4:30PM Tech stocks advance on Apple and Flash memory makers.

-Dow up 35.14, Nasdaq up 14.39 and S&P up 5.63 points.
-Crude oil up 84 cents to $67.07. Gasoline closed 5 cents and heating oil closed up 1 cent.
-Gold up $1.90 to $592.50 and silver down 2.5 cent to $11.70 per ounce.
-Copper closed at a record level of $2.5960 up 6.5 cents.
-Emerging markets surge led by Thailand, Russia and Argentina.
-Yield on 10-year bond fell to 4.845% and on 30-year bond fell to 4.898%.

Tech stocks, falling yields in the bond market and rising crude oil inventories set the tone for the market averages. Up volume on New York and Nasdaq trading systems was at twice the level of down volumes. Trading volume on both exchanges was heavy. Bond yields fell on the report on service sector. A private report suggested that the non-manufacturing activity is still expanding but the price index for the service index fell supporting a rise in bond market.

The bond yields fell and housing stocks took off. The leaders in the housing market such as KB Homes, Toll Brothers, Ryland Homes and Beazear Homes advanced. Toll has gained more than 20% in less than two months of trading.

Tech stocks rose on the news that Apple Computer has released Boot Camp software to let Intel-chip based Macintosh computers to run Windows operating system. Several brokers suggested that this will allow Apple to grow the current market share from 3% to 4% and may lead an increase of 15% in fiscal 2006 earnings.

Sandisk (SNDK: chart) and Google were other notable movers in the tech sector. A wave of buying was sparked in the flash memory chip makers after M-Systems (FLSH: chart) raised its revenue guidance for the quarter and the stock jumped 10%. The company said that it expects the revenue to exceed the upper end of the current range of $140 million to $170 million in the first quarter of this year. The makers of NAND type memory have been under pressure as memory prices had weakened in the first quarter of this year. Other makers of flash memory surged 10% on the news including SanDisk and Silicon Motion Technology (SIMO: chart).

3:30PM Emerging markets surge in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Every market of the 20 emerging markets tracked by 123jump.com closed higher. Asian markets were led by strong rise in indexes in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Several markets in Asia rose 1% or higher during the trading session. Investors sighed relief ad Thai bench mark index rose 3.1% after Prime Minister Thaksin handed over the day-today responsibilities to the Deputy Prime Minister. Shares in Indonesia and Hong Kong traded near record level on strong then expected earnings in the region. South Korean Kospi Index rose 0.2% as automobile and tech stocks on foreign buying. Sensex Index in India closed at all-time high of 11,746 as banking and cement stocks led the advancers. IT stocks after rising for a week lost ground in the session.

Russian index up 29% for the year closed up 2.03%. The main index is up 33 times since 1998 and rose 83% in 2005. The $600 billion stock market has stocks in the main index still trading at less than twelve times 2006 earnings. March inflation was reported at 0.8% and Rosneft IPO is scheduled to be released in two weeks. Surgutneftegatz is to double the dividend and buyback 5% of stocks.

Mexican and Brazilian stocks staged a late rally to reverse the early morning losses. The Bovespa Index closed up 0.43% and IPC Index rose 0.83% at close. However the Merval index in Argentina rose 1.62% and main index in Venezuela rose 0.52%.


3:00PM Tech stocks staged rally on Apple. For the year Benihana up 45%.
Apple Computer (AAPL: chart) rose 8% in the mid-afternoon trading on the news that the company has released a new software Boot Camp that will allow Mac computers using Intel chips to run both Windows and Mac operating system. Several industry watchers believe that this will help Apple to gain market share from 3% to 4% in the near future. Autodesk (ADSK: chart) rose 3% after the company affirmed that the first quarter earnings will be between 30 cents and 32 cents and for the full years earnings will be between $1.45 and $1.50 per share. Covad communications disclosed investment from EarthLink for convertible debt for $40 million to be converted at $1.86 per share. Separately the company also completed an earlier deal to sell 6.1 million shares for $10 million to EarthLink.

Benihana (BNHN: chart) rose 7% after the company said that its fourth quarter same-store sales rose 10.3% from a year ago and total sales rose 12% to $60 million. The Japanese restaurant chain headquartered in Miami has seen its stock surged 45% year to date so far. Shares of Chinese restaurant chain operator P.F. Chang’s (PFCB: chart) lost 8% on the earnings report that said that same-store sales rose only 1.2% at Bistro and at its fast food unit lost 2% in the last quarter. The stock peaked at $63 in the last July.


12:30PM European markets rebounded at close.
European markets reversed from intraday weakness to close higher, boosted by gains for DaimlerChrysler and Lagardere on the sale of their stakes in EADS. Positive opening of U.S. markets with Apple a notable gainer, also contributed to the upward momentum. DaimlerChrysler, which held 30% of EADS, and Lagardere, which held 15%, decided to reduce their holdings in the aerospace concern by 7.5% each. Shares of European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. dropped 3.5%. The German DAX 30 gained 0.3%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.3%, and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.6%.

Crude oil prices jumped back above $66 on supply concerns, raised by weak gasoline supplies and a quarter loss of Nigeria’s oil output. Light sweet crude May delivery rose 47 cents to $65.70 a barrel. London Brent jumped 54 cents to $66.90. European gold traded mixed. In London gold traded at $586.90 per troy ounce, up from $586.30. In Zurich the precious metal fell to $584.30 from $586.40. Silver closed unchanged at $11.70. The U.S. dollar turned mixed versus major currencies. The euro traded at $1.2267, up from $1.2258. The dollar bought 117.62, up from 117.42. The British pound was quoted at $1.7496, down from $1.7551.


11:30AM Stocks lost some ground in late morning.
Following the initial strength, stock markets gave back some ground and turned mixed. The three major averages came off intraday highs and the Dow fell below the flat line. Market sentiment was hurt by expectations of strong employment report and a tick up in treasury yields which raised concerns about higher interest rates. A notable increase in crude oil prices also contributed to the overall weakness. Oil prices jumped following the release of oil inventories report, which showed strong crude stockpiles, but sharper-than-expected decline in gasoline inventories. Meanwhile, housing stocks moved notably higher after the MBA showed a sharp rise in mortgage applications. The sector rose by 1.5%. Technology sector continued its strong performance, with semiconductor, networking, and computer hardware stocks posting solid gains. Shares of Apple (AAPL: chart) climbed 7.4% after the company introduced its Boot Camp software. In other news, shares of St. Jude Medical (STJ: chart) dropped 13% after the medical device maker warned of weaker than expected first quarter earnings.

Crude oil inventories rose, while gasoline stocks dropped.
Crude oil inventories advanced in the latest week, according to government statistics released Wednesday. This added to a gain posted during the previous week. However, stocks of gasoline once again moved lower. The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories climbed by 2.1 million barrels for the week ended March 31, rising to 342.8 million barrels from the prior week's level of 340.7 million barrels. In the previous week, oil inventories also advanced by 2.1 million barrels, reversing a decline of 1.3 million barrels posted in the preceding week. Prior to the slide a couple weeks ago, crude inventories had put in a string of advances. In the most recent week, oil inventories were 7.7% higher than their levels of the same time last year. Gasoline inventories posted a week-over-week drop of 4.4 million barrels, the government said. This added to losses in the preceding 4 weeks, including a slide of 5.4 million barrels in the previous week. Gasoline stocks were 0.2% below their levels of last year. Inventories of distillate fuel oil declined again, falling by 2.6 million barrels in the most recent week. In the previous period, distillate inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels.


10:30AM Stocks advanced, led by tech and metal shares.
Stocks moved further higher and the major indices built on recent gains with the early strength largely contributed by metal and technology stocks. Metal stocks helped to drive the markets higher, benefiting from an increase in metal prices as well as positive comments by Credit Suisse, which raised its forecasts for copper, zinc and nickel prices. Gold stocks also stood out among the movers to the upside, lifted by higher prices. Technology stocks showed considerable upward move, strongly supported by the disk drive sector. Msystems (FLSH: chart) led the disk drive sector higher on expectations to exceed its Q1 revenue guidance. Semiconductor, networking, and computer hardware stocks also showed visible strength. Among hardware stocks, Apple (AAPL: chart) rose 6% after it introduced new software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Meanwhile, oil service stocks were weak in early trading ahead of the release of the weekly petroleum report.