Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow was down 29 points at 8,475 with the S&P500 off
2 points at 908 and the Nasdaq Composite up 2 points at 1,735.

In Asia this morning, the Nikkei up 58.05 points at 9,348.34 and the Hang Seng
reached the midpoint down 73.49 points at 17,470.54.

Crude oil traded at $60.39 a barrel on Nymex.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all. Market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent

Japan's economy has suffered its worst quarterly performance since records began more than five decades ago as it continues to struggle with the economic crisis.
Japan's economy suffers record plunge

Hopes that the US housing market is bottoming out have been dashed after the number of new homes being built fell to a record low in April.
Hopes of US housing recovery crushed

Britain sank deeper into deflation this morning as the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation shrank to -1.2 per cent in April. The fall in the RPI measure for April, which is used for workers' wage settlements and includes housing costs such as rent and mortgage payments, was larger than expected - down from -0.4 per cent in March and marks the steepest decline since records began in 1948.
British economy sinks further into deflation

The pound surged to its highest level in five months against the dollar this morning, as optimism grew that the worst of the UK financial crisis might soon be over.
Sterling hits five-month high against dollar

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

KOSPI	VIX	GOLD	NYMEX CRUDE

BG. Bernstein: outperform, tp raised to 1250 from 1210
BG. Nomura: initiated neutral
BP. Bernstein: marketperform, tp raised to 525 from 489
BP. Nomura: initiated buy
CCC Goldman: downgraded to neutral from buy
CNE Bernstein: outperform, tp raised to 2720 from 2700
ETI Credit Suisse: initiated outperform, tp 224
EXPN Shore: reiterated sell
GNK Credit Suisse: initiated neutral, tp 464
JDW Credit Suisse: initiated outperform, tp 448
MAB Credit Suisse: initiated underperform, 232
MARS Credit Suisse: initiated neutral, tp 172
MKS Deutsche: upgraded to hold from sell
PMO Bernstein: marketperform, tp raised to 990 from 720
PUB Credit Suisse: initiated outperform, 184
RDSA Bernstein: marketperform, tp raised to 1849 from 1777
RDSA JPMorgan: upgraded to neutral
RDSA Nomura: initiated buy
TLW Bernstein: outperform, tp raised to 870 from 850
XCH UBS: downgraded to neutral from buy

End-of-day Market Overview