The United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella of nine unions, has called a nationwide strike tomorrow to oppose outsourcing, privatisation and the proposed rise in voting rights of foreign investors in private banks.

The World Bank will consider an assistance of $5 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) to the state government for the development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region over the next 10 years, announced Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh after a meeting with World Bank officials today.


9:45AM Market opened higher on economic data and strong earnings.
U.S. stocks extended gains Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained for a fourth day in a row, helped by strong results from Exxon Mobil and upbeat economic data. The Commerce Department reported capital spending continued to rise as durable goods orders jumped to a six-year high of 7.8%. Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) rose 1.5% after the oil giant posted better-than-expected quarterly results, buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas realizations and improved marketing. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell reported a 34% drop in Q3 profit, as rising costs, higher taxes and reduced output from Nigeria weighed, but its result still beat analysts'' expectations. Navteq (NVT: chart) climbed 14% after reporting Q3 profit drop of 73% compared with a year-ago quarter bolstered by a tax gain. Quarterly earnings fell to $27.1 million, or 28 cents per share, from $101.1 million, or $1.07 per share last year.

Chico’s FAS (CHS: chart) rose nearly 5% after it was upgraded at Prudential to an Overweight rating. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT: chart) reported Q3 quadrupled to 71 cents a share from 17 cents last year, despite 2.3% lower revenue, beating estimates of 50 cents a share. Starwood expects to earn 73 cents a share in Q4. The stock slipped 3%. In other news, shares of Red Hat (RHAT: chart) plunged 23% after Oracle Corp. (ORCL: chart) said it would offer full technological support for Red Hat''s Linux operating system at a much lower price than Red Hat charges for its services. In early trading, the Dow rose 23.77, or 0.20%, to 12,158.45. The Dow reached a new trading high Thursday, 12,165.26. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 4.06, or 0.29%, to 1,386.28, and the Nasdaq composite index added 8.61, or 0.37%, to 2,365.20.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 erases earlier gains Thursday as pharma stocks decline.
The FTSE 100 in London is almost flat in the afternoon, at 6,217, or 0.03% higher.

Decliners

AstraZeneca tumbled on news it has stopped the development of its experimental stroke drug NXY-059 as it failed to reduce significant disability in patients. The shares lost 7.48%.

GlaxoSmithKline also slipped despite raising earnings guidance for the year to mid-teens EPS growth from 12% previously, hiked its dividend and increased its share buyback program. The company shed 3.57%.

British American Tobacco also fell despite lifting nine month earnings by 13%, adding it is on track for a good year. Underlying profits rose 8% on revenues up 5%. The company stock declined 1.47%.

Cadbury Schweppes melted away as it said UK confectionery has been weaker than expected. Its shares moved back 1.10%. Medical product sterilisation firm Isotron has rejected an offer from Synergy Healthcare, saying it had no hesitation in doing so. Synergy Healthcare lost 5.04%. Discount retailer Instore has warned profits for the full year will be below expectations due to hefty stock clearance and restructuring measures. Its shares fell 10.17%.

Advancers

Third quarter results from Royal Dutch Shell were well received though as the oil titan reported a better than expected 33% increase in third quarter earnings per share before asset disposals. The company rose 3.91%.

Isotron has surged 7.17% after it rejected a bid offer. BP and BG rose, 0.57% and 0.08%, respectively. Vodafone meanwhile continues to rally from its recent lows. Vedanta Resources has gained 3.07%.

Other news

Independent News & Media, the media company, has launched a bid for APN News & Media, the Australian media group, valuing it at about 1.1billion pounds.


9:00AM Stock futures advanced on Exxon Mobil earnings and steady rates.
U.S. stock futures indicated a higher opening, with further gains expected on the back of stronger-than-expected earnings and steady interest rates. A bigger-than-expected jump in durable goods orders and higher weekly jobless claims had little effect on futures. U.S. durable goods orders soared 7.8% in September, as orders for new aircraft nearly tripled. This was the biggest jump in six years, above estimates of 2.8% increase. In another report, the Labor Department said that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 to 308,000 last week.

Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) advanced 1.6% in pre-market trading after posting better-than-expected Q3 results. The oil giant reported Q3 earnings rise of $10.49 billion, or $1.77 per share, up from a year-ago profit of $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, exceeding expectations of $1.59. Revenue slipped to $99.59 billion from $100.72 billion a year earlier. Exxon attributed the higher earnings to the impact of its continuing share purchase program, higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, and improved marketing.