4:30PM NY; 10:30PM Frankfurt; 2:00AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS

U.S. averages raced ahead to record level on the strength of a rebound in the final hour of trading. Deal news from Bausch & Lomb and Oracle supported trader enthusiasm. SEC filings showed that Carl Ichan has taken a stake in CSX, Buffett has doubled its stake in Johnson & Johnson and Lampert controlled fund has acquired a stake in Citigroup.

Zurich Financial reported earnings gain of 71%, Vivendi earnings jumped 25%, Telefonica earnings gained 8%, and higher steel prices lifted Arcelor Mittal earnings by 40%. On the deal front, Permira agreed to buy nearly 30% stake in Valentino for $1.1 billion.

Brazilian currency Real continued its advance, 1.5%today, on the news that the country’s debt rating was raised to one level below investment grade by rating agency S&P. The rising export and surging foreign exchange has lifted Real against the U.S. dollar by more than 50% to a record six-year high. Chiean Central Bank raised its forecast for annual inflation for the current year to 2.8%, revised its March forecast of 2.3%. Higher food and energy costs were blamed.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.704% and the 30-year U.S. bond closed at 4.875%.

Gold lost $13 to close at $661.50 a troy ounce, silver decreased 38.5 cents to end at $13.315 a troy ounce and copper advanced $112.000 to close at $7799.000 per metric ton.

Oil lost 62 cents to close at $62.550 a barrel and heating oil declined 2.320 cents to finish at 186.700 cents a gallon. Natural gas increased 2.6 cents to close at $7.890 per MMBtu. Gasoline went up 3.040 cents to end at 233.200 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed higher despite declines from its building sector, while other Asian-Pacific markets advanced. The advancers were led by China with an increase of 2.95%, India with an advance of 1.43% and Indonesia with a gain of 1.27%. There were no decliners. Australia gained 0.06%.

European markets finished lower, pressured by weak airlines. The decliners were led by Netherlands with a decrease of 0.72%, France with a loss of 0.53% and Italy with a decline of 0.50%. The advancers were Spain with an increase of 0.64%, Belgium with an advance of 0.23% and Norway with a gain of 0.18%.

Latin America markets finished higher. The advancers were led by Brazil with an increase of 2.30%, Mexico with a gain of 1.94% and Argentina with an advance of 0.77%. There were no decliners. Canada gained 0.42% on gain in the materials sector.

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

Sotheby’s (BID: chart) shares slipped 7.39% after an analyst said the completion of a contemporary art auction leaves little room for growth in the near term. At the auction held Tuesday, a Mark Rothko abstract painting was sold for nearly $73 million including the buyer''s premium, well above a $40 million estimate and a record for postwar art.

Copa Holdings SA (CPA: chart), airline company, said that its first-quarter net earnings rose 51% to $48.6 million, or $1.12 per share, compared with $32.3 million, or 75 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 27% to $242.7 million. Shares in Copa Holdings surged 9.79%.

Quanex Corp. (NX: chart) jumped 8.9%. The producer of metal products for automobiles and construction said it may sell or spin off a building-products unit that generated more than half its revenue last year.

Gaming Partners International Corp. (GPIC: chart) shares slipped 31.8%, after the maker of gambling products said that its fourth-quarter net earnings declined to $115,000, or a penny per share, compared with net earnings of $2.1 million, or 26 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue fell to $16.1 million from $16.2 million in the same period last year.

Epoch Holding Corp. (EPHC: chart) reported a total revenue growth rate that exceeds the rate of growth of expenses. Total operating revenue increased by 114% while total operating expenses increased by 56%. The company recorded net income of $2.3 million, compared to a net loss of $1.1 million for the same period a year ago. The increase in revenue, coupled with investment income from the Strategic Data transaction and realized gains on the sale of ARTG securities, were the primary reasons for this increase. Basic earnings per share for the quarter were $0.11 per share versus a loss of $0.06 per share for the same period a year ago. Shares in Epoch Holding slipped 13.86%.

Bancorp Rhode Island, Inc. (BARI: chart) shares dropped 5.24% after the company announced that, based on an estimate of the votes cast at the company''s annual meeting of shareholders, the company believes that shareholders have voted to elect all of the Board of Director''s nominees.

1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed lower, pressured by weak airlines.

European stock markets closed in the negative territory on Wednesday, pressured by weakness among airlines stocks as well as mixed earnings from Credit Agricole and Vivendi. Air France-KLM dropped 2.1% after UBS downgraded the company to neutral from buy. Shares in the French Credit Agricole slipped 4.1% after the bank reported a 92% increase in Q1net income, but excluding special items, earnings came below estimates.

Again in France, Vivendi shares rose 1.1% after reporting 23% increase in Q1 adjusted net income. Among tech stocks, chipmakers Infineon Technologies dropped 3.2% and STMicroelectronics fell 1.8% after U.S. peer Applied Materials posted a weak outlook Tuesday. In contrast, automakers were mostly higher, with Volkswagen rising 1.8% and Porsche moving up 2.3%. The U.K. FTSE 100 edged down 0.1% at 6,559.50, the French CAC-40 declined 0.2% to 6,017.91, and the German DAX Xetra 30 lost 0.3% at 7,481.25.