5:00PM New York, 11:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM Sydney– U.S. stocks edged lower ahead of earnings from banks. Goldman Sachs after the close reported better than expected earnings. The GDP in the quarter ending in December grew at 5.3%, a sharp fall from 8.9% from the quarter a year ago.

Global Markets

U.S. stocks traded lower after surging for weeks. Ahead of bank earnings this week investors appeared cautious. Genworth plunged as much as 29% after it was denied access to Treasury funds. Express Script agreed to acquire pharmacy benefit business from WellPoint for $4.7 billion. Boeing lowered its earnings.

The Boeing Company adjusted its production target for 2010 and earnings outlook for the first quarter.

After the close of regular trading in New York, Goldman Sachs (GS) reported a rise in earnings and a plan to raise $5 billion and repay TARP funds. The move will remove restrictions on executive pay, one of the main concerns of the Goldman management which is used to multi-million dollar bonuses.

Goldman Sachs reported first quarter earnings of $1.81 billion or $3.39 a share.

Third fiscal quarter ending in December economic growth declined t0 5.3% from 8.9% a year ago quarter. In the previous quarter economic growth was 7.6%. Separately exports in March fell 31% to under $12 billion.

India based Tech Mahindra, a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and BT Group won the bidding process for fourth largest Indian software services exporter Satyam. The four month saga of Satyam started after its chairman and founded admitted of inflating cash balance to $1 billion and financial statements for years. Tech Mahindra offered 58 rupees a share, outbidding two other rivals in an auction where IBM dropped out citing unknown future liabilities.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 25.57 or 0.32% to a close of 8,057.81, S&P 500 Index increased 2.17 or 0.25% to 858.73, and Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.77 or 0.05% to close at 1,653.31.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 214 increased, 281 declined and 5 were unchanged.

Genworth Financial led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 17.8% followed by losses in General Motors of 16.2%, in MEMC Electronic Materials of 14.6%, in Textron Inc of 9.5%, in Teradata Corp of 9.5%.

Huntington Bancorp led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a surge of 33.02% followed by gains in E*Trade Financial of 29%, in Citigroup Inc of 25.0%, in AIG of 22.4%, in Fifth Third Bancorp of 21.23% and in Regions Financial of 16.70%.

South American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index increased 1,308.33 or 6.4% to 21,838.96. Brazil Bovespa Stock Index gained 453.18 or 1.0% to 45,991.89.

Chile added 1.97% and Peru increased 5.8%. Argentina surged 5.3%, Colombia declined 1.4% and Venezuela added 0.7%.

Europe Markets Review

The Markets of London, Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich are close today.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 39.68 or 0.44% to 8,924.43, CSI 300 index in China higher 60.99 or 2.35% closed to 2,656.52.The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 0.03 or 0.00% closed to 941.41. The Markets of Hong Kong, Australia are close today.

GS	$159.34	-0.86%
BAC	$13.31	-0.97%
GNW	$10.48	-2.78%

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