The European Central Bank is in a difficult spot - when all the nations united into one currency it was not a time of crisis. Now the few strong nations are carrying the weak nations. This brings uncertainty to the ECB as to their exit strategy and when. The ECB kept rates unchanged (at 1%) and are dealing with a rise of concern in Greece and to a lesser extent Spain - both nations have seen their credit ratings drop and continue to see debt increase. However, some believe that in March (their next meeting) they will announce their intentions rather than this pause.
                The Bank of England also kept their rates unchanged at (.5%) and has halted its "quantitative easing" program after 11 months of purchases. Our own Fed plans to halt their TALF (mortgage purchase program) at the end of the month as well.
                The West wants to move forward as they have all waved the flag that the recession is over, but there is this concern that if they begin their exit strategy it could cause a second dip recession and that will be worse than the first, because of the already insurmountable debt that has been accumulated. A second dip recession could break more currencies as it will be almost impossible to raise enough money (through the sale of treasuries) to maintain the already nose bleed deficit levels. The Fed could always come back and start printing money again to buy treasuries - but at that point I think there would be a serious loss of faith at that point.
                These are tricky times as the central banks need to be cautious as they attempt to exit their current policies.
 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35232003
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2K0bOdIensM&pos=4 
 
Nouriel Roubini thinks the West has a long way to go and the US dollar will fall versus Asia and "Commodity" Currencies:
 
 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aikb19gdRT3A&pos=4

                The stock is down sharply in the pre-market (-17 points from 247 to 230) as the company misses estimates. The net income increased 23% (or 2.24 a share, expectation was for 2.48). MasterCard and Visa didn't suffer as much - since they do not lend money (rather charge for transactions). However, as consumers had less credit available we saw sharp declines in credit spending - which means less transactions. The company still saw a profit, however growth looked weaker than expected.
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=MA%3AUS&sid=ar7L3qflUuMY

          Futures are getting hit after the jobless claims came in worse than expected and there is concern that the employment data tomorrow will fall below expectations.