10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – Safeco agreed to be bought out by Liberty Mutual Group at 51% premium. Starbucks, Apple and Amazon.com fell in after-hours trading.

Global Markets Update

U.S. stocks edged higher after losing ground at the opening. Delta reported first quarter loss of $6.39 billion on revenue rise of 12% to $4.77 billion. Ambac Financial reported a loss of $1.66 billion compared to profit of $213 million from a year ago. Ambac reported loss in the quarter from CDOs of $1.73 billion and $1.04 billion in loan loss provisions. Health insurer WellPoint reported revenue rise of 3% to $15.55 billion and earnings decline of 25% to $588.1 million.

Safeco agreed to be acquired by Boston based Liberty Mutual at $68.25 per share of $6.2 billion. The deal represents 51% premium from the closing price of Safeco stock on Tuesday. Privately held Liberty Mutual will pay cash for the deal and there are no financial contingencies. Safeco, Seattle based insurer has struggled in the past five years as auto insurance premiums have declined and costs of servicing claims have risen.

Stocks in Japan advanced spurred by rising crude oil prices on growing demand from China and supply constraints from Iraq and Nigeria. In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 rose 0.23% or 31.34 to 13,579.16, and the broader Topix Index increased 0.2% or 2.93 at 1,314.39.Exports in March grew 2.3% from the same period a year ago compared with 8.7% rise in February. Imports in March surged 11.1% on rising oil and materials costs.

European Markets indexes

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 48.90 or 0.81% to 6,083.60, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 72.01 or 1.48% to close at 4,944.65 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 66.73 or 0.99% to close at 6,795.03. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 4.35 or 0.06% to close at 7,324.50.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average added 42.99 or 0.34% to a close of 12,763.22, S&P 500 closed up 3.99 or 0.28% to 1,379.93, and Nasdaq Composite Index increased 28.27 or 1.19% to close at 2,405.21. In Toronto TSX Composite closed down 196.54 or 1.38% to 14,069.80.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 17 closed higher, 13 closed lower, and none was unchanged.

AIG led decliners in the Dow with a loss of 3.1% followed by losses in Citigroup of 1.95%, in Home Depot of 1.37%, in JP Morgan Chase of 1.1%, and in Alcoa 1.04%.

Boeing led gainers in the Dow with a rise of 4.5% followed by gains in Microsoft of 3.97%, in Intel of 2.59%, and in General Motors of 2.1%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 288 stocks increased, 205 declined, and 7 were unchanged. Of the stocks in the index, 38 stocks fell more than 3% and 43 gained more than 3%.

Ambac Financial Group led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 42.6% followed by losses in MBIA of 33.81%, in MGIC Investment Corp 13.8%, in Rockwell Automation 9.12%, in First Horizon 8%, and in SLM Corp of 6.75%.

Safeco led gainers in the S&P 500 with a rise of 45.8% followed by rises in Broadcom of 16.3%, in Molex of 15.2%, in Teradyne of 9.7%, and in Sprint Nextel of 8.8%.

South American Markets Indexes

Chile led decliners in the South American trading with a fall of 0.86% followed by decreases in Colombia of 0.83%, in Brazil of 0.71%, in Mexico of 0.60%, and in Venezuela of 0.43%. Peru, the only exchange in the region rose 0.36%.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed higher 31.34 or 0.23% to 13,579.16, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased 350.09 or 1.40% closed to 25,289.24. In Australia ASX 200 index higher 88.30 or 1.59% to close 5,652.90. In Malaysia KL Composite index increased 8.86 or 0.69% closed to 1,288.16.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 13.30 or 0.74% to close at 1,800.79, in Thailand SET index closed lower 12.36 or 1.45% to 837.66 and Indonesia JSE Index edged increased 25.21 or 1.10% to 2,314.30. Sensex index in India decreased 85.83 or 0.51% to 16,698.04.