4:00PM NY – 10:00PM Frankfurt – 2:30AM Mumbai
U.S. stocks tumbled the most in two months after profit reports from energy producers and pharmaceutical companies. Ford reported record loss of $12.7 billion.

A flurry of negative earnings from energy, drug companies and homebuilders dragged averages in NY lower. Peabody Energy, BJ Services, Bristol-Myers and Toll Bros led the decliners. Canadian stocks declined after the earnings at Suncor and Petro-Canada fell, on lower oil and gas prices and higher operating costs. European stocks fell from a six-year high after a U.S. report on December existing home showed a decline of 0.8% and 12% in 2006. Copper prices gained for the fifth session in a row.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.867% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.962%.

Gold declined $2.70 to close at $651.80 a troy ounce, silver gained 0.087 cents to end at $13.360 a troy ounce and copper increased 3.50 cents to close at 263.65 cents per pound.

Oil lost $1.06 to close at $54.310 a barrel and heating oil declined 3.48 cents to finish at 154.910 cents a gallon. Natural gas lost 55.6 cents to close at $6.865 per MMBtu. Gasoline went down 1.06 cents to end at 145.100 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed lower after the benchmark index in Japan declined from an intraday record following the yen advance against the dollar. The decliners were led by Indonesia with a decrease of 1.76%, Singapore with a loss of 1.32% and Hong Kong with a decline of 0.73%. The advancers were India with a gain of 1.22%, Philippines with an increase of 0.94% and Thailand with an advance of 0.54%. Australia gained 0.07%.

European markets ended lower pressured by auto and chemical stocks. The decliners were led by U.K. with a decline of 0.72%, Netherlands with a decrease of 0.69% and Belgium with a loss 0.60%. There were no advancers.

Latin America markets finished lower led by Mexico with a decrease of 1.82%, followed by Argentina with a loss of 1.28%. Stock markets are closed in Brazil today for a national holiday. Canada lost 0.64% as commodity prices declined. A measure of energy companies in the S&P 500, the worst performers in 2007 among 10 industry groups, dropped 1.9 percent today. Crude futures retreated 2.1 percent to $54.22 a barrel in New York amid speculation that U.S. heating-fuel stockpiles are adequate to meet increased demand.


1:00PM European markets closed down, pressured by auto and chemical stocks.
European stocks finished in the red Thursday as gains from Siemens and Nokia failed to offset declines from auto companies and chemical firms. Nokia rose 5% after the world''s largest mobile phone maker posted a better-than-expected 19% increase in Q4 profit. The company also said that it''s planning to buy back up to 4 billion euros of its stock. Shares of Siemens rose 6% after the industrial conglomerate said operating profit rose 51%, revenue rose 6% and orders rose 4%, beating analyst expectations. Siemens also said that it is buying privately held software producer UGS for $3.5 billion. On the side of the losers, automakers such as DaimlerChrysler and Peugeot slipped more than 2.2%. Chemical stocks weighed on sentiment, with shares in Air Liquide closing down 2.6% and Imperial Chemical Industries falling 1.2% in London. Among other companies in focus today, Pernod Ricard closed up 6%, due to improved sales. Shares in Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz rose 6.4% on better-than-expected Q4 pretax profit. However, shares in U.K airline British Airways lost 2.5% after the carrier said cabin crew members of the Transport & General Workers'' Union will stop work for 48 hours starting Jan. 30. The U.K.''s FTSE 100 dropped 0.7% to 6,269.30. In France, the CAC-40 lost 0.5% at 5,609.20. Germany''s DAX 30 closed down 0.4% at 6,719.58.

The U.S. dollar lost ground against its major currency rivals. The euro was quoted at $1.2981, up from $1.2961. The dollar bought 120.87 yen, down from 120.95. The British pound was quoted at $1.9711, up from $1.9672. European gold prices advanced. In London, gold traded at $651.77 per troy ounce, up from $641.40. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $650.60 per ounce, up from $639.35. Silver closed at $13.43, up from $13.06.


11:30AM Stocks turned to a quiet light trading
U.S. stock averages turned to a quiet light trading, as robust profit reports from several tech heavyweights failed to sustain enthusiasm for the sector. Investors paid less than the usual attention to weaker-than-expected existing home sales which led to notable losses by housing stocks. Existing home sales fell 0.8% in December. For the year, sales fell by 8.4 %, the biggest annual decline since 1989. Homebuilder Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH: chart) also contributed to the weakness in the sector after posting an unexpected drop in profits and warned about further weakness in the housing market. Company’s stock dropped 4.4%. Among other losers in the sector, Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL: chart) slipped 3.5%, KB Home (KBH: chart) lost 2%, and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV: chart) slipped 3%.

In corporate news, Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT: chart) said its Q4 earnings rose 28% as the defense contractor saw growth in areas like its military hardware business. In other leading earnings news today, eBay (EBAY: chart) posted 24% profit rise, helped by 29% sales increase. The stock jumped 11%. Ford Motor Co. (F: chart) advanced 2.3% although the automaker reported its largest annual loss on weaker sales and enormous restructuring costs. AT&T Inc. (T: chart) posted Q4 profit increase by 17% amid growth in wireless subscribers and in its regional wireline businesses. The stock gained nearly 1%. Nokia Corp (NOK: chart) rose 4.5% after the company''s Q4 profit rose 19%t as sales rose.

By sector, airlines, broker/dealers and biotechnology posted heavy losses, while metals miners and internet advanced. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 25.24, or 0.20%, at 12,596.53. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 3.80, or 0.26%, at 1,436.33 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 5.85, or 0.24%, at 2,460.43. Bonds fell ahead of a planned auction of 5-year Treasury notes, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to 4.84% from 4.81% late Wednesday.

Existing home sales dropped 0.8%.
The National Association of Realtors released its reports on existing home sales in the month of December on Thursday. The report showed that home sales fell by much more than economists had been expecting. The report showed that existing home sales fell 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.22 million units in December from a revised rate of 6.27 million units in November. With the decrease, sales were down 7.9 percent year-over-year. Economists had expected sales to fall to a 6.25 million unit rate from the 6.28 million unit rate originally reported for the previous month. The NAR said that there were 6.480 million existing home sales in all of 2006, which represents an 8.4 percent decline from the record of 7.075 set in 2005. Despite the decline, 2006 was the third strongest year on record for existing-home sales. The report also showed that total housing inventory levels fell 7.9 percent to 3.51 million at the end of December, which represents a 6.8-month supply at the current sales pace. This compares to a 7.3-month supply in November. Additionally, the national median existing-home price for all housing types was $222,000 in December, unchanged from December of 2005.


10:30AM NY-9:30PM Mumbai The Sensex gains on a rally in metal stocks.
The Sensex on BSE ended with a gain of 172.26 points, or 1.22%, at 14,282.72. The market-breadth was strong as small-caps and mid-caps also took part in the rally. For 1,424 shares which advanced, 1,194 declined and 72 shares were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 27 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,680 crore, higher than 4,470 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover amounted to 11,465.61, compared to Rs 8,186.52 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Inflation in India declined during the week ending January 13th, 2007. The wholesale price index was down to 5.95% when measured for the last 52 weeks, compared to 6.12% the previous 52-week period on lower prices of food products.

India and Pakistan have not overcome their disagreements for Iranian oil and gas transportation piped via Pakistan, according to Iranian government. The $7 billion pipe network transportation project is stymied by the Pakistan government’s inability to provide secured passage and Iran’s desire to lock higher prices than India is willing to pay.