And when the markets in Europe closed a couple of hours ago, London's FTSE 100 was up 20 points. As well as the (error in speaking)....the Dax was up110. The Euro stoxx up 21. In the US, trading comes to a close shortly. The Dow Jones is up, while the S&P 500 is also up. So is the Nasdaq.

 

And the Australian dollar is worth 104.23 US cents this morning. It'll also buy you 65 British pence and 124 New Zealand cents.

 

While Europeanstock markets are on track for a third straight day of gains, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mario Draghi said he could foresee a recovery in the second half of the year. Investors also focus on the latest data set from Germany as the Dax closed to a five-year high.

 

New statistics in Britain have economists worry that the country could re-enter a recession. The Office for National Statistics said the economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the last three months of 2012. The Office for the National Statistics says the growth was flat for the whole of 2012 as the bumpy economy was on a sluggish trend.

 

Software giant Microsoft is considering an investment of between one and three billion dollars into personal computing company Dell. The deal, which could value the companyat 20 billion, would be the largest leverage buyouts  since the financial crisis.