[R]4:15PM NY; 10:15PM Frankfurt; 2:15AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS[/R]

Record deal making elevated oil prices lifted S&P 500 near its seven-year high. GE rose on $11.5 billion deal to sell plastics division to largest chemical company in Saudi Arabia. Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $24.7 billion to purchase Alltel, fifth largest mobile telecom company in the U.S. Logistics company EGL rose 2% on revised bid from Apollo Management and home improvement retail chain Lowe’s reported lower than expected earnings.

June crude oil futures rose as refineries raced to produce more gasoline to meet summer travel demands. The jump of 2% or $1.32 per barrel in crude oil price lifted stocks of refiners, explorers and oil service companies.

Italian banking mergers news dominated trading in the region but failed to prevent nearly 1.5% loss in market index in Milan. UniCredit had agreed to purchase Capitalia for 22 billion euros and Popolare Banca will purchase Banca Popolare dell’Emilia for 5.7 billion euros. Banks in Italy are expected to keep merging and create few national giants to compete at European level. In the U.K. music record label company EMI, subject of takeover, received an offer for 2.4 billion pounds from buyout firm Terra firma. Higher offers are expected by the market.

Merger activity bolstered stocks in Brazil and Mexico. Markets in Chile, Venezuela and Colombia were closed for a holiday. Prospect of acquisition by European banks kept banking stocks at record level. Bradesco and Banco Itau closed at a record level. Recent bank earnings have been supported by retail demand for consumer loans and expanding mortgage market. Mexico continued its rally for the fourth day in a row on election results and merger news. Yucatan state election predicted win of the opposition party PRI and raising hopes that the much talked about national tax reform will be finalized soon.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.789% and the 30-year U.S. bond closed at 4.942%.

Gold gained $1.80 to close at $663.80 a troy ounce, silver increased 12.7 cents to end at $13.130 a troy ounce and copper advanced $25.000 to close at $7315.000 per metric ton.

Oil gained $1.33 to close at $66.270 a barrel and heating oil advanced 3.570 cents to finish at 195.090 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 3.1 cents to close at $7.913 per MMBtu. Gasoline went down 0.640 cents to end at 240.130 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed higher on strong cues from Wall Street. The advancers were led by China with a gain of 1.80%, Taiwan with an increase of 1.34% and South Korea with an advance of 0.99%. The decliners were Malaysia with a decline of 0.70% and Thailand with a decrease of 0.07%. Australia gained 0.84%.

European markets finished lower after a sharp drop in shares of GlaxoSmithKline after a negative study and concerns that the Italian banking consolidation story has run its course. The decliners were led by Italy with a decline of 1.96%, Belgium with a decrease of 0.44% and Switzerland with a loss of 0.21%. The advancers were Norway with an increase of 0.98%, Netherlands with an advance of 0.31% and Germany with a gain of 0.15%.

Latin America markets finished higher. The advancers were led by Argentina with an increase of 1.06%, Brazil with a gain of 0.53% and Mexico with an advance of 0.31%. There were no decliners. Stock markets are closed today in Canada for the Victoria Day holiday.

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

Alltel Corp.''s (AT: chart) is being taken private for $24.8 billion by TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners. As a result shares rallied 6.5%.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC: chart) said that it would sell its interest in two Qatari operations to Occidental Petroleum Corp. ((OXY.N)) for $350 million, the latest in a line of divestments by the company to trim debt. Shares surged 1.5%.

Amgen (AMGN: chart) rose 0.44%, after U.S. government approval of a potential rival anemia treatment was delayed.

Cytyc (CYTC: chart) added 21.54%, after Hologic (HOLX: chart) agreed to buy it for $6.2 billion in cash and stock. The deal combines two major players in women''s health care. Hologic fell 6.8%.

Lowe''s (LOW: chart) fell 3.89%, after the company said that its first-quarter net dropped 12%, as the country''s second-largest home-improvement retailer missed both internal and Street expectations and cut its fiscal-year earnings guidance.

American Superconductor (AMSC: chart) added 7.5%, after the company received a $1.7 million contract from Consolidated Edison for work on new technology for New York City''s power-delivery system as part of an initiative funded largely by the Department of Homeland Security.

EGL (EGL: chart) gained 3.3%, after Apollo Management LP affiliate CEVA Group PLC added $1.50 per share to its buyout offer for Houston logistics concern, hoping its $2.01 billion bid seals the deal in its battle with EGL Chief Executive James Crane to acquire the company.

Salesforce.com (CRM: chart) shares rallied 4.3% on reports that the developer of customer-relationship management software is in partnership talks with Google Inc. (GOOG: chart).