4:15PM Thirty-seven largest financial market declined in a global sell-off.

-Dow closed up 47.78 points, Nasdaq closed down 5.26 and S&P closed up 3.26.
-Crude oil declined $2.63 or 3.5% to close at $69.41 per barrel.
-Yield on 10-year bond closed at 5.15% and 30-year bond closed at 5.26%.
-Gold closed down $26.80 to $685, after dropping whopping $49 in mid-day trading.
-Copper dropped 11 cents, platinum dropped $33 and palladium lost $23.
-Top 37 markets around the world declined.

Markets around the world declined led by a sharp decline in metals prices. Oil price declined too. Thirty seven largest markets around the world fell with the steepest decline in Indonesia, Norway and India. Emerging markets around the world were shaken. India down 4% and Indonesia closed lower 6.3%. Twelve major markets in Asia closed lower between 1% and 4%. Japan lost 0.7%. Markets in Europe sold-off as investors sold stocks in metals and mining companies. Norway lost 5.3% and South Africa lost 3.7%. Major European markets including France, Germany and U.K. lost 1.7%, 1.0% and 1.2% at close. In the Americas six leading markets closed lower led by a decline of 3.2% in Argentina and 2.2% in Brazil and 2% in Mexico.

In New York broader averages recovered most of the losses in the late afternoon trading. Market averages faced third day of weakness accented by a steep sell-off in commodities prices. Oil closed 3.5% lower. Gold closed at its lowest price in the last five days of trading from it’s 26-year high.

Dell (DELL: chart) is expected to release earnings on Thursday. The stock is currently down from its 52 week high of $41 on July 20th of 2005 to its current price of $24 or 33% a share. The company has narrowed its profit margin to 8.2% in Q4 from 8.8% the year-earlier period. Dell has missed its quarterly earnings forecasts twice last year.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: chart) will release its earnings tomorrow. Analysts are looking for earnings of 48 cents to 50 cents a share on sales of $22.6 billion. The company’s stock is currently at $32 up from $21.55 a year ago.


2:45 PM Embraer reports earnings of 37 cents, down from 55 a year ago.
Embraer (ERJ: chart), Brazilian manufacturer of commercial, business, and defense aircrafts reported Q1 earnings of 37 cents, down from 55 cents a year ago. The market had expected earnings of 55 cents. The company’s revenue rose 5.9%. Gross margin for the company came in at 28.7% down from 35.1% in the year-earlier period. Embraer delivered 27 aircrafts, 21 of which were commercial, in the first quarter.

Garmin (GRMN: chart), a manufacturer of navigational devices that utilize GPS technology has scheduled a meeting for shareholders on the 21st of next month at its Olathe headquarters to vote on the board recommendation for a two-for-one stock split. On May 3rd the company had announced the planned stock-split and post-split dividend of 50 cents a share. At that time it also reported an 85% increase in Q1 earnings and a 67% increase in quarterly revenue compared with the year-earlier period. The stock has risen from$43 to $94 in 1 year’s time.

Phelps Dodge (PD: chart), a miner of copper and producer of molybdenum-based chemicals saw its share drop of 6% in early afternoon trading as the broader commodities market declines. The company’s stock peaked last week at $99 and has since fallen to $88.05, down $7.30.

Bausch & Lomb (BOL: chart), a manufacturer of eye health products announced today that it is conducting a permanent world-wide recall of its contact lens solution; ReNu with MoistureLoc due to concerns that it may be triggering a rare type of eye infection. About 2.3 million of the more than 30 million Americans who wear contact lenses use the MoistureLoc formula. The product alone accounted for $100 million in global sales in 2005. The company’s shares rose 10.46% to $49.09 in early afternoon trading. Bausch & Lomb generates more than $2 billion in annual revenues. The company currently employs 12,400 people world-wide.


12:30PM European markets finished deeply in the red.
European markets closed deeply in the red, with a flat start on Wall Street pulling them off earlier lows. Markets were weak Monday largely due to continuous inflation concerns and weaker U.S. dollar which weighed on export-related issues like auto and luxury stocks. Metals companies were also under pressure with BHP and Anglo American down 5% each. Xstrata dropped 8.4% on mews that it might bid for Falconbridge. However, telecommunication stocks made a strong performance with Vodafone rising 1.2% on report that Verizon may buy a stake in the companies’ joint venture for $48 billion. The German DAX 30 lost 1%, the French CAC 40 dropped 1.7%, and London FTSE 100 falling 1.2%.

Oil dropped below $70 on weakening demand and rising inflation. Light crude fell $2.49 to $69.55 a barrel. Gasoline lost 9 cents to $2.08 a gallon. Natural gas dropped 15 cents to $6.13 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent crude shed $1.97 to $70.35. Precious metals also fell, with gold losing $21.80 to $692.50 an ounce. In Hong Kong gold slipped $27.20 to $695.90. In London silver fell to $13.40 from $14.50. The dollar traded mixed in European trading. The euro traded at $1.2842, down from $1.2914. The dollar bought 110.10, down yen from 110.31. The British pound stood at $$1.8842, down from $1.8932.


11:30AM Oil and gold stocks moved notably lower.
Stocks lost direction in morning trading, following a steep decline in oil and gold prices as well as a disappointing quarterly report from Target Corp. (TGT: chart). The gold sector turned in one of the market's worst performances as the price of the precious metal moved sharply lower amid some strength in the value of the U.S. dollar. Gold for June delivery declined $17.80 to $694 an ounce, sending the Amex Gold Bugs Index down 4.8%. Other metal prices also came under pressure, contributing to weakness throughout the metal sector. Among metal stocks, Inco (N: chart) posted a notable loss after it raised its offer to acquire Falconbridge (FAL: chart). A sharp drop in the price of oil drove energy stocks notably lower. The oil service sector dropped 1.9%, while the oil and natural gas sectors both fell more than 1%. Crude for June delivery slipped $1.89 to $70.15 a barrel on news that the IEA cut its forecast for oil demand growth in 2006.

At the same time, airline stocks advanced, benefiting from the decrease by the price of oil, as reflected by the 1.5% gain shown by the Amex Airline Index. JetBlue (JBLU: chart) helped to lead the sector higher following a brokerage upgrade. Health care stocks posted strength, with some pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks posting notable gains. Some strength was also visible in the health insurance sector. Shares of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CATG: chart), bio-pharmaceutical company, surged 64.2% after the company agreed to be acquired by AstraZeneca (AZN: chart). In late morning trading, the Dow added 25.67, or 0.23%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 1.99, or 0.15%, and the Nasdaq lost 4.46, or 0.2%. Bonds rose on the weak manufacturing data, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipping to 5.17% from 5.2%.


10:30 AM Indian Sensex plunges 500 points on heavy selling.
The Sensex in India lost 462.91 points, or 3.77% to close at 11,822.20. The turnover on BSE was $0.7 billion or Rs 3,182 crores. The market breadth was weak, as 684 stocks rose and 1,899 declined. Stock exchange’s metal index fell close to 11%. In three trading session the market index Sensex has lost 6.2%. Recent victory of Socialist parties in the states of West Bengal and in Kerala, expected sharp decline in metals prices in Europe and rising petrol prices in local markets have kept investors on the edge. It was the fall in metals prices that led the sharp sell-off in the market today.

Metal stocks led the decliners with Hindalco the losing the most, down 13% to Rs 210.15. Sterlite Industries diving 15% to Rs 514, Hindustan Zinc down 12.71% to Rs 900 and Sesa Goa declining 12% to Rs 1,290. Tata Steel and Kalyani Steel came under pressure as well. Reliance Industries was the most-traded stock having more than Rs 385 crore changing hands, followed by Tata Steel, Rs 277 crore. Reliance Industries continued its downward trend, shedding 4.3% to Rs 1,021.25. ONGC declined 3.54% to Rs 1.3670.10. Reliance Petroleum dropped 5.7% to Rs. 79.15 and ITC fell 4.82% to Rs 191.40.