4:00PM NY – 10:00PM Germany
A business survey suggested that the service sector in the U.S. economy is growing at a faster pace than the manufacturing sector. Emerging markets around the world reached new highs led by record closes in Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia and Venezuela.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.442% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.569%.

Gold declined $4.70 cents to close at $646.20 a troy ounce, silver lost 25 cents to end at $13.995 a troy ounce and copper increased 7.4 cents to close at $3.25 per pound.

Oil gained 12 cents to close at $62.56 a barrel and heating oil declined 0.74 cents to finish at 180.15 cents a gallon. Gasoline was down 1.44 cents to end at 165.30 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 13.1 cents to close at $7.675 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly higher led by Indonesia with an advance of 2.63%, Singapore with a gain of 1.80% and Hong Kong with an increase of 1.29%. The decliners were Taiwan with a decrease of 0.49%, South Korea with a loss of 0.41% and Japan with a decline of 0.23%. Oil producers and banks pushed Japan''s benchmark lower, while gains in the telecommunications sector helped Hong Kong to finish higher.

European markets closed higher led by Spain with an increase of 1.34%, Germany with an advance of 1.23% and France with a gain of 1.20%. The only decliner was Switzerland with a decrease of 0.32%. European markets finished higher helped by commodities related stocks and stabilized dollar.

Latin America markets closed higher led by Mexico with a gain of 1.55%, Brazil with an increase of 1.18% and Argentina with an advance of 0.99%.

1:00PM European markets finished higher, helped by commodities.
European stocks posted solid gains on Tuesday, boosted by commodities-related stocks, positive mood on Wall Street amid upbeat data, and stabilized dollar. Markets managed to ignore some poorly received updates from banking giant HSBC and electronics giant Philips. The German DAX 30 climbed 1.2%, supported by 3.7% gain for steelmaker ThyssenKrupp. The French CAC 40 followed suit to close up 1.2%, led by drug maker Sanofi-Aventis with a gain of 3% and Schering shares which reached levels not seen for ten years after Bayer said that it would pay 98.98 euros a share for the approximate 4% of Schering it doesn''t own.

London FTSE 100 rose 0.6%, benefiting from strength in the mining and oil sectors. Shares of miner Kazakhmys rose more than 3.1%, lifted by high metals prices. Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell advanced 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively boosted by M&A speculation of several top European oil companies. The French Total also rose 2%. Shares of Vodafone added 2.4% after the second broker upgrade for the company in two days. However, the U.K. gains were limited by losses in the shares of HSBC and Tesco. HSBC Holdings slipped 2% on lower Q3 revenue growth, while Britain''s biggest supermarket chain Tesco lost 1%.

Crude oil prices advanced on concerns over oil production cuts. Crude oil January contract added 21 cents to $62.65 a barrel. Heating oil was steady at $1809 a gallon, while gasoline traded at $1.6674. Natural gas fell 7 cents to $7.73 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent rose 40 cents to $63.85. The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major currency rivals. The euro was quoted at $1.3297, down from $1.3328. The dollar bought 115.07 yen, down from 115.35. The British pound was quoted at $1.9696, down from $1.9797. European gold prices retreated, as the dollar moved up. In London, gold traded at $643.25 per troy ounce, down from $646.79. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $640.25 per ounce, down from $645.85. Silver closed at $13.95, down from $14.04.

11:30AM Market averages traded higher, helped by economic data.
U.S. market averages posted gains Tuesday, as revised data showed wages and benefits increased at a much slower pace in Q3 than expected and the service sector came accelerated in November. The ISM''s index of activity in the nation''s services sector rose at a faster rate of 58.9, above the 57.1 seen in October. However, a Commerce Department report showed that orders to U.S. factories fell 4.7% in October, the steepest decline in six years. The data added to recent concerns about the strength of the manufacturing sector.

By sector, significant strength emerged in the housing sector after Toll Brothers (TOL: chart) reported sharply lower Q4 earnings but said that it may be seeing a floor in some markets. Toll Brothers advanced 3.8% gain. The semiconductor sector also moved higher, with Broadcom (BRCM: chart) up 2%, Novellus (NVLS: chart) jumping 5.3%, and AMD (AMD: chart), rising 1.3%. At the same time, some health insurance, gold, and airline stocks came under pressure in morning trading.

In corporate news, Direct General Corp.(DRCT: chart), insurance holding company, surged 24.8% to $20.60 after agreeing to be acquired by a private equity group for about $432.4 million in cash. Kroger Co. (KR: chart) rose 6.9% to $23.89 after the supermarket chain posted a 16% increase in Q3 profit.

Among stocks driven by analyst comments, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB: chart) climbed 9% to $14.54 after a Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock, citing expectations of cost-cutting and an improving industry. Station Casinos Inc. (STN: chart) fell 2.4% to $82.85 amid brokerage downgrades after the casino operator received a $4.7 billion buyout offer on Monday. Shares of Starbucks (SBUX: chart) rose 3.5% after UBS upgraded its rating on the coffee maker to buy from neutral. On the other hand, shares of NetLogic Microsystems (NETL: chart) fell 5.8% after UBS downgraded its rating on the semiconductor company to neutral from buy. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.21, or 0.25%, to 12,314.06. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was up 3.88, or 0.28%, at 1,413.00, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 5.96, or 0.24%, at 2,454.35. Bonds, which had shown little movement, slipped after release of the ISM figure. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.46% from 4.43% from late Monday

Factory orders tumbled 4.7% in October.
Tuesday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on factory orders in the month of October, showing that new orders for manufactured goods fell more than economists had been expecting. The report showed that factory orders fell 4.7 percent in October after a downwardly revised 1.7 percent in September. Economists had expected orders to fall 4.0 percent compared to the 2.1 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The Commerce Department noted that the drop in orders in October marked the largest decrease since July of 2000. The drop in factory orders was due in large part to a steep decline in orders for manufactured durable goods, which fell 8.2 percent in October after rising 8.7 percent in September.

The drop in durable goods orders was reported at 8.3 percent last week. A modest decline in orders for manufactured non-durable goods also contributed to the decline in factory orders. The report showed that orders for non-durable goods fell 0.3 percent in October. The report also showed that shipments of manufactured goods edged up 0.1 percent in October, while inventories rose 0.4 percent. Subsequently, the inventories-to-shipments ratio came in at 1.23, unchanged from September.


Services sector accelerated, according to ISI index, to 58.9 in November.
The Institute for Supply Management released its report on business activity in the services sector in the month of November on Tuesday. The report showed that the pace of growth in the sector unexpectedly accelerated compared to the previous month. The report showed that the index of activity in the sector rose to 58.9 in November from 57.1 in October, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had been expecting the index to fall to 56.0. The acceleration in the pace of growth in the services sector was partly due to faster new orders growth, with the new orders index rising to 57.1 in November from 56.5 in October. The ISM showed that employment also expanded faster than in the previous month, as the employment index rose to 51.6 in November from 51.0 in October. At the same time, the report also showed acceleration in the pace of price growth, with the prices index rising to 55.6 in November from 51.9 in the previous month.

10:30AM The Sensex closes with a gain near 14,000 level on large-cap rally.
The Sensex on BSE finished 63.32 points or 0.46%, higher at 13,937.65 record close. The market-breadth was positive with 1,307 shares that advanced on BSE, 1,263 that declined and 68 shares remaining unchanged. From the 30 stocks in the Sensex index, 18 declined while the rest advanced. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,743 crore lower than Rs 4,836 crore on Monday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,799.39 crore lower than Rs 8,855 crore on Monday.