Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.83% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.949%.

Gold increased $0.90 to close at $588.50 a troy ounce, silver advanced 18 cents but closed unchanged at $11.85, and copper rose 20 cents to close at $3.42.

Oil climbed 50 cents a barrel to close at $59.31, heating oil increased 0.0256 cents to finish at $1.6955. Gasoline advanced 5.8 cents a gallon to end at $1.53. Natural gas rose 22 cents to close at $7.11 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly higher, led by a gain of 0.81% in Taiwan, followed by an increase of 0.49% in Thailand and an advance of 0.35% in Hong Kong. The decliners were led by a loss of 0.29% in Australia and a decline of 0.05% in Japan. Japanese markets finished lower after declines in the nation''s two largest mobile operators.

European markets finished mixed as shares of mining giants BHP Billiton and Anglo American ended lower and chipmakers were under pressure after a profit warning from Texas Instruments, oil giant BP rose on 4.6% rise in revenue. The advancers were led by an increase of 0.55% in Norway, a gain of 0.27% in U.K. and an advance of 0.07% in Germany. The decliners were led by Belgium with a decrease of 0.52%, Switzerland with a loss of 0.40% and Spain with a decline of 0.30%.

Latin America markets ended higher, led by an increase of 0.94% in Argentina, a gain of 0.69% in Brazil and an advance of 0.18% in Canada. The only decliner was Mexico with a decrease of 0.27%. The Brazilian market finished higher despite anxiety regarding the coming presidential runoff election. Mexico closed lower tracking the U.S. market. Canada had a slight advance on gains in the technology and energy groups.

13:00PM European shares closed mixed.
European stock markets finished mixed due to cautious trading ahead of the Fed Reserve’s decision on interest rates. London FTSE 100 gained 0.27% at 6,182.50 points, hitting a new record high since 2001. Mining stocks declined on lower commodity prices. Anglo American tumbled 1.49%, while BHP Billiton lost 0.59%. BHP Billiton''s production update failed to impress traders, despite a record high level of aluminum production. Elsewhere in London, shares in household products maker Reckitt Benckiser rose 5.64% on better-than-expected Q3 results. The German DAX 30 added 0.07% to finish at 6,247.52 points. The French CAC 40 fell 0.13% to close at 5,404.54 points. Shares in telecom equipment maker Alcatel closed up 7.19%, helped by strong results from U.S. merger partner Lucent. Alcatel delivered lower-than-expected Q3 results because of a fall in profitability in its mobile division.

Crude oil climbed ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data. Crude oil gained 51 cents to $59.32 a barrel. London Brent rose 53 cents to $59.74. Heating oil gained 2 cents to $1.691 per gallon, while heating oil rose 5 cents to $1.518. Natural gas climbed 10 cents to $6.983 per 1,000 cubic feet. The U.S. dollar dropped against its rival currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2566, up from $1.2574. The dollar bought 119.24 yen, down from 119.31. The British pound stood at $1.8747, up from $1.8733. European gold prices further dropped. In London, gold traded at $575.60 per troy ounce, down from $596.60.


9:45AM stocks opened lower ahead of Fed reserve’s decision.
U.S. stocks opened in the red Tuesday, as investors grew cautious ahead of the Fed Reserve policy meeting. A lot of investors expect the central bank''s policymakers to leave interest rates at the same level for the third straight meeting, but there was still much concern about the assessment of the domestic economy.

Wall Street was also focused on Q3 earnings reports. Lockheed Martin Corp.(LM: chart), the world''s largest defense contractor, also surpassed expectations. The semiconductor sector came under pressure in early trading after Texas Instruments (TI: chart) released a weaker-than-expected sales forecast and said inventories at the company rose by half from a year ago. The Dow was supported by 2.8% rise for DuPont (DD: chart), as the chemical giant''s Q3 profit exceeded expectations, with the help of higher sales volume and lower fixed costs. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 12.72, or 0.10%, at 12,104.19. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 4.29, or 0.31%, at 1,372.73, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 6.93, or 0.29%, at 2,348.63.

9:30AM London declines, struggles with lower metal prices.
The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.4 points to trade at 6,165.9 by mid-day.

Advancers

Shares in BP, the largest company in Britain, rose 1% after it reported third-quarter replacement cost profit slightly above expectations, up 58%. Tate & Lyle firmed 2% after Morgan Stanley raised its recommendation on the sweetener group from underweight to equal-weight.

Carpetright added 1.5% after it said sales at its UK and Irish business had increased 5.9%, while like-for-like sales in the rest of Europe were 3.6% higher. AMEC rose 0.7% after the engineering group said its joint venture with Babcock International had been appointed preferred bidder for a National Grid contract.

Debenhams advanced 2.7% as pre-tax profits at the retailer rose 67.9%. Debenhams said the retail climate had been volatile after unseasonably warm weather.

Decliners

Miners led the decliners. BHP Billiton lost 1.9% in the wake of its copper production having been hit by the strike in August at the Escondida mine in Chile. Kazakhmys slipped 2.5% while Anglo American eased 2.3%.

Autonomy Corporation was hit by profit taking after it reported a 220% increase in third quarter adjusted profit before tax. Shares in the search software company fell 3.2%. Drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals dipped 3.4% following its statement that it expected annual generic sales to be slightly below those achieved in 2005.

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