Among pre-market highlights, discount retailer Costco Wholesale (COST: chart) posted Q3 profit drop of 4.9%, while jewelry seller Tiffany & Co. (TIF: chart) reported a 15% rise in Q1 profit, indicating that consumer demand for big-ticket items remains strong. Retailer Sears Holdings (SHLD: chart) reported 20% quarterly earnings increase, but said its U.S store sales decreased. Dow futures expiring in June rose 19, or 0.14%, to 13,675, after a strong 111-point gain Wednesday. Standard & Poor''s 500 index futures rose 2.80, or 0.18%, to 1,536.70. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 5.50, or 0.29%, to 1,928.00.


[R]8:30AM Asian markets advance on Thursday with Shanghai, Tokyo and HK rebounding form earlier lows.[/R]

Asian markets finished higher on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4% to settle at 4,109.65. The market opened with a negative bias Thursday, but recovered in the afternoon. China Petroleum & Chemical and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank advanced to the daily 10% limit and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rose 3%, while Aluminum Corp. of China surged 7.4%.

Japanese Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.6% to 17,875.75. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co ended 0.4% higher, bouncing back after declning in early trading. The company had announced Wednesday its plans to take back about 3 million microwave ovens, refrigerators and dryers because of a fire hazard. Nintendo also advanced 2.8%.

Hong Kong''s benchmark index rose 1.68% to end at 20,634.47. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. rallied 9.7% in Hong Kong, while Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finished 1.1% higher at 6,341.80. Investa Property Group gained 15.2% on reports that Morgan Stanley has struck a deal to buy the company for $3.9 billion in cash and debt. BHP Billiton aslo advanced 1.5%. South Korean benchmark index Kospi closed 2.3% higher at 1,700.91.


[R]8:15AM Wachovia agreed to acquire A.G.Edwards for $6.8 billion.[/R]
Wachovia Corp. (WB: chart) announced early Thursday it agreed to acquire A.G. Edwards Inc. (AGE: chart) in a cash-and-stock deal worth $6.8 billion to form one of the largest U.S. retail stock brokerages. The takeover bid values A.G. Edwards at $89.50 per share based on Wednesday''s closing prices, a 16% premium. A.G. Edwards shareholders will get 0.9844 Wachovia shares and $35.80 in cash for each A.G. Edwards share held.

The combined company will have more than 3,300 brokerage locations across the United States, more than $1.1 trillion in client assets and nearly 15,000 financial advisers. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007, whereas full integration of A.G. Edwards with Wachovia Securities is expected to be completed by early 2009.

Daniel J. Ludeman, president and chief executive of Wachovia Securities unit, will keep these positions at the combined brokerage unit, while A.G. Edwards Chairman and CEO Robert Bagby will be chairman of the brokerage.


[R]8:00AM NY -7:00PM Mumbai Sensex advances Thursday on a rally in tech and banking stocks.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE rallied today, finishing 133.08 points, or 0.92%, higher at 14,544.46, which is its highest close since February 9 2007.

The market-breadth was strong as 1,333 stocks advanced, while 1,154 declined and 78 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 22 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,430 crore, lower than Rs 5,303 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 11,963 crore, higher than Rs 11,123 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Indian GDP growth is the fastest in 18 years and stood at 9.4% in the fiscal 2007, ended March, topping government estimates of 9.2%. In the January-March period the GDP growth was 9.1% with services, exports and manufacturing developing most rapidly.

India refused to buy 1 million tons of wheat from the world market and will wait for a better price to come from future harvests in U.S., EU and Australia. India is expected to buy around 5 million tons of wheat, which will amount to a huge difference even considering a small change of price of a few dollars.

The government today put off issuing an approval for Mukesh Ambany’s Special Economic Zone. The decision was postponed over a controversial issue connected with the enclosure of five villages.

Trading highlights

MIC Electronics was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 252.30 crore followed by India Infoline and Unitech.