4:45PM NY, 10:45 PM Frankfurt, 2:00AM Mumbai – Global Markets

Yields were unchanged on 10-year U.S. bonds and closed at 4.98% and 30-year bond rose to close at 5.09%.

Crude oil gained 36 cents to close at $65.97 per barrel, natural gas gained 2 cent to close at $8.08 per mBtu, and gasoline futures fell 1.73 cents to close at 219.00 cents per gallon.

Gold dropped 50 cents to close at $674.60 per ounce, silver lost 9.5 cents to close at $13.717 per ounce, and copper futures lost $91 to close at $7,623 per metric ton.

Asian Markets closed nearly unchanged but select markets closed sharply lower after trading near record level. A decline of 2% in India led the region followed by a loss of 1.1% in Philippines. Tata Motors dragged Indian stocks on the worries that rising interest rates will slow capital goods spending. Japan closed nearly unchanged with a downward bias. Trading companies led the advance in Tokyo with 9.5% surge in Marubeni and 4% rise in Mitsubishi and 3.7% gain in Sumitomo Corp. Marubeni likely to win $3 billion power and desalination plant along with U.K. based International Power in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Daiwa Securities raised its price target for trading companies. Australian stocks fell on the economic report of faster than expected rise in GDP in the first quarter. The economy expanded at 3.8% from a year ago and 1.6% from the fourth quarter last year. Retailer, Woolworth fell 1.7% and telecom operator, Telstra lost 1.2%. Toll Holdings traded for the first time, post spin-off with a decline of 44%.

European Markets closed sharply lower across the region on higher interest rates and expectations of further hikes. ECB raised short term rates to 4%, highest since year 2001. Most markets fell between 2.5% and 1%. Germany and Spain lost 2.5%, UK, France, and Norway lost 1.7% and Italy and Switzerland declined 1.4%. Airlines group staged a mild comeback in the morning hours of trading and Ryanair rose less than 1% on a broker upgrade citing previous day correction of 7% as buying opportunity. Banks, utilities and telecom stocks suffered the most in the region. Voestalpine gained 1% on 46% jump in annual profit. French defense group lost 3.6% on Societe Generale downgrade to sell.

Ten companies in the UK trading including Vodafone, National Grid and Punch Tavern traded ex-dividend exacerbating FTSE index decline. Retailing stocks in the U.K. lost between 2% and 3%. Next lost 3.2%, Mark & Spencer dropped 2.6%, and Kingfisher declined 2.8%. JJB Sports plunged 11% on lower revenue and Sportingbet dropped 2.3% on declaring a loss.

Latin American Markets closed lower led by 2.1% loss in Brazil, 1.7% decline in Mexico, 1.3% fall in Argentina and 0.8% decrease in Chile. Worries on rising interest rates in Europe and no prospect of any rate cut in the U.S. affected market sentiment in the region. Brazil markets were jittery ahead of interest rate decision after the market close. Economists are expecting rate cut of 50 basis points. A drop in nickel price in European trading affected mining stocks in Brazil and Chile. India based airline has places $1 billion order for 175 planes with Embraer. Gol Linhas reported a sharp decline in occupancy for international and domestic travel in May. In Mexico trading Coca Cola Femsa and home builder Homex gained despite broader averaging closer lower.


1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets ended lower, dragged down by rate worries and weak automotive stocks.

European stock markets ended in the red on Wednesday, reflecting interest rate worries worldwide and weakness in the automotive sector. Interest rates were in the spotlight today after the European Central Bank lifted its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 4%. Steep declines on Wall Street, with Dow losing over 100 points, also weighed.

Automotive stocks stood out as the worst performers, with Volkswagen falling 2.5% and Renault losing 4%. Among other stocks in focus, GlaxoSmithKline fell 0.7% on further evidence of the overall cardiovascular safety profile of its diabetes drug Avandia. Again the pharmaceutical sector, Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic climbed 10% after it gained a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to manufacture 20 million doses of its smallpox vaccine Imvamune.

The German DAX Xetra 30 tumbled 2.4% at 7,730.05, the U.K. FTSE 100 dropped 1.7% to 6,522.70 and the French CAC-40 declined 1.7% at 5,977.87.


11:30AM U.S. market averages steeply dropped, with the Dow losing over 100 points.

U. .S. market averages posted heavy losses in late morning trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial average losing over 100 points. The steep decline followed news that Q1 unit labor costs jumped higher than expected, sparking inflation and interest rate concerns. The Labor Department said that U.S. worker productivity grew at a slower-than-expected pace, driving up labor costs by 1.8%.

Rate-sensitive stocks, including utilities and banks, weighed on market sentiment after the European Central Bank lifted its key interest rate by 0.25% to 4%. Shares of utility Exelon Corp. (EXC: chart) fell 2%. FPL Group (FPL: chart) stock lost 2.5% despite a price target upgrade from Citigroup.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS: chart) fell 1.4%, while rival JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM: chart) lost 1%. Considerable weakness also emerged among transportation stocks, with Overseas Shipholding (OSG: chart), falling 3% and Burlington Northern (BNI: chart), losing 2.7%. Pharmaceuticals, telecoms, internet, oil and gold stocks also moved sharply lower.

At the same time, some brokerage stocks posted strong gains. E*Trade (ETFC: chart) climbed 5.7% and TD Ameritrade (AMTD: chart) moved up 4% amid speculation about further consolidation among discount brokers. In the retail sector, Guess (GES: chart) rose 5% on strong Q1 earnings and improved full-year earnings outlook.

The blue-chip average was led down by DuPont (DD: chart) and IBM (IBM: chart), each falling 2.2%. Dow members United Technologies (UTX: chart) and Boeing (BA: chart) declined 1.5%. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 107.03 points, or 0.79%, at 13,488.43. The Standard & Poor''s 500 was down 12.36 points, or 0.81%, at 1,518.59. The Nasdaq Composite was down 23.75 points, or 0.91%, at 2,587.48.