4:30PM New York, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 2:00AM Mumbai

U.S. markets closed nearly unchanged but were volatile in the day. The popular averages were in a trading range of up 0.8% and down 1.5%. With new U.S. sanctions on Iran and low oil inventories, oil rose to a new high at close. Sony earnings jumped on digital camera and flat panel television sales and Bristol Meyers Squibb reported sharply higher earnings. Motorola earnings fell 94% but reported higher than expected fourth quarter earnings. VMware, recently spun-off from EMC jumped 10% after reporting earnings jumped to three times from a year ago.

U.S. September durable goods orders fell 1.7% and jobless claims at the end of the last week fell 8,000 to 331,000. China reported third quarter economic growth of 11.5%.

In Europe GlaxoSmithKline, Royal Dutch Shell, Home Retail Group, and ABB, and Daimler reported earnings. ABB earnings jumped 86%, Daimler reported let loss of 1.53 billion euro on 2.6 billion euro charges related to Chrysler, and Deutsche Lufthansa earnings jumped 78%. France Telecom reported better than forecast sales. Royal Dutch Shell earnings jumped 16% in the third quarter.

Global Markets Indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 3.33 or 0.02% to a close of 13,671.92, S&P 500 edged lower 0.10% or 1.48 to 1,514.40, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 23.90 or 0.86% to a close of 2,750.86. In Toronto TSX Composite rose 36.43 or 0.26% to close at 14,124.94.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 12 closed higher, 18 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

AIG led the decliners with fall of 3.2% on the rumors of subprime losses followed by declines in General Motors of 2.6%, Disney of 1.74%, and Caterpillar of 1.5%. Microsoft led the gainers with a rise of 2.37% ahead of earnings followed by increases in Coca Cola of 1.9%, Boeing of 1.8%, and in Du Pont of 1.7%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 246 closed higher, 250 fell, and 4 were unchanged.

Forty one stocks fell more than 3% and nineteen stocks rose more than 3%.

Cummins led the decliners with a loss of 16.6% followed by losses in Big Lots of 16.3%, Zimmer Holdings of 15.09%, in MBIA of 14.86%, and 12% in Symantec. Comcast dropped 11% followed by MGIC lost 9.3%, and LSI declined 9%. Akamai led the gainers with a rise of 13% followed by increases in Compuware of 12%, in Varian Medicals of 10.35%, and EMC of 8.5%. Black & Decker gained 8.1% and Express Script added 6.4%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed up 94.30 or 1.45% to 6,576.30, in Paris CAC 40 index fell 30.38 or 1.51% to close at 5,760.30, and in Frankfurt DAX index increased 1.32% or 103.48 to close at 7,932.44. In Zurich trading SMI gained 66.43 or 0.75% to close at 8,917.45. Norway led the region with a gain of 1.8%.

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 index lost 0.45% or 74.22 to close at 16,284.17, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed up 1.78% or 520.96 to 29,854.49, in Australia ASX 200 closed down 10.10 or 0.15% to close 6,624.30.

Sensex in India edged higher 1.39% or 257.98 to 18,770.89. In South Korea Kospi Index increased 43.39 or 2.24% to close at 1,976.75 and Indonesia closed up 71.68 or 2.84% to 2,596.66. Philippines added 1.80% to 3,763.47, Singapore gained 1.59% to 3,707.14, and Malaysia increased 1.36% to 1,378.27. Thailand led the region with a gain of 3.2%.

In Latin Markets Argentina led the gainers with a rise of 1.15% followed by increases in Colombia of 0.99%, in Chile of 0.89%, and Peru and Venezuela of 0.2%. Brazil and Mexico lost 0.5%.

Bond Yields edged higher on 10-year U.S. bonds to 4.38% and 30-year bonds gained to close at 4.68%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil jumped $3.36 to close at $90.46 per barrel for a front month contract, up 44.0% for the year, natural gas increased 22 cents to $7.19 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 8.83 cents to close at 223.58 cents per gallon.

Gold edged higher $5.40 in New York trading to close at $765.60 per ounce, silver closed up 31 cents to $13.91 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery in London lost $106.00 to $7,715.00 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.4328 from $1.4260 and higher to 114.21 yen from 114.17 yen.