U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Buyers swamped the markets.

It was a day of buying from the early morning led by a positive undertone in the tech stocks which later broadened to the blue chips. The sustained buying was supported by generally weak crude oil prices and fall in 10-year treasury yields.

The bond market during the day rose 7 ticks and yield hovering around 4.60% for the most of the day. Bond investors did not appear as worried about inflation as yesterday giving a strong boost to the equity market.

Advancing sectors were led by tech stocks, home builders, casinos, retails where declining sectors were led by medical technology and pharmaceutical stocks. Stocks in materials, transportation, telecom and financial sectors also advanced by better than 1% during the session.

Despite the fall in slight drop in crude price energy stocks advanced led by Transocean Inc. The stock (RIG: chart) rose $2.23 to $60.33 at close on the news that the company has received an order worth $1 billion from Anadarko Petroleum (APC: chart).

Shares of Electronic Arts (ERTS: chart) rose $4.44 to $60.30 on better than expected earnings and that of Symantec (SYMC: chart) fell on lower guidance for the current quarter.



MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Media and entertainment giant Time Warner Inc. (TWX: chart) posted profit results that beat expectations, with net income increasing 80% on a 6% rise in revenue. The company also lifted its buyback plan by $7.5 billion. Time Warner’s stock gained 2%.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW: chart) posted sales that fell slightly of analyst forecast. The company’s adjusted quarterly loss of $18 million was in line with the consensus estimate of analysts review by Thomson First Call. Sun Microsystems’s stock dropped 3.8%.

Security software maker Symantec Corp. (SYMC: chart) reported a second-quarter loss, caused by costs related to its acquisition of Veritas Software and a weak sales outlook. The company''s disappointing results were followed by downgrades by financial brokers. Symantec’s stock lost as much as 18.5%.

Knight Ridder Inc. (KRI: chart) was upgraded by Deutsche Bank. The financial broker said the possibility of a sale of the company is high after its biggest investor called on it to put itself up for sale. The sale call came from Private Capital Management, which beneficially owns 19% of the company''s stock. Knight Ridder is currently up 1.9%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Crude oil inventories advanced in the latest week, according to government data released Wednesday, adding to a recent streak of gains. Stocks of gasoline climbed as well.

The Department of Energy''s Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories climbed by 2.7 million barrels for the week ended October 28, rising to 319.1 million barrels from the 316.4 million barrels recorded in the previous week. This followed an advance of 4.4 million barrels for the prior week. Oil inventories are 12% higher than their levels of the same time last year.

Gasoline inventories posted a week-over-week gain of 1 million barrels, the government said, adding to the previous week''s advance of 200,000 barrels. Gasoline stocks are now 3.3% below their levels of last year. Inventories of distillate fuel oil fell by 200,000 barrels in the most recent wee

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished broadly higher across the region. The Nikkei hit a four-year high for a second consecutive session, reaching 13,894,78 points. Among the other regional gainers, Singapore’s Straits Times climbed 1.8%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2%.