6:00PM NY – 11:00PM Frankfurt – 3:30 AM Mumbai – Market averages reversed its course on comments from Lehman Brothers on its exposure to sub-prime mortgage market. However, banks and insurance stocks declined and dragged averages lower in Europe. Asian Markets continued their slide on the back of volatility in the New York trading.

Yield on the U.S. ten-year bond at close of trading was reported at 4.552% and yield on 30-year bond was at 4.695%.

Crude oil rose 23 cents to close at $58.16 per barrel after the U.S. Energy Department reported inventory data that met expectations of market traders.

Gold dropped $6.70 per ounce to close at $640.90 per ounce and silver rose 12.5 cents higher to close at $12.955 per ounce. Copper rose 2.3 cents to close at $2.849 per pound.

Asian Markets closed lower across the region led by a sharp fall of 2.9% in Japan, drop of 3.5% in India, decline of 2.54% in Hong Kong and loss of 3.4% in Singapore and Philippines. Asian markets continue to be riled by the volatility in the New York trading and worries of the U.S. economic slow down. Australian index bucked the global trend and closed 0.83% higher.

European Markets closed lower in the region dragged by worries in the banking sector. Loss in the Swiss banking sector dragged the index 2.85% lower followed by 2.7% loss in Spain and Germany. U.K index dropped 2.6% and CAC-40 in France lost 2.5%. AXA insurance group in France lost 5.1% and MAN group, hedge fund manager in the U.K., dropped 4%.

Latin American Markets closed higher led by a rise of 1.3% in Brazil, 1.1% in Argentina and 0.5% in Mexico. Chile closed 0.27% lower. Emerging markets in Latin America have seen rising volatility and fund out flows in the last three weeks on trading.


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

AAON Inc. (AAON: chart), rooftop air conditioner and heater maker, said that its fourth-quarter earnings increased to $4.5 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $2.3 million, or 18 cents per share. Sales climbed to $54.6 million against $48.9 million in the same period a year earlier. Shares climbed 8.9%.

CommScope Inc. (CTV: chart) shares jumped more than 8.3% to their highest since 2000, after the telecommunications equipment company raised its first-quarter sales outlook and received an upgrade from an analyst. Commscope said it now expects sales of $415 million to $425 million, above its earlier guidance of between $390 million and $410 million.

Critical Therapeutics (CRTX: chart) surged 23.3% after Merck KGaA affiliate Dey agreed to co-promote two of the Lexington, Mass., biotech's zileuton asthma drugs, one of which is still awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Critical Therapeutics will additionally help promote one of Dey's drug candidates, should it receive regulatory approval. The deal's financial terms weren't disclosed.

Lev Pharmaceuticals Inc. ((LEVP.OB)) jumped 13.5% after the company reported positive results of a late-stage trial for its proposed treatment of hereditary angioedema, or HAE. The company said that the primary endpoint of the phase III trial of its C1-esterase inhibitor was reached with a clinically and statistically significant reduction in the time to sustained relief of acute HAE symptoms. Lev now plans to submit a biologic license application for the therapy, which has orphan drug status, to the Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter.

1:00PM NY European markets closed sharply lower, led by banking stocks.
European stocks finished sharply lower on Wednesday, led by declines for banking stocks as U.S. worries about subprime-mortgage losses spread through the sector. Falling metals prices added to the pressure, dragging resource stocks down. Among firms in focus, European banks involved in warehousing considerably dropped. Shares in Deutsche Bank dropped 5.1%, Credit Suisse lost 4.3% and UBS shed 4.3%. European banks with a U.S. lending business also declined. Shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group slipped 4.5% and BNP Paribas gave up 3.5%. Insurers and fund managers were also notable losers. France's AXA slid 5.1% in Paris, while U.K. hedge fund manager Man Group dropped 4% in London. The French CAC 40 tumbled 2.5% at 5,296.22, the German DAX 30 dropped 2.7% at 6,447.70 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 2.6% at 6,000.70.


9:45AM Wall Street opened mixed, helped by stronger dollar.
Wall Street opened mixed on Wednesday, gaining some ground after the recent sell-off. The market sentiment was boosted by strengthening dollar which rose vs. the yen on the back of narrower current account deficit. However, there was more evidence about the fallout in the mortgage lender market. H&R Block (HRB: chart) slid 2.4% after it warned that the meltdown increased its quarterly losses. Technology stocks opened broadly higher, pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq higher. Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM: chart) rose 2.7% as it raised its quarterly financial forecast. In contrast, Juniper Networks (JNPR: chart) fell more than 2% after the company announced its chief financial officer resigned. Computer-memory chipmakers Micron Technology Inc. (MU: chart) rose 1% and Qimonda AG (QI: chart) rose 2%, lifted by upgrades from Citigroup, which boosted both companies to a buy. In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.38, or 0.33%, to 12,116.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 5.13, or 0.37%, to 1,383.08, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.94, or 0.30%, to 2,357.51.


9:30AM London equities trade down Wednesday with banks hurt the most.
The UK market was lower on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 was down more than 100 points, or 1.4%, to 6,060.2 in morning trade.

Advancers

Of the few advancers, most were from the retail sector. Talks that a private equity group was considering a bid for Kingfisher sent its shares 4.4% higher on extremely high volumes. Also fresh reports that the private equity consortium eyeing J Sainsbury was about to put its offer forward sent the grocer 1.3% higher.