[R]4:30PM New York, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 2:00 AM Mumbai[/R]

[R]Market averages in New York traded fell ahead of Fed decision and earnings from brokerage industry. Fed action on Tuesday, earnings from Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bear Stearns, and options expiry at the end of week are likely to turn indexes volatile.[/R]

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29% or 39.10 to 13,403.42, Nasdaq fell 20.52 or 0.79% to 2,581.66, and S&P 500 declined 7.60 or 0.51% to 1,476.65.

FTSE 100 Index in London fell 106.50 or 1.69% to 6,182.80, in Tokyo markets were closed for holiday but closed at 15,821.19, up 0.15% or 23.59 on Friday, and in Brazil, iBovespa Index traded lower 0.6% or 330.46 to 54,340.54.

Bond Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds were unchanged at 4.46% and 30-year bond yields fell to close at 4.69%.

Crude oil increased $1.47 to close at $80.57 per barrel, second record close in a row for a front month contract, natural gas closed up 37 cents to $6.65 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 0.78 cents to close at 204.42 cents per gallon.

Gold gained $6.00 in New York trading to close at $723.80 per ounce but rose as high as $728.30, silver closed 20 cents higher to close at $12.90 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery in London gained $6.50 to $7,588.50 per pound.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 22 closed lower, 7 closed higher, and one was unchanged. Coca Cola led the decliners with a loss of 1.99% followed by losses of 1.5% in McDonalds, 1.3% in Citigroup, and 1.2% in American Express. General Motors led the gainers with a rise of 2.95% followed by gains of 1.6% in Hewlett Packard, and 0.7% in Exxon Mobil and Procter & Gamble.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 117 stocks closed higher and 376 fell, 7 closed unchanged. Thirteen stocks in index lost more than 3%. RadioShack led the decliners with a fall of 6.6% followed by losses of 6% in Marsh & McLennan, 4% in Stryker and Fidelity National, and 3.7% in Noble Corp. Vulcan Materials, Moody’s and Office Depot lost 3.4%. Newell Rubbermaid soared 8.8% and led the gainers in the index followed by 3% increase in Ford Motors and General Motors, 2.6% in Monsanto and H&R Block.

In New York trading stocks edged lower ahead of rate decision tomorrow. In one camp investors and traders on Wall Street are looking for a rate cut between 0.25% and 0.5% and in the other camp investors feel that any rate cut will only reward bad risk. Tomorrow afternoon the Fed inaction is expected to swing stocks drastically.

Brokers are also scheduled to release earnings during the week with Lehman Brothers scheduled on Tomorrow. Investors are looking for estimate of losses from credit derivatives and exposure to mortgage market. The securitization business has dramatically slowed down but its full impact may not be revealed in the earnings report. Merrill Lynch indicated that the adjustment in values of subprime mortgage assets is likely to crimp earnings. Investors are bracing for worst and are discounting that companies may use this earnings report to lower expectations for the rest of the year. Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs dropped more than 1.5% in trading.

Microsoft lost 1.1% and dragged tech sector lower after the European court dismissed all the appeals filed by Microsoft to a 2004 antitrust conviction. Microsoft was found to be guilty to abuse its dominant market position. The court upheld the $690 million in fines. General Motors and Ford jumped 3% on the reports that the negotiations with labor unions are progressing well.

In European Markets trading indexes closed sharply lower. France led the region with a loss of 1.8% followed by declines of 1.7% in UK, 1.2% in Spain and Belgium, 1% in Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock in the UK fell another 35% before the stock was halted for trading. UK government also said that it will insure all the deposits with the banks. Other mortgage lenders in UK fell as well. HBOS lost 5.5%, Bradford and Bingley lost 15%, and Alliance & Leicester plunged 31%.

In Latin Markets trading Mexico led the decliners with a fall of 1.00% followed by a loss of 0.86% in Argentina and 0.60% in Brazil. Chile gained 1%. Of the 63 stocks in iBovespa index 21 gained, 42 lost, and none closed unchanged. Copel led the decliners with a loss of 5.8% followed by declines of 4.3% in Cosan, 3.6% in Telemig cellular. Banco Do Brasil and Electrobras fell 3.1%.

[R]2:30PM New York, 1:30AM Tokyo - Australian stocks fell on lower oil.[/R]

The share market was down today, with investors treading cautiously as the market awaits the US Federal Reserve''s announcement on interest rates tomorrow night. Australian stocks also fell after crude oil dropped to $78.65 a barrel, down 45 cents in after-hours electronic trading.

The drop in oil prices took some of the gloss off some of the producing companies, which had been plagued by profit-takers taking advantage of the high price. Oil Search Ltd. surged on a report China National Petroleum Corp. and PetroChina Co. Ltd. may bid for the company. Crude oil fell from a record last week as hurricane concerns eased and investors reduced bets on rising prices.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index fell 0.56% or 35.4 to 6,271.40. The Aussie dollar rose sharply on speculation that a Chinese joint venture was planning a large bid for a local oil company. Australian dollar was trading at US$0.8436/40, up from Friday''s close of $0.8419/25. During the morning session, it traded as low as $0.8305 before spiking to a high of 0.8443 after reports CNPC Exploration, a joint venture company between China National Petroleum Corp and its subsidiary PetroChina was considering a bid of as much as $5 billion (A$5.95 billion) for Oil Search. Oil Search however denied having received such a bid.

The Australian dollar rose to the highest in a month as prices of raw materials the country exports approached records.

The local dollar has gained 3.3 percent in September as a Westpac Banking Corp. index of Australian commodity prices advanced 2.3 percent. Shipments of raw materials from overseas added about 14 percent to Australia''s economic growth. The currency has also been supported, as the U.S. dollar declined on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate this week, increasing Australia''s yield advantage.

For the second day, the Aussie dollar rose to $0.8450 from $0.8420 cents. It reached $0.8459 cents, nearly one month high. Of the ASX 200 index shares, Oil Search Ltd soared 11.69% followed by Sally Malay Mini at 9.87% higher, Paladin Resource rose 6.86% with Minara Minerals and Nufarm Ltd rising 5.39% and 4.25% respectively.