mary snow reports now, greg smith's dramatic exit could heighten public disgust at wall street just at a time when the u.s. economy is still rather weak, and many ordinary people face bleak economic prospects. >> reporter: goldman sachs is known for being shrouded in secrecy, with rare public glimpses into the firm at congressional hearings like this one on the financial crisis. and that's why it's so unusual for a goldman sachs insider to resign from the firm through a blistery "the new york times" op ed piece. greg smith, an executive director, quit after 12 years, writing "the environment now is as toxic and destructive as i've ever seen it." he writes the company puts itself first, ahead of its clients, saying, "it makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. over the last 12 months, i have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as muppets." goldman sachs ceo lloyd blankfein fired back, sending a memo to his staff of 30,000. "we were disappointed to read the assertions made by this individual that do not reflect our values, our culture and how the vast majority of people at goldman sachs think about the firm." william cohan, who wrote "money and power" about goldman sachs, says for an insider to do this is unheard of, but he's not surprised by the content. >> much of what he's written about was familiar to me and it's also familiar to their clients, who know that goldman does this. they don't like it but they know that goldman tends to put itself before its clients. >> reporter: some on wall street question smith's parting words. >> and i think that this whole epiphany concept is a little bit hypocritical because odds are things are not much different now than in 2001 when he began his career. >> reporter: the ceo of goldman sachs addressed the company's image in an interview with cnn's christine romans in 2010. >> we'll survive only by putting our clients first and the interests of the broader community first, but there certainly is a rise in the suspicion that something is broken here and that we just don't have those old standards. and the industry and goldman sachs have a lot of work ahead of itself to make the kinds of changes, not just to convince people, but to make the kinds of changes that are warranted from the lessons of the last several years. >> reporter: the question is, what impact will this have? one client is the state of california. goldman sachs helps the state sell bonds. a spokesman for the state treasurer says there are no plans to alter the relationship, but says "the state of california is not a muppet when it comes to bond sales and our relationship with banks." the california treasurer's office adds that even though it's a goldman sachs client, it hires independent financial advisers to help make decisions. in the bigger picture, though, former federal reserve chairman paul volcker says there's been a dramatic transformation on wall street with firms focusing on profits and away from clients. mary snow, cnn, new york. >> i've been blogging on this subject myself over the course of the last day or so. check it out at cnn.com/business. basically, one of the issues here, andrew, is that goldman sachs may be a very well-known name for most of us, which is one of the reasons, presumably, by "the new york times" decided to publish this piece by greg smith. but actually, how well do we know it? it doesn't engage in retail banking, it tries its best to obviously be discrete because it's got big deals on the table. we don't know much about this company, which is one of the reasons why greg smith's passing shot was so interesting. >> yeah, salutabsolutely, nina. and as we saw in that interview with christine romans, you know, back then, there really hasn't been, certainly in the public eye, at least, any apparent effort by goldman to try to show it's changing what it needs to change. it's just gone back to being, as you say, that sort of weak, we know the name but don't know what's behind the name really in so many ways, and they haven't made an effort to try to change that. no transparency, sort of public relations transparency in many ways. so, it will be interesting to see just how much support they're going to get. certainly, they may ride this one out, but you've got a lot of people saying this one is going to be very difficult to dodge. anyway, still ahead, japan inc. reports another multibillion dollar loss for another of its electronics giants. we'll tell you who the big loser is as well as who could profit. you're watching "world business today." by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras and a wide range of low cost investments, you can execute the plan you want at a low cost. so meet with us, or go to etrade.com for a great retirement plan with low cost investments. ♪ the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. in less than a minute i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. plus, free standard shipping - but only through march 18th! only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699 let's look at how crude oil is trading in today's session. take a look at that why it comes to nymex crude for may delivery, that's up at a price of $105.9 on the barrel, up nearly 50 cents on the barrel, despite on the one hand, the united states may be mulling releasing some strategic reserves to avoid the higher gas price derailing the u.s. economy, but also the iaea, the international energy agency's been saying oil markets could be in for a bumpy ride this year, certainly rising for the moment, though. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. now, in japan, yet another of the country's electronics firms is set to post a multibillion dollar loss. the company this time is sharp, which is japan's biggest manufacturer of lcd panels. and it's responding to that loss by replacing its president. remy has the details and the details on the bad news on sharp's bottom line. >> this handshake signals a big shuffle at the top of the biggest maker of lcd screens. otashi okuda is named effective president. and the outgoing chairman is blamed for a slow response to worsening market conditions for the company's products. under his watch, sharp says it will post this, a record net loss of $3.5 billion for all of 2011, and that's because weak demand for its lcd tvs has forced the company to lower its prices. it also doesn't help that sharp is going to miss first sales of the new ipad launch. yesterday, an analyst said sharp's lcd screens will be delayed because they did not meet u.s. quality standards. now, today, sharp's share price took a hit because of that. it was down more than 5%. on wednesday, it had already hit a 28-year low in intraday trade. and last year, well, it turns out it was the worst performer on the nikkei. it lost nearly a quarter of its value, coming in at around minus 23% right there. and since february 1st, sharp has actually fallen nearly another 20%. on that day, on february 1, it had forecast that that $3.5 billion net loss for all of 2011. with all this in mind, mr. okuda has his work cut out for him. he has been with sharp for much of the past 30 years and critics fear it could be more of the same. a few analysts i spoke with here in hong kong and tokyo said they are not that inspired by him either. they say he needs to prove himself by making some pretty bold decisions, and that could include issuing more stock, taking that money and investing it into distribution. sharp has a big glut of inventory right now, but the channels to get that sold right now aren't very from. >> so, it sounds like a familiar story in japan, particularly among some of these big tech players, remy. talk about the plunge in earnings at japanese electronics firms and change in leadership. let's talk about the winners here, because there doesn't seem to be many coming from japan. >> you're actually right, andrew. south korean electronics firms are the ones we want to talk about, they're the ones who have the most to gain, and we're talking here about samsung and lg. they didn't have a strong yen to worry about last year, and if you ask consumers, they can probably tell you that their tvs and other appliances that they sell are priced pretty competitively, and that's clear from their 2011 profits. for example, samsung, well, they pulled in $14.5 billion in net profit last year. lg, which is the world's largest flat-screen maker, they posted a net loss of $400 million, but this here is nothing compared to sony. it lost $2.9 billion in 2011. and panasonic was even worse, down almost -- down more than $10 billion. and along with sharp's $3.5 billion loss, we're talking about a combined loss for these three companies of about $17 billion. and south korea's electronics firms are definitely in a strong position to capitalize on those losses at their japanese counterparts. >> okay, remy, thanks very much for that. nina? still to come on "world business today," 2012 will be a year of change for china. china expert steven roach will be joining us with his outlook for the world's second largest economy. that's just ahead. sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. welcome back. you're looking at hong kong harbor there. the gray skies continue, nina. >> we head a little bit further south now, towards western australia, because the waters there are home to the lion's share of that country's own oil production. and just before the break, i was telling you about how the price of crude continues to soar past $105 a barrel. well, unfortunately, though, these waters are also home to most of the tropical cyclones that hit the region as well. let's go over to our meteorologist who's standing by to tell us about that, pedram javaheri. >> looking at western australia, interesting statistics. as you said, a large majority of tropical cyclones, about 80% of the country's tropical cyclones, form off the coast there, and also about 80% of its oil production right there. so, obviously, you can't pick and choose where gee logically you're going to have the best areas and best basins as far as oil production is concerned, but certainly not the place to be at this hour, over portions of northwestern australia. this is tropical cyclone lub. take a look. winds gusting to nearly 140 kph, equivalent to possibly a category 2-like hurricane by the time saturday morning comes around, when this system's going to make landfall. take a look at this. i've kind of put this scale of the production on the basins impacted. and nearly, again, 53% coming out of the carnarvon basin, and 20% to the browse basin and even towards the northern territory. large-scale production of oil. when you take a look at some of the numbers, again, australia's certainly not a stranger to tropical cyclones, and we do know, in this region, some 400,000 barrels of oil per day are produced. and again, lub bnlua is cuttin 100,000 barrels a day because of their current location off the coast of australia. production should be impacted at least through possibly saturday. storm system comes in saturday morning. know winds will be on the strong side as it makes landfall, swells up to 4 meters. so, officials out there have certainly removed the folks that are near the shores, offshore there as well, because we know that the conditions are going to get hazardous and a gail watch is in effect from portions of port hedland out towards broome as this sto