5:00PM New York, 11:00PM Frankfurt, 7:00AM Sydney[R]– U.S. stocks traded sideways but managed to close higher. Brazil surged in Latin American trading after dropping for more than three sessions in a row. Hong Kong and India lead decliners in Asia.[/R]

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 38.19 or 0.34% to a close of 11,268.92, S&P 500 Index closed up 7.53 or 0.61% to 1,232.04, and Nasdaq Composite Index increased 18.89 or 0.85% to close at 2,228.70. In Toronto TSX Composite closed up 350.39 or 2.88% to 12,497.15.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 13 stocks gained, 17 declined and none was unchanged.

General Motors led gainers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average with a rise of 6.1% followed by increases in Chevron Corp of 3.01%, Exxon Mobil 2.7%, IBM of 2.6% and Caterpillar Inc of 2.35%.

AIG led decliners in Dow Jones Industrial Average with a fall of 4.75% followed by losses in Boeing Company of 3.6%, in AT&T Inc of 3.07%, in Merck & Company of 2.4%, in Verizon Communication of 1.45% and in United Technologies of 1.2%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 305 increased, 189 declined and 6 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 71 rose more than 3% and 31 fell more than 3%.

Micron Tech led the gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 11.34% followed by gains in Range Resources of 9.28%, in Consol Energy of 8.94%, in Peabody Energy 8.70%, in Massey Energy of 8.23% and in Southwestern Energy of 7.57%.

Wamu Inc led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a plunge of 29.70% followed by losses in Fannie Mae of 25.25%, in Freddie Mac of 25.00%, in MGIC Investment Corp of 12.10%, in Wachovia Corp of 7.14%, in Lehman Brothers of 6.93% and in Fifth Third Bancorp of 6.8%.

South American Markets Indexes

Brazil led gainers in the region with a rise of 2.47% followed by increases in Chile of 0.85%, in Argentina of 0.61% and in Colombia of 0.41%.

Venezuela led decliners in the region with a fall of 1.20% followed by decreases in Peru of 0.54% and in Mexico of 0.03%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 49.40 or 0.91% to 5,366.20, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 9.68 or 0.23% to close at 4,283.66 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 23.09 or 0.37% to close at 6,210.32. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 68.02 or 0.95% to close at 7,121.43.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 54.02 or 0.44% to 12,346.63, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 491.33 or 2.40% closed to 19,999.78.ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 74.60 or 1.50% to close 4,905.50. The KL Composite index in Malaysia decreased 5.85 or 0.55% closed to 1,062.70.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 10.48 or 0.72% to close at 1,464.98, SET index in Thailand closed lower 8.07 or 1.22% to 655.54 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 73.71 or 3.76% to 1,885.04. The Sensex index in India decreased 238.15 or 1.60% closed to 14,662.61.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.47 to close at $102.79 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 14 cent to $7.39 per mBtu and gasoline futures increased 2.54 cents to close at 267.80 cents per gallon.

Gold decreased $33.10 in New York trading to close at $758.90 per ounce, silver closed down $0.92 cents to $10.79 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 3.55 cent to $3.12 per pound.

Wheat futures closed down 4.75 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $7.25 a bushel. Sugar decreased 0.03 cent to 13.88 cents a pound. Soybean future closed down 23.00 cents to $11.78 a bushel.