[R]5:00PM New York, 11:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM Sydney[/R]

U.S. stocks opened higher in the morning and charged ahead in the afternoon trading. The Fed lowered the target rate by 0.25% to 4.5%. Banks, financials, and consumer retail stocks rallied after the news. Dollar fell to a record low against euro.

Oil crossed above $94 after a record low dollar and weekly oil inventory report showed lower than expected levels.

MasterCard surged 21% after reporting 63% increase in earnings.

European markets closed higher across the region ahead of the rate cut decision in the U.S. Sanofi- Aventis rose after it reported earnings gain of 9%. Fresenius Medical reported 30% rise in earnings. Vehicle maker Man AG rose after it forecasted that annual revenue are likely to reach 15 billion euros.

Asian markets closed mixed ahead of the Fed rate decision. The Bank of Japan left its rate unchanged at 0.5% and lowered its target for the economic growth to 1.8% from 2.1% for the fiscal 2007. The Bank also lowered the lower end of its range of economic growth for the year fiscal year 2008.


[R]Global Markets Indexes[/R]

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 77.79 or 0.56% to a close of 13,792.47, S&P 500 edged lower 0.65% or 9.96 to 1,531.02, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 0.73 or 0.03% to a close of 2,816.71. In Toronto TSX Composite lost 115.27 or 0.80% to close at 14,312.08.

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 62.60 or 0.94% to 6,721.60, in Paris CAC 40 Index lost 44.02 or 0.76% to close at 5,847.95, and in Frankfurt DAX index gained 41.28 or 0.52% to close at 8,019.22. In Zurich trading SMI declined 80.36 or 0.90% to close at 9,019.57.

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index gained 86.62 or 0.52% to close at 16,737.63, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed down 285.64 or 0.90% to 31,352.58, in Australia ASX 200 closed up 3.90 or 0.06% to close 6,754.10.

Sensex in India added 54.48 or 0.28% to 19,837.99. In South Korea Kospi Index decreased 10.55 or 0.51% to close at 2,052.37 and Indonesia closed down 19.44 or 0.73% to 2,643.49. Philippines, lost 1.45 or 0.04% to 3,783.43, Singapore added 7.25 or 0.19% to 3,805.70, and Malaysia increased 0.86 or 0.06% to 1,413.65. Thailand fell 0.62 to 907.28 to 0.07%.

In Latin Markets Brazil led the gainers with a rise of 1.36% followed by increases in Argentina of 0.46%. Mexico led the decliners with a loss of 0.93% followed by losses in Chile of 0.8%, in Venezuela of 0.4%, in Peru of 0.35%, and Colombia 0.11%.

Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 4.46% and 30-year bonds rose to 4.74%.

[R]Commodities, Metals, and Currencies[/R]

Crude oil fell $4.15 to close at $94.53 per barrel for a front month contract, up 48.5% for the year, natural gas increased 31 cents to $8.33 per mBtu, and gasoline futures decreased 8.75 cents to close at 252.93 cents per gallon.