4:30PM NY, 10:30 PM Frankfurt, 1:00AM Mumbai – Global Markets Update

U.S. averages fell on the weakness in tech stocks and weaker than expected March rise in personal income, spending and disposable income. Over the weekend China increased reserve requirement for bank to 11% from 10%, its seventh hike in the last twelve months. Largest Aluminum company Chalco IPO rose three-fold in its first day trading in Shanghai. Indian rupees extended its eight week rally and gained 5.3% against dollar in April, best monthly gain since 1973.


U.S. bonds yields fell and 10-year bond closed at 4.63% and 30-year bond closed at 4.81%.

Oil in New York trading fell 75 cents to close at $65.71 per barrel, natural gas rose 3 cents to close at $7.863 MBtu and gasoline rose at 8 cents to close at 244.05 cents per gallon.

Gold rose $1.70 per troy ounce to close at $683.50 and silver price fell 11 cents to close at $13.57 per ounce. Copper rose $99 per metric ton to close at $7,786.

Asian markets closed lower led by 1% loss in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. Japan was closed on the account of a public holiday. China Mobile and China Construction Bank fell 1.5% and China Industrial & Commercial Bank fell 1.0% on lower trading volume in Hong Kong. India fell 0.3% on worries related to rising rupee against dollar hurting export margins. ICICI Bank fell 8% on the news that the company plans to raise $4.5 billion through a public offering and Reliance Telecom surged on strong revenue and subscriber growth. Oil stocks in Australia, China and Indonesia fell.

European Markets closed higher led by 0.63% rise in Norway and 0.5% gain in the U.K. and France markets. Germany, Italy and Netherlands gained 0.4% but Spain lost 0.2%. Turkish market declined 6% on heavy volume but recovered to close at 4.9%. The threat of military intervention spooked the market. Eni, Italian oil company purchased oil properties from Dominion Resources for $4.8 billion. Cable & Wireless rose 2.4% on newspaper report that the company may be up for sale. Carlsberg rose on broker comments that the company may buy more beverage and spirit companies around the world. The Skanska AB advanced on the recommendation from Deutsche Bank.

Latin American Markets closed lower led by 1.95% decline in Argentina, 1.3% loss in Mexico and 0.55% decline in Brazil. Brazilian mobile operators were in demand on a deal in Europe over the weekend. Telefonica agreed to purchase indirect stake in Telecom Italia that will facilitate its control of TIM Participacoes in Brazil. Another Brazilian operator Viv Participacoes was up on the possibility of merger. Mexico’s finance minister said that last week rise of interest rate to 7.25% may have been premature when the economy is expected to slow this year.


2:45PM NY – U.S. Market movers.

Hilton Hotels corp. (HLT: chart) reported first quarter earnings of $95 million compared to $104 million a year ago or earnings per share of 23 cents vs. 26 cents a year ago. The revenue in the quarter rose 29% to $1.86 billion. The results include $30 million gain of asset sales and currency translation loss of $8 million. The company earnings would have been 20 cents vs. 15 cents in the previous year when non-recurring items and Hilton International acquisition was assumed at the beginning of the year 2006. The company stock declined 2.8% on the news.

Humana (HUM: chart), health insurance provider, reported $71.2 million compared to $83.7 million a year ago or 42 cents per share vs. 50 cents per share a year ago. In the previous year the company had reported a one time gain of 19 cents or $51.7 million on investment sale. The company revenue in the quarter rose 32% to $6.2 billion from the previous year. The company also revised its full year earnings guidance to $4.10 and $4.25 per share range from $4.00 to $4.10 per share. Commercial medical insurance membership was down 1% from the end of the year 2006 and was unchanged from a year ago. Membership in the stand-alone drug plan rose to 3.5 million from 2 million a year ago. Membership in the Medicare Advantage rose to 1.1 million, up 11% from the end of the year 2006.

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. reported first quarter income of $142.7 million compared to $111.9 million a year ago or 52 cents vs. 40 cents a year ago. The company revenue in the quarter rose 17% to $1.26 billion. Sales in the U.S. rose 3% and gained 27% in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. The company stock rose 11% in the early morning but settled at 6% advance in the afternoon trading.


1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed higher, boosted by energy and utility stocks.

European stock markets finished in the green on Monday, driven higher by gains in the shares of Cable & Wireless and strength among energy-producing conglomerates and utility companies. Stock exchange deals, oil, bank and telecom stocks were in M&A action today.

Before paring gains, Cable & Wireless rose as much as 5.5% amid reports that the telecommunications company is considering the sale of its British and international businesses. Oil and gas companies advanced, with BP rising 0.7% on bid speculation. Eni rose 0.6% after the Italian oil group agreed to buy Gulf of Mexico fields from Dominion in a $4.8 billion deal. Telecom Italia fell 2.3% after Spanish phone giant Telefonica and a group of Italian financial firms bought 100% of its largest shareholder.

Among companies driven by analyst comments, Next shares rose 2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to overweight from equal-weight and raised its target price. The German DAX Xetra 30 increased 0.4% at 7,408.87 and the French CAC-40 advanced 0.5% at 5,960.04, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% at 6,449.20. The Turkish stock market dropped more than 6% after the military threatened to intervene in upcoming elections.