[R]4:40PM NY, 10:20PM Frankfurt, 2:50AM Mumbai – GLOBAL MARKETS[/R]

Yields on 10-year U.S. bond fell to 4.853% and 30-year bond closed at 5.004%.

Crude oil futures fell $1.59 to $64.18 per barrel, natural gas price fell 7.6 cents to close at $7.68 per mBTU, and gasoline price rose 4.65 cents to close at 235.69 cents per gallon.

Gold futures for immediate delivery fell $9.30 to close at $653.30 per troy ounce, silver futures fell 18.5 cents to close at $12.92 per ounce and copper price fell $64 to close at $7,245 metric ton.

Asian Markets closed lower across the region led by a 1.44% loss in Thailand and near 1% loss in Australia, India, and Indonesia. Shanghai stocks fell 0.5%. In the last three weeks several commentators have expressed substantial doubts on Chinese stocks valuations and its sustainability. Former Fed Chairman Greenspan commented that Chinese stocks may face ‘dramatic contraction.’ In Tokyo, Nikkei fell 0.1% on April export data. April export rose 8.3%, lower than 10.3% registered in March and exports to Europe and Asia gained but to the U.S. for the first time in two years. Trading companies stocks such as Itochu gained 3.6% and Marubeni advanced 2.5%. Insurance companies Mitsui Sumitomo fell 3% and Sompo declined 2%. Singapore Airlines and Temasek, investment fund, is likely to join hands to buy controlling stake China Eastern Airlines.

European Markets closed lower across the region on lower than expected sentiment index reading in France and Germany. Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands fell more than 1%. German index, though slightly lower still the second best read on business confidence suggested a robust economic activity in the country. Spending related to inventories and capital spending for businesses caused OECD to raise economic growth forecast for Germany to 2.8% for the year from 1.8%. German economy grew at 2.6% in 2006. Telecom stocks in the region were in focus again. Vodafone rose above 150 pence for the first time in five months and Cable & Wireless gained nearly 3% on the news that it plans to eliminate 3,000 jobs and profit of 234 million pounds and sale of 3.3 billion pounds. Nordic insurer Codan rose 16% on the news that U.K. based Royal & Sun Alliance has offered cash to purchase all the shares of the company it does not own. Royal Sun fell 5.7%.

Latin American Markets fell sharply on 2.47% fall in Brazil, 1.7% decline in Mexico, 1.01% in Argentina. Chile closed 0.3% lower. Real, Brazilian currency fell 1.1% dragging the stock market with it. Steel stocks led the decliners followed by weakness in energy and telecom stocks. Government agency in Rio said that the mid-month inflation in May was at 0.26% nearly same at 0.25% in April. Brazil is expected to keep annual inflation below 3%. Mexican bonds fell ahead of inflation report. The 10-year bond yield rose to 7.75%. The consumer inflation is running at near 4.35%.



[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed down amid weak mining and automotive stocks.[/R]

European stock markets closed in the negative territory on Thursday, dragged down by weakness in the mining sector and declines from automakers. Gains posted by Air France-KLM and telecommunications players such as Cable & Wireless failed to lift sentiment. Miners were notable losers, with shares of Lonmin and Vedanta Resources each falling 3%. Investors were worried that recent strong demand for base metals from China could dry up in a market correction. Automotive stocks weighed on the sentiment, with Volkswagen and Porsche both moving down.

Telecoms stood out among gainers. Cable & Wireless rose 2.8% after it said that performance at some of its operations is recovering ahead of schedule. Again in the sector, Vodafone Group advanced for the second day, rising 1.2%.Shares in Nordic stock exchange operator OMX rose 3.2% before they were suspended. The U.K.''s FTSE 100 lost 0.8% at 6,565.40, the French CAC-40 slipped 1.2% at 6,048.31 and the German DAX Xetra 30 fell 0.5% at 7,697.38.

[R]11:30AM Market retreated from strong rally on soaring new-home sales.[/R]

U.S. stocks retreated after the initial enthusiasm over a report which showed that new homes sales in April soared to a 14-year high, dampening hopes that the Fed Reserve will cut interest rates to stimulate the economy. The Commerce Department said sales of single-family homes jumped 16.2% last month. Homebuilders Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV: chart) and KB Home (KBH: chart) advanced about 1%.

Buying interest was boosted by news that Advanced Medical Optics (EYE: chart) considers offering Bausch & Lomb (BOL: chart) a higher price than the $3.67 billion offered by a private equity group. Bausch & Lomb gained 4%. By sector, airlines, financials and consumer issues advanced, while software shares declined.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.09, or 0.02%, to 13,522.56. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 5.09, or 0.33%, at 1,517.19, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 21.18, or 0.82%, to 2,555.87. Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.88% from 4.86% on Wednesday.

[R]New home sales soar 16.2% in April.[/R]
Thursday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on new home sales in the month of April, showing that sales rose much more than economists had expected. The increase reflected strong sales growth in the South. The report showed that new home sales surged up 16.2 percent to an annual rate of 981,000 units in April from the revised March rate of 844,000 units. Economists had expected sales to edge up to an 860,000 unit rate from the 858,000 unit rate originally reported for the previous month.

The stronger than expected sales growth was partly due to a 27.8 percent increase in new home sales in the South. New home sales in the Northeast and West rose 3.8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively, while new home sales in the Midwest fell 4.0 percent. The Commerce Department also said that the median sales price of new houses sold in April was $229,100. This marks a steep decline from the median sales price of $257,600 in March. The report also showed that the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 538,000, representing a supply of 6.5 months at the current sales rate.


[R]9:45AM U.S market averages opened mixed. Strong durable goods orders gave a boost.[/R]