4:00PM NY; 10:00PM Frankfurt; 2:30AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS

Consumer price in April rose 0.4% and the core inflation excluding food and energy rose 0.2% lifting mood on Wall Street trading and encouraging higher indexes in Brazil, Argentina and Germany, Italy and Spain.

Daimler Chrysler agreed to sell 80% of its Chrysler unit stake to private equity group Cerberus Capital. Wal-Mart cautioned outlook for the second quarter and Home Depot earnings fell 30%. Gold bounced back as dollar continued to weaken across major currencies of the world. Tyco has set up $3 billion reserve to settle five year old class action lawsuits emanating from accounting scandals.

Reuters and Thomson agreed for a merger valuing Reuters at $17.4 billion but its stock fell on regulatory concern. HeidelbergCement agreed to pay nearly $16 billion for Hanson, building material supplier. Capitalia in Italian trading rose 5% adding to a rise of nearly 10% in less than two weeks of trading on merger rumors. Deutsche Post and Daimler Chrysler rose on earnings but Unilever, Danone and Nestle fell on broker downgrade on the food sector.

After fifteen consecutive cuts in interest rates in Brazil, retail sales jumped to a record level in three years in March. Retail sales in March rose 11.5% after rising revised 9.1% in February. The currency Real rose to a six-year high after gaining 1.3% today and jumping 48% against the U.S. dollar in the last fifty months.


Yield on 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.718% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.890%.

Gold gained $4.40 to close at $674.50 a troy ounce, silver increased 8 cents to end at $13.315 a troy ounce and copper declined $248.000 to close at $7687.000 per metric ton.

Oil gained 71 cents to close at $63.170 a barrel and heating oil advanced 2.340 cents to finish at 189.020 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 8.8 cents to close at $7.864 per MMBtu. Gasoline went up 0.140 cents to end at 230.260 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed lower on disappointing economical news. The decliners were led by China with a decline of 3.64%, South Korea with a decrease of 1.02% and Japan with a loss of 0.93%. The advancers were Philippines with an increase of 1.31% and Thailand with a gain of 0.15%. Australia lost 0.78%.

European markets finished higher boosted by in-line-with-expectations U.S. core inflation data. The advancers were led by Norway with a gain of 0.97%, Spain with an increase of 0.94% and Italy with a gain of 0.90%. There were no decliners.

Latin America markets finished higher on local news and good inflation data out of the U.S. The advancers were Argentina with an increase of 0.55% and Brazil with an advance of 0.05%. The only decliner was Mexico with a loss of 0.06%. Canada advanced 0.18% on gains in the materials sector.

2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS: chart), wireless service provider, shares climbed 6.52% after the company said its first-quarter income more than doubled due to new net subscriber growth. MetroPCS reported a net income of $30.2 million, or 11 cents per share, in its first quarter, compared with $12.2 million, or 4 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter jumped 63% to $536.7 million versus $329.5 million in the year-ago period.

Ingersoll-Rand Co. (IR: chart), refrigeration equipment, locks, tools and machinery maker, said that it will evaluate alternatives for company’s Bobcat and construction-related businesses, including a possible sale or spin-off to shareholders. The company''s board approved the expansion of its share repurchase plan to $4 billion from $2 billion previously. Ingersoll-Rand said it will complete $2 billion of buybacks by the end of the third quarter. About $330 million shares have been repurchased to date under the authorization. Ingersoll-Rand said the company’s Bobcat, utility equipment and attachments business generated about $2.6 billion in 2006 revenue. As a result shares of the company climbed 7.36%.

Altana AG (AAA: chart) topped the list of Biggest Percentage Price Gainers on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of the company climbed 20.98%.

Biodel Inc. (BIOD: chart), which specializes in treatments for diabetes and osteoporosis, shares climbed 20% after the company reported that it has two insulin product candidates in clinical trials to treat diabetes.

Linn Energy LLC (LINE: chart), oil and gas company, said it recorded a first-quarter loss, as a large loss in energy trading undermined rising output. Shares fell 5.34%. Quarterly losses totaled $67.8 million, or $1.35 per share, compared with a prior-year profit of $22 million, or 84 cents per share. Revenue from oil and gas sales, marketing and other activities increased to $43.1 million versus $17.9 million a year earlier.

STEC Inc. (STEC: chart), computer memory maker, said that its guidance was disappointing amid an unstable pricing climate. Two Wall Street brokerage houses cut ratings on the company. The company also said its first-quarter profit jumped on the sale of its consumer unit, but warned of a softer market and falling component prices. Shares of the company declined 25.7%.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (KALU: chart) first-quarter profit declined 55% as higher costs offset sales growth. Net income fell to $17.1 million compared with $38.4 million a year ago. Per-share earnings increased to 86 cents to 48 cents as the company reduced its number of shares outstanding to 20.2 million from 79.7 million. Sales rose 17% to $392.2 million against $336.3 million last year as the company raised prices on its metals and fabricated products and boosted shipments to the aerospace and defense industries.