4:20PM NY – 10:20 PM Frankfurt – 2:40AM Mumbai
Worries on profit levels in tech sector and Boeing stock downgrade affected trading mood in New York markets. Natural gas futures rose 6%. Tech stocks worries lowered indexes in Europe and oil declined.


Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.759% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.849%.

Gold declined $3.20 to close at $633.20 a troy ounce, silver gained 7.5 cents to end at $13.005 a troy ounce and copper lost 0.15 cents to close at 252.65 cents per pound.

Oil lost 86 cents to close at $51.130 a barrel and heating oil declined 0.650 cents to finish at 150.700 cents a gallon. Natural gas gained 46.3 cents to close at $7.349 per MMBtu. Gasoline went down 2.26 cent to end at 137.540 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed higher led by Singapore with an increase of 2.35%, Hong Kong with an advance of 2.19% and Indonesia with a gain of 1.22%. The only decliner was Thailand with a loss of 0.46%. Asian stocks ended higher on real estate, technology and retail shares. Australia gained 0.92%.

European markets finished lower as the technology sector suffering the brunt of Wall Street-inspired earnings concerns. The decliners were led by Germany with a loss of 0.89%, Netherlands with a decrease of 0.71% and France with a decline of 0.62%. The only advancer was Norway with a gain of 1.05%.

Latin America markets ended higher led by Argentina with a gain of 0.32%, Brazil with an increase of 0.29% and Mexico with an advance of 0.26%. Canada advanced 0.02% mainly on gains in the energy sector.


1:00PM European markets closed in the negative, dragged by the tech sector.
European stocks reversed from early gains to close in the negative on Monday, pressured by weakness in the technology sector caused by earnings concerns in U.S. markets. Mobile phone maker Nokia fell 1% in Helsinki, chipmaker STMicroelectronics dropped 2.1% in Paris. Shares of Royal Philips Electronics slipped 1.7% after Q4 sales slipped on weakness in its consumer-electronics division. In the banking sector, Citigroup agreed to buy ABN Amro''s mortgage group in a deal worth $3 billion. ABN Amro dropped 1.3%. Among other companies in focus, Credit Suisse gained 0.7% after it announced plans to buy back $6.4 billion. Shares in British Airlines traded down 1.6%. In deal news, InterContinental Hotels added 0.6% after the company disclosed that Ellerman Corp. has taken a 5% stake. In Germany, shares of wind-turbine maker Repower Systems climbed 23.6% after French nuclear power-plant operator Areva offered 105 euros in cash per share for the 70% of the company it doesn''t already own. The U.K.''s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, the French CAC-40 index dropped 0.6%, and the German DAX Xetra 30 index dropped 0.9%.

Crude oil prices rebounded from recent weakness amid forecasts of colder winter weather. Light, sweet crude February delivery rose $1.04 to $53.03 a barrel. Heating oil added 3 cents to $1.5578 a gallon, while gasoline gained 2 cents to $1.4221. Natural gas rose 35 cents to $7.233 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent rose 85 cents to $54.29. The U.S. dollar traded higher against its major currency rivals. The euro was quoted at $1.2936, down from $1.2965. The dollar bought 121.69 yen, up from 121.29. The British pound was quoted at $1.9734, down from $1.9737. European gold prices were higher. In London, gold traded at $638.70 per troy ounce, up from $632. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $637.10 per ounce, up from $630.15. Silver closed at $13.05, up from $12.79.


11:30AM Rising oil and weak tech stocks dragged market steeply down.
Stocks fell steeply lower as negative sentiment for the tech sector, a notable rebound in oil prices, and a downgrade of Boeing led investors to pull money out of the market. Crude oil surpassed $53 a barrel, boosting shares of oil majors and, at the same time, dragging airline stocks down. UAL Corp. (UAUA: chart) dropped 3.5%, AMR Corp. (AMR: chart) lost 3%, and Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV: chart) lost 2.3%.

The Nasdaq dropped 1%, with some networking, semiconductor, and software stocks posting particularly steep losses in late morning trading. Following last-week losses on disappointing profit forecast, shares in computer maker Apple (APPL: chart) moved further lower to 2.7% Cisco Systems (CSCO: chart) fell 1.5% after JMP Securities downgraded its stock. Heavyweights Microsoft Corp. (MSFT: chart) slipped 1.7% and Yahoo (YHOO: chart) fell 1.1%. The companies are expected to report quarterly earnings this week.

Among blue-chip tech stocks, Intel (INTC: chart) fell 0.2% following a report that Sun Microsystems was close to an agreement to use Intel''s chips. Sun Micro (SUNW: chart) fell 1.4% while Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: chart) dropped 1.8%. The biggest drag on the Dow was Boeing (BA: chart), with the aerospace giant falling 3% after Wachovia downgraded its rating on the company''s stock to market perform from outperform. Pfizer (PFE: chart) also weighed on the blue-chip average with a decline of 1.5%.

Financial services giant Citigroup (C: chart) was one of the few advancers among blue chips, rising 1% on management-related news. The company drew more attention from investors after it agreed to buy ABN Amro''s mortgage Group in a deal worth $3 billion. In deal news, Swift Transportation (SWFT: chart) climbed 9% after the trucking company agreed to be acquired by a group formed by its largest shareholder, Jerry Moyes, for $2.74 billion. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 93.73, or 0.75%, to 12,471.04. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 7.25, or 0.51%, to 1,423.25, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 27.08, or 1.10%, to 2,424.23. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged lower to 4.77% from 4.78% late Friday.


10:30 AM NY-9:30PM Mumbai The Sensex gains slightly Monday in a day of high volatility.
The Sensex on BSE finished 26.53 points, or 0.19%, higher to 14,209.24. The market-breadth was strong, although it weakened in the course of trading. As 1,381 shares advanced on BSE, 1,283 declined and 52 shares were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 17 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,681 crore, lower than Rs 4,145 crore on Friday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 7,574.18 crore, much lower than Rs 9,053.77 crore on Friday.

Economic news

The latest initiative of the Central Government to reach a consensus on the issue of pension reforms failed as socialists controlled states rejected the new scheme. Socialist parties leaders expressed their concerns over 10% reduction in employee wages.

Trading highlights