ROMANS: Good morning. Twenty-five minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning. In just a few minutes, the initial jobless claims report will be released. It's expected to show that 390,000 jobless claims were filed for the first time last week. Any time that number is below 400,000, it's considered a good sign for the labor market. U.S. stock futures are trading higher this morning. The markets took a hit, though, yesterday. The Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P; 500 all dropped more than one percent. Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, is concerned that Europe's problems may spill over to the U.S. That's according to Republican senators who were briefed by the fed chairman yesterday. They also say Bernanke assured them the fed does not intend to bailout Europe. UC Berkeley is launching a financial aid program for middle class families under the new initiative. Families earning up to $140,000 a year will be expected to contribute no more than 15 percent of their annual income to pay the tuition. Google says it's providing $11.5 million in grants to ten groups working to end modern day slavery and human trafficking. The recipients say this will free about 12,000 people from slavery and prevent millions more from being victimized. Will Meryl Streep be a Golden Globe nominee for her role as the iron lady? We're about to find out. The nominations are just minutes away now. We'll go live to Beverly Hills for the announcement. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
Bernanke Worried About Europe; Berkeley's Middle Class Financial Aid