5:30PM New York, 11:30 PM Frankfurt, 3:00AM Mumbai – Asian stocks led the markets around the world. U.S. stocks fell after mixed earnings report.

Global Markets Indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 85.84 or 0.61% to a record close 14,078.69, S&P 500 edged lower 2.7 or 0.17% to 1,562.47, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 7.70 or 0.27% to a close of 2,811.61. In Toronto TSX Composite gained 14.00 or 0.10% to close at a six year high of 14,276.19.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 9 closed higher, 20 closed lower, and one was unchanged. Boeing led the decliners with fall of 2.7% followed by losses in Alcoa of 2.5%, in AIG of 2.25%, Caterpillar of 1.6%, and JP Morgan Chase of 1.4%. Wal-Mart led the gainers with a rise of 0.8% followed by increases in Exxon Mobil by 0.5%, Procter & Gamble by 0.45%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 187 closed higher, 308 fell, and 5 closed unchanged. Seventeen stocks rose 3% or more and twelve fell 3% or more. Costco led the gainers with a rise of 9.2% followed by increases in Lexmark of 6.6%, Tesoro of 6.2%, Dillards of 5.3%, and Baker Hughes of 4.8% respectively. Equifax led the decliners with a fall of 6.5% followed by losses in Qwest Communications of 5.3%, Genworth of 5.1%, and Teradyne of 4.3%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed up 17.60 or 0.27% to 6,633.40, in Paris CAC 40 index fell 23.44 or 0.40% to close at 5,838.49, and in Frankfurt DAX index increased 0.08% or 6.13 to close at 7,986.57. In Zurich trading SMI added 0.49% or 44.48 to close at 9,182.30.

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 index added 0.1% or 17.99 to close at 17,177.89, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed up 1.21% or 341.29 to 28,569.33, in Australia ASX 200 closed up 0.91% or 60.50 to a close of 6,738.30, Sensex surged 2.1% or 378.01 to 18,658.25. In South Korea Kospi Index added 26.99 or 1.34% to a record close of 2,041.12. Indonesia surged 44.88 or 1.76% to a record close of 2,591.48.

In Latin Markets Mexico led the gainers with a rise of 1.03% followed by increases of 0.65% in Peru, 0.6% in Peru. Argentina led the decliners with a fall of 0.63% followed by declines in 0.50% in Colombia and in Chile and Venezuela of 0.33%.

In Brazil, iBovespa Index fell 0.55% or 351.65 to close at 63,197.04 and in Mexico Bolsa Index rose 1.03% or 327.71 to close at 32,129.40. Of the 63 stocks in iBovespa index in Brazil, 13 gained, 49 lost, and 1 closed unchanged.

CCR led the decliners for the second day in a row with a loss of 7.7% followed by losses in Duratex of 3.6%, Vivo of 3.3%, and Tele Norte of 3.1%. CEEP led the gainers with a rise of 6% followed by increases of 3.5% in Petrobras, 3% in TAM, and 2.7% in Tim.

Bond Yields edged a fraction on 10-year U.S. bonds to 4.64% and 30-year bond were unchanged to close at 4.863%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil rose $1.04 to close at $81.23 per barrel for a front month contract, up 33.0% for the year, natural gas increased 14.7 cents to $7.01 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 1.4 cents to close at 203.36 cents per gallon.

Gold increased $2.90 in New York trading to close at $746.00 per ounce, silver closed up 8 cent to $13.67 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery in London increased $104.00 to $8,107.00 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.4147 from $1.411 and higher to 117.26 yen from 117.15 yen.

U.S. Earnings Watch

Costco (COST: chart), largest warehouse club retailer, reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings of 83 cents per share compared to 75 cents a year ago, an increase of 4.7%. Earnings in the quarter were $372.4 million compared to $355 million a year ago. Excluding one-time charges earnings rose 21% to $372 million or 91 cents per share on revenue rise of 3% to $20.5 billion. Costco jumped 10% at the close to $69.13.

Monsanto (MON: chart) fell 4% after it reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings. The company reported a loss of $210 million compared to a loss of $144 million from a year ago on revenue rise of 13% to $1.6 billion. Earnings per share were 39 cents loss compared to a loss of 27 cents a year ago. For the fiscal year company reported a profit of $993 million compared to $689 million or $1.79 per share compared to $1.25 a year ago.

Ruby Tuesday (RT: chart) reported fiscal first quarter 21 cents per share compared to 37 cents a year ago. The same-store sales at the company owned restaurant decreased 4.8% and at franchise owned restaurant decreased 2.9%. The company forecasted a decline of same store sales in the second quarter between 6% and 8% and diluted earnings per share of 1 cents and 3 cents.

Alcoa (AA: chart) kicked off the earnings season with the release of third quarter earnings from continuing operations of 64 cents per share, 3% increase from a year ago on the revenue of $7.4 billion. The quarterly result includes sale of Chinese company Chalco and charges related to the upcoming sale of packaging and auto casting unit.

Net income in the third quarter was 63 cents per share or $555 million compared to $537 million or 61 cents a year ago and $715 million or 81 cents per share in the second quarter. Revenue in the quarter declined to $7.4 billion from $7.6 billion a year ago and $8.1 billion in the second quarter of 2007.