4:30PM NY; 9:30PM Frankfurt; 2:00AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS

U.S. averages sustained early gains of the day on mixed economic data, higher earnings from Citigroup and $25 billion deal to purchase student loan provider Sallie Mae. European stocks closed higher across the region led by banking stocks and 1.75% gain in Germany. India recorded a sharp rise in main index. Brazil closed at record highs and Mexico traded at intra-day high.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.735% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.890%.

Gold gained $5.900 to close at $695.800 a troy ounce, silver decreased 1 cent to end at $14.080 a troy ounce and copper advanced $20.000 to close at $7735.000 per metric ton.

Oil declined 2 cents to close at $63.610 a barrel and heating oil lost 4.140 cents to finish at 185.930 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 27.1 cents to close at $7.530 per MMBtu. Gasoline went down 6.400 cents to end at 211.570 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed higher with Japanese markets posting sharp gains as export-related shares rose, aided by a continued decline in the yen and a strong finish in U.S. markets in the past week. The advancers were led by India with a gain of 2.33%, Hong Kong with an advance of 2.05% and Philippines with a gain of 1.58%. The decliners were Taiwan with a decrease of 0.02% and Thailand with a loss of 0.38%. Australia gained 0.98%.

European markets finished higher helped by gains in the banking sector as takeover talk involving Dutch bank ABN Amro led to gains for a number of financial institutions. The advancers were led by Germany with a gain of 1.75%, Netherlands with an increase of 1.61% and France with an advance of 1.25%. There were no decliners.

Latin America markets finished higher. The advancers were led by Brazil with a gain of 2.19% led by a sharp rise in banking stocks, Argentina with an advance of 0.22% and Mexico with an increase of 0.05%. There were no decliners. Canada gained 0.52% on gains in telecommunications.

2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

Amazon.com (AMZN: chart) shares climbed 5.9% after a Deutsche Bank Securities upgraded the online retailer, saying investments in technology in the past few years is about to pay off. The broker hiked its price target to $50 from $37.

Apollo Group (APOL: chart) rose 7.8% after a Banc of America Securities said recent stock weakness is overdone, given the for-profit education provider''s growth and pricing power opportunities. The upgrade offset negative news from the company, which said it received a warning from Nasdaq that it is not in compliance with listing requirements due to a delay in filing its second-quarter financial report. The firm, which cited valuation, also lifted its price target on the stock to $51 from $49.

Aquantive (AQNT: chart), online advertising company, shares soared 14% as analysts upped ratings on the estimation that Google Inc.''s recent $3.1 billion purchase of rival DoubleClick could mean aQuantive is undervalued and will be bought out soon.

Fremont General Corp. (FMT: chart) said that it agreed to sell about $2.9 billion of sub-prime mortgages and entered into exclusive talks to sell its residential lending business to the same unnamed party, and its share rose 27.2%. Fremont said the loans represent the bulk of sub-prime loans marked for sale but not yet sold. The loans are being sold at a discount, resulting in a pretax loss of about $100 million.

JDA Software Group Inc. (JDAS: chart) shares soared 15.8% after the software company said that it expects to post better-than-expected first-quarter results. The company sees adjusted earnings of 26 cents to 28 cents a share on revenue of $89.7 million to $90.7 million.

Onstream Media Corp. (ONSM: chart), provider of video streaming and webcast services, said that it was selected by digital media software maker Adobe Systems Inc. as one of five members of the Adobe Flash Media Solution Provider program. Under the program, the five members will serve Flash customers, and will be endorsed by Adobe as Flash Media Solution providers. Adobe will provide sales and marketing development and support under the partnership. Shares climbed 6.1%.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (QTWW: chart), which makes fuel systems for fuel cell and hybrid vehicles, said it agreed to develop hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles with a Chinese carmaker. Shares rose 17.9%.

Sallie Mae (SLM: chart) said it had accepted a takeover bid from two private-investment funds along with two banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. SLM Corp.''s shares rose 17.6%.

LightPath Technologies Inc. (LPTH: chart), optical networking equipment company said that it expects its fiscal third-quarter sales to decline, hurt by slower orders for its communications products. The company said that it expects sales of $2.9 million for the quarter which ended in March, down from $3.1 million in the same period a year ago. Shares fell 9%.

Parlux Fragrances Inc. (PARL: chart) shares fell 9.3%, after the perfume and beauty products maker said it posted a loss from continuing operations in the third quarter and an analyst said revenue growth was overshadowed by soaring operating costs. The company said net income climbed to $17.9 million, or 98 cents per share, from $6 million, or 28 cents per share, in the prior year quarter. Excluding a gain from the sale of its Perry Ellis fragrance brand, the company fell to a loss of $5.5 million, or 30 cents per share, from a profit of $1.5 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 15 percent to $43.4 million, from $37.8 million in the year-ago quarter, but analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for higher sales of $49.7 million.

1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks hit multi-year highs in strong financial shares.
European stock markets hit new multi-year highs on Monday, benefiting from strength in the banking sector, generated by deal talk involving Dutch bank ABN Amro. The Dutch bank giant surged 5.7% after it said it will exceed its 2007 earnings target. The company also stated that it received a letter of interest from Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander Central Hispano and Fortis. Analysts speculated that the consortium will outbid ABN’s other potential bid suitor, U.K. banking group Barclays. Barclays shares rose 1.7%, while Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose 2.4%, Fortis shares declined 1.2% and Santander shares rose 1%. On the earnings front, shares of Royal Philips Electronics rose 5.5% after its quarterly profit beat estimates. The German DAX 30 index climbed 1.8% at 7,338.06 and the French CAC-40, advanced 1.3% at 5,861.97, and the U.K.''s FTSE 100 rose 0.8% at 6,516.20.