[R]4:30PM NY; 10:30PM Frankfurt; 2:00AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS[/R]

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.725% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.908%.

Gold advanced $4.600 to close at $681.500 a troy ounce, silver increased 12 cents to end at $13.930 a troy ounce and copper futures dropped 1.2%.


Oil gained 38 cents to close at $61.890 a barrel and heating oil advanced 4.040 cents to finish at 185.610 cents a gallon. Natural gas increased 32.3 cents to close at $7.869 per MMBtu. Gasoline went up 2.840 cents to end at 212.300 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed mostly higher with profit-taking pushing Japan''s index lower, while Hong Kong finished higher as investors returned from a long holiday. The advancers were led by Hong Kong with an increase of 0.68%, Singapore with an advance of 0.67% and Indonesia with a gain of 0.61%. The decliners were Japan with a decrease of 0.45%, South Korea with a decline of 0.13% and Taiwan with a loss of 0.10%. Australia gained 1.20%.

European markets finished higher as M&A news returned to the fore, with DaimlerChrysler benefiting from an offer for its Chrysler Group and with Puma and Rodamco also gaining after takeover moves. The advancers were led by Italy with an increase of 1.01%, Germany with an advance of 0.94% and Belgium and Netherlands both with a gain of 0.92%. There were no decliners.

Latin America markets finished higher. The advancers were led by Argentina with an increase of 0.93%, Brazil with a gain of 0.74% and Mexico with an advance of 0.01%. There were no decliners. Canada lost 0.37% as banks lost ground on interest-rate concerns but telecommunications companies rose on renewed merger buzz.

[R]4:00PM NY – Rinker Group Ltd based in Australia agreed to be bought by Mexico based Cemex for $14.2 billion, revised offer by 22%.[/R]

Cemex (CX: chart) shares soared 5.1% after Australia''s Rinker Group Ltd. (RIN: chart) recommended its shareholders accept the Mexican firm''s $14 billion bid for the building materials company. Cemex described the offer as its """"best and final,"""" an attempt to end a five-month battle for Australia''s largest building materials maker. The offer closes on May 18.

The Cemex offer was 45% from the last traded price on Australian Stock Exchange on October 22, 2006 and 22% premium from the initial offer of $13.00 in the U.S. dollars. Including the debt the total enterprise value of Rinker is $15.3 billion. The final offer is in the U.S. dollar for $15.85 per share.

Cemex, third largest cement company, was built on series of acquisition over the last twenty years by its current CEO Lorenzo H. Zambrano. The company recently bought for $5.8 billion cash and debt U.K. based RCM Group PLC.

With this purchase the company pro forma revenue will be $23.2 billion with 67,000 employees in 50 countries.

The offer was unanimously approved by the board of directors and under the contract company signed Cemex has agreed to offer for the first 2,000 shares held by investors an option to purchase shares at fixed price of A$19.50 per share.

In New York trading at close Rinker Group (RIN: chart) rose $3.25 to $78.55 and Cemex (CX: chart) rose $1.99 to $35.32

[R]2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers[/R]

DivX Inc. (DIVX: chart), video compression software maker, shares climbed 13.6% and investors are buying on a positive quarterly preannouncement. The company raised its first-quarter revenue and earnings outlook above Wall Street expectations.

Renovis Inc. (RNVS: chart) said it extended its research agreement with Pfizer Inc. until 2008 for a class of compounds that affect cell signaling. Shares jumped 10.8%.

United Rentals (URI: chart) shares surged 17.3% after the tool and equipment rental company said it is exploring a possible sale of itself. The Greenwich, Conn. equipment rental company said its chief executive officer, Wayland Hicks, will retire effective June 4. The company said Hicks will be succeeded by current chief operating officer Michael Kneeland as interim CEO.

Adolor Corp. (ADLR: chart) suspended clinical studies and withdrew an application for a constipation-relief drug. Shares plunged 58.4%.