[R]11:00AM New York – Stocks in the morning trading in New York are trending higher after a rise in oil price, Wal-Mart lifting its earnings estimate, and lower trade deficit.[/R]

After nearly ninety minutes of trading, stocks in New York were trending higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 65 to 14,144.05, Nasdaq up 16.9 to 2,828, and S&P 500 up 8.10 to 1,570.98.

The Commerce Department reported August merchandise and service trade deficit fell 2.4% to $57.6 billion, $1.4 billion less than $59 billion for the revised July deficit. Exports in August rose at $138.3 billion and imports gained $195.9 billion.

The report also noted that the August 2006 to August 2007 change in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial supplies and materials ($3.9 billion); capital goods ($3.4 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages ($1.7 billion); consumer goods ($1.3 billion); and automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.1 billion). Other goods were virtually unchanged. The August 2006 to August 2007 change in imports of goods reflected increases in consumer goods ($1.8 billion); capital goods ($1.7 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.9 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.6 billion); and other goods ($0.4 billion). A decrease occurred in industrial supplies and materials ($1.8 billion).

Wal-Mart (WMT: chart) jumped 3.5% or $1.61 to $47.20 after it reported that store sales increased 6.4% from a year ago for the five weeks ending on October 5th at domestic stores, 6.8% at Sam’s Club, and 20.1% at the international stores. Same store sales during the period increased 1.4% and for the 35-week period for the year increased 1.5% not counting fuel sales.

The Company expects the comparable store sales of its U.S. operations for the October four-week reporting period to be between flat and 2 percent, said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer. The October four-week period runs from October 6 through November 2, 2007.
'We estimate that earnings per share from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal year 2008 will change from within our previously stated guidance of $0.62 to $0.65 to a range of $0.66 to $0.69,' Schoewe said. 'For the first two months of the quarter, we have seen improvement in initial margin and expense leverage at the Wal-Mart Stores division, which is driving this change.'

Gold traded up 1.1% or $8.70 to $754.40 lifting stocks of resource and mining companies. Freeport-McMoran (FCX: chart) gained $1.00 to $118.09, BHP Billiton (BHP: chart) surged $4.08 to $86.12, Rio Tinto (RTP: chart) added $8.55 to $370.30 in New York trading.



[R]7:00AM New York, 7:00PM Hong Kong – Unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in September as 13,000 people join labor force.[/R]

ASX 200 index in Sydney trading closed at another record of 35 or 0.52% to 6,779.60 on a rise in resource, retail, and banking stocks.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics in Sydney reported that at the end of September that seasonally adjusted employed people increased by 13,000 to 10.527 million dropping the unemployment rate to 4.2% from 4.3% in August. The unemployment rate in September 2006 was at 4.7%. The report also said that the full-time employment decreased by 17,200 to 7.522 million and part-time employment increased by 30,100 to 3.005 million.

The October employment report will be released on November 8th.

The dollar breached the $0.90 mark for the second time this week after trading stronger after the domestic jobless rate fell to a fresh 33-year low. The Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar closed at $0.9010 up from yesterday's close of $0.8992 after reaching $0.9015.

Of the ASX 200 index shares, Sally Malay Mini led the gainers with a rise of 7.3% followed by increases in Murchison Metals by 6%, in Aquarius by 5.9%, in Perilya Ltd by 4.7%, and in Flight Centre by 4.4%.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks Seek Ltd led the decliners with a fall of 2.6% followed by losses in Transfield Services of 2.8%, Boon Logistics of 3%, Cons Minerals on 3.4% and Independence Group of 4.3%.

In the energy sector Oil Search was up 1.2%, but Santos declined 0.4%. Gold miners also rose on higher metal prices lifting Lihir rose 3%.

The banks were also stronger with ANZ gaining 0.5%, the Commonwealth Bank adding 1.5%, the National Australia Bank adding 0.1% and Westpac edged 0.1% higher.

Retailers were mixed, with Coles Meyer up 0.7%, Harvey Norman 0.8% and Woolworths was down by 0.5%.

In the media sector, News Corp was up 0.4%, Telco Telstra put on 1.3% while Fairfax and PBL were down 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.