4:30PM NY; 9:30PM Frankfurt; 2:00AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS

U.S. dollar fell to record level against European and Asian currencies on slower economic growth and higher inflation in the U.S. British pound reached a fourteen year high and euro and yen raced to record levels of recent years against dollar. Oil fell. European markets closed mixed with Switzerland and U.K. led the decliners with a loss of 0.45% and 0.3%. IBM earnings rose 8% on 6.6% rise in sales.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.686% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.847%.

Gold lost $2.000 to close at $692.500 a troy ounce, silver decreased 6 cents to end at $14.020 a troy ounce and copper advanced $32.500 to close at $7767.500 per metric ton.

Oil declined 51 cents to close at $63.100 a barrel and heating oil lost 6.150 cents to finish at 179.780 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 11.2 cents to close at $7.418 per MMBtu. Gasoline went down 5.990 cents to end at 205.580 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed mostly lower reversing initial momentum that lifted several markets to records, while Japanese stocks fell as investors took profits on recent gainers. The decliners were led by Taiwan with a decrease of 1.05%, India with a decline of 0.65% and Japan with a loss of 0.57%. The advancers were led by Philippines with an increase of 1.54%, Thailand with an advance of 0.37% and Hong Kong with a gain of 0.15%. Australia lost 0.24%.

European markets finished mixed with gains from oil producers, British supermarket group Tesco and French automaker Peugeot gained but technology-sector declined ahead earnings reports. The decliners were led by Switzerland with a decline of 0.45%, Spain with a decrease of 0.36% and Belgium and U.K. both with a loss of 0.28%. The advancers were led by Norway with an increase of 0.19%, Germany with an increase of 0.15% and Netherlands with a gain of 0.11%.

Latin America markets finished lower. The decliners were led by Argentina with a decline of 1.02%, Mexico with a decrease of 0.55% and Brazil with a loss of 0.20%. Canada lost 0.13%.

2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

BCE Inc. (BCE: chart) confirmed that it is in discussions to sell the company to a group of pension fund managers that would take the telecom private. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and three Canadian pension funds acknowledged in statements that they are interested in what would be the country''s largest buyout ever. Shares of the Canadian telecommunication company climbed 7.2%.

Black & Decker Corp. (BDK: chart), whose products include power tools, hardware and home improvement tools, shares climbed 6.1% after the company reported that its first-quarter sales and earnings would exceed expectations. The consumer products company said after the market closed Monday that it expects to earn $1.60 per share in the quarter, well ahead of both its prior predictions and the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts who are looking for $1.26 per share.

East West Bancorp. (EWBC: chart) shares jumped 6.7% after the company posted income that shot up 23.6% to 68 cents per share, beating per-share estimates by 8 cents. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $42.1 million, or 68 cents per share, up from a year-ago profit of $32.1 million, or 55 cents per share. East West said it now expects earnings of $2.56 to $2.60 a share for fiscal 2007, up from a previous projection for a profit of $2.48 to $2.52 a share.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (JOSB: chart) reported a 21% rise in earnings for 2006, beating analyst expectations. The men''s clothing retailer reported earnings of $2.36 per share, or $43.2 million, for 2006, compared with $1.95, or $35.3 million, in the previous year. Shares climbed 11.3%.

Point.360 (PTSX: chart) shares soared 44.4% on deal with DG Fast channel. Upon completion of the spinoff, Point.360 shareholders will receive one share of the new company for each Point.360 share held. DGFC, which owns roughly 1.6 million shares of Point.360 stock, will not participate in the ownership of new company.

24/7 Real Media (TSFM: chart) shares were hurt 11.4% by the downgrade. The company fell after RBC Capital cut its rating on the stock to sector perform from top pick. RBC also cut its price target on the stock to $10 from $12.

Fair Isaac Corp. (FIC: chart) shares fell 9.5% after the provider of credit scoring systems cut its second-quarter guidance and warned that results would be below forecasts. The company expects second-quarter earnings of 35 cents to 37 cents per share, below its previous forecast of 48 cents per share. The company sees revenue of $200 million to $202 million, below its previous forecast of $215 million.

KeyCorp (KEY: chart) reported lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings and cut its 2007 earnings forecast, sending shares of the large U.S. Midwest bank down 6.1%. The company said its first-quarter net income increased to $350 million, or 87 cents per share compared with $289 million, or 70 cents per share, a year ago. Net interest income dipped to $679 million, from $694 million last year. On a continuing operations basis, earnings per share were 89 cents, up from 66 cents a year ago. It expects to report earnings in a range of $2.80 to $2.95 a share for the year.

Netlist (NLST: chart) shares of Netlist Inc. plummeted 28.6% after the company said customers are delaying orders for memory systems and prices for those systems are falling. The company, which makes systems used to store memory in products like computers and telecommunications devices, said it will fall well short of Wall Street''s expectations for the first half of 2007.

Universal Forest Products (UFPI: chart), wood production company, said that its first-quarter net earnings declined to $3.9 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $15.9 million, or 82 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The company said that its revenue declined to $549 million versus $665.6 million in the comparable period last year.

1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed mixed.
European stock markets ended mixed on Tuesday, as gains in the shares of oil producers, supermarket group Tesco and automaker Peugeot helped offset weakness in the technology-sector. Among earnings-related stocks, Tesco rose 1.3% after Britain''s largest supermarket chain said fiscal-year net profit rose 20.5% to 1.9 billion pounds as it continued its international expansion. However, department-store operator Debenhams dropped 15% on profit warning. Shares of Peugeot rose 3.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to overweight from equal weight. Also in the sector, Volkswagen gained 1.8% after it reported 8% increase in the sales of vehicles in the first quarter of 2007. On the merger-and-acquisition front, Telecom Italia shares lost 1.7% after AT&T Corp. ended talks late Monday on acquiring a stake in holding company Olimpia. Airline Alitalia was another decliner, falling 5.5%. The U.K.''s FTSE 100 index down 0.3% at 6,497.80 as the pound rose over $2 for the first time in 15 years against the dollar after stronger-than-expected inflation data. The German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.2% at 7,348.83, while the French CAC-40 lost 0.1%.