4:15PM Stocks Rise on Earnings and Oil trades above $75 per barrel.

-Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.969% and 30-year bond closed at 5.064%.
-Crude oil gained 90 cents to close at $75.81.
-Gold gained $5.30 to close at $651.60.

-Asian Markets were mixed, being led by Indonesia which closed ahead at 1.65%. Japan gained 0.15%. Philippines lost 3.35%.

-European Markets closed higher today, led by France which gained 1.58%, and Norway which gained 1.48%. Switzerland declined 0.46%.

-Latin American Markets traded higher, led by a 1.71% gain in Brazil. Mexico gained 0.89%. Canada gained 0.83%.


12:30PM European markets closed steeply higher.
European markets finished Wednesday session sharply higher, boosted by positive profit outlook from Danone and Cadbury Schweppes, as well as strong gains on Wall Street, following better-than-expected earnings from Time Warner and Procter & Gamble. British confectionery maker Cadbury Schweppes jumped 3.2% after saying first-half net profit rose to 819 million pounds on 22.5% increase in revenue. Food group Danone rose 4.4% after it reported a stronger-than-forecast rise in first-half profit and lifted its revenue growth forecast. The German DAX 30 surged 1.5%, the French CAC 40 soared 1.6%, and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.9%.

Oil prices hit $77 as a tropical storm strengthened and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico. Light crude September delivery rose $1.29 to $76.20 a barrel. London Brent gained $1.22 to $77.12. The dollar traded mixed versus major currencies. The euro traded at $1.2813, down from $1.2817. The dollar bought 114.49 yen, down from 114.52. The British pound stood at $1.8784, up from $1.8758. European gold prices traded higher. In London the precious metal traded at $654, up from $638.80 per ounce. In Zurich gold traded at $653.80, up from $638.18. Silver closed at $12.15, up from $11.45.


11:30AM stocks traded higher on earnings.
Stock markets were bullish Wednesday, recovering from recent losses with the help of strong earnings reports. Time Warner (TWX: chart) gained 3% after posting strong revenue gains in its telecommunications divisions. Time Warner''s AOL unit unveiled its plan Wednesday to offer e-mail, software and other products free of charge, trying to boost its online advertising business. Procter & Gamble (PG: chart) rose 4% on 36% profit jump and higher revenues. Positive outlook by software maker Adobe Systems Inc.''s (ADBE: chart) renewed optimism about corporate profits, sending the stock up 13%.
Cigna (CI: chart), insurance provider, rose 11% after the company reported Q2 earnings of $2.31 per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.94 per share. Higher oil prices lifted energy companies'' shares, with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) and ConocoPhillips (COP: chart) among the biggest contributors to the S&P 500''s advance. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 51.86, or 0.47%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index climbed 6.27, or 0.49%, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 11.51, or 0.56%. Bonds were stuck in a narrow trading range for the third straight day, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note steady at 4.98% from late Tuesday.


Crude oil and gasoline inventories moved lower.
Crude oil inventories declined in the most recent week, according to government statistics released Wednesday. Meanwhile, stockpiles of gasoline also ticked down, while those of distillate fuel oil continued a recent streak of gains. The Department of Energy''s Energy Information Administration said that crude oil inventories fell 1.8 million barrels in the week ended July 28. Specifically, the measure dropped to 333.7 million barrels from the previous week''s level of 335.5 million barrels. The decline followed a flat performance in the previous week. Oil inventories for the July 28 week were 4% higher than last year. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories showed a week-over-week decline of 100,000 barrels. This added to a draw down of 3.2 million barrels in the previous week. The level of gasoline inventories was 1.2% above last year. Distillate fuel oil had an inventory advance of 700,000 barrels during the week. This built on a recent streak of gains, including an advance of 800,000 barrels in the previous week.


10:30AM Sustained buying in large-cap stocks raised the Sensex on Wednesday.
The Indian Sensex ended with a spurt of 124.53 points, or 1.16%, on 10,876.19. The benchmark index traded in the range of 161 points, between the high and low of the day. The market-breadth was firm. In today’s trading 1,517 shares advanced on BSE, only 876 declined and 94 shares were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 2,657 crore, higher than the turnover on Tuesday of Rs 2,203 crore.

Tata Motors led the gainers, moving up 3.68%, to Rs 759.50. Tata Motors reported on Tuesday that vehicle sales advanced 44.5%. Tata Steel also advanced 3.65% to Rs 513.85 on 16.74 lakh shares as well as NTPC gaining 3.48% to Rs 120.10 on 10.26 lakh shares. BHEL gained 2.21% to Rs 2,150 on 3.63 lakh shares, soaring earlier to a high of Rs 2,188, as buying intensified.

Large-cap Reliance Industries advanced 0.77% to Rs 989.50 on 17.28 lakh shares. It had recovered sharply form a low of Rs 979.20, as buying resumed. Reliance Retail is planning to set up 23 retail shops in Punjab at an investment of $107 million over the next six months. Reliance Industries was the most-actively traded stock on BSE with a total turnover of Rs 170.31 crore followed by Tata Steel with a turnover of Rs 84.30 crore.

Cement shares also performed well on strong buying demand. Saurashtra Cement was up 4.55% to Rs 62, Shree Cements gained 3.71% to Rs 942.20, Gujarat Ambuja Cements advanced 2.81% to Rs 106, JK climbed 2.40% to Rs 156, Birla Corporation notched up 2.40% to Rs 263.40 and ACC gained 1.56% to Rs 867.55.

Decliners were led by a loss of 1.04% in Maruti Udyog to Rs 775, Hindustan Lever off 0.46% to Rs 227.70 and ICICI Bank declining 0.36% to Rs 547. Grasim shed 0.38% to Rs 2,072.00 and HDFC Bank lost 0.03% to Rs 780.50.

Among other stocks, tractor & utility vehicles large-cap Mahindra & Mahindra gained 2.38%, to Rs 599 after the company posted 39% growth in vehicles sales for July. Granules India jumped 20%, to Rs 88.20 on 2.89 lakh shares. ABG Shipyard gained 7.15%, to Rs 240 on registering 96% surge in Q1 June 2006 net profit, HCL Technologies spurted 3.76%, to Rs 535.25 and Goodyear India soared 11.70%, to Rs 85 on registering 83% growth in net profit for the Q2 June 2006.