4:00PM NY, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 2:00AM Mumbai – GLOBAL MARKETS

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.86% and 30-year bond closed at 5.012%.

Crude Oil rose 26 cents to close at $65.77 per barrel, natural gas fell 4 cent to close at $7.75 per MmBTU and gasoline rose 0.4 cent to close at 231.04 per gallon.

Gold futures rose $2.70 to close at $662.60 per troy ounce, silver closed up 11 cents to close at $13.105 per ounce and copper fell $147 to close at $7,309 per metric ton.

Asian Markets closed mostly lower led by 1.1% fall in Philippines and smaller losses in India and Sri Lanka. Shanghai rose 1.8% on the speculation that currency will surge against dollar led by property and banking stocks. Yuan responded to the latest trade talks between the U.S. and China and rose to a new high of 7.6547 against dollar and is likely to keep rising in the coming months. India fell after steadily rising for three days led by an advance in rupee and rise in Tata Steel.

European Markets closed higher across the region led by 1% rise in Germany and Spain and 0.8% gain Switzerland. All other major markets in the region closed higher. Italy, France and Belgium rose nearly 0.5%. Wireless carriers led the rise on speculation that consolidation in the sector is likely. Vodafone Group rose nearly 4%, Deutsche Telekom and KPN gained 3%, and France Telecom advanced 2%.

Latin American Markets were led by a gain of 1.6% in Chile and 0.6% rise in Argentina and 0.3% advance in Mexico. Chilean economy expanded at 5.8% in the first quartet up from 4.3% in the fourth quarter in 2006. Higher prices of copper export, growing investments and rising industrial production contributed to the economic growth. Mexican market continued its rise and its currency peso reached seven month high against the dollar. Brazil is likely to sell more dollar denominated bonds in the international markets.


1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks finished higher, helped by telecoms and auto makers.

European stock markets gained ground on Wednesday, reaching new multi-year highs with the help of strong telecom and automotive shares. Deal speculation in the Dutch mobile market boosted telecoms, with KPN rising 2.8%, Vodafone, climbing 3.7%, Deutsche Telekom, adding 2.9%, and France Telecom rising 2.1%. Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent shares advanced 2.8%.

Automotive stocks posted strength, led by shares in DaimlerChrysler which climbed 3.8% after Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating. Shares of potential merger partners Volkswagen jumped 4.9% and Porsche rose 2.8%. Peugeot turned lower 4.6% after the company said that it wants to cut costs by around 30% by 2010.

Mining stocks were also in the spotlight. LionOre Mining International rose 3.9% after Norilsk Nickel topped Xstrata with a new $6.25 billion offer for the Canadian nickel miner. The German DAX Xetra 30 advanced 1% at 7,735.88, the French CAC-40 climbed 0.5% to 6,120.20, and the U.K.''s FTSE 100 added 0.2% at 6,616.40.

11:30AM Market rallied on deal news. Dow crossed 13,600.

Another flurry of deal news fueled U.S. market rally, sending the Dow Jones to a new record high of over 13,600. The blue-chip average was boosted by gains for Caterpillar (CAT: chart), up 2.1%, Home Depot (HD: chart), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: chart) and Disney (DIS: chart), each rising above 1%. The metals sector was in the spotlight amid deal speculations after Alcan (AL: chart) rejected Alcoa''s (AA: chart) $27 billion hostile bid. Alcoa rose 4.5%, while Alcan shares added 4.2%.

Better-than-expected quarterly earnings also contributed to the upside move. Medtronic (MDT: chart) climbed 5.2%, while Target Corp. (TGT: chart) advanced 3.5%. Metals mining stocks were the leading gainers, followed by oil service stocks and broker/dealers. Among notable movers, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX: chart) rose 4.2%. Semiconductors and software shares posted losses. Energy prices wouldn''t decline on data showing that U.S. gasoline inventories rose by 1.5 million barrels last week, nearly twice what the market expected.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose as high as 13,609.76, then edged back slightly to 13,591.72, up 51.77, or 0.38%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index advanced 6.17, or 0.40%, to 1,530.29. The Nasdaq composite index gained 8.34, or 0.32%, to 2,596.36. Bonds fell slightly, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.84% from 4.83% late Tuesday.


9:45AM U.S market averages opened up, helped by deal news and strong retail earnings.

Wall Street opened higher amid deal speculations in the metals and media sectors. Alcan (AL: chart) rose 3.4% after it rejected the $27 billion hostile offer from Dow-component Alcoa. Alcoa (AA: chart) gained 2.9%. BHP Billiton (BHP: chart) added 2.4% on speculations that it is in talks with Alcan. Further in M&A action, Russia''s Norilsk Nickel made a new $6.25 billion offer for Canadian miner LionOre, outbidding Xstrata''s offer by 10%. In the media sector, the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones (DJ)) are reportedly due to discuss the News Corp. (NWS: chart) takeover bid at a meeting.

Retailers posted gains on strong earnings. Target (TGT: chart) advanced 3.3% after the retailer posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings of 75 cents a share and revenue of $14.04 billion which came in below analyst estimates. Medtronic (MDT: chart) rose 5.2% after it said Q4 earnings and revenue beat expectations. The Medical device maker said quarterly profit rose 10% to 70 cents per share on 7% revenue increase, despite sluggish sales of implantable heart devices.