Crude oil prices jumped nearly $1 after a refinery fire in Italy added to global supply concerns. Light sweet crude June delivery gained 59 cents to $72.47 a barrel. London Brent rose 66 cents to $72.68. Gold futures surged to 25-year highs, as weaker dollar and worries about Iran’s nuclear program helped increase the appeal of the precious metal. Gold for June delivery rose $5.50 to $660 per troy ounce. Silver July delivery gained 3 cents to $13.92, following a rally Friday as the first silver exchange-traded fund was launched. Copper added about 10 cents to trade at $3.434 a pound. The U.S. dollar traded mixed in light European trading. The euro traded at $1.2614, down from $1.2636. The dollar bought 113.26, down from 113.83 yen. The British pound was quoted at $1.8250, up from $1.8239.

Lubrizol Corp, (LZ: chart), specialty chemical company, reported that it reversed to a Q1 loss of 22 cents a share, down from a net income of 72 cents a share a year-ago on 16% sales growth. Lubrizol added that after adjustments, its earnings were 68 cents a share, topping the 64 cents a share predicted by analysts.

Agco Corp, (AG: chart), maker of agricultural equipment, reported its Q1 net income dropped to 19 cents a share, down from 23 cents a share in the year-ago period, beating analysts’ forecasts for earnings of 11 cents a share.

Tyson Foods Inc, (TSN: chart), chicken and beef producer, reported a Q2 loss of 37 cents a share, reversing from a year-ago profit of $ 21 cents a share on sales decline, missing analyst expectations for company to post a loss, of 25 cents a share.

Gevity HR Inc., (GVHR: chart), provider of employment management software, ported Q1 earnings of 30 cents a share, up from a profit of $7.5 million, or 26 cents a share a year-earlier on 10.3% revenue growth. Q1 includes 2 cents a share in stock option expensing. The company added that its total number of client employees totaled 136,200, an rise of 8.6% from the end of last year''s Q1. The company missed analysts’ estimate for a profit by a penny.

Sysco Corp, (SYY: chart), food distributor, reported that Q3 income dropped to 30 cents a share, from 34 cents a year earlier. If not for stock-option expense, earnings would have been 34 cents a share, the company said. Sales for Q3 advanced to $8.14 billion from $7.44 billion in Q3 last year. The company missed analysts’ forecasts for earnings of 32 cents a share.

Par Pharmaceutical Cos, (PRX: chart), manufacturer of generic drugs, reported Q1 net income of 24 cents a share, up from 6 cents, earned in the same period a year ago on revenue growth. The company met analysts’ forecasts for earnings of 24 cents a share. Par Pharma''s growth came even as it continued to make investments in building an organization around its first branded product, Megace ES.

8:15AM European markets are closed Monday for the May Day holiday.

7:30AM Nikkei closes a notch up, bullion prices cross the $660.00 an ounce level.
In Japan the Nikkei 225 Average closed at 16,921.51, 15.29 points higher. Investors denied the yen impulse to breach the level of 113.84 yen to dollar. Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 Index went up 1% in intraday, putting up 50.4 points to 5,309.20, as mining and natural resource issues added up gains in bullion prices that reached above the $660.00 an ounce level. Shares in New Zealand fell slightly. Elsewhere, leading stocks around the region were closed for a public holiday. Sony Corp. went down 5.14%, while Toshiba Corp reversed the trend to gain as much as 2.9% after posting a 16% jump in profit to 41.69 billion yen last week. Both Toyota motor and Honda Motor went slightly up in automotive stocks. Mazda Motor advanced 1.2% after Friday''s announcement that profits hit a record high in fiscal 2005 on strong vehicle sales worldwide.