4:00PM NY – 10:00PM Frankfurt – 2:30AM Mumbai
Estimate of the U.S. third quarter economic growth was revised to 2% from 1.6%. Housing market weakness played a significant role in the weak economic performance. Oil declined. Markets in Europe and New York declined but gained in Mexico.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.55% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.692%.

Gold lost $3 to close at $621.30 a troy ounce, silver declined 16.5 cents to end at $12.480 a troy ounce and copper decreased 8.45 cents to close at 287 cents per pound.

Oil declined 88 cents to close at $62.840 a barrel and heating oil lost 2.34 cents to finish at 170.70 cents a gallon. Gasoline was down 3.38 cents to end at 164.210 cents a gallon. Natural gas advanced 1.1 cents to close at $6.78 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly lower led by Thailand with a loss of 2.52%, Australia with a decline of 0.45% and South Korea with a decrease of 0.33%. The advancers were led by Philippines with a gain of 1.16%, Indonesia with an advance of 0.57% and Singapore with an increase of 0.23%. Asian stocks finished lower as investors covered positions, while Japanese benchmark index was aided to advance to a seven-month high by the export-oriented shares.

European markets closed lower led by Spain with a decline of 0.36%, the U.K. with a decrease of 0.24% and Germany with a loss of 0.20%. The advancers were Belgium with a gain of 0.49% and Switzerland with an increase of 0.05%. European stocks finished lower for weaker telecom shares.

Latin America markets closed mostly higher following the announcement of U.S. economic data and the market in Canada rose. The advancers were Argentina with a gain of 0.59% and Mexico with an increase of 0.28%. The decliners were Canada with a loss of 0.50% and Brazil with a decrease of 0.27%.

1:00PM European markets closed lower on weaker telecoms shares.
European stocks closed modestly down on Thursday, pressured by weaker telecom shares . The decline of the telecoms companies followed reports that Vodafone is considering launching a bid for Hutchison Essar, the fourth biggest mobile operator in India. Other deal news focused on airline Ryanair, drug company Sanofi-Aventis and media group Publicis. Ryanair shares rose 0.4% after it said that it ''s withdrawing its offer to buy Aer Lingus after the European Commission''s competition body said it would start investigating into the hostile takeover bid. Aer Lingus shares gained 0.7%. Shares in Sanofi-Aventis lost 0.2% on its CEO announcement that the company is interested in buying a biotech if one was available. More positively, shares in French ad agency giant Publicis Groupe rose 5.1% after it said that it will buy Digitas for $1.3 billion. Also, shares in U.K. medical device maker Smith & Nephew rose 6.3% on bid speculations. London FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, while the German DAX 30 and the French CAC 40 both lost 0.2%.


11:30AM Market was little changed in a light trading ahead of holiday weekend.
Stocks traded little changed, with traders restraining from major moves ahead of the long holiday weekend. Market also digested several robust corporate profit reports along with slower-than-expected Q3 economic growth. ConAgra (CAG: chart) rose 2.3% after its fiscal Q2 profit rose 44%. Rite Aid rose 2% after reporting a narrower Q3 loss amid stronger pharmacy sales and increased prescription volume. The company also backed its 2007 profit prediction. Jabil Circuit (JBL: chart) dropped 10.6% after the company reported disappointing Q1, despite a 34% increase in revenue. PMC-Sierra (PMCS: chart), chip maker, fell 5.1% after cutting its Q4 profit forecast.

LifePoint (LPNT: chart) rose 2.8% on some positive analyst comments, supporting healthcare provider stocks. Resource stocks posted some weakness amid a decrease in commodities prices. In late morning trading on a day seeing light volume before the holidays, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.61, or 0.03%, to 12,460.26. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 0.31, or 0.02%, at 1,423.22, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 3.70, or 0.15%, at 2,431.31. Bonds showed little movement, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note flat at 4.60% from late Wednesday.


Leading indicators inched up 0.1%.
Thursday morning, the Conference Board released its report on leading economic indicators in the month of November, showing that its leading index unexpectedly increased for the third consecutive month. The Conference Board said that its leading index rose 0.1 percent in November, matching the revised increase in October. Economists had expected the increase to come in unchanged compared to the 0.2 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The modest increase by the index reflected positive contributions from real money supply, vendor performance, manufacturers'' new orders for non-defense capital goods and stock prices. Negative contributions from initial claims for unemployment insurance and building permits helped to limit the upside for the index. The Conference Board also said that the coincident index increased 0.2 percent, while the lagging index increased 0.5 percent in November.


10:30AM The Sensex advances modestly Thursday on autos and metals.
The Sensex on BSE finished 44.65 points, or 0.33%, higher at 13,384.86. The market-breadth was firm as buying for small-cap and mid-cap stocks recovered. As 1,430 shares advanced, 1126 declineda and 70 remained unchanged. From the 30-issue Sensex stocks, 19 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,050 crore, lower than Rs 4,417 crore on Wednesday while the turnover on NSE was Rs 7,936.67 crore, compared with Rs 10,066.83 crore.

Economic news

Vodafone is reportedly mulling over a $13.5-billion-plus bid for India''s Hutchison Essar, the fourth largest mobile phone company in the country. Newbury-based Vodafone’s likely bid of $13.5-$14 billion would probably sprak a bidding war with India''s Reliance Communications Ltd, second-largest mobile services company.

Most-active stocks

Tech Mahindra was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 358.25 crore followed by Great Offshore and Indiabulls.

Advancers