[R]4:30PM NY, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 2:00AM Mumbai – Global Markets[/R]

U.S. bonds yields rose and 10-year bond closed at 4.678% and 30-year bond closed at 4.84%.

Oil in New York trading fell 49 cents to close at $63.19 per barrel, natural gas gained 22 cents to close at $7.95 MBtu and gasoline rose 1.50 cents to close at 224.76 cents per gallon.

Gold gained $9.30 per troy ounce to close at $684.40 and silver price rose 17 cents to close at $13.51 per ounce. Copper lost $38 per metric ton to close at $8,010.

Asian markets rose in the region but the markets in China and Japan were closed. Markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia closed at the record levels. Shanghai closed up 2.4%, Malaysia gained 1.5% and Singapore advanced 0.96%. Reserve Bank of Australia left the rates unchanged at 6.25%.

European Markets closed higher led by 0.8% rise in U.K. and 0.7% gain in the Netherlands. Germany and France advanced 0.3% but Swiss market closed down 0.55%. Unilever advanced 4% on the better than expected earnings on higher cost cutting. UBS closed 2.5% lower on 7% decline in profit. Royal Dutch Shell advanced 2% on the profit rise of 6% on better than expected profits in refining and marketing divisions. BMW reported profit decline of 38% on higher raw material costs in the first quarter. Banking stocks closed mostly lower on the news that a court in Amsterdam has blocked sales of its Chicago based LaSalle Bank. Sweden based Svenskt Stal has agreed to buy American tube-maker Ipso for $7.7 billion in cash.

Latin American Markets closed higher led by an advance of 1.7% in Mexico and 1.5% in Brazil. Argentina and Chie rose 0.8%. Brazil reported a strong trade surplus in April. Corporate profits at steel, mining and iron ore companies have been better than expected lifting stocks in the sector. Real, Brazilian currency advanced to a six-year high against the U.S. dollar. Telmex, Cemex and American Movil gained between 0.4% and 0.7% in the session. April inflation in Chile rose to 10-month high and consumer prices rose 0.6% from 0.4% in March.


[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed higher, helped by Unilever and Royal Dutch Shell.[/R]

European stock markets were volatile but finished in the positive territory on Thursday, helped by better-than-expected U.S. economic data and strong profits. A court ruling on takeover target ABN Amro also contributed to the gains. Royal Dutch Shell rose 1.9% after it said that its Q1 profit rose 6% to $7.28 billion, with improving profit in its gas and power, oil products and chemicals units offsetting declining profits at its largest arm, exploration and production.

Unilever climbed 3.9% after it posted an unexpected Q1 profit. In the financial sector, ABN Amro rose 1.9% after a Dutch judge blocked the sale of its LaSalle unit to Bank of America. Shares of Barclays climbed 3%, RBS lost 0.7%, while Fortis rose 1.1%. Prudential rose 5.6%.

In other deal news, Dutch supermarket chain Ahold rose 3.2% after it agreed to sell its U.S. Foodservices business to private equity firms for $7.1 billion. The indexes touched 6 and 61/2-year highs, with the French CAC-40 breaking though 6,000 level for the first time since December 2000 ahead of the weekend's elections. The CAC closed up 0.2% at 6,004.28, the German DAX 30 added 0.3% at 7,479.40 and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.8% at 6,537.80.

[R]11:30AM U.S. stock averages traded higher, driven by strong economic reports.[/R]

U.S. market averages traded higher, helped by upbeat economic data which managed to offset news that General Motors Q1 profit fell 90%. Optimism about the economy sent the S&P's 500 past 1,500 for the first time since September 2000. GM (GM: chart) weighed on the Dow, falling 3.8% after its quarterly results missed forecasts. At the same time, the blue-chip average was supported by 3% increase for Verizon Communications (VZ: chart) and 1% gain in the shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart), Microsoft (MSFT: chart), and Pfizer (PFE: chart).

Among the most notable movers, Hanson (HAN: chart) climbed 18%, while IPSCO (IPS: chart) rose 6% after the Swedish steel firm SSAB Svenskt Stal announced that it was buying the company for $7.7 billon. The $160 per share offer represents a 7.7% premium to IPSCO's closing price on Wednesday. The deal needs the approval of two-thirds of the votes cast by IPSCO shareholders as well as Ontario court approval.

By sector, airlines, transportation and software stocks led advancers, while gold, biotechnology and oil services declined. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones rose 23.24, or 0.18%, to 13,235.12. The S&P 500 index rose 5.75, or 0.38%, to 1,501.67. The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.44, or 0.37%, to 2,265.28.

[R]U.S. service sector grew at a faster rate in April.[/R]
Thursday morning, the Institute for Supply Management released its report on business activity in the service sector in the month of April. The report showed that the pace of growth in the sector accelerated more than economists had expected. The ISM said that its index of activity in the sector rose to 56.0 in April from 52.4 in March, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had been expecting a more modest increase to a reading of 53.0. The faster pace of growth in the sector was partly due to an acceleration in the pace of new orders growth, with the new orders index rising to 55.5 in April from 53.8 in March. The report also showed some improvement in pace of employment growth, as the employment index rose to 51.9 in April from 50.8 in the previous month. Prices rose at a faster pace than in the previous month, according to the report, with the prices index edging up to 63.5 in April from 63.3 in March.

[R]9:45AM U.S. markets opened higher, boosted by productivity report.[/R]
Wall Street started trading moderately higher on Thursday, as stronger-than-expected Q1 productivity growth and a modest increase in labor costs helped generate some optimism about the outlook for interest rates. However, the upside move was limited by 3% decline for General Motors (GM: chart) amid 90% profit drop. Among other earnings-related movers, CBS (CBS: chart) added 0.6% after it said quarterly profit fell 5.9%, hurt by a tax charge selling radio stations and lower TV syndication income. At the same time, its adjusted earnings per share were slightly above analyst expectations.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO: chart) posted wider Q1 loss, weighed down by a charge associated with production of its syndicated TV program. The multimedia empire reported a loss of 23 cents per share, compared with a loss of 13 cents per share last year. Company's stock dropped 1.7%. European largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC ((RDS-B)) said its Q1 earnings rose 5.7%, despite falling oil prices and declining profit at its production and refining arms.

In corporate news, Russia's Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer, offered to buy Canada's LionOre Mining International for $4.8 billion in cash, seeking to break up Xstrata's agreement to buy the company. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 points at 13,218. The S&P 500 was up 1.75 points at 1,497, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 points to 2,558.