4:30PM New York, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 5:30AM Sydney

U.S. stocks gained on earnings, higher oil price, and expectations of rate cut this week. Tech stocks led the gainers for the second day in a row. In European trading resource stocks led the mild rally.

Office Depot plunged after delaying earnings report, Kellogg fell after lowering the annual earnings guidance on higher commodities prices, and Verizon edged higher after reporting progress in selling TV services through Internet connection. Schnitzer Steel fell 15% after missing the earnings guidance.

Xstrata offered $2.75 billion to purchase Australia based nickel mining company Jubilee. Resolution board looked to negotiate with Pearl Assurance with a bid higher than that offered by Standard Life. UBS said that third quarter loss will not exceed the earlier guidance but warned that more losses are likely in the subprime bond mortgage portfolio if the U.S. mortgage securities fall further on a weakness in housing market.

In Asian markets, indexes closed higher led by a rally in banking and shipping stocks in Japan and Hong Kong. Strong earnings propelled Sensex index in India to a record high. Resource stocks lifted Australia ahead of rate decision in Australia this week.

Global Markets Indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 67.63 or 0.49% to a close of 13,806.70, S&P 500 edged lower 0.36% or 5.64 to 1,540.95, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 13.25 or 0.36% to a close of 2,817.44. In Toronto TSX Composite rose 119.42 or 0.84% to close at 14,415.85.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 25 closed higher, 5 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

Microsoft led the decliners in the index with a loss of 1.6% followed by losses in JP Morgan of 1.4%, Caterpillar of 1.32%, and Hewlett Packard of 1.2%. Alcoa led the gainers with a rise of 2.82% followed by increases in Exxon Mobil of 2.2%, AIG of 2%, and McDonalds of 1.7%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 305 closed higher, 185 fell, and 10 were unchanged.

Twelve stocks fell more than 3% and twenty five stocks rose more than 3%.

Weyerhaeuser jumped 7.8% to lead the index followed by rise in Dillards of 6.4%, Juniper Networks of 5.6%, and RadioShack of 5%. Goldman Sachs, Deer & Company, and MEMC Electric Material jumped more than $5. Office Depot led the decliners with a plunge of 16% followed by losses in Yahoo of 7%, MBIA of 5.3%, and AMBAC of 5.2%. Tesoro, Unisys, Fannie Mae, and Teradata fell more than 4%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed up 44.70 or 0.67% to 6,706.00, in Paris CAC 40 index rose 41.32 or 0.71% to close at 5,836.19, and in Frankfurt DAX index increased 60.50 or 0.76% to close at 8,009.67. In Zurich trading SMI gained 44.45 or 0.49% to close at 9,007.27.

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 index surged 192.45 or 1.17% to close at 16,698.08, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed up 1,181.68 or 3.89% to 31,586.90, in Australia ASX 200 closed up 91.50 or 1.37% to close 6,792.10.

Sensex in India edged higher 734.50 3.82% to 19,977.67. In South Korea Kospi Index increased 34.86 or 1.7% to close at 2,062.92 and Indonesia closed up 43.10 or 1.64% to 2,667.53. Philippines, on Friday, added 17.10 or 0.45% to 3,784.88, Singapore gained 48.23 or 1.24% to 3,819.78, and Malaysia increased 13.27 or 0.95% to 1,411.62. Thailand surged 20.46 to 915.03 to 2.3%.

In Latin Markets Venezuela led the gainers with a rise of 1.62% followed by increases in Brazil of 1.47%, in Colombia of 1.1%, in Peru 1.02%, in Argentina of 0.54%, and in Mexico of 0.4%. Chile lost 0.3%.

Bond Yields edged lower on 10-year U.S. bonds to 4.38% and 30-year bonds fell to close at 4.66%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil jumped $1.67 to close at $93.53 per barrel for a front month contract, up 47.3% for the year, natural gas increased 5 cents to $7.27 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 5.34 cents to close at 232.70 cents per gallon.

Gold edged higher $5.10 in New York trading to close at $792.60 per ounce, silver closed up 15 cents to $14.43 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery lost 1.67 cents to $352.10 per pound.

Dollar edged record low against euro to $1.4424 from $1.4394 and higher to 114.65 yen from 114.18 yen.