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

U.S. stocks advanced for the second day in a row on flood of positive earnings. European markets closed higher le by Germany, Switzerland and Norway. Asian markets rallied a day after U.S. reported strong advance in durable goods orders and new home sales report. American Movil reported strong earnings in Mexico, Sony is planning a listing of its financial subsidiary and Canadian fertilizer company Potash earnings jumped 58%.

Yields on U.S. bonds for 10-year bonds closed at 4.68% and 30-year bond closed at 4.87% in New York trading.

Oil price in New York trading closed 65 cents lower to $65.06 cents per barrel and natural gas futures fell 18 cents to close at $7.508 per Mbtu. Gasoline futures rose 0.77 cents to close at 229.03 cents.

Gold future fell $9.40 to close at $678 per troy ounce, silver future fell 44 cents to close at $13.45 and copper future price rose $34 to close at $7,883 per metric ton.

Asian Markets closed higher across the region led by 1.5% rise in Indonesia, 1.3% gain in Singapore and 1.2% advance in Philippines and Japan. Sony, Honda and Kyocera closed higher. Sony rose on the news that the company is planning a listing of its financial subsidiary, Honda gained 2% a day after the company reported profit decline of 20% and Kyocera advanced ahead of its earning release.

European Markets closed to a new record as stocks in industrial, telecom and banking sector closed higher. Germany led the region with a 0.6% rise followed by an advance of 0.55% in Switzerland and Norway. France closed lower fractionally lower and U.K. rose a tad. NYSE Euronext reported earnings of 43 cents per share on revenue rise of 54% to $702 million.

Latin American Markets closed higher except a loss of 1.2% in Brazil index. Argentina rose 0.11%, Chile gained 0.08% and Mexico closed up 0.01%. Petroleo Brasileiro and CV Rio fell nearly 2%. American Movil, cell phone operator in Mexico, reported solid advance in revenue and earnings lifting the major index at the opening.


[R]3:00PM NY – U.S. Movers – Comcast, Safeway and Potash Corp advance.[/R]

Comcast Corp (CMCSA: chart), the largest cable company in the U.S., reported first quarter earnings of 26 cents vs. 15 cents a year ago on one time gains. The company reported earnings of $837 million compared to $466 million a year ago on one time gain of $500 million. The company dissolved its partnership providing the cable services in Texas and Missouri. The company reported income of 17 cents per share without the gain. The subscribers for digital cable increased by 644,000 in the quarter and revenue from video services rose 8% to $4.4 billion. The basic cable revenue rose 10% per average subscriber to $60 per month.

California grocer, Safeway Inc. (SWY: chart) reported its first quarter income of 39 cents vs. 32 cents a year ago on revenue gain of 5% to $3.92 billion in the quarter. The company earned $174.4 million vs. $143 million a year ago. Same store sales excluding the gasoline sales rose 4.5% in the quarter. The company left its annual earnings guidance for the year unchanged between $1.90 and $2.00 per share. The stock is trading near its 52-week high and risen nearly 50% in the last one year of trading.

Canadian fertilizer company, Potash Corp (POT: chart) reported first quarter earnings of $1.85 per share vs. $1.19 a year ago on revenue increase of 34% to $1.15 billion. The company said that the worldwide demand for fertilizer is expected to increase between 12% and 16% this year. The fertilizer sales rose in the quarter in the double digits. Phosphate sales were up 17%, nitrogen sales up 26% and potash sales up 69% in the quarter.


[R]1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks ended higher on earnings from Bayer, France Telecom.[/R]

European stock markets closed higher Thursday after hitting fresh six-and-half-year highs, boosted by well received earnings reports from leading companies like Bayer, France Telecom and ABB, as well as solid gains in the U.S. stock market. German pharmaceutical Bayer rose 1.2% after the company posted higher-than-expected increase in net profit to 2.8 billion euros, from 600 million euros a year ago.

Shares of France Telecom rose 3.2% after it said that its Q1 sales rose 1.8% to 12.8 billion euros and confirmed its objectives for 2007. Shares of ABB rose 4.8 % after the Swiss-Swedish engineering firm, said its Q1profit more than doubled.

Among declining stocks, Ericsson slipped 2.1% after it said that its Q1 net income rose 27% to 5.82 billion Swedish kronor, but came in below estimates. UBS downgraded the stock to neutral. Swedish vacuum cleaner maker Electrolux dropped 6.9% after it reported a net profit decline. The German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.6% at 7,387.02, while the French CAC 40 dropped nearly a tenth of a percentage point to close at 5,944.44. The U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.1% at 6,469.40


[R]11:30AM Wall Street turned flat, as investors turned to post-rally consolidation.[/R]

U.S. stocks turned flat, despite surging shares of Apple and solid gains for 3M and Ford. Investors turned to profit-taking after the recent rally of the Dow Jones, crossing 13,000. Apple (AAPL: chart) shares rose 5% jumping past the $100 to set a new all-time high after the company reported an 88% surge in Q2 earnings on strong sales of Mac computers, iPods and a drop in memory prices.