9:30AM New York – Cisco buyback helped U.S. market averages to open higher.

At the market opening in New York, Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 78 to 13,188, Nasdaq added 13 to 2,631, and S&P 500 advanced 8 to 1,459.

Starbucks fell at the opening after it reported fourth quarter earnings. Starbucks earnings increased 22% to 21 cent from 15 cents a year ago on revenue rise of 22% to $2.4 billion. Same-store sales increased 4% in the quarter but the customer traffic declined 1%, first decline in traffic since the company was listed on the stock exchange. Domestic sales increased 19% to $1.9 billion and international sales increased 31% to $472 million.

The coffee retailer estimated earnings per share in the fiscal 2008 to be in the range of $1.02 and $1.05 and expects revenue to increase between 17% and 18%.

Investment arm of Abu Dhabi government agreed to take a stake in Advanced Micro Devices for $622 million or 8.1% stake in the company.

Cisco Systems plans to purchase $10 billion in stock buyback after a lackluster performance in the stock. Cisco stock fell nearly 10% after reporting earnings two weeks ago and issued cautious earnings guidance that took tech investors by surprise.

European markets edged lower ahead of the U.S. markets opening. Norway led the decliners in the region with a fall of 1.1% followed by losses in Switzerland of 0.8%, and in France, UK, and Germany of 0.4%. Italy and Spain increased 0.5%.

Asian markets closed sharply lower across the region on the U.S. housing market comments from Wells Fargo. Hong Kong led the region with a loss of 4% followed by losses in Philippines of 2%, in Japan and Taiwan of 1.6%, and Indonesia of 1.4%, in Australia and Korea of 1.1%.

Hong Kong suffered third loss in a row. Investors worried that the recent crackdown by the Chinese government may stem the flow of investment in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Stock Exchanges & Clearing soared ahead of earnings but the market weakness dragged the stock lower by 4.9%.

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing reported third quarter earnings increase of 147% to HK$2.4 billion and earnings per share surged to HK$1.58 from HK$0.53 from a year ago. Average daily turnover value on the exchange rose to HK97.7 billion from HK$26.3 billion from a year ago. Average daily number of derivative contracts traded on futures exchange increased to 197,874 from 95,911, and stocks option contracts increased to 240,131 from 66,836.

Financial and real estate stocks led the decliners in Japan on the worries that a slow-down in the U.S. and Japanese housing market slow-down.

6:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo – Tokyo closes the week down 1.57% led by financial and realty stocks. Deputy Governor of Bank of Japan Toshiro Muto says U.S. housing slump could affect economic growth in Japan.

Japan’s stock averages closed the week down 1.5% on retreat of financial and realty stocks.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 dipped 1.57% or 241.69 to 15,154.61, while the broader Topix Index shed 1.8% or 27.19 to 1,471.67.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 7.9 billion shares worth 965 billion yen were traded compared to 8.9 billion shares valued at 1.1 trillion yen traded yesterday, and 216 million shares valued at 3.6 billion yen changed hands in the second section.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 39 gained, 179 declined, and 7 were unchanged. Asahi Breweries led gainers, rising 6.02% as investors opted for defensive stocks.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto said in an interview yesterday turbulence in the financial markets could affect Japan’s economic growth and make it difficult to decide the appropriate time to raise the interest rate. Commented Muto: “We have repeatedly said we’ll raise interest rates in accordance with the improvements in the economy and prices; we don’t have any pre-determined schedule.”

Muto also added that tighter credit conditions and the U.S. housing slump have not yet affected spending by consumers and companies, adding that the sharp fall in housing starts could be contained.

According to Muto, Japan’s economic growth will average over 2% over the next two years through March 2009, while core consumer prices, excluding fresh food, would enter “positive territory” from the end of the year or towards the beginning of next year.

Minutes of the Bank of Japan Monetary Policy meeting released today showed housing investment is likely to remain sluggish in the short-term and would regain against the backdrop of rising household incomes and accommodative financial environment.

Furthermore, the minutes also showed that annual rate of change in the CPI had been flat, and is expected to remain flat in short run.