U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Market surged in the final hour of trading after trading for the most of the day in the positive zone. The early morning news from General Motors’s management detailed the plan to slash operating cost and terminate 30,000 jobs in North America gave a positive start to the market and the GM’s stock. During the session while market gained further but GM stock lost the gains and closed lower by 2% or 47 cents.

Boeing’s announcement of orders at Dubai air show provided a 3% lift to the stock to a new 52-week high. SanDisk stock lost close to 16.7% on the news that Intel and Micron has entered into a joint venture to produce flash memory for Apple’s iPods. Analysts worried that SnaDisk will be forced to cut prices at retail level and hurt its operating margins.

Intel and Micron agreed to invest $1.25 billion each in a joint venture to produce flsh memory with an order to supply $250 million of flash memory to Apple as early as next year.

Shares of home builders were on the rise with the falling yield for the 10-year treasury market to 4.46% from 4.5%. Lennar, Hovnanina, Toll Bros. stocks were up at least 2%.

Market extended mild gains in averages in Dow and S&P at the close and Dow closed for the first time since March in the positive and S&P closed at four-year and five month high.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

General Motors (GM: chart) announced a plan to eliminate 30,000 manufacturing positions from 2005 through 2008 in order to reduce its assembly capacity in North America. The company expects to reduce capacity by an additional 1 million units by the end of 2008, bringing its target down to 4.2 million units, a level that would represent a 30% decrease from 2002 levels. Company’s stock climbed 1.6%

Boeing (BA: chart) received a $780-million order for six 787-8 Dreamliners from Low-Cost Aircraft Leasing. The company said that deliveries are set to begin in September 2009. Boeing’s shares rose 1.5%..

Viragen (VRA: chart) released initial studies of its Multiferon treatment that showed significant antiviral activity against the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus. The early-stage in vitro studies found Multiferon to be significantly more active against the virus than recombinant alpha interferon, recombinant beta interferon or ribavirin, the Plantation. The stock jumped 12.3%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The Conference Board released its report on leading economic indicators in the month of October on Monday, showing that its index of leading indicators rose in line with economist estimates.

The report showed that the leading index rose 0.9 percent in October, offsetting the 0.8 percent decrease seen in September. Economic had been expecting the index to increase by 0.9 percent.

The Conference Board said that the increase by the index reflected fewer initial jobless claims and an increase in average weekly hours in manufacturing.

The report also showed that the coincident index increased 0.1 percent in October following a 0.3 percent increase in September. The lagging index increased 0.8 percent in October.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished mixed on continuous decline of oil prices and solid U.S. markets gains Friday. In early trading the Nikkei hit a five-year high of over 14,800 to close up 0.4%, led by technology and automakers stocks, also supported by stronger dollar. Across the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished flat, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.3%, and Singapore straits Times lost 0.5%.

European markets closed generally in the positive on strong resources sector and mildly positive U.S. trading. Gains were limited by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, which fell 0.4% on new labels for its asthma drugs, proposed by the FDA. The German DAX 30 added 0.3%, CAC 40 gained 0.4%, and London’s FTSE inched down 0.1%.

OIL, METALS, CURRENCIES

Crude oil prices climbed on snowy weather forecast and expectations of higher heating oil demand. Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 47 cents to $57.57 a barrel. Heating oil was unchanged at $1.7734 a gallon. Gasoline after trading higher closed unchanged at $1.518. Natural gas lost 8 cents to $11.33 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent advanced 58 cents to $55.46.

European Gold closed mixed after climbing close to $500 on renewed investor interest as rally in precious metal continues. In London the precious metal finished unchanged at $484.70 per troy ounce. In Zurich gold advanced to $487.75 from $486.25. In Hong Kong gold fell $3.50 to close at $484.95. Silver traded at $8.13, up from $7.73. At close in New York, gold was up $3.30 to $489.50 per ounce.